Chris Benoit Dead - Toxicology results released

[RonL21 0]

It does suck when people suffer from Avoid Truth Syndrome.

Benoit was obviously set up though

 

I've seen enough Law & Order episodes to tell when something isnt what it seems

[RonL21 0]

Honestly...

 

Do you think If John Cena failed a test..

 

Do you think they would strip him of the title and send him home for 30 days?

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Nah...they'd have him keep working, but at reduced pay or something.

[Robert 0]

Atricle from ProFootballTalk.com that doesn't take the steriod route.

 

BENOIT SITUATION RAISES QUESTIONS FOR NFL, WRESTLING

 

We've received some great e-mails this week from readers who have raised some interesting issues in the wake of the murder-suicide involving pro wrestler Chris Benoit.

 

From the perspective of pro wrestling, did multiple concussions suffered in the ring contribute to the condition that caused Benoit to snap?

 

From the perspective of the NFL, how much does the steroids issue contribute to the difficulties currently experienced by former players suffering from a broad variety of physical and/or emotional maladies?

 

At a time when baseball has been the primary focal point of discussions regarding the use and abuse of steroids, it's easy to forget that, in past years, the use of such substances was rampant in the NFL. So now that the players who were part of the steroids era are experiencing problems with their bodies and their brains, we think it's more than fair to consider whether the current condition of former players is due in whole or in part to past performance enhancement activities.

 

Though we're not suggesting that currently disabled players who used steroids, and whose present health problems might be due to doing so, aren't entitled to NFL disability benefits, their plight becomes far less sympathetic if it can be determined that they would be doing better in their post-football lives if they hadn't used them.

 

Of course, the NFL and NFLPA public relations machine can't employ this device in the ongoing feud with former players, since to do so could cause all sorts of unwanted complications. For years, the NFL has somehow avoided the steroids stigma; using the subject as a stick against former players could finally pry open that can of juiced-up worms.

 

From pro wrestling's perspective, suspicions of steroids use is the knee-jerk public reaction to any bizarre behavior that occurs, primarily because use of the substances has never been regulated by the "sport". But at a time when the NFL is learning more than it might care to regarding the consequences of concussions, it's hard not at least consider the possibility that Benoit's behavior arose in part from a brain that has been banged around for years.

 

Resolution of these issues is for the medical experts. But even if steroids use doesn't cause bodies to later break down and/or noggins to malfunction, it doesn't take a Norman Einstein to understand that guys who are hepped up on roids will be more willing to ignore their own short-term and long-term health in the name of getting onto the field or into the ring, and to absorb any further bodily punishment that goes along with it.

 

I like the article, and it brings up the point that the media should bring up: multiple concussions and head damage. I also have to say that Benoit's kid is pretty small.

[RonL21 0]

Nah...they'd have him keep working, but at reduced pay or something.

If HHH failed a test..

 

That would be interesting...

[Prophet of Mike Zagurski 0]

Nah...they'd have him keep working, but at reduced pay or something.

If HHH failed a test..

 

That would be interesting...

 

Then the test must be wrong.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Nah...they'd have him keep working, but at reduced pay or something.

If HHH failed a test..

 

That would be interesting...

 

Didn't Meltzer or someone say that Stephanie and Flair had convinced HHH to stop doing roids sometime after Stephanie got pregnant? I seem to remember some story like that.

 

Not that I want to be naive, but given his secure spot in the company, it makes some sense.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

Cena told Michael Landsberg he's not on the juice and that's good enough for me.

[zappafrank 0]

Cena told Michael Landsberg he's not on the juice and that's good enough for me.

 

...as did Hogan to Arsenio

 

EDIT: OK, I might have jumped the gun, since I don't recall if Hogan had said "I'm not on them" vs "I've never taken them."

[RonL21 0]

Rob Van Dam, writing on www.RobVanDam.com, commented:

 

Benoit Balls

 

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.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Rob Van Dam, writing on www.RobVanDam.com, commented:

 

He’d train hard and sometimes I’d see him allowing young wrestlers to follow his lead and get a guaranteed killer workout.

 

Bad choice of words there Rob.

[Brett Favre 0]

RVD's feelings (minus the personal stuff about him with Benoit) pretty much sums up my feelings. It's hard to believe it happened. Not saying it didn't, but you know what I mean.

[Atticus Chaos 0]

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.

 

I would love to believe that too.

[Celtic Guardian 0]

FOX News just went to breaking news saying that drug agents have raided Benoit's doctor's office.

 

Federal drug agents or state? There's at least the possibility that this could be the start of an investigative road that leads straight back to WWE.

