The Death of Chris Benoit

I grew up watching WWE (then WWF) wrestling. I'd say I missed probably 3 episodes of Monday Night Raw in the 6 years of Middle School and High School. By my sophomore year in high school, all the members of the basketball team would gather somewhere to watch it every week, a tradition that continued throughout the last week before we all split off for college. I can remember standing up in front of the TV, cheering the return of Stone Cold or booing as Triple H managed to sneak out another win. I had a major, major crush on Lita (real name: Amy Dumas) and wished I had the charisma of The Rock.

With that as a background, it's with quite the heavy heart that I sit here and listen to stories of the finals days of the life of Chris Benoit. The stories that are coming out about how he died, the circumstances with his family, etc..are completely heart wrenching. I fear that no explanation will ever be enough to explain why something like this could happen. I'm torn between honoring the character he was and dismissing his in-ring persona as a result of his final actions. I was going to originally post an image here, of him applying his finishing submission hold ("The Crippler Crossface"), however, the more I think about it, the more I feel like that would be too much of a celebration at this point for someone whose final actions were so tragic.

Chris Benoit provided many, many hours of entertainment to me and my friends, and for that, I will pray that the Lord has mercy on him.