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During my freshman year of college, I became a huge wrestling fan. This was back when WCW was still around and actually competing with the WWF for the Monday night viewing audience. Bill Goldberg and his "undefeated" record were a big part of that, as were the ongoing problems with the nWo and the attempted reformation of Ric Flair's legendary Four Horsemen.
My favorite member of those Horsemen, and my favorite wrestler overall, was Chris Benoit, one of the younger members of the group. A product of the Hart family's legendary Dungeon in Calgary, Alberta, Benoit was a remarkable technical wrestler who approached every match with what appeared to be genuine intensity and determination. Hampered by poor work on the microphone early in his career, he worked hard to improve and was rewarded with World Heavyweight champion belts in both WCW and WWF.
The best match Benoit ever worked, in my opinion, was a Falls Count Anywhere bout against Kevin Sullivan - I think it was the Great American Bash in 1996. Sullivan wasn't a great grappler by any stretch, but he and Benoit put on a terrific show, moving throughout the arena and utilizing a variety of innovative techniques before finally ending up in the ring. Like the best matches or sporting events, I can honestly say I don't remember who won; only that these two guys left it all out there in the interest of providing fans with a great show.As I got older and WCW faded into the background, I lost touch with both wrestling and Chris Benoit. Still, if you had asked me at any time in the last eight years to name my three favorite wrestlers of all-time, The Crippler's name would have come up more often than not.
That's why it was hard tonight to see a post on The FanHouse with the headline, "Chris Benoit, 1967-2007". What? The Wolverine, dead? How is this possible? Is this real?
It was.
According to Michael David Smith's post, Benoit, his wife Nancy and their 7-year-old son were found dead in their Atlanta home. No official cause of death has been released, but police are working under the assumption that it was a murder-suicide.
Vince McMahon and the WWE wasted no time in organizing a tribute to Benoit; I missed most of it, catching only the end, and was literally chilled by what I saw: after Benoit outlasted Triple H and Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania to win the World Heavyweight title, he was joined in the ring by his friend Eddie Guerrero, with whom he had jumped from WCW several years ago. Twenty months later, Guerrero was dead from heart failure. And now, Benoit is gone.Rest in peace, Chris.
15 Comments:
I was flipping channels when I saw the tribute, and to be honest, I thought it was another of McMahon's idiotic storylines. Then I saw the pics of his son and wife, and "Oh shit; this is real" came out of my mouth. I only hope that Vince has enough decency to end his "is he dead or isn't he?" crap, and show some real compassion here. I'm not gonna hold my breath though.
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I was flipping through the channels too and thought it was some storyline until I went on espn.com and read that it was real....
Sad, sad, sad. I haven't been watching wrestling lately (sure, I still check in once in a while to see what ridiculous crap is going on), but Benoit was also my favorite. Dude could make anyone look good out there.
Police are describing a "bizarre" murder scene. I'm guessing he just went wild for some reason and used a weird murder weapon. Tragic stuff.
Ugly.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. — A law enforcement official close to the investigation tells The Associated Press that pro wrestler Chris Benoit strangled his wife and smothered his son before hanging himself in his weight room.
Same story here, brother. Wrestling nuts in my frat house in college got me hooked again, but I loved style and technique over the lame brawn. Losing Benoit's talent in the ring is like losing the Rock's charisma. He was my favorite behind Sting (childhood thing) but every wrestler owes their moves to Benoit. He reinvented the game and almost never got the credit he deserved. I just can't stand reading the news reports today. It's sickening.
I feel ya, brother. I was a huge Beniot guy as well from back in his WCW days. After wrestling lost it's "hipness" (assuming it ever had any to begin with) I stopped watching, but news of Beniot's successes in the WWF always made me smile.
The circumstances over the deaths of Beniot and his family, however, will permanently cast a dark pall over my memories of him. People shouldn't feel bad for psychotic murderers who kill their wives and children.
If you become a pro wrestling fan while a freshman at college, maybe college just isn't your thing.
Wrestling fans are, and are proving themselves to be, the male equivalent of dopey housewives who watch soap operas religiously and are unable to separate actors from characters they play.
Benoit was a roided up freak who had beaten his wife and threatened his child before, and had had restraining orders against him. He got into fake fights for a living. Yet when the news came down, the consensus among wrestling fans was that the wife had probably done it. You people are pathetic. I've even read many people speculating that his old wrestling rival was somehow involved. Just utter stupidity.