 

UPDATE: Just researched my own answer, it's the feds.

 

[dubq 0]

Looks like WWE.com has removed all coverage of the case from their site, including the detailed timelines, etc.

[milliondollarchamp 0]

From Matt Hardy's MySpace:

 

June 28, 2007 - Thursday

 

My brief comments on this week's tragedy

 

Hello my friends. I hope all of you and your families are doing well. I wanted to post something based on all of the events that have taken place over the last few days. Many of you have sent me messages worrying about me and asking if I'm ok. Just so you know--I'm good, thanks for asking. I have quite a bit that I actually wanna discuss concerning the Benoit tragedy, the media's coverage of it, and what this means for the future of the business. If I am given the blessing of the powers that be in the WWE, I will write a very detailed, in-depth blog stating my unedited opinions. For now, I just wanted to address all of my friends, fans, and supporters with a summary of my feelings and thoughts.

 

I haven't always agreed with every decision Vince McMahon has made, but I do agree with everything he's done dealing with this situation thus far. Out of respect for the sudden death of Benoit's family and his contributions to the business, I think Vince did the right thing by canceling the scheduled Raw. When the decision was made to make Raw a Chris Benoit tribute show, the WWE was only doing what seemed respectful and right at that time. When more information was discovered, the WWE took a different and appropriate stance towards their programming. The ECW and Smackdown shows this week were dedicated to our great fans. Wrestling fans who were grieving and confused over this tragedy needed us, including me, to entertain them. I feel it is my responsibility, as well as my pleasure, to put smiles on people's faces and give them an escape from reality. I know Vince feels that way as well.

 

Chris Benoit was always kind, considerate, and professional when I interacted with him. Like everyone else, I was shocked when everything came out. I can't believe Chris Benoit and his wife and child are dead as I type this. As of now, all of the strange pieces of this puzzle haven't been put together yet. My thoughts and prayers go out to Benoit's other two children as well as the immediate family and friends of the deceased. More than anything, I feel terrible for little Daniel--he was as innocent as any human being could possibly be. This is a terrible and sad tragedy.

 

I am very disappointed with how many media outlets are lapping the entire population of professional wrestlers into this situation. There are many outstanding, wonderful people that do so many great things for the world that I work and wrestle with. It's not fair or accurate.

 

Tell the people you love that you love them, and never lose sight of what's really important in life. We may not ever understand why this tragedy happened, but we have to learn from it. Stay strong--life is too precious and too short. I have much more I want to say about the activities of the last few days. If it's appropriate, I definitely will. Be well my friends, I'll talk to you soon...

 

Quote of the day - "I won't let this build up inside of me" - Slipknot, Vermillion

 

Matt

[milliondollarchamp 0]

Eric Bischoff comments: http://www.ericbischoff.com/blog.asp?Path=...mp;MaxListings=

 

How Can This Be?

 

I can not begin to articulate my feelings about the tragedy in the Benoit family. It is something I am really struggling to comprehend.

I heard the news late Monday afternoon just as I was sitting down in a business meeting in Pittsburgh, I sat stunned as I listned to DDP on the other end of the phone, trying to tell me what happened. My meeting went very late into the evening and there was little new information when I went to bed.

 

My phone rang at 7am on Tues and the caller ID revealed a 404 area code. Assuming it was someone that I used to work with in the area, I answered the phone. It was a local sports/talk show in the Atlanta area and they wanted to get my comments. I hesitated, but since the radio personality was a friend of a friend, I decided to go ahead.

 

The questions started out ok...what one would normally expect in a situation like this. However they quickly turned into a "who's to blame" line of questioning and went down hill from there.

 

It's really impossible anymore to be honest about something as tragic and emotionally charged as this issue without sounding like I have some kind of "hidden agenda". Its clear that the media wants to blame steroids, professional wrestling, Vince McMahon, or anyone or anything else that further sensationalizes this family tragedy.

I refuse to join the choir.

 

I don't have enough information. I wasn't there. I am not a psychiatrist. I just can't imagine how or why this could have happened.

God bless Nancy and Daniel. God forgive Chris Benoit.

 

[Dobbs 3K 0]

I wouldn't be surprised if there's some paper shredding going on at Titan Towers at the moment, really.

[Downhome 0]

You know what this case needs? It needs to become even more unusual.

 

Oh, wait, here it is...

 

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,287194,00.html

 

An anonymous user operating a computer traced to Stamford, Conn. — home to World Wrestling Entertainment — posted an entry to pro wrestler Chris Benoit's biography on Wikipedia.org announcing the death of his wife Nancy about 14 hours before police in suburban Atlanta said they found her body along with her husband's and that of their 7-year-old son, FOXNews.com has learned.

