Chris Benoit Dead - Toxicology results released

[Mecca 0]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/27/us/27wre...and&emc=rss

 

QUOTE

But Christopher Nowinski, a former professional wrestler who worked with Mr. Benoit, and who was forced to quit because of head injuries, said he believed that repeated, untreated concussions might have caused his friend to snap.

 

“He was one of the only guys who would take a chair shot to the back of the head,” Mr. Nowinski said, “which is stupid.”

 

Mr. Nowinski has written a book called “Head Games: Football’s Concussion Crisis” (Drummond Publishing Group, 2006), about chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a condition that can cause memory loss, depression and “bizarre, paranoid behavior.”

 

Mr. Nowinski said that he had been trying to persuade the coroner examining Mr. Benoit to allow a brain exam to look for the telltale neurofibrillary tangles in the brain’s cortex, but that he had thus far been rebuffed.

 

“Part of me hopes there was something wrong with his brain,” Mr. Nowinski said. “The Chris Benoit I knew was always more concerned about everybody else’s well-being than his own.”

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Hey now! Chris Benoit might've been a steroid freak and murderer, but he would NEVER EVER cheat on his wife. That's just wrong!

 

I sense the saracasm, but Bruce Mitchell made it real clear in his column today that Benoit was sleeping around. As was Nancy.

[JasonX 0]

Chris Benoit has made it to Encyclopedia Dramatica http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/Chris_Benoit

[cabbageboy 0]

Nowinski may have a point in regards to concussions leading to severe depression and thoughts of suicide, but I don't know how much concussions can lead to a guy flipping out to this degree. There's no easy answers to it. I think there were several factors:

 

--Years and years of steroid abuse. I don't buy the roid rage theory, but juicing is hardly good for someone's mental health.

 

--Frustrations at work. Being on the road with WWE is stressful, and add to it Benoit wasn't really going to main event for a serious brand anymore. Probably in and of itself not stand alone reason to do what he did, but the feeling of realizing his best days are behind him could have contributed to his state of mind.

 

--Home problems. From the reports coming out, his married life was rocky to say the least. Add to it a child that was suffering from Fragile X, which strained things all the more at home.

 

--Eddie Guerrero, his best friend and confidant, died not too long ago. And it was mainly due to the negative lifestyle of being a pro wrestler.

 

It's not hard to see how he had some serious problems based on that. If someone's home life is a wreck, been demoted to a 3rd tier job at work, and add to it a best friend dying....it's easy to see how a feeling of suicidal hopelessness can set in. In hindsight we can say "He should have gotten help" but maybe he didn't realize how bad off he was?

 

I'm not excusing what he did, just trying to comprehend why. If he felt like there was nothing left and that he couldn't go on, it would have been better to go out like Cobain (as in blowing his own brains out and not harm anyone else) rather than go the OJ route.

[Perfection 0]

This might be interesting

 

Vince McMahon will appear on the Today Show tomorrow morning on NBC for an interview with Meredith Viera regarding the steroid allegations in the Benoit tragedy and the tragedy itself.

[Mecca 0]

This is from Meltzer

 

"It's such a complex issue, but there are two different Chris Benoits. I think that's the key, because the one thing is is that the Chris Benoit that we all knew was not this guy, but this guy did change in the last year and I believe -- there's many issues -- but it was the preponderance of dealing with many deaths led to increased drug use and I think it drove him crazy.

 

But at the same time, there were seeds of this early because you look at the 2003 thing where Nancy got the protection order against him so it does go back before the death of Eddie Guerrero, the death of Johnny Grunge, the death of Victor Mar all in a seven week period, and I really look at that as the turning point of Chris's life where he lost his best friend, he lost his best friend in Japan, and he lost the guy that would make him laugh when he was in the worst mood possible.

