A wrestler's violence crushes his image

Wrestling fans felt the cold snap of reality Monday, as the myth of a man once thought to be the virtuous underdog in the profession was shattered forever. Chris Benoit, wrestler for World Wrestling Entertainment, was discovered dead in his suburban Atlanta home along with the bodies of his wife Nancy and son Daniel, whom he apparently had killed.

"If I heard anybody trash Benoit before this, I would've been so mad at them," says Kelly Drazba, 36. "Now, it's like finding out Spider-Man was a child molester."

Drazba, a lifelong wrestling fan who works at 13 Coins, was having drinks with two friends Monday when they both got simultaneous cellphone calls. Hearing the news, they looked at each other, expressions dropping. Then came the tears.

"He used to be a hero, a champion to me," Drazba says slowly. "This act almost overshadows everything else."

Almost, but he says he will still be able to watch tapes of Benoit's matches and enjoy his abilities as a performer.

Not so for other wrestling fans. Internet forums are flooded with messages from fans who say they'll never want to watch one of Benoit's matches again. Some fans, like Nathaniel Pinzon, himself a wrestler, understand, but do not share their views.

"I can't watch his matches anymore and think that he's the most technically amazing wrestler the world has ever seen," says Pinzon, 30. "I can only say here is a guy who didn't get out of the business in time and ended up screwing himself and his family."

Pinzon felt particularly damaged by the tragedy, because he always looked up to Benoit as an underdog in the business, who fought hard to get to the top.

"Chris Benoit is someone whose matches get rewound and watched again and again," he says. He'll still watch and learn, he says, but it'll never be like it was.

"This is already a business that doesn't get enough respect," laments Pinzon. "Of all people, Benoit knew that. And now he just gave yet another reason why wrestlers shouldn't be respected. That personally disgusts me."

Pinzon is part of Seattle Semi-Professional Wrestling, a local wrestling troupe that performs monthly in Seattle (It will be featured in Sunday's Northwest Life.) Unlike the WWE, they have wrestlers of all shapes and sizes, with a greater emphasis on storytelling than on physical ability.

Benoit, 40, apparently hanged himself from one of his exercise machines at his Fayetteville, Ga., home earlier this week, after strangling his wife and smothering his 7-year-old son. Police found prescription anabolic steroids in Benoit's house.

On Monday evening, the WWE aired a show giving tribute to Benoit, before the facts of the case were known. They have since pulled all Benoit merchandise and tribute pages from their Web site.

Jason Goad, a 35-year-old accountant from Seattle, thinks he can deal with the sad facts emerging from the event because he admires the quality of Benoit's work, even if what he did personally disgusts him.

"I let a man's work speak for his work," he says. "There's a lot of writers and artists I admire who have done pretty horrible things."

Bryan Alvarez, a wrestling journalist based in Tacoma, was a friend of Benoit. He still hasn't been able to process the events of the week.

"I've been going on autopilot." All his memories of Benoit are positive — he remembers a humble, courteous gentleman, personality traits often contrary to wrestling. But he still can't excuse the brutality of it all. "I don't care what went on — there should always be something there in the back of your brain that tells you not to kill someone."

Paul Rice is a freelance writer living in Seattle: paul.rice@gmail.com.