 

Employees at Wikipedia.com said the posting went live on their site on Monday at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. Police, however, said they found the bodies Monday at 2:30 p.m. EDT.

 

Wikipedia.org's computers are set to record Standard and Universal Time, a spokesman told FOXNews.com.

 

The posting reads: “Chris Benoit was replaced by [[Johnny Nitro]] for the ECW Championship match at Vengeance, as Benoit was not there due to personal issues, stemming from the death of his wife Nancy.”

 

The posting was apparently made in reference to Benoit's scheduled appearance on Sunday night at an Extreme Championship Wrestling event in Texas, with the last phrase noted in red to indicate an edit made to the original entry.

 

An employee from Wikipedia.org told FOXNews.com that he called and left a message with investigative authorities in Fayetteville, Ga., at around 11 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, after the posting was brought to the attention of the St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Web site.

 

“I chat with other editors on IRC -- Internet relay chat -- and somebody pointed it out to me on a relay chat and that it came from a Stamford connection, and that it took place at midnight Eastern Standard Time on Monday morning,” said Wikipedia.org volunteer coordinator Cary Bass. “I called and left a message with the police department.”

 

The computer-generated time and date stamp of the Benoit entry are listed as 4:01, 25 June 2007. Wikipedia.org lists its entries according to Universal Time, also known as Greenwich Mean Time.

 

A message left by FOXNews.com with Lt. Tommy Pope of the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department was not immediately returned.

 

Investigators so far have ruled the Benoit killings as a double homicide-suicide.

 

Wikipedia.org claims to be one of the largest reference Web sites, and is written collaboratively by users from around the world. Approved users can make submissions and change entries that are posted on the site almost immediately. Bass said the site is constantly monitored to correct inaccuracies.

 

Bass said when there is a high-profile case, such as the Benoit killlings, Wikipedia.org limits postings to registered users, which is now indicated at the top of the Benoit entry. According to the listed history on the Benoit entry, the computer used to post the 12:01 a.m. entry had a Stamford, Conn., Internet Protocol — or IP — address, a numeric designation that is assigned to every computer with an Internet connection, and that same address has been used to post about a dozen other messages on the site, dating back to May 16, 2007.

 

FOXNews.com also has learned, through widely posted Web reports, that former pro wrestler Sherri Martel, who was found dead on June 15, was linked to former wrestler Kevin Sullivan — ex-husband of Nancy Benoit.

 

Martel, who had a reputation as one of the top managers in pro wrestling, was found dead at her mother’s home in near Birmingham, Ala., on June 15. She was 49.

 

Investigators, who have not yet determined Martel's cause of death, say foul play is not suspected but that Martel did not die of natural causes.

 

I know that the Wikipedia thing was mentioned before, but this is the first time I've seen an actual news source pick up on it like this.

[Jericholic82 0]

well I havent posted since during raw so Ill update I guess. The details of this situation have been eating away at me for three days, even at work I couldnt stop thinking about this. this really makes you think about the human race and how is it possible for noraml people to commit such heinous acts. maybe it was depression, steroids unlikely the cause, maybe other drugs or alcohol, you can go on all day about it, but in the end this was a man who with probably a sane mind, ended his familys life, his own, and his legacy . nobody would ever predict this to happe, sure if he just dropped dead one day wed be able to cope with it more. but fact is fact and it is what it is. I will never be able to watch an old match of his without thinking about his last days. just as when watching any match with someone who has passed on, but in this case even more saddening and indeed maddening. Weird that I watched his last match last week with no ideaa this was my last glimpse of him and the last time I would ever be able to think of him as a great man. And even then I wasnt really paying attention to the match, since you had to know he was obviously win. On sunday I was watching the Judgment Day 07 dvd and his match vs MVP, probably around the same time either he was killing himself or sitting there in his house with 2 dead bodies

 

Weird to see how fast WWE has worked in erasing Chris from history. After all they had egg on their face for memoralizing a suspected double murderer, but at the thime they had little info and hoped for the best, as we all did.

 

They have even removed his pictures from the opening video already and even o nthe msg classics show last night, the oepning video which used to have hi mand eddie huggin at wm 20, now shows Eddies entrance at wm 20. that was quick

 

 

This is going to be tough to shake.

[k thx 0]

From Matt Hardy's MySpace:

 

 

Quote of the day - "I won't let this build up inside of me" - Slipknot, Vermillion

 

Matt

Poor choice of band to name.

 

Silly wrestlers.

