P.M. PMS - Wrestling With Chris Benoit
Murderer.
It hasn’t even been a week yet and I’ve already reached my limit on the “tributes” being paid to professional WWE clown Chris Benoit.
I’ve read about people saying he was an “excellent mat technician” - which is a lot like saying Helen Mirren was one of the greatest queens of the British Empire. I hate to break it to you, Jethro, but it’s called “acting.”
I’ve also heard that he was “one of the good guys” in professional wrestling and all through the thread of comments on various websites you keep hearing how “we’ll never really know what happened.”
With no due respect, we already do know what happened. Chris Benoit bound and strangled his wife and then, nearly a day later, asphyxiated his seven-year-old son.
There is no excuse for this.
You can’t blame steroids, you can’t blame Vince McMahon, you can’t blame too much violence on TV or Republicans or his parents or global warming or the guy who kept kicking his seat during the movies.
Chris Benoit brutally murdered two members of his family. Period. End of story. That is now what defines the man. It pretty much trumps everything else you’ve done in life.
Maybe he saved puppies and was kind to orphans his whole life. He probably did some thoughtful, caring things in his lifetime. He may even have brought hours and hours of light-hearted entertainment into the lives of professional wrestling fans everywhere.
None of that counts for anything when stacked up against the horrific actions of this past weekend.
Placing a Bible by the body of each of your victims doesn’t make you a loving husband, a caring father or a great ambassador for your sport. It doesn’t buy you absolution for the cold-blooded killing of your family, either.
Let’s remember Chris Benoit, ultimately, for who he was: a murderer.
WWE, Vince McMahon, Chris Benoit, professional wrestling,
451 Blogger Scooter has details and comments on his site, WWE Daily. You should probably check him out for a more mainstream view and a better historical perspective on wrestling than you’ll get here.
June 28th, 2007 at 8:36 am
Great article. I voted on digg for it. I have a real personal issue with people memorializing bad people. I have to feel slightly sorry for Benoit that he was that depressed, but I really think he lost all reasons for being remembered when he murdered his wife and a little boy. We all have to keep in mind that this was a 7 year old he killed.
I ran into a very similar issue here in Blacksburg, Virginia after the shootings here. The University placed 32 stones on our drill field to remember the great 32 people who died including a close friend of mine. Shortly afterwards, a student stole a stone from the quarry and placed a 33rd stone on the ground for the killer. This action has sparked some intense debates around here as to whether or not an evil person should be remembered. I try to believe in forgiveness, but remembering someone in a positive way when they were simply evil is just not right.
Benoit is no exception… I really think these tributes need to come to an end. I think we should definitely look into the contributing factors here, but to be honest I feel bad for the wife and child. Benoit gave them no choice. I simply cannot respect him for even the few good things he did in life. His actions erased anything worthy of remembering.
June 28th, 2007 at 5:24 pm
Kezins,
I know I flipped when I read that story about the 33rd stone at VA Tech.
It’s not like Chris Benoit was the Roberto Clemente of pro wrestling.
It’s more like if, instead of being a fertilizer salesman, Scott Peterson had been a wrestler.
June 30th, 2007 at 11:10 am
Have not been following this story at all, but it does seem like they are cutting this guy WAY too much slack. I am surprised the spin is not something like: another “celebrity” gone bad, fake wrestler kills his family in a “drug-related murder spree” or something. Don’t get me wrong, when the media looks at the shades of grey in a story it is always surprising and generally a good thing. But this is an example of where we need MORE black and white reporting, while there are plenty of other stories where the media SHOULD be thinking more and they are not.
June 30th, 2007 at 11:50 am
Couldn’t agree more, Margie.
Interesting, too, that there doesn’t seem to be near the level of antagonism as there is for Paris Hilton and her DUI escapades.