Chris Benoit: Four years later

Publish date: 2024-05-03
I have a pretty strong opinion on the topic of Benoit and I have since it was discovered that he murdered his family and then himself. As a wrestler I always enjoyed watching Benoit, when he came to the ring in WCW I always knew I was in for an entertaining match. I always felt that his best of seven series with Booker T. was some of the best wrestling WCW ever put on television and I feel really established the both of them as stars. In WWE the same thing I thought his matches were good, his matches with Angle and Jericho were great. All this being said I never seen Benoit as a main eventer I felt having him win the title at the 20th anniversary of Wrestle Mania was the wrong timing and I always felt Shawn deserved to win that match based off all he had done for the company if it were any other Wrestle Mania sure let Benoit win but that one was a milestone and I think the biggest star in the company at the time should have won the title that night, and I felt that way long before Beoit did what he did. Aside from this, I felt his work with MVP was good and he really brought the best out in him, I even thought his fued with Orlando Jordan kept interest based on the storyline. I was really excited to see him get drafted to ECW because I really felt that would have been the best place for him at that time. I felt he could have brought a lot to that brand and I think he could have had some classics with C.M. Punk, John Morrison and Elijah Burk. I really don't think besides ECW though he would have ever had another WWE or World title run, whos to say he would even still be in WWE if he were still alive. I'm sure if TNA could have got their hands on him they would have pushed him as a mega star, but who knows.

As far as WWE erasing his memory, I couldn't agree with them more. I commented on an episode of CSR, and I will restate the face once more, WWE is a business. They are publicly traded company, they have sponsorships that are world reknowned brands such as Mattel and 7 Eleven just to name two. You can talk about all of the other deaths all you want, but Benoit left a stain on the company name. It doesn't matter if it was brain damage, roid rage or schizophrenia he murdered his family. O.J. Simpson was accused of murder and never proven guilty and the NFL cut all ties with him and he was a Hall of Famer, Heisman Trophy winner and a commentator on their NBC programming. You may hear him mentioned on ESPN now but you hardly if ever hear or see any mention of him on NFL programming. Ryan Jenkins from VH1 brutally murdered his girlfriend, then himself. VH1 then cancelled an upcoming season of one of their most popular shows and changed their entire format regardless of complaints and outrage I Love Money 3 will never be seen. Megan Hauserman, who is an idiot, actually summed up the VH1 situation perfectly and I think it applies well to WWE's as well. She stated "how would the family feel, having to watch the person that murdered their loved one on television." How would Nancy's family feel? Everytime they seen Benoit on WWE programming they would be reminded of how their loved one was taken from them by this monster.

Finally, I will get to the comment made that if John Cena murdered somebody WWE wouldn't just forget him. I beg to differ, if Cena, Orton, Miz or any other top draw did the same thing Benoit did there would probably be no further mention of them. Hell, if Hogan, Austin, Rock or Michaels did it I'm sure they would be erased as well. Once again, WWE is a business and associating themselves with a murderer is bad for business. Vince takes a lot of crap for being an evil basturd, but I don't think he would put the surviving families through the heartache of having to see the man who murdered their loved ones. It's not like Vince said screw Benoit neither, the man cancelled not only an entire show, but an entire storyline that had people buzzing, when his limo blew up at the end or Raw. He dedicated an entire show to the life and memory of Chris, he could have easily put together a video package, did a 10 bell salute at the beginning of the show and moved on with life if he was such a prick. I am not defending Cena, but he is also a multiple time WWE and World Heavyweight champion. Chris Benoit had one World title run, and he won the WCW title his last night with the company, its not like he was a 10+ time world champion. If Benoit was still alive and retired somewhere and this never happened I don't think he would deserve to go into the Hall Of Fame, and I wouldn't classify him in the same category as people like Austin, Rock, Michaels, Triple H, Hogan, Flair or even Cena and Orton. Benoit was for his era what Daniel Bryan, Kofi Kingston and Dolph Ziggler are for this one. He was a good in ring worker, he could put on match of the night on any given night, his mic skills were not up to par and aside from his tooth his look was nothing that really set him apart.

All this being said, I agree Benoit deserves to be erased. I do feel however, it is hard to erase him completely mainly on Best Of DVDs and such. Prime example The Best of Nitro. Benoit was on screen during a lot of that shows biggest angles, and he was involved in some of that shows best wrestling matches. I do like how they cut a lot of commentary that made mention of his name, and if they would have went as far to put a message warning the audience that a man who was proved to be a murderer was featured, I wouldn't have been offended or pissed off. To sum it all up, I don't think Benoit was a coward because he didn't want to go to jail or whatever. I think Benoit was a coward for murdering a woman and an innocent child. With medicine today, and people avaliable to help brain damage is no excuse. Chris Benoit will forever be remembered by me as a monster everything he did in the ring I enjoyed means nothing.

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