WWE Hall of Fame: Why Chris Benoit Must Be Inducted

What happened was undeniably tragic, but I contend that it should be looked in context when talking about Benoit's career.

To this day, I remember the wide range of emotions I experienced following the death of Chris Benoit and his wife and son. When news first broke, I was in a state of utter disbelief. Not even two years prior, the wrestling world had lost another giant of the industry in Eddie Guerrero. Enough time had passed that the shirt commemorating his life no longer fit, the 2XL now two sizes too big on account of weight loss. However, if not for that convenient marker of the passage of time, it would never have hit me just how long it had been at that point. Had a year really passed since Guerrero was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Fame and Benoit spoke to the crowd about his fellow wrestler and, more importantly, friend? If it had, I wasn€™t in a position to want to believe it. This was a man who I€™d made a habit out of imitating, winning many a play wrestling match with my nephew by virtue of the Crippler Crossface, a maneuver I never once synched in fully for fear of seriously injuring the kid. It made no sense, not his death, and especially not his wife and son€™s. Were they murdered? I won€™t lie and say I didn€™t, for a moment, mull that possibility over. What other explanations were there? None that I could readily produce. Operating under a similar sense of uncertainty, the WWE moved forward with a tribute special, granting Benoit the same treatment as Guerrero. Like last time, I readied a blank VHS tape to record, wanting to always be able to hold onto those memories, bittersweet though they may be. Except I never did re-watch it, not so much as once, because before I could there came the news that simultaneously sickened and confused me. Benoit was a murderer, and replacing my previous grief was a sick rage directed not only towards him, but the WWE as well. Couldn€™t they have waited at least until the facts were known, that way they wouldn€™t have inadvertently celebrated a murderer? But I think my anger was misplaced, that it was really me that I was mad with. I€™d fallen prey to the moment just the same as they had, refusing to even entertain the thought that Benoit could be implicated in the death of his wife and son. Furthermore, if the facts had been different, and the WWE had delayed in giving Benoit a proper tribute, I would have called fowl on them for that, too, and the same would likely have gone for their fans. Isn€™t it ironic, then, that what probably started as an idea to prevent backlash delivered it upon them ten-fold? Once the dust settled from that blowing up in their faces, though, I was back at square one, so to speak, trying to find sense in a senseless act. What could have led a man so seemingly mild-mannered to commit such a heinous act? Theories ran rampant with every news outlet rushing to crack the code that would open up Pandora€™s Box, thus making every last detail line up and fit into a clear and easy picture. Yet, here we are, years later, and they remain that: theories. Some may appear more valid than the rest, but they are all theories just the same. That being said, there is one theory that should be at least taken into account when debating whether or not Benoit should be inducted into the Hall of Fame. I€™m speaking of course of the one which suggests that repeated trauma to Benoit€™s brain could have been the underlying cause for his actions. While no one has yet stepped forward and said one was directly correlated to the other, to claim they were not even a contributing factor would reek of ignorance. Since early last year, two former NFL players have committed suicide, one of which, Dave Duerson, requested his brain be used for research on CTE, thought to be the leading factor in why Benoit did what he did. It seems like more is learned daily about the long-lasting effects repeated trauma to the head can have on a person, and none of the news is promising. Slowly, but surely, we€™re starting to see how severe and irreparable the damage it does can be, and with each advancement in our understanding, the belief that it was somehow at the root of what occurred all those years ago at the Benoit homestead sounds increasingly more likely. Further, this damage was brought about by Benoit€™s unfaltering commitment to the job. In his storied career, he accomplished so much that it would seem absurd to list it all, and his success can be tied back to a virtually unparalleled work ethic. As was revealed, in light of the tests done on his brain post mortem, he was the sort of wrestler who would take a chair shot to the back of the head, thought to be too stupid and risky by others in the business. He put his entire self into his work and, in the end, it cost him that and more. What happened was undeniably tragic, but I contend that it should be looked in context. Should all of Benoit€™s accomplishments be wiped out and forgotten based solely on an act that could potentially be explained as an extremely undesirable byproduct of those same accomplishments? I say no, that Benoit is such an indelible part of the WWE€™s history, whether or not they€™ll bring themselves to admit it, that to hold him out would be a crime, not unlike what he did, except for the clear difference in severity. If Steve Austin, whose wrongdoing has no such uncertainty and debate surrounding it, deserves a place, then so too does Benoit. On even his worst day, he was twice the wrestler that Austin ever was, and isn€™t that what should matter the most? While it€™s doubtful what he did will ever be lost from the public consciousness, or forgiven, his impact on the world of wrestling will be no less lasting, and for that he must be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
Contributor

Travis Smith is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh (with a Bachelor's in Fiction Writing) who watches more movies and television shows than he knows what to do with. You can follow him here (travisjarrodsmith.tumblr.com) on tumblr.