[Celtic Guardian 0]

Looks like WWE.com has removed all coverage of the case from their site, including the detailed timelines, etc.

 

With the federal DEA (I just checked) involved in the Benoit doctor raid, it wouldn't surprise me if WWE, its employees and performers all go into lockdown "no comment" mode.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Sherri was linked to Kevin Sullivan? Hadn't heard that one yet.

[Ripper 0]

So. Kevin Sullivan killed everyone.

 

Seriously, I thought Nancy and Sherri were close. Not Kevin.

[J.B. Buzzkill 0]

Marc Mero comments and some of Chris' connections.

[milliondollarchamp 0]

I just heard on Fox News that the police are now investigating this Wikipedia entry.

 

Web Time Stamps Indicate Benoit Death Reported About 14 Hours Before Police Found Bodies

 

An anonymous user operating a computer traced to Stamford, Conn. — home to World Wrestling Entertainment — posted an entry to pro wrestler Chris Benoit's biography on Wikipedia.org announcing the death of his wife Nancy about 14 hours before police in suburban Atlanta said they found her body along with her husband's and that of their 7-year-old son, FOXNews.com has learned.

 

Employees at Wikipedia.com said the posting went live on their site on Monday at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. Police, however, said they found the bodies Monday at 2:30 p.m. EDT.

 

Wikipedia.org's computers are set to record Standard and Universal Time, a spokesman told FOXNews.com.

 

The posting reads: “Chris Benoit was replaced by [[Johnny Nitro]] for the ECW Championship match at Vengeance, as Benoit was not there due to personal issues, stemming from the death of his wife Nancy.”

 

The posting was apparently made in reference to Benoit's scheduled appearance on Sunday night at an Extreme Championship Wrestling event in Texas, with the last phrase noted in red to indicate an edit made to the original entry.

 

An employee from Wikipedia.org told FOXNews.com that he called and left a message with investigative authorities in Fayetteville, Ga., at around 11 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, after the posting was brought to the attention of the St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Web site.

 

“I chat with other editors on IRC -- Internet relay chat -- and somebody pointed it out to me on a relay chat and that it came from a Stamford connection, and that it took place at midnight Eastern Standard Time on Monday morning,” said Wikipedia.org volunteer coordinator Cary Bass. “I called and left a message with the police department.”

 

The computer-generated time and date stamp of the Benoit entry are listed as 4:01, 25 June 2007. Wikipedia.org lists its entries according to Universal Time, also known as Greenwich Mean Time.

 

A message left by FOXNews.com with Lt. Tommy Pope of the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department was not immediately returned.

 

Investigators so far have ruled the Benoit killings as a double homicide-suicide.

 

Wikipedia.org claims to be one of the largest reference Web sites, and is written collaboratively by users from around the world. Approved users can make submissions and change entries that are posted on the site almost immediately. Bass said the site is constantly monitored to correct inaccuracies.

 

Bass said when there is a high-profile case, such as the Benoit killlings, Wikipedia.org limits postings to registered users, which is now indicated at the top of the Benoit entry. According to the listed history on the Benoit entry, the computer used to post the 12:01 a.m. entry had a Stamford, Conn., Internet Protocol — or IP — address, a numeric designation that is assigned to every computer with an Internet connection, and that same address has been used to post about a dozen other messages on the site, dating back to May 16, 2007.

 

FOXNews.com also has learned, through widely posted Web reports, that former pro wrestler Sherri Martel, who was found dead on June 15, was linked to former wrestler Kevin Sullivan — ex-husband of Nancy Benoit.

 

Martel, who had a reputation as one of the top managers in pro wrestling, was found dead at her mother’s home in near Birmingham, Ala., on June 15. She was 49.

 

Investigators, who have not yet determined Martel's cause of death, say foul play is not suspected but that Martel did not die of natural causes.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,287194,00.html

[Kurt Angle Mark 0]

From the AP via ESPN.com

 

ATLANTA -- Federal drug agents raided the office of a doctor who prescribed testosterone to Chris Benoit, a pro wrestler who killed his wife and son and hanged himself, authorities said Thursday.

 

 

The raid at Dr. Phil Astin's office in Carrollton, Ga. began Wednesday night and concluded early Thursday, said agent Chuvalo Truesdell, a spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration. The search warrant had been obtained in connection with the Benoit investigation, he said.

 

 

Hours before the raid, Astin told The Associated Press he had treated Benoit for low testosterone levels, which he said likely originated from previous steroid use.

 

 

No arrests were made and Truesdell was unable to say what was seized. He said records were among the items being sought, but he could not be more specific.

