O, How The Mighty..

There are wrestlers that dominate with size and strength. Then there are those who feed on the crowd for their advantage to win. Then there are those wrestlers that go for chairs and low blows to attain an unfair edge over their adversary..





Then there are those who just bring the pain by making their opponents submit, grappling them out of nowhere. They are as unpredictable as they are deadly.





Before I respected Kurt Angle in that sense, I respected Chris Benoit.





I watched wrestling as a kid, and distraction after distraction, or maybe plain old maturity kept me from watching it straight. I had other means of entertainment, and channel surfing was one of them. I would come upon a WWF show once in a while, watch it for a few minutes, and usually balk at the differences I saw (This was during the 'Attitude Era' of the WWF).





This went on until around 2004, when one particular replay got my attention - that of Wrestlemania 20, where Chris Benoit triumphed over Triple H and Shawn Michaels to win the World Heavyweight Championship.



I remember thinking, 'I've known Triple H and Shawn Michaels ever since, but who the hell is Chris Benoit?'





He introduced himself to me by making everyone who ever faced him tap out. It wouldn't matter what move his opponent would do, it would always end up in the Crossface. And once the Crossface is locked in, the pain would usually overtake the staying power of his poor victim. Like Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit gained my respect simply because he was that good.





Skill like that reflects on a man's determination to succeed. That determination defines his character.


Character may make the man, but apparently some people fall when their character is tested. This, in my opinion, is one of those twisted situations that demonstrate this observation.


May they rest in peace.