Keys to the Game 6.30.07: The Finish
Posted by Joe Estee on 06.30.2007
They say that life is a journey, but in fact, we're more likely to be remebered by where we end up...
Typically, this column focuses on looking at professional wrestling from a sportswriter's vantage point. However, the events of this past week concerning Chris Benoit have unfortunately overshadowed anything else that merits discussion.
True, the Benoit story has received the over-saturation treatment by every conceivable media source and outlet, but in some ways this article is as much for me as it is for you, the reader. While tragedies exist on a much larger scale, the death of Benoit is nonetheless quite disturbing and merits some sort of analysis rather than callous dismissal.
If you're looking for a light tone and a few midget jokes, tune in next week.
Since the moment I heard about the death of Benoit, Eddie Guerrero has been a name that has been brought up on several occasions. I've heard people speak about the irony of them both passing within a relatively short span of each other, how both were slated to regain a World Title days beforehand, and how their history and legacy have been linked together…
But they're wrong. Most are acquainted with Eddie's past, and the demons that he battled with on a regular basis. But when Eddie passed away, he had been clean of addiction and abuse for years. He had turned his career and life around in the right direction. Unfortunately, his past had accrued a debt that his body ultimately had to pay. A charismatic character that even at his worst could barely turn his fans away from him, Eddie loved life, loved wrestling, and loved his family. Eddie finished the game strong, and for that he will always be remembered, perhaps in a better light than he really should be.
Chris Benoit has now become the antithesis of Eddie Guerrero. As of last week, Chris Benoit led a model life of a professional wrestler. He was the ultimate blue collar wrestler, never complaining, seemingly working through the pain. Through the atrocity of last weekend, Benoit's incredible career in professional wrestling will be lost in the mire of the grisly details of a murder-suicide. The image of a strangled wife and son supersedes a confetti-filled area with Benoit embracing Eddie Guerrero, both finally World Champions. The release of two hundred forty pounds from a weight machine turned suicide apparatus outweighs Triple H tapping out at WrestleMania 20.
While Chris Benoit's violent end invites a slew of tasteless "Finishing Move" jokes, perhaps the metaphor is still apt. In wrestling, it's all about the Finish. The Finish can outshine or overshadow a whole match or in this case, an entire career.
Think of Eddie, and you're given a man overcoming his very public personal demons; think of Benoit, and you're given a man overcome by his very private personal demons. Eddie Guerrero's Finish will forever outshine his troubled career; Chris Benoit's Finish will forever overshadow a once storied career.
