Hi.

I haven’t brought anything to the table “Insanity Wise” in a long time now. Reason being is because how can I come out here and joke about the wrestling business when in fact, what is definitely the most INSANE thing in the history of wrestling took place a few short weeks ago. I am not going to come out here and paraphrase everything that happened. I am not going to give those who are living in caves with no television, newspapers or connection to the outside world and recap what happened in gory detail. Basically, to make a long story short, quite possibly the greatest technical wrestler of our time and maybe even ALL time had a brain malfunction and slaughtered his family before killing himself. For those casual readers of mine who don’t follow wrestling that closely, this is the equivalent of John Stockton in Basketball or Cal Ripken in Baseball killing his wife and son before committing suicide. Chris Benoit is now the O.J. Simpson of Professional wrestling. Never mind the fact that he was a tremendous talent in Japan. Forget about his classic angles in ECW where he power bombed Sabu off the top rope onto Rocco Rock through a table. Forget about his WCW run where he feuded with Kevin Sullivan and became one of the best Horsemen ever. Skip his excellent WWE start with the Radicals where he was feuding for the World title with the Rock. And definitely forget about the memorable Wrestlemania XX ending with him and best friend Eddie Guerrero celebrating being champions in the number one promotion in the World in front of the best crowd in wrestling inside the Worlds Most Famous Arena. That is all gone. In ten to fifteen years, when my son is a wrestling fan, someone is going to mention Chris Benoit in front of him and he is going to be oblivious to the fact that Chris Benoit was a great wrestler. He is going to know Benoit as the guy who killed his wife and son.

That is sad.

There are a lot of mixed emotions out there about this. People not sure if they can watch Chris Benoit matches ever again. People not sure if they can even watch wrestling again. Like Wrestling is some sort of horrible freak show that parades around athletes on their death beds and uses them up like slaves. Sorry to say, but that is far from the truth. Succeeding in the wrestling business is all about decision making. Mind you, some of the decisions are basically made for you since you are only left with two choices in most situations, one choice being excellent for your career and the other being disastrous for it. But you still have a choice. If I worked for Vince McMahon and he told me that he wanted me to lose in 4 seconds to Eugene in my return to NYC and then wear a dress after I lost and then get spanked by Viscera before fighting in a hardcore dress match against Mickie James before losing to her. I have a choice. I could say no, I don’t want to do that Vince. Sure, it won’t be beneficial and I may get shipped to Heat or worse, ECW but still, I can choose to say no. Same applies to the lifestyle. Drugs aren’t mandatory to succeed in the business. Does it help? Absolutely.

I’ve read James Guttman’s latest column, Stress, Drugs and Murder: The Benoit Tragedy Finger Pointing and I saw some message board posts on another site taking him to task about it. I’ve also read a lot of people giving sh*t to the Mr. Kennedy’s of the world who say that it is about the individuals who make the choices they make while you have the Marc Mero’s stating that wrestling is a business that kills you. Here is where I stand on those comments.

Both men are correct.

Individuals in the wrestling business are responsible for their own actions. They choose to do drugs, drink alcohol and have sex with any female who comes to a show. You know how I know this? I’ve seen it first hand, that’s how. And guess what? I’ve seen it from wrestlers on the independent level who have never set foot in a WWE/WCW/ECW/TNA ring. That’s right folks, I’ve sent he Tom, Dick and Harry’s on the independent level pop pills, smoke weed, drink alcohol straight out of the bottle. Guys as young as 18-25 years old. Mind you, these aren’t guys who are on the road 180 days a year. There aren’t guys wrestling daily. There are “weekend warriors” who wrestle on a Friday night in New Jersey and then a Saturday night in Philadelphia. That’s it. Sunday, it is back to the real world of their families, their jobs and their life. Think about that for a minute. Little 180 pound men, age 18-25 who wrestle between 6 and 8 times a month.

