Shining a Spotlight 6.21.12: Benoit Today

I’m talking of course of Chris Benoit.

It’s been five years and yet the pain is still there. The idea of a man who seemed to be so honorable and worth cheering for turning into an absolute monster difficult for many to take. It’s still hard to accept even after most of the conspiracy theories have died out. We still have people arguing as to blame in some cases, some unable to truly believe Benoit could have done this without cause and blame at the industry for ruining the man. But time has also shown more of Benoit’s real life and the sad fact that a bad end was perhaps inevitable. As the fifth anniversary of that weekend hits, it’s time to examine more of the event, the man and the fallout to that horrible three days.

Benoit

While I wasn’t the biggest Benoit mark on the planet, I respected the man. I respected his work, how he put himself into the business, did his job without complaint and really went out of his way to entertain fans. Benoit was truly a technical master who did his best to deliver multiple-star matches every time out and working through obvious pain. So when word broke of how he was found dead with wife Nancy and their son, it was shocking to everyone. That soon turned to horror as the news drifted in of how it was a murder-suicide and instantly, boards lit up with “I can’t believe he’d do this” comments. However, as the media blitz lifted some of the curtain on Benoit’s private life, we saw a different view of the man than most of the marks had bought into.

Perhaps it was laid in by Benoit’s choice of role model. Bret Hart best described the Dynamite Kid as “pro wrestling’s Ty Cobb.” Make no mistake, the Kid was one of the most sensational workers the business has known, mixing brawling with technical brilliance and some of the most stunning high-flying moves ever seen to that time. Unfortunately, the man was also one of the biggest bastards wrestling has ever known, stiff as hell in the ring, not seeming to mind if he injured someone and his pranks bordered criminal acts like drugging guy’s drinks before they’d drive on the icy Canadian roads. He also dove into the steroid scene big time and refused to give in after basically cracking his spine in 1986. Sadly, that refusal to give up cost him big-time, reducing this once amazing worker to a bitter wheelchair-bound invalid who still says he wouldn’t change anything about his life. So picking this man as a role model was a move that may not have put Benoit’s career on a good path.

Add to that how he got his training. Stu Hart’s training center was called the Dungeon for good reason; that grimy, unaired room, stained with sweat, puke and other bodily fluids, was home to a training regiment that would make a Marine beg for mercy. On various DVDs, Vince McMahon has stated he leaned to those trained there as anyone who could survive Stu Hart was worth pushing. Benoit managed to survive it and stand out in Stampede in the promotion’s last days, wowing people with how well he took to it all. That attitude would serve him well when he journeyed to Japan, home to the most brutal training the business knows. While much of his book Ring of Hell can be incredibly pessimistic about the business, Matthew Randazzo does do a good job detailing how nasty the Japan dojos are to rookies and a testament to how Benoit made it through to become a star. It includes a funny line on how Benoit was the one guy in WCW who didn’t mind Bill Watts’ strict rules as after Stu and Japan, Watts was the most kind-hearted boss Benoit had.

To watch Benoit matches today is to see him in a different, and dangerous, light. The key problem was that in his insistence to make it all look real, Benoit did it for real. He took chair across the head without protecting them, he did his flying headbutt with his head really smashing into an opponent’s, he went through tables without breaking his fall. All that damage took its toll over the years, leading to the brain damage we now know he had. Add to that the fact that Benoit’s personality, that man so utterly driven, made him a bit of an emotional mess as well. This was a man who didn’t mind seeing kids in Japan literally beaten down by veterans but freaked out when he broke Sabu’s neck by accident. While friendly with fans and co-workers, there was always an intensity to him backstage to how he took it all so seriously, not really having as much fun as others did. It was the same attitude as Bret Hart and that didn’t end well for Bret either career-wise.

Throw in the loss of his best friend Eddie Guerrero in 2005 and the deaths of others he’d known over the years like Owen Hart and Benoit’s hold was clearly shaken. Those who say WWE is to be blamed for pushing him forget that Benoit got a full six months off in 2007 and reports are during that time, relations with Nancy grew worse. It’s all too common for athletes, relationships fine when they’re on the road but spending more time together is actually worse. The fact is, we’ll never know what finally set Benoit off once and for all. All we’re left with are his actions and the way they shamed himself and the industry.

Reactions

I was working the night of June 25th, 2007, so I didn’t know what happened until I got home late. The initial shockwave of the death and mourning had passed, the same feelings as when Eddie had died two years earlier. However, by this point in the night, the word of what really happened was already hitting, that this wasn’t some home invasion but Benoit had killed his wife, his son and then himself over the weekend. And that was when things hit the fan big time for so many of us. I was just about to finish a column on War Games but cut it for a short column on Benoit, talking of my initial feelings at what he’d done and how he’d ruined himself. The reaction (we didn’t have the comments section then) was so big my next column was just the letters from others, many of whom agreed, others thinking Benoit couldn’t be truly blamed for this. It’s a division that exists to this day and arguments rage over how Benoit’s memory has been treated.

