Reported by Mike Siciliano of WrestleView.com
On Thursday, June 28, 2007 at 1:14 AM EST

This past monday afternoon/evening, I was at a meeting for my son, and when I returned home at around 8:30pm, I went downstairs and saw the ECW match from last week bringing the subject of this column one step closer to another world championship. I realized then somethng was amiss. Then, I saw CM Punk talk about the inability to wrestle this man ever again, and I saw the graphic. I was dumbstruck. Speechless. You name it. I felt it.

I RAN upstairs, (and for me, that's a feat). I checked all the sources I know online. I found this to be legit. I began to cry. I have my reasons, some of them I am going to explain later on. I also began to plan out how this column would pay tribute to quite possibly one of my most favorite performers in the ring, Chris Benoit.

I had a plan of doing two columns. One for myself, and one for you, the fans of Benoit, to speak your mind about the man that we knew for over 20 years in ECW, WCW, and WWE.

However, I was asked by the one person who means the most to me in this world to hold back on writing my piece until the cloudiness of the case came to pass. There were some aspects of the case that seemed peculiar and frightening. I kept swearing to myself last night, and even now, as I write this, that these allegiations were false, and there was no way that this could be occurring.

In retrospect, this person who asked me to wait before writing was right. Apparently, the investigation has found some horrifying facts that led to the demise of a legendary pro wrestling family, and an innocent 7 year old child.

Being a father of 3 boys, one who just turned 8, that hit me just as hard, if not harder, than losing a performer in the ring that I geniunely looked up to. (Yes, at 35, I still have my role models.)

Truth be told, I am still feeling the effects of finding out about this story, and I hope that writing this column would be the beginning of 'moving on' from my own emotional standpoint.

As much as the world is going to remember the man for the acts that led to his demise, which is an absolute travesty, I am going to remember the man between the ropes, and the man within the compass of WWE, where we knew him for close to 7 years, causing havoc, beating people up, and winning championships on a regular basis. As much as I may not like WWE's decision of pulling the tribute material off their website due to the nature of this situation, and I'll be honest, I don't like it, I respect the decision made by the WWE. It's a no win scenario. Leave the material up, and the world calls you this, take the material down, and the hardcore wrestling fans call you that. You can't win, no matter how you try. WWE took, albeit a road I would've like to have seen avoided, but they took the high road, and I can't fault them for that.

Instead of sitting here speculating on what may have happened, and what did happen, and why this, and why that, I am going to tell you a story as to why I hold Chris Benoit the wrestler, Chris Benoit the sports entertainer, in such high esteem. And why, regardless of what had occurred that night, I will forever pay a silent tribute to one of my favorite wrestlers.

It's August, 2004. August 7th, to be exact, and then the World Heavyweight Champion is arriving in Massapequa, Long Island, for an autograph signing. The place was electric, and the champ looked to be soaking in the agilation, and well he should for the feat he had done on two different occasions, beating the Game, and the Heart Break Kid at the same time. He came in with the gold, and he looked to be right at home. At the time, (and I still have it), I had my own replica World title in my hand, already signed by the Game, Triple H, and the Nature Boy, Ric Flair.

I was nervous. Very nervous. When I approached with my family, I had my son Jonathan, a veteran of multiple times through a hospital operating room, hand the world title to the champ. He took the time to ask my son who he beat for the title. Jonathan turns and replies, my dad. Chris smiled and said "good for you", and signed the belt "CHRIS BENOIT, RAW 04" I shook the man's hand, he took the time to give me the eye contact that a celebrity should in these scenarios, he spoke briefly with my other two children and my wife, and we left. It was a brief moment in time for Mr. Benoit, but a moment that to this day, I still remember.

I can't and I will not ask the world to remember one shade of a man who has fallen to tragic circumstances. I believe in my heart of hearts that this was the culmination of a tremendous amount of physical and emotional wear and tear that caused a man to lose control. I do not believe this was 'premeditated', and I do not believe there was 'malicious' intent on anyone's part.

I do not condone the actions of what transpired this past weekend in Georgia, obviously. However, I refuse, with all my being, to tarnish the positive memory that I have of Chris Benoit when I had the privilege of meeting him. I believe, I hope, that we as fans of Chris Benoit, whomever they may be, will remember him for what he contributed to the sport of professional wrestling, and not for the grave, grievous, catastrophic errors that he made that forced him to pay the ultimate price.

I invite my readers of this column the chance to talk more about Chris Benoit, if they so desire, at my myspace page. If you're interested to contribute your thoughts on Benoit, send me an email, and I'll publish it to my blog there.

Rest in Peace to three people who were taken from this earth way too soon.

You will all be missed.

Click here for my myspace.

Click here to email me.

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