(this is taken from 1wrestling.com written by Scott Hudson, as he did at the passing of Jill Jarrett Hudson's comments are both timely and insightful, IMHO)
SCOTT HUDSON: CHRIS BENOIT'S FOURTH VICTIM
By: Scott Hudson
6/26/2007 3:44:44 PM
Not a human victim. As the beautiful Nancy and the young Daniel lay dead and dying in their new home, Chris was slowly suffocating another victim as he ended his own life. He killed what shred of innocence was left in wrestling. I know that's akin to lamenting the loss of integrity in the legal profession - but there was a little bit left.
The innocence was found in the locker room, in a backstage handshake and embrace between two athletes, in ribbing among the members of the fraternity. As kayfabe went the way of the dinosaur, the wall of insulation constructed from the inside out by those in the business grew higher. One knew that any casual hotel lobby conversation with a fan or radio show guest shot would be on the internet in mere minutes. Nothing wrong with that. But we knew that the only people you could trust - albeit very little - were those in the locker room with you. They knew. They understood. The pain. The travel. The pain. The loneliness. The pain. The frustration. That common thread linked everyone. They knew you and you knew them. Maybe not personally - but you just knew. Everyone around you began in small buildings with even smaller pay-offs and much larger aches and bruises. We were all on the same team - no matter what.
Suicide is an awful thing. Whether it's the coward's way out is a matter for the bumper sticker writers. That person is still just as dead. Wrestling has had its share of intentional and unintentional suicides. Insert the word murder in place of suicide and that statement rings just as true. But murder/suicide? Of a child? Like he has so often - Chris Benoit raised the bar.
Double-crosses occur in every profession without exception. Salesmen, attorneys, entertainers, bureaucrats - makes no difference. Wrestlers included. But like the old saw dictates regarding families, "We may fight among ourselves but God help the outsider that fights one of us. You fight one of us - you fight all of us." That was a strong bond among wrestlers. That was part of the innocence.
The biggest marks in the building are backstage. We believed that we knew - as much as we reasonably expect - those in there with us. We put our lives in each others hands and trusted them not to injure us. We believed. We knew.
George Carlin noted, "People say 'sometimes you just don't know.' That's not true. Sometimes you do know. You just don't want to say it out loud." Now we know. The guy you're in the ring with; the man you're working out spots with; the guy next to you in the rental car - he could kill his family. What? That won't happen? You just know it couldn't happen. How do you know that?
Nancy and Daniel will be forever mourned as the victims of a mad man and a madman. Their memorial service will be tearful pageant celebrating their lives. As well it should be. The man who killed them was working out spots with Elijah Burke three nights previously.
We can no longer assume that just because we're in the same biz and have paid the same dues that we are all hard-wired the same way. We are not. Chris, the son of a bitch, killed that, too.
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