Like Being Hit With a Sledgehammer
Wednesday, June 27th, 2007At 8.08am yesterday morning I was lying in bed, trying to summon the energy to get up and have a shower before work. It was then that the following text message came in from my friend Rod:
Chris Benoit is dead. Killed himself and his wife and son.
The first reaction is to hope it’s a lie, but as a wrestling fan you quickly become accustomed to your heroes being taken well before their time. I snapped awake and quickly booted up the Internet. Rod’s text was chillingly accurate. I won’t go into detail here, but plenty of that can be found on Wrestling news sites such as Wrestling Observer and 411mania.
The manner of Chris Benoit’s death has shocked everybody. He always came across as a consumate pro, a dedicated family man who had always stayed clear of the seedier side of life that seems to haunt many pro-wrestlers to their graves. You never heard his name in connection with steroid scandals, drink or drugs binges. He was polite and accessible to the fans and was, it was universally acknowledged, one of the best technical wrestlers in the world. When I attended Wrestlemania XXII in Chicago last year, Chris Benoit, along with Kurt Angle and Ric Flair, was the wrestler I was most excited about seeing.
Of course, now he will always be remembered as the abusive husband and child killer. His incredible matches with Jushin ‘Thunder’ Lyger, Kurt Angle, Eddie Guerrero,Triple H et al will be forgotten, his legacy flushed down the toilet. But, most worryingly for the industry are the allegations of what was behind the double murder-suicide, the talk of ‘roid rage’, the history of depression linked to steroid use and the implication of illicit dealing in controlled body-building substances.
Mainstream press such as TMZ.com has once again bought up the high percentage of wrestlers that don’t make it past their 50th birthdays due to heart attacks that can be directly linked with steroid abuse. Even from memory, and a far less than comprehensive list, the following makes grim reading:
Eddie Guerrero - aged 38.
‘The British Bulldog’ Davey Boy Smith - aged 39.
‘Road Warrior Hawk’ Michael Hegstrand - aged 46.
‘The Wall’ Jerry Tuite - aged 37.
‘The Big Boss Man’ Ray Traylor - aged 42.
Louie Spicolli - aged 27.
‘Mr. Perfect’ Curt Henning - aged 45.
And that’s just a snapshot of a much larger problem. If you also take into account the untimely demise of wrestlers who commited suicide due to depression, a noted side effect of steroid abuse (i.e. Mike Awesome, ‘Crash Holly’ Mike Lockwood), or from other drugs related issues (Miss Elizabeth, ’Ravishing’ Rick Rude, Scott ‘Bam Bam’ Bigelow, Art Barr etc. etc. etc.) it becomes obvious that there is an incredible problem within the industry.
I have always been of the opinion that whatever crap wrestlers want to pump into their veins is up to them. They know the risks and if they choose to carry on then more fool them. But if (and it’s a big ‘if’), steroid abuse is found to have played a role in the deaths of Chris Benoit and his family then something needs to be done. Now.