No Rest for the Responsible
No Rest For The Responsible...
Most of you know that I’m a pro wrestling fan. As such, I’ve been asked
about the tragedy in Atlanta involving the Murder-suicide of Chris Benoit
and his family.
I’ve refrained from many public comments on the situation as there is
a great deal unknown about the situation apart from this: One of the finest
technical wrestlers of the last decade, Chris Benoit murdered his wife and
seven year old child before killing himself.
What we don’t know is why.
The pattern of the killings absolutely, in my opinion, eliminates the
Steroid argument. The killings took place over a weekend, and deliberately,
not as an impromptu act, which would be evidenced as a result of
“Roid Rage”.
The confusion over the knowledge or lack of knowledge of Benoit’s son
and his illness makes this more difficult to determine. If his son was, in fact,
a victim of Fragile X Syndrome, the stress of how the family could/should
handle the situation certainly had to be a factor in the deaths.
It is also thought that the numerous “bumps” taken by Chris Benoit over
the years of wresting in the US, Mexico, and Japan could have left him with
serious damage to the brain; post-concussion syndrome. That could have
affected his thought processes and damaged the circuitry.
Whatever the case, Benoit was not, apparently, as clean as was thought.
Fox News broke the story on Monday that Benoit long time physician, Dr.
John Astin, was supplying him massive doses of steroids.
Does this mean that Steroids is the cause of this debacle? We’ll know
more after the toxicology reports are completed in the coming days.
Wrestling is a tough life. It was tough “back in the day”, as our publisher
is fond of saying, of the independent promotions when wrestlers worked
6-7 matches a week (sometimes three times during a weekend) for weeks at
a time. But in the era of the regional promotions, wrestlers usually took a
couple of weeks off when moving from one region to the next. These days
WWE talent may only work 4-5 days a week, but they get no real time off
to heal from the nagging little injuries that cause them grief. As such, you
have high injury rates with no time for healing, so they tough it out with
help from “friends” - prescription painkillers, usually obtained legally, that
become addictive and lead to even more injuries. Many times wrestlers are
so injured but so medicated that they become a hazard to their own health.
Witness Kurt Angle. It’s no secret that his suspension and release from
his WWE contract was related to “wellness” (read drug) issues and his
taking significantly high levels of medications to mask his pain. Angle
is a shell of his former self, but can still perform in the ring. That’s why
he bit on the opportunity to go to work for upstart TNA wrestling. In that
company, rather than the 4-5 day a week grind in WWE, Angle works only
five days a month and limited independent dates. TNA, by the way, doesn’t
engage in “wellness” testing as does WWE, a publically traded company.
I don’t believe that Benoit can or should be held blameless for his
behavior, but he has paid the ultimate price for his actions with the loss of
his own life and the tarnishing of his reputation. Already WWE has purged
all mentions of Benoit from it’s website, and you’ll never see this man
inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, though he was a million times better
performer than many of those already there.
Separating Benoit the performer from Benoit the person is difficult,
much like separating OJ Simpson the Athlete from OJ the “alleged” killer.
The calls to remove Simpson from the NFL Hall of Fame were rejected, as
they should be. Remembering Benoit for the powerful matches he had with
Dean Malenko, Chris Jericho, and others should not be diminished because
of a heinous act that will tarnish his memory forever.
What he did was wrong. But he is dead, and cannot pay anymore.
The calls to regulate pro wrestling over steroid abuse are foolish. It is
private enterprise. Keep government out of it.
Yes, wrestlers are dying at a very young age. But Steroids are such a
small part of it.
The work schedule that these young men and women keep up along with
the “medications” necessary to keep functioning is what is killing them. For
every Eddie Guerrero there’s a Louis Spicolli who was existing on painkillers
and Soma and one nigh went to sleep and never woke up. Or a Chris
Candido whose ring related injuries took him far too young. And let’s not
forget Owen Hart, killed in Kansas City’s Kemper Arena, the result of a
stupid stunt gone wrong.
No, I’m not going to call for regulation. Instead, I call for Vince
McMahon to be a much more responsible employer and quit burning out
his employees. Already the talent pool is drying up. Where will your next
Ric Flair come from? Given the lack of developmental promotions, we may
never see another.
If wrestling survives at all.
Every year here in Las Vegas we see some of wrestling’s best as they
gather for their annual Cauliflower Alley reunion. These men and women
were in the ring for 30 to 40 years, and many are in their 80’s and 90’s.
Will any of the current WWE roster make it to their golden years?
Our publisher made a great point. Old wrestlers and old athletes from
the pre-steriod and drug days are still around. How many of them will take
the personal responsibility to ensure that they’re there for their families.
Perhaps Chris Benoit saw that. Perhaps it was his way of cleansing the
slate. I truly hope not.
Congratulations! You did it!
You essentially shut down the Capital Hill Switchboard last week by
railing against the elitists who wanted open boarders and restricted airwaves.
You showed the nimrods on Capital Hill who really owns the country.
You do. You told them that you wanted America, not the North American
Union. You want to retain your sovereignty, not to become the mess that
Europe has with their bloody foolish EU.
The elitists on Capital Hill from both sides of the aisle learned a lesson.
Don’t piss off the American Public. To do so can be political suicide. A
number decided it was better to listen to their constituents than to drink the
Kennedy/McCain Kool-Aid.
But it’s not over yet.
The elitist media, including our own Review-Journal, continue to beat
the drum for “Immigration Reform” in the name of doing the bidding of
their own overlords, those industrialists who prefer the steady stream of
lower cost, lower overhead labor.
To quote Penn and Teller, Bullshit.
These slime bags would prefer that there were no people involved, but
if they have to have people, they want them at the lowest prices possible.
Profits without people.
It’s a dirty way to make money. But it’s what we’ve devolved to.
Finally, kudos in a strange sort of way to the Culinary Union, who will
be running Citizenship Fairs at the union hall July 10 and 11.
Perhaps the Union recognizes what the employers won’t. Citizenship,
not simply residency, makes for getter workers. Its like comparing homeowners
to renters. Homeowners usually take a great deal of pride in their
personal property. Renters usually don’t. Citizens are the owners of the
country and usually take more pride in their country.
WYATT COX
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