Now take that stat and compare it to WWE. Sure the days of 300 days of wrestling are gone but WWE guys don’t wrestle 6-8 times a month either. A typical RAW roster schedule goes Travel Day Thursday-Wrestling Friday-Wrestling Saturday-Wrestling Sunday-Wrestling Monday-Travel Day Tuesday not counting those who have promotional appearances for the company. If you add in an overseas tour, you have almost two weeks of non stop travel and wrestling and promotion appearances. The WWE guys also aren’t like the independent guys who have a 2 hour drive from New Jersey to Philly and back. The WWE go from California to Arizona before flying home to the East Coast (presumably Florida for a lot of them).

That takes its toll. Now can you manage this type of schedule without a drug in your system? Of course you can. It isn’t impossible. You will probably have some aches and pains and not get much sleep but it isn’t inconceivable that it can’t be done. But let me ask you, if you were in pain a lot of the time, exhausted from travel all the time and had drugs readily available to make you feel better added to the pressure of someone below you on the totem pole ready to take your place should you go down with an injury, what would you do? Would you take the drugs? That is a question only you can answer but it is hard to walk in another man’s shoes. The pressure of performing and making money. The pressure of being in the main event of shows. It all adds up. At the end of the day, both the wrestling promotion is at fault for consciously or unconsciously putting tons of pressure on their talent as well as the talent themselves looking for shortcuts to succeed. Wrestling is a tricky business and at the end of the day, a sad one.

Before I go, I just want to leave you with this one comment (credit to East Coast J for finding it). I want you to guess who made the below statement:

"The world of wrestling doesn't push you into the depths of darkness, you do. A week before Wrestlemania, there was a big article in USA Today talking about Del Wilkes, Raven was in there. Talking about all of the pills. 200 pills a day habit. You know 200 pills a day? I had neck surgery you know, and I'm lying in the hospital the day after and I'm taking no more than 4 pills a day. 200 pills a day? That's a little extreme.

And they blame it on the industry? No, it's your choice. I've been doing this eighteen years. I do it now, I do it every week. I think I've got a pretty good grasp. I'm not an outsider looking in. So that's all complete BS, it's your choice. It's your decision. The media loves to take something like that an run with it.

It's not 'The world of wrestling drove him to alcohol', it's not 'The world of wrestling drove him to drugs'. No. No, you do that to yourself."

Did you give up? Not sure who made the statement? Here is a hint, it was made on Michael Landsberg’s TSN “Off the Record” show.

Still nothing? Ok, I will tell you.

The above statement was made in 2005 by………………drum roll please……………………

Chris Benoit.

Feel free to discuss whatever you’d like in the “Anger Management” section of the message board or whichever section you see fit.

~Matt Dawgs  

World Wrestling Insanity writer Matt Dawgs is the bread and butter of the World Wrestling Insanity family. His future is bright and once James Guttman comes into a large sum of money, you can expect Matt will be getting tons of it thrown at him, at least half of it. Matt also moonlights as a professional wrestler/manager in the NY/NJ Indy scene. He is legit afraid of getting on Homicide’s bad side but thinks he is a cool dude in general. He also is a funny guy. If you have any questions, corrections, feedback, comments and ideas, he can be reached at Dawgs@worldwrestlinginsanity.com . If the feedback is negative, you can e-mail Matt at insanity@worldwrestlinginsanity.com .

P.S. – In case you didn’t know, there is a WRESTLING BOOK that is out titled “World Wrestling Insanity”. It is a damn fun read so I suggest you run out and get it today. If you already have your copy, read it. If you already read your copy, read it again. It is funny; Like me.

Also, don’t forget to check out our new section, CLUB WWI . It can be found by clicking the banner at the top of this page. Check out all the new audio updates and features found there. Some good stuff including all of James Guttman’s past Radio Free Insanity broadcasts as well as all new, uncut interviews with some of wrestling past and present names. Good stuff people.