I've thought about this tragedy all day and didn't quite know how to express what I was feeling ... how to put it all into words ... but I'll try now. I'm not trying to offend anyone. These are simply my feelings and my opinions.
I've been a wrestling fan for many years ... beginning when I was a little girl and watching Saturday Night Wrestling with my dad and uncle! Back then it was Fritz Von Erich, Wahoo McDaniel, Cowboy Bob Ellis, Duke Keomuka, Ray Gunkle. Then, I "graduated" to the Von Erich boys ... Kevin, David, Kerry, Mike and Chris. (Kerry was my favorite ... he was my "dream man"! That's when I began going to the Sportatorium in Dallas every Friday night!)
I watched epic battles between the Von Erichs and the Freebirds, saw Stone Cold Steve Austin (back then known as Steve Williams) fight his very first professional match ever right after he finished Chris Adams' wrestling school. I cheered on Brusier Brody as he fought Kimala, The Ugandan Giant. I gazed in wonder at The Great Kabuki as his breathed his "green smoke" into the air. I watched the Rock & Roll Express (Shawn Michaels) battle the Super D's for the tag team title. I screamed my bloody head off as The Ultimate Warrior (back then known as The Dingo Warrior) teamed up with The Modern Day Warrior, Kerry Von Erich, to battle Terry Gordy and Michael Hayes. I gasped in horror as The Undertaker made his first walk down the aisle to the ring with Paul Bearer (in those days, he was known as Percy Pringle).
In May 1984, along with 63,000 other fans at Texas Stadium, I sat five rows from the ring and watched Kerry Von Erich defeat Ric Flair for the NWA World Championship in honor of his late brother, David. At the same card, in a 6-man tag team match with his sons Kevin and Mike, I got to see Fritz Von Erich in his final professional match put the Iron Claw on Michael Hayes and defeat the Freebirds to win the NWA World Tag Team title! (As a side bar to all you rockers: I started out on the seventh row but wound up on the fifth row because Twisted Sister guitarist, Jay Jay French, was at the match and I'm the only one who knew who he was! I yelled out his name and his bodyguard invited me to sit with them ... so I moved up a couple of rows!!)
I was in the building for the first Dallas matches of Dustin Rhodes (Golddust), Jeff Jarrett, Cactus Jack (Mick Foley), Gino Heranadez, The Guerrero Brothers, Jimmy Garvin with valet Sunshine, John Tatum with valet Missy Hyatt, Barry Wyndham (one time only and I LOVED him), Jerry "The King" Lawler, Matt Bourne (Doink, The Clown) and Andre the Giant. I got to see all the great ones!!
I idolized these guys. I thought they were the ultimate heroes ... which, in my eyes, made them the ultimate men. It wasn't until I met and became very good friends with the time keeper/bell ringer and his wife that my opinion started to change. Spending time with them meant that I got to spend time with some of the wrestlers and let me tell you, they were some messed up dudes! Drugs were rampant, EVERYONE used steroids, true personalities shown through ... and they weren't good! Professional wrestling, for all it's apparent glitz and glamour, is really a depressing, injury-riddled, marriage ending, LIFE ending, heartbreaking business. It's all about being bigger, being stronger, being faster, being more bizarre ... and, for some of those guys, the pressure makes them crack.
I think that's what happened in Chris Benoit's case. It's been the case with so many other wrestlers, as well. 'Roid Rage is very real and it causes otherwise normal men to turn into out of control animals. Other wrestlers (yes, that includes my all-time personal favorite, Kerry Von Erich) have committed suicide. While I don't condone suicide for ANYONE (short of someone who is terminally ill ... but that is a whole other can of worms) the only saving grace for those guys is that THEY DIDN'T KILL THEIR FAMILIES! They didn't kill their CHILDREN.
In light of the circumstances surrounding the Benoits' deaths, does it make Chris' record in the wrestling ring any less impressive? No ... he was an incredible wrestler as far as ENTERTAINMENT/CHOREOGRAPHED wrestling goes. Does him taking the lives of his wife and innocent son make him less of a man? HELL, YES! It sure does. I don't have much respect for professional wrestlers to begin with because I've been in the locker rooms with them. I've been in bars and restaurants with them. I've witnessed their debauchery and I know what they are capable of doing. After what Chris did, great WRESTLER or not, I have zero respect for him as a man, a husband, a father, a human. He knew very well what mixing steroids and alcohol do but he chose to mix them anyway TO BE BIGGER, STRONGER, FASTER, MORE BIZARRE ... and make more money! In the end, all he did was ruin his reputation as a great wrestler/entertainer and break the hearts of millions of people who looked up to him. Is he really the kind of man we want our children to remember as a great MAN at this point? I think not ...
Remember Michael Irvin from the Dallas Cowboys? I'll bet your first thought of him is NOT that he is a Hall of Fame wide receiver and a member of "The Triplets" that won the Cowboys three Superbowls in four years! Your first thought is "Yeah ... that Michael Irvin was a dope head! He got busted with a stripper snorting coke behind a topless bar!" Doesn't make any difference how great of an athlete you are ... if you screw up, that's how you're going to be remembered. Chris Benoit was a great wrestler who will now, sadly, always be remembered for being a murderer ... a man who, instead of just killing himself, chose to be a total coward and kill his wife and child when they didn't deserve to die! I would hate to be in his shoes at this moment ...
May the souls of his beautiful wife and sweet little boy rest in peace.
Favorites
Digg
Del.icio.us
Furl
Magnolia
StumbleUpon
Google
Yahoo MyWeb
