Thursday, March 28, 2024
EditorialThe Continuing Obsession With Chris Benoit

The Continuing Obsession With Chris Benoit

76 views

TRENDING

To most wrestling fans here on EWN, Chris Benoit will need no introduction. Born in Montreal, Canada, Benoit’s career spanned over 20
years. He got his break in Stu Hart’s Stampede Wrestling after training in the
infamous ‘Hart Family Dungeon’ and like many from his era, travelled to Japan and
honed his craft as ‘The Pegasus Kid’.

He had a short runs with WCW and ECW between his tours of
Japan. During one run with ECW he broke Sabu’s neck after a botched move which
led to Paul Heyman naming him ‘Crippler’, which was used in various ways, most memorably
for his finishing move the ‘Crippler Crossface’.

He returned to WCW as part of the talent exchange agreement
with New Japan Pro Wrestling and remained there until early in 2000. Although
desperate to keep him ,he left after winning the vacant WCW World Heavyweight Championship,
vacating it himself to join the then WWF.

With his close friends Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko and
Perry Saturn following him, they entered WWF as The Radicalz’. He won numerous
mid card championships and tag team titles in his seven years with WWF/WWE,
cumulating with winning the World Heavyweight Championship at Wrestlemania XX.

When ECW was reformed in 2007 Benoit was ‘Drafted’ to the
brand. He was due to win the ECW Championship at the PPV ‘Vengeance’ in June of
that year, but failed to show up at the PPV, where Johnny Nitro (Mundo) took
his place.

(That is about as concise as I can make it, I’m sure I have missed
many aspects out so apologies if I have)

On June 25th 2007, after not hearing from Benoit
for days, police were called to his home. They discovered the bodies of Nancy
Benoit. His wife, and his 7 year old son Daniel. They also found the body of Chris
Benoit.

On finding out about the deaths WWE cancelled Raw and
instead paid tribute to Chris, showing his greatest matches and talent talking
of the greatness of Benoit in prerecorded vignettes.

Details soon emerged, however, that is was Chris Benoit who
committed the murders of his wife and son and subsequently committed suicide himself
later.

On hearing the details of the investigation Vince McMahon
opened the June 26th episode of ECW addressing the situation,
claiming there would be no further mention of him other than his comments that
night. There has been very little mention of him in the seven and half years
since.

Many wrestling fans still today hold Chris Benoit dear to
their heart. They insist he deserves to be inducted to the Hall of Fame. They
desire to play his character on WWE Video games. They rushed to see if his
matches had been removed from old PPV’S on the WWE Network. But why are wrestling
fans still seemingly obsessed with him still today?

I will start by being completely open about my position. I
enjoyed Benoit the wrestler. His gritty, underdog character, his immense
intensity and undoubted technical wrestling skills allowed him to succeed in a
business (at the time) saturated with talent. He deserved his runs as Champion
and I am sure he would have had one or two more. But he is a murderer! A child murderer,
his own child. He killed his own flesh and blood. Defenseless and without
reason. With that clear I will try to be as objective as I can.

The details of what happened are without question. The
reasoning behind his actions are certainly debatable.

‘Roid-Rage’ is widely attributed as to the reason of his
actions. Drugs were found in his system by the chief medical examiner. Xanax,
Hydrocone and elevated Testosterone (synthetic). Benoit had been given Illegal steroids
prior to the murder suicide (Nandrolone and Anastrozole) but were not found in
his system. Despite the findings, it was concluded that nothing in Benoit’s
body contributed to the violent behavior.

One of the main reasons I believe the more educated people
on the subject are sympathetic with Benoit is the findings of the neurological
report on Benoit’s brain. Julian Bailes, Head of Neurosurgery at West Virginia University,
tested Benoit’s brain and found that… ‘Benoit’s brain was so severely damaged
it resembled the brain of and 85 year old Alzheimer’s Patient’.

Similar tests have been performed on ex NFL players with
similar results, leading to the conclusion that multiple concussions can lead
to depression, violent behavior to themselves and others and early dementia.

Fans feel that because WWE were, at best, ignorant of the issue
and, at worst, ignored and pressured talent to work with this condition, they
are partly to blame. They use the findings of the damage to Benoit’s brain as
an excuse or reasoning for his actions.

Less educated fans merely don’t care what he did outside of
the ring and only care about what he accomplished during his 20+ year career.

The more moronic ones love the drama and hideousness of it.
They like to be outrageousness and combative and take joy from the chaos it
caused and would cause if he was celebrated. Those ‘fans’ I pray for.

Two of three (and I am sure there are others) arguments have
merit to them, some more than others. Those who claim it was the multiple
concussions, mis-treatment, pressure and over looked and possibly encouraged drug
use that lead to this will certainly have my attention. Those who don’t care
and just ‘want to see him in the Hall of Fame because he was really good’ less
so.

These are opinions, but the facts remain the facts. The
double murder suicide happened over a three day period. Not a sudden ‘snapping’
that was over in seconds. His wife was bound and his son was sedated, leading
to the only possible conclusion one can make, in that this was premeditated.

If Chris was still alive, he would be in Jail the rest of
his life, if not possibly on Death Row.

WWE, after dedicating a three hour show in his memory, were
left with the biggest ‘black eye’ possibly in the history of Wrestling. They
are a family ordinated show. They have shareholders and sponsors. Chris Benoit into
the WWE Hall of Fame should never happen. Ever. It would be catastrophic to the
reputation of the business and could possibly becoming financially devastating.

Celebrating Benoit in any way is wrong. If somebody in your
family or your work place committed the same crime you wouldn’t celebrate him
or her. You wouldn’t have their picture up as ‘employee of the month’. You wouldn’t
continue to use their promotion videos in your organization. If, god forbid, a
family member did such a thing you would disassociate yourself from the person.
Likely never want to see or hear their name spoken again.

I understand that he cannot be denied. He existed. He was
champion. He did headline Wrestlemania. He worked across the world and brought
joy to a great deal of people. He was excellent in his craft and is comparable technically
to the all-time greats.  

We also need to recognize that outside of that was a man
that cannot reasonably be celebrated by WWE and should not be celebrated by us,
the fans, either.

 Remembered? Yes.
Denied? No. Honored? Never.

- Advertisment -

LATEST NEWS

- Advertisment -

Related Articles