From The Horse's Mouth: Finding The Iago – The Chris Benoit Tragedy
Posted by Marco Lima on 11/26/2007
“Soft you; a word or two before you go.
I have done the state some service, and they know't.
No more of that. I pray you, in your letters,
When you shall these unlucky deeds relate,
Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate,
Nor set down aught in malice: then must you speak
Of one that loved not wisely but too well;
Of one not easily jealous, but being wrought
Perplex'd in the extreme; of one whose hand,
Like the base Indian, threw a pearl away
Richer than all his tribe; of one whose subdued eyes,
Albeit unused to the melting mood,
Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees
Their medicinal gum. Set you down this;
And say besides, that in Aleppo once,
Where a malignant and a turban'd Turk
Beat a Venetian and traduced the state,
I took by the throat the circumcised dog,
And smote him, thus.”
Othello, before killing himself after being fooled into strangling his beloved Desdemona to death.
Long have I wanted to put such things to paper since the tragic events of this year’s June, when fate robbed of us a great wrestler, a wife and an innocent child. Few times in my life have I heard so many “why’s” broadcast all over the world, and yet, amidst all the anguish and heartbreak that this whole affair has brought, one of the very first thoughts in my over-active mind was: there must be an Iago in this almost Shakespearean-like tragedy.
Those of you who are familiar with the play are well aware of the story of the downfall of a great man, respected by all his peers and who’s greatest love was for his beloved wife, and yet, in defiance of all normality, as perceived by those on the outside, came his fall from grace, all through the careful and meticulous machinations of the vile being known as Iago.
Iago, like a cunning spider, slowly spun his web using the thinnest of strands and details in which he would eventually trap his prey. The signs were all there and we, as readers, might even have caught on to them, but sometimes we get so caught up in the plot and story that we tend to forget the minor details.
Details. That’s the keyword my friends….Details.
“You see this fellow that is gone before;
He is a soldier fit to stand by Caesar
And give direction: and do but see his vice;
'Tis to his virtue a just equinox,
The one as long as the other: 'tis pity of him.
I fear the trust Othello puts him in.
On some odd time of his infirmity,
Will shake this island.”
Iago, speaking of Cassio’s vice with alcohol.
In the years preceding 2007 when we all spent hours upon hours debating the intricacies of pro-wrestling, how often have the subject of steroids come up? One to many I would say. And amidst all those names like Scott Steiner, Chris Masters, Ultimate Warrior, Hulk Hogan, the steroid scandals, etc. Why wouldn’t Chris Benoit’s name come up? Is it because he’s small? Maybe it’s because he’s the quiet type? No…Chris Benoit trained in Stu Hart’s Dungeon…he’d never take steroids…would he? I am sad to say that, if memory serves, his name never came up at all. Not once. And yet it was discovered that he had been consuming them for a while.
“I have a pain upon my forehead here.”
Othello to Desdemona as lies and deception begin to lay root in his mind.
Then we get the results of brain autopsy and the underlying damage. Its funny how most of the time when talk about injuries in wrestling, how often we think of those nasty looking botches that sent many a guy to the hospital. I mean, we all remember D’LO breaking Droz’s neck. Or how about Sid breaking his leg during that jump? Or Nash powerbombing the Giant in WCW? Or even recently with that nasty cut Matt Hardy took to the head in the tag team match. It’s easy to recall broken bones, blood and guts, bruises and gashes. I wonder if anyone can tell me how many times Chris Benoit took bumps to the head…be it chair shots or the consistent impact of the swan dive headbutt. It’s hard for me to recall a match where Benoit did not hit that move. And if his work ethic is anything to be believed, you know he would use it not only at PPVs and weekly shows, but also house shows; not to mention during training or practices. How many impacts to the head is that per year? How about in that man’s entire career? But hey, he was okay…he didn’t break anything…he didn’t bleed….he wasn’t part of a botch….why would we remember that…its just a detail….and then we hear the words “damage consistent with Alzheimer’s patient”…
“Is this the noble Moor whom our full senate
Call all in all sufficient? Is this the nature
Whom passion could not shake? whose solid virtue
The shot of accident, nor dart of chance,
Could neither graze nor pierce?”