 

It affects everyone, but the deaths affect Chris really bad, and I'm not just talking about those three guys, but if you look at from Davey Boy and Owen and Brian Pillman and Larry Cameron even though Larry Cameron was years ago, but if you look at guys that Chris was close with, even Stu even though Stu was old. The list is really long and I just think that that depression from all of that, you know a 40 year old guy. They were closer to him than to most people. Brian Hildebrand is another one. So many of his closest friends, most of his closest friends had passed away at a young age. And I am not making any excuses for what happened, but I am saying that these were the things to a guy who had a very dark side.

 

Chris loved professional wrestling, but at the same time he was not stupid, and I think that that was an inner conflict as well. I think that all of these deaths had to tell him that there was something horrible, even though he would always say you cannot blame wrestling, the fact is that he had to at some point go, what's happening here yet at the same time he loved wrestling so deeply and a lot of other things led to more and more paranoia. Chris had gotten incredibly paranoid about everything and his drug usage had upped most likely over the last couple of months, and everyone pins the point from Eddie and those other two deaths."

[Downhome 0]

This might be interesting

 

Vince McMahon will appear on the Today Show tomorrow morning on NBC for an interview with Meredith Viera regarding the steroid allegations in the Benoit tragedy and the tragedy itself.

 

I wish they knew enough to drill him on the Chris Masters and Randy Orton incidents.

[Celtic Jobber 0]

*Updated with another Bret interview*

Here's a couple more news clips on the case:

 

Bret Hart on Nancy Grace (what a clueless ditz...):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kG6Ai9UVaI

 

Roadwarrior Animal on Scarborough Country:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlgzdyGSPJw

 

Bret Hart On Foxnews with Greta Van Susteren:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFpu5dUAqXQ

[RonL21 0]

This might be interesting

 

Vince McMahon will appear on the Today Show tomorrow morning on NBC for an interview with Meredith Viera regarding the steroid allegations in the Benoit tragedy and the tragedy itself.

 

I wish they knew enough to drill him on the Chris Masters and Randy Orton incidents.

Meredith: "So Mr. McMahon, Why exactly is Randy Orton being pushed, giving his constant trouble making?"

 

Vince: "..."

 

*EDIT*

 

But I assume you mean making fun of them on TV for being small...

[Prophet of Mike Zagurski 0]

Who's Victor Mar?

[cameron chaos 0]

Who's Victor Mar?

He was the wrestler Black Cat and Kuroneko in Japan, he died in January 2006 from a heart attack.

 

Bit of trivia I didn't know, Mar was also an original member of Los Gringos Locos with Eddy and Art Barr. So, a mutual friend of both Benoit and the Guererros.

[Enigma 0]

The amount of idiots on YouTube posting tributes to Benoit and bitching at people who tell them it's disrepectful is staggering.

 

If some of you have any free time, I suggest you check out the insanity.

[St. Gabe 0]

The road warrior animal video is equal parts intriguing and maddening. He obviously cares about the situation and wants it changed, but it also smacks of someone clammoring for attention. The Brian Christopher video just makes wrestling look a like a complete Joke, and Greta getting the angry tone with Bret pissed me off.

[Celtic Jobber 0]

Here's that douchebag Bill O'Reilly basically putting the blame for what happened on Nancy Benoit on the Factor tonight:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFQtD5JgsD0

[Maztinho 0]

Here's that douchebag Bill O'Reilly basically putting the blame for what happened on Nancy Benoit on the Factor tonight:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFQtD5JgsD0

 

Fuck Bill O'Reilly.

[Enigma 0]

Brian Christopher wreaked of a guy who wanted back into WWE and made sure to say all the right things.

[RonL21 0]

And sadly...No one from that Gem of a skit at Mania 21 is no longer with the company

[Jingus 0]

You're wrong. Don't forget Fabulous Moolah and May Young. (Which makes it even more sad.)

 

I sense the saracasm, but Bruce Mitchell made it real clear in his column today that Benoit was sleeping around. As was Nancy.

Really? Where was that posted? (Please don't tell me in the Torch's money=grubbing VIP room.) It's the first I've heard of such allegations.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

All we can do is speculate because we'll never know why, until there is a break in the case on a motive.

 

1.) Did he kill his family in a drunken rage?

