Chris Benoit Dead - Toxicology results released

[2GOLD 0]

 

Now that we have the official word from the cops, I'll give my thoughts:

Why couldn't the sick fuck just kill himself and not take his whole fucking family with him?

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

So what I'm picking up is Benoit killed his family and himself but it's cool because Vince doesn't enforce the wellness plan and everyone is full of roid rage.

 

Hogan hasn't killed his family.

HHH hasn't kiled Stephanie.

Steroid freak #3 hasn't killed his family, and so on.

 

Benoit is responsible for his own actions and took the easy way out of being held accountable.

[Guest joshtothemaxx]

I don't see how any wrestlers could be in any shape to start filming the tapings in about 4 hours. Granted, they ARE professionals, but jeez. Just too heavy. I don't think I would go if I had tickets tonight.

 

And whoever said earlier that people are "overestimating the importance of wrestling" is totally right. If you go to any other non-wrestling website you'll see that not many people give a shit and just see it for what it is.

 

I think I'm out of constructive things to say about this, so I bid you guys happy debating.

[Superfly Snuka 0]

Wow, interesting old school Chris + Nacny picture on CNN's top story homepage right now.

[dubq 0]

This may, however, be abrupt dawning of a new era for the sport of professional wrestling.

 

I hope so. After Vince completely destroyed kayfabe last night (which is what he should have done), how can they continue to have ridiculous storylines making up the most of their shows?

 

They've destroyed kayfabe a bunch of times. Doesn't change anything

 

I'm not getting my hopes up for a change..but have they ever gone so far as to say something like "Tonight's STORYLINE was supposed to be.."

 

Christ man, find me someone over the age of 10 (or even younger) who doesn't know wrestling is fixed and that storylines don't exist. Kayfabe is essentially dead and has been for a while, and the only reason they keep it up is to maintain some sort of differentiation between the on-screen characters and the real life people playing those characters.

[Mecca 0]

All I know is that this may be discussed during my entertainment and society course. I hope that some sort of hearings come about or a union does get formed, because something has to and will change because of this.

 

If a worker ever brings up a union they will totally be black balled and the workers will not stand together.......that guy will be fired and there will be 20 guys who line up to take his spot.

Agreed, the business is too cutthroat and the workers are too self-interested for a union to work for any length of time.

 

Is Congress able to force a union upon them?

 

I doubt it would ever work it's not like baseball.....there's all these indys guys working all over the place.......it just doesn't really seem feasable or something congress would even care enough about.

[CanadianChris 0]

All I know is that this may be discussed during my entertainment and society course. I hope that some sort of hearings come about or a union does get formed, because something has to and will change because of this.

 

If a worker ever brings up a union they will totally be black balled and the workers will not stand together.......that guy will be fired and there will be 20 guys who line up to take his spot.

Agreed, the business is too cutthroat and the workers are too self-interested for a union to work for any length of time.

 

Is Congress able to force a union upon them?

I don't see how. Nobody can be forced to organize against their will.

[Guest joshtothemaxx]

Anyways, since the good memories of Benoit I used to have are rapidly disappearing, are there any series of matches that you wish he had with a wrestler but didn't? I always wanted to see the series he was going to have with Brock before he won the rumble and switched brands.

 

Ok here's the last one. I really, really, really wanted to see him wrestle Bryan Danielson someday for a mid-card belt in a sort of "passing the torch" moment.

[LooseCannon25 0]

Damn, this makes me think of those vignettes and promos Benoit used to have when he came back from injury in 2003 or 2004 I believe. The ones where he seems insane and is laughing and showing sinister smiles in the mirror. They were pretty scary back then, but now it makes you wonder if that was the real him.

[MFer 0]

I wonder how much ESPN is gonna delve into this story. I imagine it would be a lotta wrestling bashing if anything. Or they might just briefly touch on the subject.

[luke-o 0]

I'm still in shock. And if it has been confirmed by the cops, then I retract my RIP comment made earlier.

[Guest frostdude1]

Wow ... I completely have a different look on this now !! Hope he goes to hell !!!

 

RIP to his wife and his son

[Darthtiki 0]

"One man in the several decades of wrestling history may have had a mental breakdown before he killed his family and himself, therefore Vince is done and wrestling is over".

 

Yeah, ok.

 

Blaming the business / Vince for Benoit's actions is almost as bad as people that blame Doom for school shootings. I say "almost" because wrestling does undoubtedly take a toll on you, but still, point remains.

 

I agree. You can't place the cause for the actions on the business, the practices and rituals of the business can have a factor, but the truth is that we probably will never know what the motives were. That being said, things need to change but in all likelyhood they will for 5 minutes and it will be business as usual. The only thing that we as wrestling fans can do is hope that real changes do take place, either voluntarily or bureaucratically. Unfortunately, I think Congress has bigger things to deal with than wrestling. However, a good catalyst for change would be for state governments to pass legislation closing the loophole for their state athletic commissions regulate the promotions with testing. This may force self-policing by the fact that shows may not be able to be run if the regs are not abided by.

