Remembering Chris Benoit: Was WWE Right To Destroy His Legacy?

The details of the case are not up for discussion here. Most of the wrestling community know what happened that weekend, and sadly will never know truly why. Benoit, slowly and deliberately, murdered his young son Daniel and his wife Nancy before taking his own life. The case shocked the world, and seemed totally out of character for the hard-working Benoit. According to Chris Jericho, Benoit was not the most social of the WWE performers, but he always spoke of his family, and it was evident of how much he cared for them. Was it 'roid rage', or years of brain damage taking it's toll (Benoit was noted to be one of the only superstars who would take a chair shot to the back of the head)? Was the death of his friend Eddie Guerrero too much to take? The aftermath in WWE was chaotic. The news broke a few hours before Monday Night RAW was due to air, and the impact of the tragedy hit the locker room hard. A visibly shook Vince McMahon made an announcement that RAW would celebrate the career of Benoit, showing some of his best matches and moments. Of course, this was before the details of the case broke, before it was known that Chris Benoit himself had committed these horrendous acts. Perhaps it was an emotional decision, but Vince McMahon again appeared at the start of the Smackdown taping, redacting everything he had said on Monday, and stating that Benoit would never be mentioned again in the WWE. This may have seemed like a drastic step to take, but over the following weeks and months the WWE took a lot of heat from major news outlets. The majority of them seemed to have an agenda, and were looking to get the latest scoop about steroid use in the WWE. Nobody should defend steroid use, and Benoit almost certainly must have used them at times in his career, but in this case there was no evidence of such. Roid rage is not known for being spread out over the course of multiple days either, so this tragedy seemed to have roots that ran deeper. The WWE even had to provide evidence of their Wellness Program to a US Congress hearing. After that, like with all big news stories, something else came along, and it faded into the background publicly. It seemed to have a lasting legacy in the WWE. Some point to the Benoit case as the point when the last pieces of the attitude era were laid to rest. It's an interesting theory to consider, since we all know WWE has certainly moved to a more PG, family-friendly product since then. It's not easy to pinpoint the exact time when the PG-swing occured. There have been mixed reports about the effectiveness of the Wellness Program, but judging by the recent suspension of Randy Orton it appears that WWE are no longer afraid of suspending their big stars, to protect them. Former WWE superstar Maven recently claimed that the Wellness Program 'saved his life'. The WWE, because of the nature of it's business, seems to get more heat than other industries when tragedies occur. In the NFL, has Junior Seau's suicide led to a witch-hunt throughout the NFL, or damaged it's reputation at all? When Whitney Houston passed from an alleged drug overdose, was the music business put under the microscope? If this case happened to a Hollywood star - would the backlash against the industry be the same? It almost certainly would not be. Click "next" below to read part 3... The WWE has no unions to protect the stars, and because it is seen as 'fixed' people do not know how to handle it when a tragedy occurs. The truth is, Vince McMahon is judge, jury and executioner, and that will not change any time soon. As for Benoit, the truth is some people are mentally unstable or are battling their own personal demons that we do not see, or care enough to notice. He was a man who, for whatever reason, committed a hugely selfish act. Not only did he murder his son and wife, but his kids from a previous marriage have to live with the stigma of what their father did, and that may be the saddest part of all. The ultimate question: Was the WWE right to redact Benoit from the record books? It's up for debate. If it happened in any other industry would the same punishment be issued? Certainly not.Although they don't like to mention him, the NFL still acknowledge OJ Simpson and his achievements. Benoit, on the other hand, did more damage to the WWE than OJ did to the NFL. With Vince as the WWE's overlord, if somebody crosses him, that person will be buried. He may feel Benoit's actions personally betrayed him. There's a fine line between enjoying the matches of Benoit, and celebrating a man who had the capacity to commit such a terrible act, and perhaps WWE wants to avoid that debate propping up. The bad press the company got after the tragedy may have forced them to bury his matches and avoid another PR disaster. It's sad that we'll most likely never see Benoit's matches on TV anywhere, again. He was a truly gifted wrestler, responsible for some of the great technical matches of the last generation. There aren't many in today's WWE that could keep pace with him in the ring, and we probably won't see someone with his brand of intensity and technical astuteness again.