Should Chris Benoit Be Allowed into the WWE Hall of Fame?

Okay, I've been trying to figure out for a few weeks now exactly how to do this next article. It's going to raise some eyebrows, and it might even upset a few people. But thanks to your rights as an American, nobody's forcing you to read this. The upside is...now you're wondering what I'm going to say that could potentially raise such a commotion.

So here's the deal...there seems to be some confusion over whether certain people should be in the chosen Hall of Fame of their profession. Should Pete Rose be in the MLB Hall of Fame? Should Tiger be in the PGA Hall? And then there's the big one: should Chris Benoit be allowed entry into the WWE Hall of Fame?

Now I know the vast majority of you have already said a loud no to that last question. But I will make the argument that he indeed SHOULD be allowed into the WWE Hall of Fame. The floor is now open for discussion.

I stand by a simple argument, and this is generally where the arguments start flying. The Hall of Fame, whether it be football, baseball, wrestling, or any other given sport or form of entertainment, should be gauged by what you do INSIDE of your chosen profession. Pete Rose, one of the game's best players, will never be enshrined at Cooperstown, because of mistakes he made off the field. Nevermind the fact that he is a legendary player, accumulated historic milestones in his career, one mistake pulled his Hall of Fame card.

Chris Benoit was arguably one of the best wrestlers of the last 25 years. I would put him up against just about any other name you could think of and it would be a classic match, just based on Benoit's work ethic and how he performed in the the ring.

The problem here though is when the name Chris Benoit is mentioned, the first thing that comes to mind is the tragedy of 2007. Nevermind the classic matches with Kevin Sullivan in WCW in 1996. Forget the night he won the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XX at Madison Square Garden. And oh, don't forget the Owen Hart tribute match he had with Bret Hart in Kansas City on an episode of Monday Nitro.

Furthermore, WWE went a step closer of just merely pulling his ticket for the Hall of Fame. They've gone so far as to entirely erase Chris Benoit from their record books. So you're telling me that the IV Horsemen were just three. You tell me WrestleMania XX didn't have a championship main event. Well if that's the case, who did Chris Jericho team up with in that tag match against Triple H and Steve Austin when Hunter tore his quad the first time? Was it just Eddie Guerrero and Perry Saturn that comprised The Radicalz in the WWF when they jumped ship from WCW?

Point being, you absolutely cannot discredit what Benoit did inside the ring. The media has spent so much time downgrading his name, they've forgotten the fact that he was one of the best technical wrestlers of our generation. And WWE is so close-minded that they refuse to acknowledge anything he did inside the ring during his career.

I'm not going to say what he did was not wrong. I won't turn a total blind eye to the situation. Yes it was tragic, yes it was sad. But I think it's a complete miscarriage of justice that his career is defined by what happened inside their home.

I guess I'm a traditionalist in that I believe a person's career is defined not by the mistakes and misjudgements he's made away from the public eye, but by the accomplishments and hard work that was performed on the job.

That's my biggest pet peeve with the general media today. They spend all their time criticizing someone's life outside of their profession that everybody else catches on and completely casts away what the person did while on the clock. Kobe is a great basketball player. Everybody hates him. You mention his name, people think Colorado. Tiger is unquestionably one of the greatest golfers in the world, maybe the greatest. But people only remember what has transpired over the last several months. I just don't get people.

So there you have my opinion on the Chris Benoit situation. Yes, he deserves to be in the WWE Hall of Fame. Yes I'm going to take some criticism for it. But above all else...YES...I will stick by my opinion. That's the beauty of the free world. Now that I've fired the first shot...let the games begin!