[Mecca 0]

I wonder how much ESPN is gonna delve into this story. I imagine it would be a lotta wrestling bashing if anything. Or they might just briefly touch on the subject.

 

I hate those...they provide no real insight or solutions for anything and just talk about how everyone is a big moron on drugs and how wrestling is bad and shouldn't exist.......they let Phil Mushnick talk for the whole piece basically.

[CanadianChris 0]

Bill Simmons' comments, from his current chat:

 

rob, nc: Any comment on the Benoit situation, is this the end of pro wrestling, it seems like it would be hard to watch again after this.

 

Bill Simmons: (3:41 PM ET ) I am still gathering my thoughts, waiting for all the facts to come out. It just doesn't seem like any non-wrestling fan realizes how huge this story is to everyone who actually follows wrestling - in my opinion, it's the biggest sports story of the year even though wrestling technically isn't a sport. Benoit was one of the 12-15 greatest wrestlers of the past 30 years. For the wrestling world, it's like the OJ thing all over again - only its worse because his little son was involved. It might be the single worst sports story since the Rae Carruth thing.

 

Bill Simmons: (3:43 PM ET ) The weird part was the WWE inexplicably running the 3-hour Benoit tribute on Raw last night - by the time it re-aired on the West Coast, reports were starting to come out that it was possibly a double murder-suicide... I don't know how they let that show continue to run. One of the weirdest TV moments ever. I was really creeped out.

 

 

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Carl (Lansing, MI): How come people condem wresting becuase of this but not the football because of Rae Carruth? Is it becuase people are looking for a reason to bash it? I never really liked it a ton after college, but I never understood why people have so much HATE for it.

 

Bill Simmons: (3:45 PM ET ) Well, the bigger issue here is that pro wrestling has suffered an abnormal number of early deaths - actually, abnormal might not even be the right word. it's almost an epidemic. There have probably been more wrestlers die before the age of 45 in the past 15 years than every sport combined. And you knew the tipping point was coming, eventually, and now it's here. I don't know if wrestling will survive this one.

 

 

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Adam (NY): So what does WWE do from here? With the macmahon death awkwardness floating over their heads I think they're going to lose a huge portion of their audience. They have to, right?

 

Bill Simmons: (3:48 PM ET ) Honestly, I couldn't tell you. I think this could be it - it's going to be the dominant story of the next 2 weeks and everyone is going to bring up the death stats and all the crazy incidents that have happened, I don't think the average person realizes what a damaging sport this has been (physically and psychologically) to the people who do it. Again, I think we've reached the tipping point. Sorry to be so somber, but the Benoit thing... i mean, it's hard to explain how big he was in wrestling circles.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

I'm having trouble finding the link between this occurrence and Congress enforcing changes in the wrestling business. I know that the steroids angle is being played up, but there really is no correlation between Benoit being a murdering psycho and having wrestling as his day job. One has nothing to do with the other.

[Perfection 0]

"One man in the several decades of wrestling history may have had a mental breakdown before he killed his family and himself, therefore Vince is done and wrestling is over".

 

Yeah, ok.

 

Blaming the business / Vince for Benoit's actions is almost as bad as people that blame Doom for school shootings. I say "almost" because wrestling does undoubtedly take a toll on you, but still, point remains.

 

I just love it when people make stuff up that noone ever said.

 

Noone is saying the wwe or mcmahon is done but there is no doubt in my mind at least that his company and their policies are going to be scrutinized a lot and since its apparent he won't police his own company, there is a decent chance the government will do it for him. Likewise, noone, including me, is saying mcmahon or the wwe is personally responsible for benoits actions. Benoit is totally at fault here.. HOWEVER, you are a fool if you don't acknowledge the way the wwe operates and what it expects out of its talent has an effect on people in a negative way with respect to drugs to keep going or to look a certain way, while mcmahon and the wwe turn a blind eye to it.

 

Those who say this is just another story that will fade quickly seem to forget this is really uncharted waters as we are dealing with a popular and well known top wwe star that has murdered his family. I would be absolutely shocked if its just ignored and forgotten in a couple of days or weeks if its found out that steriods played a role, even if they were legally prescribed.

 

I certainly could be wrong that this is a turning point but if anything would change the way the wwe operates or forcing the government finally stepping in, this is it.

[Mecca 0]

I think he's a bit off honestly.......this isn't it.......the wrestling business is a fucked up world. All the people affected will move on and worry about themselves again like always.

[Atticus Chaos 0]

Keller says many in WWE knew it was likely this had been a double murder suicide when they did the tribute show.

