The following was posted on Rob Van Dam’s official website:
Well, there’s no need to wait until we have our heads wrapped around this, because I doubt that’ll happen, so here it is. I know that a monster committed those terrible, unforgivable acts of horror. Just like everyone who knew Chris Benoit, I can’t think of him as a monster. Not Chris.
Chris was truly a role model’s role model. You simply had to respect him and admire his focus and unmatched discipline. If I ever got asked a question about who I looked up to the most in the business, you guessed it. That’s me sharing a real feeling with you. Not talking about bull shit that I have little interest in, like who would I like most to wrestle with, or what’s my favorite color, but who I actually looked up to in the dressing room. It’s Chris Benoit- in the ring and in the dressing room and with his family.
The last time I talked to Chris, a few weeks ago, he told me how much he respected me for stepping away from the business. His message now comes to me from beyond. He said “Some of us don’t know when to get out.†I told him that I always held a little contempt for him telling me back in 1992 that I was a dumb-ass for wanting to quit WCW, and mentioned the irony.
Over the last several years, on overseas tours I’d always see Chris in the gym when the other guys were recovering from the night before. He’d train hard and sometimes I’d see him allowing young wrestlers to follow his lead and get a guaranteed killer workout. He took pride in what he did and set a great example for others, myself included, to follow.
How many murderers…baby murderers at that… are praised so highly by EVERYONE who knew them? This is all so bizarre and new information seems to come out every few hours but I can’t imagine we’ll ever understand what happened here. It appears that Chris took the answers with him. To tell you the honest truth, the easiest thing for me to believe at this moment is that if no frame work was involved, he was taken over by demonic energies with no compassion. I have to believe this is often the case with such inhumane acts.
Nancy, Daniel and Chris’ tragic deaths obviously have affected a lot of people. Just remember, there’s enough hate in this world. Hateful thoughts do not move us in the right direction, so make a conscious effort to remember that. It’s important now and always.
