It does raise an interesting question -- do the deeds of the performer retroactively affect the quality of the performance? Someone noted in another thread that defending Benoit's in-ring work is like trying to seperate Hitler the dictator from Hitler the painter. I don't think that's such a crazy notion, frankly. If you have moral high ground enough to judge the entire body of work of a man because of his deeds in real life, then bully for you. It must be nice to be so righteous. I think it's sad, and it's a tragedy, and Benoit proved to be a horrible human being who got exactly what he deserved, but in the end unless you were related to Nancy and Daniel it's hard to justify acting like you knew them any better than Benoit's longtime fans knew him. In the end, there'll be a TV movie or an episode of Law & Order, and we'll all go on with our lives doing the best we can to cope or mourn or forget about it or whatever. I'm glad I didn't know Benoit the person, because it would have made it a lot tougher to like Benoit the performer, and if nothing else positive can come out of this whole sick situation it's that I can at least still get enjoyment from his matches and hope that one small bit of happiness can overcome the crushing horror that the past two days have brought. I'll take what I can get, I guess.
