A Canadian Obit

Professional wrestling over the years has had its ups and downs. It swings back and forth between great characters and fun new ideas and great storylines, to rehashes of the same stuff peddled several nights before or even several years before. There have only been a few wrestlers who have ever become anything or stood for anything. Hulk Hogan, The Warrior, Sting, The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Kurt Angle, etc. I used to be a big WWF watched back in the day and I returned during the WCW vs. WWF war that eventually resulted in WWE. I also enjoyed the occassional ECW before being acquired by WWE. However, for the most part, I have been outside of the wrestling community and world for many years. I was shocked later to find out about the extremely sad crippling of one of my favorite wrestlers Perry Saturn who was shot several times in the neck when trying to save a woman from being raped. The, not too long ago I was hit by the news of Eddie Guerrero's death at such an early age. Eddie was always ripped and it never made sense to me. However, I have never been so disappointed by an icon until now. Chris Benoit, also known as the Canadian Crippler and The Wolverine, was recently found dead in his home in an apparent suicide by hanging himself at his weight machine after having strangled his son and wife. One speculation is that it was a steroid induced rage.

Normally, I never write these kinds of things, not even about the greats in the media world who pass on each year. But I felt that since Benoit will probably be villified and remembered for his violent ending of life that someone should come out and discuss the great things he did and represented. Benoit was one of a few, and probably the first to come out and not waste time jabbering. Sure, he founght like a mad man and brawled his way to the top where he won a ridiculous number of belts, but no matter what he did, he made sure he stood for his homeland, Canada. Back in middle school, he was the only wrestler I saw that constantly was referred to as Canadian and stood by it. Whether the storyline was heel or face, he was Canadian and he gave a damn good fight and a good show each time he entered the ring. The Crippler Crossface and his slaps became well known to any who watched. And considering growing up in a place and time when Canadians were prominently displayed in South Park as weak, badly-accented English people whose biggest fault in life was everything, I'm sure Benoit must have served as an icon for the better side of Canada. Sure they had hockey, but sadly many people thought their hockey team was fiercer than their military. The joking and derogatory remarks about Canada and its ways gave me a vague idea and concept about the wussies and the "aboots." Thankfully, everytime I watched wrestling I was forced to do battle with Benoit and his boy wonder attitude. He was short, muscled, scruffy, and always seemed overpowered by his opponent who could have been Razor Ramon or Kevin Nash or some other ridiculously tall supposedly American wrestler, and he gave it all. When Benoit lost, you knew it wasn't because he didn't give it his all. I always expected him to expire in battle. Benoit seemed a bit unpredictable, like Wolverine of the X-Men, but he mostly espoused good values and ideas in an age when he was the perpetual underdog. He was Canada's Superman in human form. I don't know what happened to him over the years or what might have put him so far over the edge to have caused this terrible tragedy and incident, but its a damn shame to have sullied such a great career and life. Hopefully, Canadians and others who looked up to him like my good friend from High School, will remember him in better days when his fight was just and forget his last treasonous act upon earth. I salute Benoit for his continuos uphill fight against the terrible conception of Canadians and for successfully helping to keep a young teenager open-minded throughout high school and college until he could make his own decisions. R.I.P.

Wannabe