 

 

Astin did not return repeated calls to his cell phone from The Associated Press on Thursday.

 

 

Astin prescribed testosterone for Benoit, a longtime friend, in the past but would not say what, if any, medications he prescribed when Benoit visited his office Friday.

 

 

Benoit strangled his wife Nancy and smothered his 7-year-old son Daniel during the weekend, placing Bibles next to their bodies, before hanging himself on the cable of a weight-machine in his home. No motive was offered for the killings, which were discovered Monday.

 

 

Steroids were found in Benoit's home, leading officials to wonder whether the drugs played a role in the slayings. Some experts believe steroids cause paranoia, depression and violent outbursts known as "roid rage."

 

 

Fayette County District Attorney Scott Ballard said in a statement Thursday that he could not immediately comment on the raid.

 

 

Also Thursday, Ballard told the AP that 10 empty beer cans were found in a trash can in the Benoit home. An empty wine bottle was found a few feet from where Benoit hanged himself, Ballard said.

 

 

It could take several weeks for toxicology tests to be completed on Benoit to see what medications, if any, were in his system.

 

 

Benoit took four months off from work in 2006 for undisclosed personal reasons, WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt said.

 

 

"He was feeling depressed, that kind of thing," McDevitt said.

 

 

Earlier Thursday, WWE owner Vince McMahon urged people not to assume that steroids played a role in the murder-suicide.

 

 

McMahon, speaking on NBC's "Today" show, said toxicology results were needed to answer questions surrounding the death of Benoit, who hanged himself on the cable of a weight machine in his home. Authorities said he strangled his wife and smothered son during the weekend and placed Bibles next to their bodies.

 

 

 

"There's no way, quite frankly, that we, or the media -- it's all speculation until the toxicology reports come back," McMahon said. "It's all speculation."

 

 

Toxicology test results may not be available for weeks or even months, Ballard has said.

 

 

The WWE, based in Stamford, Conn., was quick to dismiss the idea, issuing a news release Tuesday saying steroids "were not and could not be related to the cause of death" and that the findings indicate "deliberation, not rage." Benoit tested negative April 10, the last time he was tested for drugs, the WWE said.

 

 

No motive has been offered for the killings.

 

 

The couple argued in the days before the slayings over whether he should stay home more to take care of their mentally retarded son, said McDevitt.

 

 

He said the wrestling organization learned from the couple's friends and relatives that the Benoits were struggling with where to send the boy to school since he had recently finished kindergarten.

 

 

He also said Benoit's wife didn't want him to quit wrestling, but she "wanted him to be at home more to care for the kid. She'd say she can't take care of him by herself when he was on the road."

 

 

The child suffered from a rare medical condition called Fragile X Syndrome, an inherited form of mental retardation often accompanied by autism, McDevitt said.

 

 

Meanwhile, authorities in Georgia were investigating a link between Benoit and a Florida business that may have supplied him with steroids.

 

 

Prosecutors in upstate New York who have been investigating the company's drug sales said Benoit received deliveries from Signature Pharmacy and MedXLife.com, which sold steroids, human growth hormone and testosterone on the Internet.

 

 

Six people, including two of the pharmacy's owners, have pleaded guilty in the investigation, and 20 more have been arrested, including doctors and pharmacists.

 

 

Terence Kindlon, lawyer for MedXLife co-owner Dr. Gary Brandwein, denied the allegations that his client's company sold steroids to Benoit. Brandwein has pleaded not guilty to six counts in New York state court related to the criminal sale of a controlled substance. He was accused of signing and sending prescriptions without ever seeing patients.

 

 

McDevitt said the drugs found in Benoit's house were legitimately prescribed.

 

 

"There's no question, none of these drugs are out there, none of these drugs came from Internet pharmacies," he said.

 

 

In addition to causing paranoia and explosive outbursts, steroids can also contribute to deep depression, according to experts.

 

 

"Just as you have the extreme high of when you're on steroids, you can get the opposite," said Dr. Todd Schlifstein, a clinical assistant professor at the New York University School of Medicine. "You can have a dramatic difference in mood swings. You can feel there's no hope, there's no future."

 

[RonL21 0]

I swear..Everytime i think this story can't get any worse..

 

It always outdoes itself

 

By the end of the weekend some other big name superstar is going to be implicated in something

 

I willing to bet money on that

[milliondollarchamp 0]

if the Wiki entry did come Stanford, then you really need to re-evaluate this case big time.

[tigeraid 0]

What in the FUCK? So someone at WWE headquarters knew she was dead, but not Benoit and his kid, before the police found them? This shit is messed up.