 

2.) Was he on drugs? Coked out of his mind perhaps?

 

3.) Was she cheating on him and he found out?

 

4.) Was she threatening divorce again as well as sole custody of their child?

 

5.) Was he suffering from mental illness?

 

6.) Were they having trouble with their finances?

 

7.) Did him being held down in Smackdown / being sent to ECW play a factor?

 

The guy worked so hard over his lifetime to get everything he wanted: a beautiful wife, a son, lots of money, a mansion, being world champion, and a respected career (up until now). He was still in reasonable good physical health, still had a job making good income, and was going to be world champion again on the day (or the day before) he died. I just can't fathom how one of the best guys in the business could go out like this in the worst way possible. He's ruined his legacy for an unknown reason and Vince McMahon won't rest until he has completely ripped out Chris Benoit from the pages of wrestling history. Its just terrible how all of this has played out. I'll just post Jamie Penick's column from the Torch because its been summed up perfectly:

 

I grew up watching wrestling as a young child in Minneapolis in the early ‘90s, with the weekend shows such as WWF Superstars and WCW Saturday Night. I remember watching with my dad in those early days, he himself a big AWA fan from growing up in Minnesota, and I liked watching it because he liked it. It wasn’t until the spring of ’96 that I became a diehard fan at the age of 10 when the Outsiders angle began. That angle hooked me into Nitro, but what really kept me was watching what to me were these amazing athletic wrestlers in the Eddie Guerrero’s, the Dean Malenko’s, the Rey Mysterio’s, and the Chris Jericho’s. For some reason, the guy that caught my attention the most was one Chris Benoit.

 

I can’t explain to you why, but he was just this no nonsense, hard working guy. He was tough, and he always seemed to overcome adversity. I admired those attributes and always enjoyed the in ring product that he produced. As I grew older and delved deeper into my enjoyment and knowledge of the wrestling business, he remained one of my top 3 or 4 favorites; and it didn’t matter what role he held, big or small, he seemed to always hold the same intensity and he would work just as hard, and that was such an admirable attribute. Until last night, he remained one of those people that I just looked up to because of what I stated before: toughness, perseverance, and the fact that he always went above and beyond what people thought him to be capable.

 

We’ve endured a lot as wrestling fans with the deaths of those we’ve enjoyed watching or that we’ve looked up to throughout the years weighing heavy on our hearts. For me, nothing can compare to the feelings I felt last night. I had been offline all day, doing some work outdoors, and then running errands, when my dad called me. It was 7:05. “Did you hear about this?” he asked me. I wasn’t home yet, and had no idea what he was talking about. “Chris Benoit’s dead.” Those words almost took the breath out of me as I was driving home. I didn’t know how to react, so I just stared at the road ahead as he proceeded to tell me what Vince said at the top of Raw.

 

When I got home, it was around 7:15, so I flipped on my DVR and went to the top of the show. Now, I’d never met Benoit before in my life; I didn’t know him or his family personally, and had no other connection to the man other than the many years of admiration and enjoyment I had from watching him on my television. It didn’t matter, because watching Vince McMahon announce Benoit’s passing and then seeing the first video package they aired broke me. I wept, and I can’t explain why, because I don’t know. I was overcome by the reality of one of the heroes of my childhood being gone forever.

 

Immediately I came online to try and figure out what was going on with the story. There wasn’t much coming in terms of information right away, so I just watched the rest of the tribute show. When I finally logged back on, it was around 10:45, and I was shocked and horrified at the information that I found. I’m writing this here, it’s close to 4:30 in the morning, and I’ve been trying to process this for much of the night. I tried sleep, but it didn’t work, as I just couldn’t stop thinking about it. How could this man, this rise above all, work hard and overcome type of a man that I have looked up to for more than half of my life, how could he have done this? I didn’t want to believe what I was reading. At first, I wanted to try and give the benefit of the doubt; I wanted to hold on to some hope that there was another explanation, but as the hours pass the truth has become increasingly clear.

