WOLVERINE: Without having Internet access at home during the move, I wasn't able to blog about the death of wrestler Chris Benoit until now, and the more we learn, the less I want to talk about it. It's just gruesome and horrible, and bears no connection to the gifted athlete I had enjoyed for more than a decade. So I will try, paraphrasing OJ Simpson's suicidal voicemail to Robert Kardashian, to remember Benoit as the Canadian Crippler, to remember him as a good guy, and not as "whatever negative that might end up here."
Here's what you need to know about Chris Benoit: he was a lousy interviewee during an era in which microphone skills were at least as important as physical skills, and not much of an acrobat, but no one (except perhaps former Olympian Kurt Angle) was as skilled as telling a story in the ring with his body, with the sequences of seeming brutal physicality and technical prowess. Indeed, there are an annual awards given out by the wrestling fans on the Internet for "Best Technical Wrestler" and "Best Worker" -- whose arsenal of moves was the most varied and convincing, and who extended the most intense effort in the ring -- and no one has won those awards more than Benoit. In an era of "sports entertainment" in which most wrestlers were half-spokesman, half-stuntman, Benoit was defiantly, wonderfully Old School, and there was a large segment of the fanbase that adored him for it.
It's hard to remember him that way today, and I've yet to hear of a murder-suicide that had an explanation which wasn't depressing, disgusting and demoralizing. For most people, all they'll ever know of Chris Benoit is how he died. I'm glad I got to know him before last night. As Bill Simmons wrote today, "Benoit was one of the 12-15 greatest wrestlers of the past 30 years. For the wrestling world, it's like the OJ thing all over again - only it's worse because his little son was involved. It might be the single worst sports story since the Rae Carruth thing."
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