Disclaimer: The following is just my opinion and may not be the opinion of anyone else. I post these for a couple of reasons. 1. To spark debate around the traps and 2. Because it amuses me and I like to do it. So please feel free to leave a comment on why you think I'm right or wrong at the end.
So we've heard a lot in the past couple of days about wrestlers behaving badly. Jeff Hardy was arrested for drug possession. Kurt Angle had his charges of stalking and HGH possession thrown out and Sean O'Haire was put in the big house for assault.
This thought is not about passing judgement on them.
It's about Chris Benoit.
Yes I mentioned the "Forbidden One" and look, the wrestling world didn't melt down, the sky didn't fall and Vince McMahon didn't play his fiddle while the empire is the WWE burned down around him. Ever since the tragic events involving Chris Benoit and what he did happened wrestling has had a stain on its soul. A mark that is yet to be erased, it may never be erased and we certainly wouldn't want to forget the victims in the case. However wrestling still carries the hurt of the events with them and has yet to fully move on from the shocking moment when wrestling lost its innocence, and the only way wrestling will ever do that is to once again acknowledge Chris Benoit.
Now before all the people who will scream "But he murdered his family." start up. I said ACKNOWLEDGE, not ACCEPT. I don't think Benoit should ever be accepted, injuries notwithstanding what he did was heinous and I don't think anyone in their right mind would ever think he should be welcomed back with open arms, however to just erase him from memory and wrestling's history only continues the drawn out process of pain when people point out that he was a big part of those moments, it only sparks debate and the painful memories of the past are put forth to live again.
Look for example at the new Rise and Fall of WCW DVD, one of the biggest nails in WCW's column, the Radicals jump from WCW to WWE wasn't even given anything on the DVD, why? Because the whole Radicals angle pretty much focused on Chris Benoit. It's that old self fulfulling prophecy of tailoring things to get the result you want, you don't want to mention Benoit so you can't mention the Radicals. But it doesn't stop there, look at some of the recent DVD's WWE has put out and a lot of what they've done has been lessened, for example the Eddie Guerrero DVD had no mention of Benoit, even though anyone who even has a passing intrest in wrestler relationships knows they were best friends. Steve Austin's lastest offering ended early cause his last great fued had Benoit involved and the omission affects future releases too. Let me give you an example, does a Randy Orton DVD work half as well if they can't mention who he beat to become the then youngest world heavyweight champion ever? I don't think so.
You don't even have to acknowledge him in your documentarys if you don't want to, just to have his matches there is probably acceptance enough. I believe most rational wrestling fans can seperate Chris Benoit the entertainer from Chris Benoit the human being, at the moment they're not getting that choice and until that happens the pain will always remain in the heart of wrestling.
But that seems to be typical wrestling behaviour as we turn to the case of Jeffery Nero Hardy (To use the full name from the police report). Depending on who you talk to, Jeff could be doing anything from heading to Australia for the Hulk Hogan tour to going to jail for a minimum three year stretch. I have no doubt Jeff Hardy is not a drug dealer and everything there was purely for personal use but the fact that he had so much there is wrong in itself and it raises another intresting point....this point being the game of "What If?"
What if Jeff is found guilty of traffiking opium and is locked up for a good stretch of time? Does the WWE stop acknowledging him as well because hearing about Jeff Hardy the entertainer may automatically make us think of Jeff Hardy the convicted drug dealer? Do they remove him from history like they have Chris Benoit? Or does the line come at killing people and not at slowly killing yourself? Either way if it happens the WWE is going to have to walk a VERY fine line to come off as hypocrites. If they continue to acknowledge Hardy if he's convicted then they're hypocrites for acknowledging one criminal while erasing another, if they wipe him, then they're hypocrites for not publically acknowledging that the pieces that caused Jeff Hardy's downfall pretty much happened on their watch.
Don't get me wrong, I don't blame Vince or anyone in the WWE for the personal actions of Jeff Hardy, he wasn't employed by them any more and what he does on his own time is his own business. However don't try and fool me by saying for one second that there wasn't some kind of sign that things may be turning pear shaped in Jeff's life. He'd already had two wellness violations to his name.
It's the age old question, where does professional responsibility end and personal responsibility start? To say that they saw nothing from him means someone is either blind or stupid. Jeff Hardy may very well have wrecked his own life thanks to drugs but a lot of those drugs were painkillers, things he may not have needed if he didn't risk his body in a wrestling ring night after night.
In the end maybe there's no right answer when it comes to Hardy or Benoit, but to not acknowledge them is to leave your head in the sand. Acknowledging them, even just a little may just allow them to be a lesson to up and coming wrestlers the world over to be more vigilant for themselves and each other, so tragic events like those Chris Benoit perpertrated will never happen again and maybe then finally, finally wrestling can heal the scars in its heart
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