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15 years since the Benoit family tragedy


SaitoRyo

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I mean, fucking hell. 

Chris Benoit was my favourite wrestler at the time and I was in American when the tragedy happened. It was totally horrible and surreal and I remember ignoring my holiday in favour of scrolling through news sites and refreshing forums such as this one, waiting pensively for new information to come out. 

The media coverage in the US was a total circus, too. You couldn't go anywhere without it being on the news for the first week or so. 

I was only sixteen at the time and I was more gutted about my favourite wrestler and a hero of mine being dead, rather than fully grasping the horrific thing he had done. 

Now, being in my early thirties and having two kids of my own, I see him for the monster he is. CTE, steroids, depression, a broken marriage, or a combination of all of the above - I find it impossible to come up with anything that explains why he did what he did. 

How does everyone else feel about Benoit, the tragedy and even WWE/wrestling itself fifteen years on? I definitely see it now as the beginning of my fandom decreasing and it taught me never to lionise anyone famous, let alone a fucking professional wrestler. 

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I don't care what the evidence points to but if any of you honestly think Benoit killed his wife and son and then himself you're morons. Someone's name is being heavily tarnished here with Sheriff's Department ineptitude.

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We'd gotten back from Glastonbury and I'd had a hell of a long sleep. I woke up to a text from my mate telling me what had happened, and things just unfolded more and more over the week. I've watched some of his matches, and given the CTE theories it makes me feel really uncomfortable when he takes a dangerous bump, given what we know now. Chavo's Kevin Sullivan theory got him some attention for a while, but is ultimately I think just his way of trying to explain away what happened and mask his disbelief that Benoit was capable of such a thing. It's a horrible way to go, and an awful thing that he did.

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I remember switching over from the live feed of Big Brother - it was the crap year with Ziggy - and just thinking "Huh, weird". A muted reaction was all I could really muster to the most parallel universe feeling I've ever had watching something on TV. I'll never watch it back obviously, but from what I can remember it felt even as they were doing the tributes that there was a real sense of reserve from all the talent they had on camera. 

I had no problem watching his matches for ages after it. I totally done that "No you see his brain had changed completely, so a different person murdered his family" thing a lot of fans did. To be honest even now I still have a numb, muted feeling on the whole thing. Like there's been times he's come up on a PPV I've had on in the background and it's very much just been..."There's Chris Benoit now". 

I remember that first guy on YouTube who got the ball rolling on the Kevin Sullivan conspiracies. British accent, sounded like he done the video from a phone box somewhere off the side of a motorway. REASONABLEDOUBTHERE was his name. Wonder what his UKFF gimmick was. 

It's also the only thing lapsed fans bring up that's happened since the Attitude Era. I swear the amount of times I've been on a night out and gotten "And who was that fella that killed his whole family, Benoit wasn't it?!" in the ear. 

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Yeah Regal's tribute always stands out to me. The fact the tribute show went ahead when Regal (and presumably) WWE had at least some inclination as to what true horrors that went on is still amazing to me. 

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I don't know if he's since commented on what information he did or didn't have, but I reckon by that point Regal had simply lived a life and seen some things, and knew better than to speak freely before the facts were in, as what might've been unthinkable to others was all too plausible to him.

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8 minutes ago, DCW said:

Yeah Regal's tribute always stands out to me. The fact the tribute show went ahead when Regal (and presumably) WWE had at least some inclination as to what true horrors that went on is still amazing to me. 

Regal was good friends with Benoit and lived in the same area (as did Dave Taylor and a few other wrestlers). 

He knew more about the Benoits and their personal lives than most. According to some accounts, right before Regal taped his testimonial JBL said something to the effect of 'You don't really think he killed that boy, do you?', which naturally spooked him. 

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He was a murder and, even with brain damage as a "cause" by all accounts was a right mental case for years before hand any way, although that would be often overlooked because workrate. 

I'll still watch his matches, much like I'll do with many scumbags in wrestling, music and film because I just detach the two. There's no argument he was amazing in ring but he was also one of the lowest people in the scum bag world of wrestling. 

 

Word was Carl De Marco knew before raw, and he was in the WWE system at the time. If true no way Vince didn't know and word wasn't out to select people. 

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