Some Thoughts On The Crippler

I finally have to get this all down on paper and there's plenty to go on about so pardon me if a drag on...
As you've probably heard by now, thanks to a gaggle of mainstream news coverage, WWE wrestler Chris Benoit, his wife Nancy, and their son Daniel were found dead in their suburban Atlanta home on Monday afternoon. Details have been emerging since then, and the investigation has revealed that Benoit strangled his wife and smothered his son before hanging himself. There are as many questions about the case as answers that are beign uncovered, but there are plenty of emotions that I have been through in the past week, so I figured that it's time to share.

Monday afternoon, I got home from work to an e-mail and a phone call alerting me to the emerging story. I was pretty shaken when I left to play basketball later that evening and when I returned to read the reports on the Raw Tribute show, well I'd be lying if I said I din't shed a tear after hearing the tributes that were given for Benoit. Things got a lot more confusing Tuesday thanks to a sherrif's press conference, alleging that Benoit was the killer himself and all subsequent details that have been released point to that conclusion.

I don't know what to say about the whole thing really. I know what I thought on Monday. I was shocked that another in the business was taken from us too soon. When I was attempting to get into the business, Benoit was the guy that I wanted to be. He was so technically sound in the ring. He gave 110% every time that he stepped in the ring to entertain the fans. No matter if there was 1,000 people in the building or 35,000, he gave his all. He is remembered as a consumate professional, quiet and respectful. He was sen by many of his friends as a rock. Things didn't get to him and he was always the solid, rational one. Which is probably what makes this so damn confusing. Regardless of whether or not drugs were involved at all, these look to be the actions of a man who had snapped. All that being said, a part of me feels guilty for prasing a man who has murdered his family as a man who I looked up to and respected. In this business, it's very easy to blur the character and the performer themselves. I don't know if I can do that here. I still, and probably always will respect Chris Benoit the wrestler. I will admire his body of work in a business that I hold close to my heart. I held the man Chris Benoit in that high regard as well. Right now, I'm not so sure. I hope that things will get sorted out and that his name will get a little less tanished when all the facts are but right now, I on't think I can forgive him. If he lost it and the many pressures got to him, I don't know if I can forgive him for taking his family with him.