Lodovico, wondering about Othello’s state of mindFinally we get to the business about the dreaded diary, held so painfully by a grieving father who’s probably having a harder time dealing with all of this than any of us. If Chris Benoit was going through that much emotional turmoil…its hard to imagine nobody picking up signs. But aren’t wrestler’s people too? I mean we have no problems talking about Lex Luger’s stroke, cos we all know he was “matching and mixing” all sorts of substances. Or how about Steve Austin beating his wife? And X-Pac beating up Chyna? That’s the sort of scandal our minds easily feast upon…and truth be told, Chris Benoit would never make anyone’s “Top Ten Lists of Guys who would snap and kill their family”….most people would put at least 10 names before his. A few might even put 20. I could probably put 50.
But where is the Iago of this play? Where is the villain? I would love to believe one person was behind all this. Even those crazy, nonsensical Kevin Sullivan theories would have set my mind at ease knowing that one of my favorite wrestlers of all time was the victim of some evildoer.
And yet, the evidence shows the once honored man having strangled his wife and then smothered the life out of frail innocent child.
“Blow me about in winds! roast me in sulphur!
Wash me in steep-down gulfs of liquid fire!”
Othello, after realizing what he had done. “Reputation, reputation, reputation! O, I have lost
my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of
myself, and what remains is bestial. My reputation,
Iago, my reputation!”
Cassio, realizing what his actions have cost him.
Perhaps my friends, there is no villain in all of this, at least perhaps not the personification of greed, lust, and rage in the form of a single punishable man or women to whom hot, rusty irons could be set. Dammit I wish there was one person to blame…one evil sadistic person I could curse every so often and write hate letters to. One person I could rank up there with the Jeffrey Dahmers, Bin Laden’s, Saddam Hussein’s, Charle’s Mansons, and Adolf Hitler’s of the world. Maybe the only person to blame is Chris Benoit himself.
While we may never know the real truths of why such things happen, it could, in an esoteric sort of way, be fate’s way of reminding us that even the mighty are prone to fall by the darkest of roads….that those who may have inspired us would turn into those we would come to revile…that perhaps some things are not meant to be….and some simply are….perhaps our Iago is but a combination of tragic circumstances and events which have all mysteriously culminated one upon the other.
If there were twelve Herculean labors Chris Benoit could perform to redeem himself and his legacy, I believe he would it. I would be willing to help him. And I know I would not be alone. But the ink on the quill of fate’s stern hand is everlasting and the taint is irremovable.
To this day we’re still wondering “why”, while only having eighty-percent of “what”, stick trying to connect the “who’s” to the “where’s” and the “when’s”. This has now become an unsolved mystery that will forever be the topic of controversy…more so than the Montreal Screwjob…more so than Owen Hart’s Accident. All the medical and forensic reports in the world won’t explain 100% of what happened on that fateful day. They won’t explain why a man with that much brain damage he was still able to function well enough to board a plain and do what he did. They won’t explain the WWE’s health policy is so insufficient and their Wellness Policy of ineffective. It won’t explain why some of Chris’s closest friends weren’t there to see the signs of his apparente mental breakdown. And most importantly, it won’t bring Chris, Nancy or Daniel back to us.
At the end of the day, we’re left with the same questions…why Chris why? How will I explain this to my friends? What will I tell my children, should they become wrestling fans? Where I would once tell a beautiful story, I must now announce a saddest of tragedies…
” O Spartan dog,
More fell than anguish, hunger, or the sea!
Look on the tragic loading of this bed;
This is thy work: the object poisons sight;
Let it be hid. Gratiano, keep the house,
And seize upon the fortunes of the Moor,
For they succeed on you. To you, lord governor,
Remains the censure of this hellish villain;
The time, the place, the torture: O, enforce it!
Myself will straight aboard: and to the state
This heavy act with heavy heart relate."
Lodovico, in the closing line of Othello.
Shakespeare would have been sadly proud.
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