But hey, I know how it is. I also had a favorite wrestler- when I was a little boy.
RUTS, this is unbelievable. I don't even know what to say at this point, and I'm not sure I want to read any more about it.
Slick, I was in the mood last night to dig through storage, find some of my old WCW PPV videos, and watch those old matches. Now, I'm not so sure how I feel about doing that.
Anonymous, you obviously know all about me based simply on the fact that I liked wrestling for a few years. Believe it or not, some of us are intelligent enough to enjoy the storylines (as ridiculous as they may be) and respect the athletic ability of the participants without losing sight of reality.
I can't wait till I'm intelligent enough to enjoy wrestling storylines. It sucks being stuck with Proust and Melville and shit like that. Someday I'll be bright enough to appreciate the genius of Who Killed Mr McMahon?
Personally, Anonymous, I can't wait until you're intelligent enough to realize that there's a difference between literary genius and pure, entertaining escapsim, and that regular, unpretentious people can appreciate both.
If you are so brilliantly above all this hulabaloo, why are you anonymously trolling blogs, telling everyone how smart you are?
All in all, you may be smart, but you're certainly an asshole.
Anyway, for all of what he was in life, and, sadly, what he turned out to be in death, Chris Benoit was an exciting, talented showman and an incredible athlete. He brought plenty of joy to me and my friends throughout my time as a wrestling fan, and his hard work, dedication to his craft, and commitment to excellence were oftentimes inspiring.
I wasn't privy to goings on of his personal life, and if I had been, I likely would not have been a fan. However, I think it's perfectly normal and acceptable if his fans want to take today to mourn this tragedy, shocked that one of their heroes has crashed to earth, and then learn how to hate him tomorrow.
I will never understand how someone can murder his wife and child. Nevetheless, I think that screaming "roid rage" stinks of an oversimplified, stereotypical view of the world. It's far more likely that he had some sort of deep-seeded psychological problem , and that he tragically lost it. That doesn't make it better. In fact, it probably makes it worse.
No matter, my hearts and prayers to all of the Benoits, and may he be forgiven by the one power that could possibly fathom why he did what he did.
Guh. I saw this last night on the news wire, and now that it looks like a murder-suicide...geez.
The action may be fake, but the storylines are still compelling.
"Anyway, for all of what he was in life, and, sadly, what he turned out to be in death, Chris Benoit was an exciting, talented showman and an incredible athlete."
He was an exciting, talented showman? How so? It was well-known that he had poor mic skills. His wrestling style was not exciting, and his finishing move was a lame choke hold (that'd he later used on his wife). I read people saying what a "master craftsman" and "technician" Benoit was, but that's bullshit- wrestling is FAKE. Benoit was not a real wrestler, he was a pro wrestler- put him on the mat with an actual, honest to God wrestler, a true technician, an Olympic or NCAA champ, and he would have gotten his ass kicked.
As for his being a great athlete, how? Was it the stubby legs, or the steroid-enhanced, cartoonish upper body? I don't have his combine numbers, but I am confident that Chris Benoit was not a great athlete.
He followed a script and, through his technical wrestling skill, made people appropriately cheer, or boo. He illicited the crowd response desired by the bookers, no different than any other talented actor, magician, entertainer, etc. He was a talented showman.
The fact that he did so without Rock-quality mic skills merely underscores this fact.
As for his wrestling style, your mileage may vary. I found his physical brand of crisp, varied offense to be infinitely more exciting than anything, say, Hulk Hogan (one of the most "exciting" wrestlers of all time) ever did.
Saying he was a master craftsman and a technician does not rely on wrestling being real. When it came to building an in-ring story through choreographed, athletically demanding, but safely executed moves over the last ten years-- no one was better. All time, there were few better.
Admittedly, his match at Wrestlemania X-7 in Houston against Olympic Gold Medalist Kurt Angle was fake as the day is long. But the two of them freestyled for the first few minutes, and Benoit showed quickness and agility that leaves me certain that (when taken in concert with his training as a studio wrestler) he could certainly hold his own with real amateur champions in his weight class.
Cannot feel sorry for a guy who kills his wife & 7 year old son.
I can have immense amounts of pity for that same wife & son... If this were someone you didn't *feel* you knew (and c'mon, really - you don't), we'd be declaring him a monster...
Yes, sad stuff, but no sadness in my heart for Chris Benoit.
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