The key, of course, is how WWE has basically done everything possible to avoid mentioning Benoit and when they do, nothing of his end. There have been a lot of people who say it’s wrong to avoid him but others understand. Even uber-Benoit mark Scott Keith has stated he finds it incredibly hard to watch a Benoit match today so maybe WWE is making the right choice with this. The fact is that Vince is in a “damned if you, damned if you don’t” situation with Benoit. Ignore him and fans rail on how WWE is overlooking a guy who was a pretty big star. But show him on DVDs or such and you’ll be accused of either honoring a child murderer or exploiting a tragedy. Vince was accused of that when the RAW show was a tribute to Benoit before the facts came out and the reaction since may just be increasing that choice.

I really do think Vince has gotten a raw deal from many over Benoit. In his book, Chris & Nancy Irv Muchnick basically states as fact that Vince knew already what happened and did the tribute show to cover his own guilt in the death. Randazzao is of the camp that Vince is the worst thing to happen to wrestling, a monster who doesn’t care who gets hurt under his watch. It always annoyed me when the media lists of guys who died early include the death toll of World Class, a promotion Vince had nothing to do with. This attitude basically excuses guys too much for their own addictions in the rush to blame Vince. Read the book Swimming With Sharks and you’ll get the realization that Vince is actually a saint compared to most promoters out there.

Look, Vince is a bastard, we all know that. He pretty much openly agrees with that view, saying “wrestling’s a rotten business and you have to be a rotten guy to survive in it.” You don’t get as successful as him without being this way, look at any major CEO today. So he can be self-centered, greedy and egotistical but then again, it makes sense that in a company packed with monster egos, the boss has the biggest. But Vince is not some sociopath who gets off on the pain of his workers and such. He does want to help them, maybe so it’s not bad publicity but he tries. Take Umaga, Vince gave him chance after chance to get clean, the guy refused, was let go and ends up dead a few months later. Vince offers free rehab to workers, not just current but past guys, even those who haven’t worked for WWE. That’s a system even the NBA and MLB won’t offer yet this supposedly horrible man does. Plus, you can say that it’s the reason WWE has toned down some stuff, far less risk for guys to get those massive blows like Benoit did and not risk the bad effects down the road. It may not be perfect but at least it’s something and in an odd way, a good thing Benoit did.

But that good has been overwhelmed by the bad as Benoit’s actions hit the business’s image hard. Wrestling has always had an uphill battle in the mainstream being seen as anything more than something idiots cater to and exposing the dirty parts just made it worse. Randazzo’s book makes it sound like only a twisted masochist would take part in a business that destroys lives with no redeeming qualities at all and the media blitz surrounding Benoit enforces that view. That’s something even harder to take, that a man held up for so long as the picture of everything right about wrestling could do such massive harm to its image. Benoit’s intensity was famous but he was still seen as put together and professional by fans and co-workers alike. It’s easy to look back and say this was obvious but at the time, no one could have imagined this was going to happen, that Benoit of all people would commit such a horror. Since then, people keep saying “it’s Vince, it’s drugs, it’s the business” and ignore the fact there are guys who are able to call it quits and still have meaningful lives afterward. Sadly, most prefer the train wrecks and horror stories rather than the positive stuff.

It all comes back him and the simple, brutal truth that the final blame for all this rests with Chris Benoit. Yes, he might have been suffering from brain damage, he might have had a final breakdown but at the end of the day, he did this. He killed his wife, waited a day, then killed his only son, then waited a day before hanging himself. That’s not an act of passion, that’s understanding of what you’re doing, no doubt what pushed him to end it. It was Scott Keith right after it happened who said it was best Benoit killed himself and saved the agony of a trial. Had it just been straight up suicide, it would have been a tragedy but fans could handle it. But killing his family has stained Benoit forever. Folks can say “separate the man from the character” and appreciate his work but it’s hard because Benoit was his character so much. When you watch a match of him taking a shot to the head, you wince more than ever, knowing you’re watching the path to what happened be created. In time, maybe we can appreciate his work but even after five years, the pain is too much for WWE to really do anything big with the footage of him.

Fan opinions will differ but mine basically remain the same from five years ago. I can no longer respect Benoit. Not his work and sure as hell not the man. In his last book, Jericho said you can’t judge by his final actions but his overall life but I just can’t do that. This isn’t some “lapse” of drug use or abuse of a spouse, this was systematic murder of his family and then taking his own life and that’s something completely unforgiveable. Benoit remains the O.J. of pro wrestling, a once-revered figure who by his own actions disgraced himself forever. To put the blame on his schedule or drugs or Vince McMahon is to excuse him far too much and ignore what he did. We shouldn’t be putting up a memorial to him by any means but he should stand as a warning. Not to the dangers of drugs or such but the dangers of how badly a worker can take the whole thing too seriously. He made his choices to not protect himself in the ring properly, he chose to immerse himself into wrestling at the detriment to all else and he was the one who carried out those horrible acts. Chris Benoit is the only one to blame for his fall and how his legacy is forever tainted and how it hurt all of wrestling itself. It’s a brutal truth but the truth nonetheless and after five years, it’s past time most accepted that. If you do like the man still, ok but don’t let that adulation overlook how it all ended up, a sad fate that still hangs over us all today.

For this week, the spotlight is off.