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Chris Benoit - Will He Ever Be Remembered For His Talent Again?


David

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The murder suicide doesn't change what has already happened. To say that his back catalogue of matches suddenly became crap because of what he did - regardless of why - makes no sense.

If Shawn Michaels were to go on a killing spree tomorrow, would the content of his matches change? Would he suddenly become someone who wasn't actually that good after all? Would he bollocks.

 

Benoit the wrestler was bloody good, end of. His talent in that field was established long ago and hasn't changed.

 

Can I think of his talent without being reminded of what he did? No, I'll always associate him with the murders. Will I now say that his matches are crap because of it? No.

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Incidentally has anyone re-read the Benoit death thread? It's quite the read I must say. We all know about the infamous Philjax post but there are plenty of gems, from JNLister's absolutely embarrassing and hysterical reaction where he wishes cancer on the McMahon family (because Vince only pretended to kill himself, you know) and someone whose name I'm forgetting signing off a post (after the murder stuff was revealed too I think) with "Wolverines do fly... to heaven".

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I was a huge Benoit mark but I cannot bring myself to watch any of his matches now. I still think he was one the best technical wrestlers in the business but what he did changed everything.

 

I have the Benoit 'Hard Knocks' DVD set and never got around to watching the documentary on it, not opened it since

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I can watch his matches no problem. The majority stand up as absolutely fantastic, and I really enjoy them. If anything, they seem better in hindsight and really showcase his talent.

 

However, I've not watched any personal interviews with him or anything like that.

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how can I see this thread (the beniot deth one) tried the search but it truly is terrible I really want to look back on that time

 

The thread

 

I think a good majority of Wrestling fans will always remember him for his talent (I'm certainly one of them) but it's very unlikely that any promoter of Wrestling will do publicly, because of the inevitable shit storm that would follow.

 

I'm off to re-read the thread again also.

 

EDIT - Holy shit, 179 fucking pages!

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The whole mushy brain thing doesnt hold up as far as him being a dickhead goes. Its what you find out about him later which gets you thinking he was a bit of a dickhead. The stuff about him making a referee do sits ups and pissing on him them shaving his head while everyone laughed along on a tour bus (the Nasty Boys tell that story before Benoit killed himself) and stories like that make you shake your head a bit. There seems to be countless stories of him being a complete bellend and even if you excuse that it was probably brain damage from a dangerous ringstyle and that he'd just murdered his wife (possibly accidentally or whatever) that sent him mental and made him kill his kid, you cant defend the stuff about how much of a nutter he could be. The opinion that I had of him when he was alive just isnt there anymore. He was always supposedly the nice, quite bloke sitting in the corner giving out advice and although he had the personality of a half-eaten turnip, he was given the big gold belt in the main event of the biggest show of the year because he broke the mold of what we were always told a WWF Superstar should be and he even conviced Vince McMahon that he deserved it. Now I just see him as a bully with shortman syndrome, who had a bit of a temper since he apparently beat the shit out of his wife a few times over the years.

 

He was still amazing though, and those matches are the pro wrestling equivalent of this scene from Naked Gun. If you can get past the murdering bastard nature of it, you will like this scene as well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNcBazCnmdg...feature=related

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The evidence seems to be that his brain had turned to mush by the end. I think its safe to say he wasn't in his right mind when the double-murder suicide occurred. There's an argument that such actions are definitionally suggestive of a mental illness. I'm not very comfortable saying something akin to 'he was just as much a victim as Daniel and Nancy,' but I don't attribute very much agency to Benoit when considering the motivations of his crime.

By the same token then, surely you can't give him credit for a lot of his matches, either. They were only good because he was a nutter who didn't know what he was doing.

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Jimmy Snuka killed his girlfriend and Stone Cole routinely beat his wife but nobody ever brings that up. Anyone who says "Oh, I can't watch Benoit's matches because of what he did" needs to grow up. Athletes, like any other celebrity, are people too and are capable of making mistakes, what Chris Benoit did will never change the fact that he had fantastic wrestling matches, no matter how much people want it to. The WWE is attempting to erase Chris Benoit from the history books and while I appreciate that they can't be seen to be supporting a murderer it's nothing short of a tragedy that everything Benoit did during his career will eventually be forgotten, the man dedicated his life to his craft and had countless matches that entertained millions and to let all of that slip away because certain individuals can't separate somebodies professional accomplishments from his personal life is very sad.

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Benoit is still part of some great stables, matches and whether anyone likes it or not WM20 still is a wrestlemania moment which most people will still enjoy.

 

But it would be promotional suicide for anyone in the next 10 years to pay tribute to Benoit. Perhaps in a few years down the line maybe just a little part of a video package.

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Vince McMahon's real brother was going to be on Raw at the funeral. Court Bauer did a big interview on F4W Weekly not to long ago, where he said all of the writers were gob smacked about it, because Vince's real family are so far removed from the wrestling business. So not only did he kill a small child and a woman, Benoit also robbed us of an appearance from Vince McMahon's real blood relatives.

 

Bauer also said, the day that Benoit killed his family, there was all kind of funeral props and "RIP" signs around the Titan Towers in preperation for the McMahon angle. Creepy.

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Jimmy Snuka killed his girlfriend and Stone Cole routinely beat his wife but nobody ever brings that up. Anyone who says "Oh, I can't watch Benoit's matches because of what he did" needs to grow up. Athletes, like any other celebrity, are people too and are capable of making mistakes, what Chris Benoit did will never change the fact that he had fantastic wrestling matches, no matter how much people want it to.

The "fact" that he had fantastic wrestling matches will never change what Chris Benoit did, no matter how much people want it to.

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