 

I find it odd that Chavo, having received the text message, probably knew Benoit had killed them but still seemed sad and heartbroken over his freind's passing. I think if eddie was still around even he would have a tough time forgiving Benoit.

[EMAXSAUN 0]

wow...when i first read about Benoit passing I was saddened, now I know I will never be able to watch one of his matches again.

[Mecca 0]

Keller says many in WWE knew it was likely this had been a double murder suicide when they did the tribute show.

 

I find it odd that Chavo, having received the text message, probably knew Benoit had killed them but still seemed sand and heartbroken over his freind's passing.

 

If one of your best friends had supposedly done this early in the process you may be in denial to yourself and just be upset he's gone first and then the other stuff comes a bit later.......it is alot to deal with.

[CanadianChris 0]

I think he's a bit off honestly.......this isn't it.......the wrestling business is a fucked up world. All the people affected will move on and worry about themselves again like always.

The thing is, for all the fucked-up things that routinely go on within the business, nothing of this magnitude has ever happened before. It's impossible to say where things go from here, because this is unlike any other bad thing wrestling in general, and WWE in particular, has ever experienced. This is 100 times the story that Eddy was, and I wouldn't be surprised if the heat gets turned on Vince and doesn't go away because of this, regardless of whether he should be blamed or not. Simmons is right in that this IS the tipping point.

[Darthtiki 0]

I'm having trouble finding the link between this occurrence and Congress enforcing changes in the wrestling business. I know that the steroids angle is being played up, but there really is no correlation between Benoit being a murdering psycho and having wrestling as his day job. One has nothing to do with the other.

 

It's not just steroids, it's the fact that the target of the show is the same demo which has seen steroid usage rise. Additionally, a business does not like government interference with how they operate and use lobbys and trade groups to self-regulate to keep the government off their back (see movie ratings or parental advisory stickers, fallacies I know, but they are examples of the bare minimum of self policing that keeps the feds off their asses). Unfortunately, the self-policing hasn't worked and could be enough grounds for a politician who wants to make a name for themselves to build this into an legislative and regulatory issue

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

A lot of you are in denial. This may not be directly related to the McMahons, but how can you not see that this will open up the floodgates. This is *the* biggest story on professional wrestling ever. That's the truth. All the facts about the early deaths will come out in the mainstream for the first time. If nothing happens now, then it never will, and sadly I think that's the case. I hope that for the sake of a lot of these guys changes are made though.

[Downhome 0]

It isn't going to be the end of professional wrestling, it will go on, but you can bet your bucks on huge changes coming from this, and I'm not just talking about a stupid Vince angle being dropped.

 

I don't know what those changes will be, but I don't doubt for a second that this is the start of a new era, if you will, for this industry.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

I'm just happy I am not a pro wrestling nor have I been for a good half decade at least. That would have made this much tougher to deal with. As it stands, I can look at it pretty objectively.

[ashamed wrestling fan 0]

Over/Under on Triple H itching to write a blog about the IWC and while he may be universally hated, at least he's not a murderer?

 

 

Please shut the hell up. You come off as a tremendous asshole.

 

Sorry...but I have zero sympathy for this asshole

 

A week from now, people will go back to the regular routine(i.e. Cena sucks, Triple H is ruining the WWE, I <3 Val Venis etc..) and it will be forgotten. Sad, but true.

 

It's just another example of how you shouldn't become overly attached to entertainers that you don't know a damn thing about.

 

Kind of amusing that of all the known and percieved scumbags in the WWE, the biggest dirtball of them all turned out to be the all-time IWC fan favorite.

 

[Mecca 0]

We'll see in about a month......I just think some of us overestimate wrestling n the grand scheme of things. This was posted and some other boards I read and met with responses like "not surprised they're all roided up violent morons anyway"

 

People just assuming shit like this happens alot........and also that anyone that chooses that as a career path has serious mental issues all sorts of stuff like that.

[Ripper 0]

The vast majority of the wrestlers dying early has been from painkillers, and alcohol. So basically they are going to nail Vince for what? Grown men drinking?

 

Eddie is pretty much the only guy that has been with the company to die, all the rest of them were out working on the independent circuit and drank/od'd themselves to death. the "wake up call" for the industry is that people that live on the road lack meaningful relationships which can lead to depression, drinking and drug abuse which will lead to early death. I bet if you look at the death rates of fucking truckers it wouldn't be much different.

[Yuna_Firerose 0]

Damn, this makes me think of those vignettes and promos Benoit used to have when he came back from injury in 2003 or 2004 I believe. The ones where he seems insane and is laughing and showing sinister smiles in the mirror. They were pretty scary back then, but now it makes you wonder if that was the real him.

Now that’s simply being silly. Linking the two together is pure imagination.