 

This night has changed me as a wrestling fan and as a person. The humanization of an idol is hard, as we hold our heroes to a higher standard. We feel they are above the pain and flaws that we possess in our daily lives, and it is for that reason that we flock to them and give them our admiration. We want to live vicariously through these complete strangers, through the men and women that are more than people to us. They represent all the good things we wish for ourselves to be, and thus we can’t imagine them doing wrong.

 

No longer can I live vicariously through the man they called “The Crippler.” No longer can I hold that higher standard. No longer can I see those good things in this man that I wished for myself. The legacy of one of, if not the, best wrestlers of my time is forever tarnished because he turned out to be a flawed human being. In many ways, he’s no different from the rest of us, despite what we may have believed at one time; and now, because of this despicable, vile, inhuman act that he may have committed, I can no longer call him a hero. What he’s given to us fans over the years cannot be taken away completely, but they can also not make up for what he’s done.

 

If, when the facts come out in this case, it truly was Chris Benoit who killed his wife Nancy and his seven year old son Daniel, then everything I’ve admired about the man for the last 12 years will have been wiped out. He wasn’t tough, he was weak. He didn’t persevere, he gave up. And while he went above and beyond what people thought him capable, I never thought him a murderer.

[RonL21 0]

You're wrong. Don't forget Fabulous Moolah and May Young. (Which makes it even more sad.)

i meant as reguar performers...

 

If you say Moolah and Mae...you might as well say Jericho too

[Jaxxson Mayhem 0]

McMahon bout to be interviewed on the Today show.

[Jaxxson Mayhem 0]

So far the story before the interview has been ALL about steroids.

[Jaxxson Mayhem 0]

They just showed a graphic of Eddie, Henning, and Owen. Under Owen, they put he died of a heart attack.

[Jaxxson Mayhem 0]

Quick summary. Over 90% of the interview was about steroids. McMahon said that his performers jobs were to put "smiles on peoples faces." He said that many times. Meridith asked if pro wrestling helped make monsters, which was hilarious. Overall, the interview was very tense between the two.

[art_vandelay 0]

They just showed a graphic of Eddie, Henning, and Owen. Under Owen, they put he died of a heart attack.

 

It said "Davey Boy Smith" so really just a picture mess-up.

[art_vandelay 0]

Quick summary. Over 90% of the interview was about steroids. McMahon said that his performers jobs were to put "smiles on peoples faces." He said that many times. Meridith asked if pro wrestling helped make monsters, which was hilarious. Overall, the interview was very tense between the two.

 

Thought it was interesting how when questioned about the 60 wrestlers who've died young in the past 20 years, Vince replied saying he didn't know if those facts were true, emphasizing that there have been 5 performers under contract who have passed away in the past 20 years... as if the others never had anything to do with him or his business. They then showed graphics of Hennig and (though inaccurately) Davey Boy... both performers who've spent the better part of their careers in the WWE, both dying within 1 or 2 years following their WWE releases.

 

He'll never own up to the adverse impact his image of a stereotypical wrestler has had on the wrestling industry. All through the steroid talk, all Meridith really had to do was say, "Vince, can you please take off your shirt?'

 

 

 

[Steve J. Rogers 0]

New York Daily News

 

The tragic family secret Benoit kept from the world

 

Wrestler's son suffered from growth ailment

 

BY ANGELA MOSCONI in Fayetteville, Ga.,

and ADAM NICHOLS in New York

DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

 

Thursday, June 28th 2007, 4:00 AM

Pro wrestler Chris Benoit and his wife fought over care for their mentally retarded son only days before the muscleman killed his family and hanged himself, a lawyer said yesterday.

 

Nancy Benoit had demanded her husband spend more time with 7-year-old Daniel, who was left mentally and physically stunted by a genetic disorder called Fragile X, an inherited form of mental retardation often accompanied by autism.

 

The Benoits kept the illness a secret even from their closest friends, but it created a huge strain on his family life, World Wrestling Entertainment lawyer Jerry McDevitt said.

 

"The subject of caring for that child was part of what made their relationship complicated and difficult," McDevitt said. "It's something they were both struggling with. We do know it was a sense of stress and consternation."

