PUTTING THE CHOKEHOLD ON HISTORY

I have this problem. I’m addicted to wrestling. I love it. I live it. I think about it a lot. I have my favorite guys, who almost never coincide with everyone else’s favorite guys. I like heels – bad guys – I love them. I can’t get enough of them. Now, I know you’re probably thinking that this isn’t a very big deal – that it doesn’t matter if I like Bad Guys. I might be a little weird. But overall, it probably doesn’t matter.

But there are times that apparently, it really does matter. This time doesn’t take place between the bells. It doesn’t involve one person’s finisher while another taps out. It doesn’t involve a chair shot. It doesn’t involve cheating. It’s not even about the politics in the back. It’s about the man outside of his work environment.

I have long believed that who the wrestler is outside of his work environment should NOT play a part in how I feel about their character. This has been hard for me to justify, sometimes. When Austin was arrested for beating women, that’s hard for me to get past, but not impossible. I still saw it as who he is away from work. When Adam Copeland slept with Amy Dumas, I viewed it as unworthy of my time as a fan. When Edge and Lita teamed up, it was a storyline, and worth my time. It’s the same incident, but it means COMPLETELY different things to me, as a fan. I don’t give a shit who’s sleeping with whom. If Michelle McCool is really loving life on the Last Ride, who am I to judge that? If it’s not a storyline on televison, I don’t really care.

There is one time I truly care about what happens to wrestlers when they’re away from work and that is when I read that yet another wrestler has passed away.

Such was the case for me last June.

I walked into HyVee to get some food. I ordered the Chinese, because I love their Chinese. It’s delicious. After I pay and I’m walking out the door, with my hands full, my phone rings. I wouldn’t have probably cared, but it was my cousin, Jason, who doesn’t usually call me unless I called him first. I thought something horrid happened to a family member, so I rearrange everything in my hands to answer the phone. I hear the words, “Did you hear about Chris Benoit? He’s dead.” I’m honestly surprised that I didn’t drop everything.

Being a good wrestling fan, I assume it’s a drug overdose, but then Jason says, “They found his whole family dead in his house.” I start running mafia murder scenarios in my head. Picturing the horrid ways they could have been mutilated, etc. Jason tells me that’s all they know.

Sunday, I read the PPV results, and have a hard time celebrating when my boy, Johnny Nitro captures the ECW title that I know was not intended for him.

Monday, I tune to Raw, for the best tribute show I have ever seen. Watching Adam Copeland deliver this speech was unreal to me. It is one of those times when seeing a guy out of his work environment meant a lot to me.

By Tuesday, THE TRUTH was coming out. Chris Benoit was a murderer. Chris Benoit had killed his son. He had killed his wife. He had killed himself.

Now, I want to stop for a second and realize something. I AM NOT CONDONING MURDERING YOUR FAMILY. I am NOT saying that Chris Benoit was not out of his mind that weekend. I am not saying he is innocent or anything else about the case. I am not saying ANYONE should idolize Chris Benoit, the man, who killed his family. With that out of the way:

YOU CAN’T ERASE HISTORY.

Chris Benoit was an amazingly talented technical wrestler. Let’s take a second to consider his wrestling legacy (thanks to Wikipedia).

CWA World Tag Team Champion

ECW World Tag Team Champion

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion

Super J Cup Winner (1994)

1993 Top of the Super Juniors

1995 Best of the Super Juniors

Stampede British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Champion

Stampede International Tag Team Champion

WWF Light Heavyweight Champion

WCW United States Heavyweight Champion

WCW World Heavyweight Champion

WCW World Tag Team Champion

WCW World Television Champion

WWE Tag Team Champion

WWE United States Champion

WWE Intercontinental Champion

WWE World Tag Team Champion

World Heavyweight Champion

Royal Rumble Winner (2004)

Twelfth Triple Crown Champion

PWI Feud of the Year (2004 – V. Triple H)

PWI Match of the Year (2004 – V. Shawn Michaels and Triple H)

PWI Wrestler of the Year (2004)

Wrestling Observer’s Best Technical Wrestler (1994)

Wrestling Observer’s Best Technical Wrestler (1995)

Wrestling Observer’s Most Underrated Wrestler (1998)

Wrestling Observer’s Best Technical Wrestler (2000)

Wrestling Observer’s Most Outstanding Wrestler (2000)

Wrestling Observer’s Match of the Year (2002 – V. Kurt Angle, Edge, and Rey Mysterio, Jr.)

Wrestling Observer’s Best Technical Wrestler (2003)

Wrestling Observer’s Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 2003)

Wrestling Observer’s Best Brawler (2004)

Wrestling Observer’s Best Technical Wrestler (2004)

Wrestling Observer’s Feud of the Year (2004 – V. Triple H and Shawn Michaels)

Wrestling Observer’s Most Outstand Wrestler (2004)

So here’s where my rant finally actually starts.

There is an ongoing push to erase Chris Benoit from History. We don’t talk about his matches. Vince edits them out of replays on WWE 24/7 and DVDs. We don’t discuss his big wins at Rumble 2004 or when he cleanly made Triple H tap at Wrestlemania for the World Heavyweight Championship.

Instead, we just ignore them. We just ignore HIM.

How can someone who was a complete inspiration to so many wrestlers, and who touched so many fans be erased from history? Yes, he killed his family. Yes, Chris Benoit was a child murdering son of a bitch. Does that TRULY change his in ring legacy? Vince McMahon is a dirty son of a bitch who would probably do things that would make us all cringe, but since it matches his character, we just accept it. That’s fucked up, people. If Benoit’s character had been that of a brutal murderer, would we be ok with it all?

Stop feeling betrayed. Benoit didn’t owe you anything.

Stop feeling like you can’t appreciate the talents of the man because he killed his wife and kids. We don’t turn on other wrestlers because of their personal lives. RVD gets pulled over because he’s high, and we just chalk it up to “That’s Rob Van Dam for you.” Either obsess with all of their personal lives or do what you do with any other show you watch on television – Separate the character from reality.

People don’t pretend a character never existed on any other television show because of something the actor did in his personal life.

I think we should stop doing it in wrestling.

If Shawn Michaels can pull out the Crippler Cross Face for cheap heat in a match, it should be acceptable to watch the true master of it make Triple H tap out for the title.

Chris Benoit, the man, is dead. Chris Benoit, the wrestling persona, will live on in my heart forever. I will continue to watch his matches. I will continue to smile when I see him embrace Eddie Guerrero at the end of Wrestlemania XX. I will, forever, remember a man who provided me with exceptional matches month after month, year after year.

Unfortunately, I will also always remember that on a weekend in June, in 2006, Chris Benoit murdered his family.

See, the thing I understand, that Vince McMahon doesn’t, is that you can’t erase History.

Tags: Chinese Food, Chris Benoit, Crippler Crossface, CWA, ECW, Edge, faces, heels, History, HyVee, IWGP, Johnny Nitro, murder, PWI, Raw, Royal Rumble, RVD, Shawn Michaels, Stampede, Triple H, Vince McMahon, Wrestlemania, Wrestling, Wrestling Observer, wwe, WWF