|
 Here's some irony for you: Despite the fact that I'm a sports journalist, I didn't get into sports until late in my childhood.
In fact, the first sport I finally took interest in was professional wrestling during the Summer of 2004. The combination of storytelling and bloody violence blew my then 12 year-old mind away. However, amongst all the larger-than-life grapplers was a seemingly regular guy I admired from the second I first saw him in action: Chris Benoit. Yes, that Chris Benoit. I remember being fascinated by the fact that in a sport dominated by flamboyancy and eccentricity, Benoit was a blue-collar "Average Joe." No gimmicks, no flashy entrance, no fooling around. Just an ordinary man who had an extraordinary job. For the next two and a half years, Benoit was my idol. I watched eagerly as he defeated foes using his devastating "Diving Headbutt" or made them submit with his legendary "Crippler Crossface." To me, he was a god; he could do no wrong. And then came those fateful days in June of 2007. Benoit, along with his wife, Nancy, and son, Daniel, had been found dead in their Georgia home. For one moment, it looked to be a freak accident, perhaps some foul play. But then the truth came out: Chris Benoit had murdered his wife and kid, before killing himself. I couldn't believe it. I actually refused to believe it. For me, it wasn't a 40 year old man with an 80 year old brain that had slaughtered his entire family. It was Superman. The media had a field day with it. "Another wrestler dying of steroid use. Seen it a million times, we'll see it a million more." The first victim was seven year old Daniel, a small kid who was thought to have Fragile X Syndrome, a developmental disorder that stunts size. One of the domestic disputes in the household was Benoit injecting Daniel with growth hormones (his own size may have played a role: although billed at six foot even, Benoit likely only stood five nine.) Benoit strangled him and placed a Bible near his corpse. Benoit's wife Nancy, a former valet and wrestler known as "Woman", was also killed by asphyxiation. A Bible was also placed near her deceased body. Benoit than completed his killing by hanging himself with a weight bench. But why would a man who seemed like an everyday guy mindlessly murder his family? The most common theory was, of course, steroids, which to this day continues to plague the sport. Others believed that too many shots to the head had transformed a good-natured man into a psychopathic killer. He wasn't going to live to be 80, sure, but has doing what he loved led him to destroying everything he loved? Benoit was treated as a monster, everything from being fodder for a joke by Jimmy Kimmel during a roast for Flavor Flav to having his entire existence being retconned by World Wrestling Entertainment. The man who had brought fans to their feet for almost 20 years was now a posthumous pariah. His fans, feeling betrayed, spoke out against him with hatred. "I can't believe I ever cheered for that scumbag." But four years after an unforgiven act, I can't help but recall the fond memories I had watching Benoit wrestle. I always see him choking out Triple H to win the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 20 rather than choking out his wife until she helplessly died. Chris Benoit, the man, was a deplorable waste of space. Chris Benoit, the wrestler, will always be one of my heroes. And with pro wrestling being a world that blurs the lines between reality and fantasy, that doesn't seem weird.
source: |