 

He said Nancy, 43, "wanted [benoit] to be at home more to take care of the kid."

 

Daniel's illness, which becomes more noticeable after puberty, could explain why cops found track marks from injections of human growth hormone on the little boy's arms.

 

"The first thing we think is [that] this wrestler was forcing drugs on his kid," said Dr. Robert Gotlin of Beth Israel Medical Center. "But it could have been totally legitimate."

 

Cops said the Montreal-born Benoit, known as "The Canadian Crippler," killed his wife on Friday and his son late Saturday or early Sunday in their home in Fayetteville, a suburb south of Atlanta.

 

Injuries suggest Benoit strangled Daniel in a choke hold. The boy was found in his bedroom, surrounded by posters of his dad, cops said. A Bible was laid beside each body.

 

Benoit killed himself up to a day later, wrapping a cord from a weightlifting machine around his neck and releasing 240 pounds of weights, investigators said.

 

Cops found anabolic steroids in his house. Steroids can cause users to burst into violent rages. Toxicology tests were under way to determine whether they may have played a role in the tragedy.

 

Sources said the 40-year-old athlete had been told this month he was being demoted by WWE from a main event fighter to more of a coaching role. But only hours before the killings, Benoit had seemed normal, working out at a gym, scheduling a massage and visiting his personal physician.

 

"He certainly didn't show any sign of any distress or rage or anything," said Dr. Phil Astin, who saw him Friday morning. Astin had treated Benoit for low testosterone levels, a condition he said likely stemmed from previous steroid use.

 

Benoit never mentioned Daniel's illness, said Benoit's pal James Robison, who said he called the wrestler Thursday.

 

"He loved Daniel with all his heart," Robison said. "He would do anything for Daniel. What happened happened. But that's not the Chris Benoit who was my friend."

 

With News Wire Services

 

[Steve J. Rogers 0]

Couple of my co-workers brought their young kids to work yesterday, and looking at them I just got more sicker and angrier at this situation. Hell even thinking about my 15 month year old nephew makes me even more angrier at the late Chris ()$*$#&(#$*^$()()&*(#&$#^ Benoit and if there is a hell, well there is a special place for Benoit.

 

I'm not trying to be funny here, but to paraphrase Tony Schivone, "Chris Benoit, you can go to hell, straight to hell."

[Guest Wrestling Icon]

Chris Benoit is still hitting media headlines. This is a wrestling story that has been all over the media but shame he left the world in such a bad way. I think he was a good man but the drugs may have made him go mad.

[Steve J. Rogers 0]

Here is a question, how do you handle telling a young wrestling fan, wheither they are a fan of Benoit or not, why Chris Benoit is no longer mentioned on WWE programming? Can't just say "Yeah, he died" since there are many wrestlers who have died yet are still mentioned and still enjoy merchandise being put out with their likeness on them.

 

BTW, the reason the NFL still mentions OJ, still "celebrates" his accomplishments and such is the same reason (and no I'm not comparing) Barry Bonds' chase for Hank Aaron is still on. Same reason the numbers are not being rolled back or asterisks are being put in the record book (which BTW, is an urban legend with Maris' 61 but thats a whole other story) and the reason why no one is rushing to give back Jose Canseco's and Jason Giambi's MVP trophies.

 

The WWE is essentially still a privately owned company, they can do whatever the hell they want with Benoit's name and likeness. The NFL, MLB and such is not. While Ralph Wilson, owner of the Bills can one day say "Take down OJ Simpson from the Wall of Fame and put #32 back in circulation" the NFL can not simply erase OJ from the history books. Hell even Pete Rose can't even be erased from the baseball history books even if Rose is unable to attend games and participate in functions.

 

Plus as I said up thread somewhere around page 40 the unions (well maybe the NFL won't care in light of recent battles between retired players and the NFL Players Union) would be all up in arms about something like that, or at the very least if something like Benoit happened lawyers for the estate would defend the right of the surviving family members the right to keep the merchandise royaltiy income flowing.