Does something a wrestler does affect the way we remember them? I've been pondering on this for a while now and others I've spoken to have different oppionions on the matter and I'm sure you have also. If so then leave me a message in the comment box. I really do need people to start messagining in so I know I'm not wasting my time here Maybe later on I'll set up an email account just so you can send your thoughts in there.
Anyway back to the subject. What prompted me to write this was two seperate pieces of news. One that Scott Hall has been released from rehab and that Jim 'the Anvil' Neidhart has been arrested on charges of contempt of court. Now both men had very different career with very different results.
As Razor Ramon, Hall hit stardom in the wrestling word in WWE in the early nineties. His previous stint in WCW as The Diamond Stud was shambolic and thats me being nice. But as Ramon, Hall hit the big time, earning more money than he ever had before and recieving world wide acclaim. His finest match, at least to me was his 1993 King of the Ring first round match with Bret Hart in which, as a heel, Hall managed to hold his own in the ring for the first time since he joined the company. Many other great matches followed, including at the 1993 Royal Rumble (which came before King of the Ring) again against Hart for the WWF Championship, and of course his 1995 Royal Rumble scrap with Jeff Jarrett for the Intercontinental Championship. None though, proved how good Hall really was better than that night in 1993. His transition from a hell was smooth and as a face, Ramon was loved by all. Yet a twist of fate saw that his WWE stint would be forever overshadowed in 1996 when Hall jumped ship to WCW.
Scott Hall was always a respected man in the locker room, even by Vince McMahon. In fact to this day Scott Hall is one of the minority of wrestlers who recieved a warm goodbye from WWE, when after his final match with the bungling Vader, at an In Your House, Vince McMahon who served commentary in those days (who can forget), actually said something nice as he left the arena for the final time on WWF television. After he jumped ship to WCW with Kevin Nash, Hall floated for a while with nothing to do, until Hogan came along and the NWO was created. Now don't get me wrong, the NWO had very few decent matches but that didn't stop them being a force in the wrestling world. Matches aside they were maybe the most watched thing in wrestling up to 1999 when they just got boring. Hogan did his usual 'limelight on me' job, Nash plodded aorund, but Hall showed something that even I didn't expect to see from him after his Razor Ramon past - character.
This isn't a career retrospective of the man, but after WCW folded and he'd done with WWE in 2002, Hall went to a start up company named TNA. Before this, the weight had piled on and the booze had taken its toll. For when he rocked up in TNA, Hall was barely recognizable. He was overweight and looked years over his age. When he floated away from TNA, Hall's abuse of the bottle and to my knowledge drugs led to him being arrested more than once and put into rehab a handful fo times.
For me Scott Hall is one of wrestlings royalty. I come from an era when everything I saw was brilliant. As an adult I can now tell the difference when I watch it back. I don't want Scott Hall to be forgotten because of his life after wrestling and neither for me will anything he's done outside the ring, change how I looked at him in it. Personally I hope Scott Hall can turn his life around and so do millions of others. Stay off the booze, stay clean, sober and I look foward to the day that he can walk into the WWE Hall of Fame and take his rightful place.
Jim Neidhart was a great tag team wrestler. No doubt, Hart Foundation was one of the greatest. But the curse of the tag teams struck the Anvil like it strikes most. Bret Hart spread his wings and his career took off when the Hart Foundation spilt. The Anvil faded into the wrestling abyss, not appearing again until 1994 King of the Ring when he sided himself with Owen Hart. It was a disasterous run for Jimmy, and his career would never be the same. He failed in WCW, and even in the latter days of his career, 1997 onwards, Jim Neidhart has past his peak even with the newly reformed Hart Foundation.
So what was left? Retire and spend your life knowing that your were at least once, part of the greatest tag team in wrestling history? No, in the late 00's, that's 2009 onwards Niedhart, not thinking of his daughters reputation (that would be Natalia Neidhart), started to slide downwards. All he could get were indie dates and reunion shows - he was one of the wrestlers that would fail to leave the spotlight. And so it came to pass that the idiot was arrested for possession of controlled substances and then sent to jail for contempt of court. How proud the family must be.
Now Jim very rarely did anything of use in the ring. He was carried by Bret Hart for the tag team stint and in singles was absolutley soul destroying to watch. He will be remember, as he should be, but as what? So no, I won't watch any of his matches back and have the memories ruined because he did nothing of note. Which brings me onto a topic people don't talk about in wrestling.
Chris Benoit: in 2007 Chris Benoit was found dead in his home alongside his son and wife. Now...no one knows what happened to Chris and his poor family, it is thought that that he murdered them and then took his own life. Me, I don't want to believe that and since it is only what the authorities think happened and there is no evidence to prove anything else, then in my mind Chris Benoit can never be found totally guilty. There are other things that may have happened or indeed he could be guilty. No one will ever know now, because the only people who could tell us are no longer here. Benoit hours before his death on the day of Night of Champions 2007, sent a bunch of incohereant texts to friends. It was also said that he lived beyond his means, his body was tired from wrestling and he was impotent. What the hell does that prove? Nothing!
For millions, when the supposed facts came out were outraged, at what I don't know. They acted like they were there and saw it all and he'd let them down. Listen up you morons who think he let you down, if you don;t know what shit went down that awful day, then don't comment. You're making yourselves look like dicks. Unless you know for certain what happened, if he killed them - if he didn't, then who the hell are you to say otherwise? That is the reason why I do not comment, only to say we don't know, we can't cast judgment.
Chris' career will always remian a higlight of wrestling history. He will always be the greatest technical wrestler to ever step foot in the ring and the fact that WWE and Vince McMahon removed him from all WWE related merchandise including WWE.Com and his name from the history books, I find pathetic and insulting to those who follwed Benoit and those who will now carry on to think bad of him. If it can ever be proved he did what he was accused of then fine - hate him. Until then, you cannot be sure and don't you dare tell me you can. WWE even removed his name from the list of Royal Rumble winners, which now leaves a big gap and even more questions for them to answer when people want to know whose name should fill it. Surely it would have been easier to leave him there.
If you're unsettled watching any of Chris' work back then that's something you have to deal with. For me and I know for certain for many others, we will never watch Chris Benoit wrestling on old DVDS and VHS' and have it ruined by speculation - which is what it is. A Chris Benoit match will never be ruined for me, because they were always exceptional. And no one can take that away from him. Not you and not Vince McMahon. One of the most emotional moments in wrestling history came at Wrestlemania 20 when Benoit won the World Heavyweight Championship after 18 years in the business and one of the finest matches I've ever seen was at SummerSlam 2004 when Randy Orton defeated Chris Benoit for that same belt. Chris Benoit's legacy inside the ring should never be tainted for he supposedly did outside of it.
