[chriservin22]

I... wow.

Benoit was (it feels weird writing in the past tense) one of the few people I still cared about in the pro wrestling world. However you feel about the current state of 'sports entertainment' -- I can't imagine many people legitimately enjoying the drivel Vince & co. are producing nowadays -- I do not begrudge the people making their careers from it. One has to really love wrestling to accept the constant physical, financial, and psychological punishment that goes with the territory. Yet no one loved wrestling like Benoit loved wrestling, and I realize now that I loved him - as much as a lapsed wrestling fan can love a person they've never met.

It feels like he was the last link to an older tradition of wrestling, too. As far as I know, he was the last active wrester who trained with Stu Hart.

I'm going to have to find my old copy of WCW/NWO Revenge now. I need to see a series of German suplexes.

[chriservin22]

And Benoit was known as a class act behind the scenes, I remember. Back when I used to care about this stuff.

Because professional wrestlers are, usually, dicks.