15 years since the Benoit family tragedy

[unfitfinlay]

It changed my opinion not only on him, obviously, but on wrestling over all. I was a full on “Push the Cruisers!” wanker up until that point.

It gave me a whole new appreciation for the guys I had previously dismissed as “lazy” and “in it for the money”. If you can get bigger reaction doing a promo and three moves than giving yourself brain damage then fair fucking play to you. That’s what wrestling should be after all: A show. 

It’s also made me more conscious of the bias in wrestling journalism. From all accounts now, Benoit was a violent bully backstage but that never got reported at the time. Instead he was simply a “locker room leader” while all the bad shit got blamed on JBL and Bob Holly. 

[HarmonicGenerator]

I was at the Aerosmith gig at Hyde Park on the Sunday, and some big storms in the north caused train chaos and meant it took us about 15 hours to get back to Newcastle on the Monday, with no means of casually looking at the internet during that time. By the time I was able to check up on The Wrestling on the Tuesday the circumstances of the murders had started to come out and I’d missed the news breaking and initial shock.

I remember finding a copy of his DVD box set shortly afterwards and buying it, thinking it’d be pulled from sale and what if I wanted to watch some of his matches? I don’t think I ever did though, at least not without feeling very weird about it. He was a favourite, but I’d be fine never seeing any of his wrestling again. 

[garynysmon]

To be honest I was never a fan of his anyway. Fine as a midcarder in WCW, but as workrate and in-ring ability has never really bothered me, my thought at the time was that the WWE had become desperate/gone to the dogs when it was decided that he (and even Eddie Guerrero if I'm brutally honest) were World Title calibre wrestlers. It might as well had been Lance Storm as far as I was concerned.

Even with that in mind, how do you stomach such a thing? Like many others have mentioned, the tribute show was a weird one and it was clear that some talking heads weren't into it 100%. 

[RIDDUM_N_STYLE]

I hadn’t been online since that afternoon as I’d been in work so had no indication of what happened until the opening of Raw that night with the ‘In Memory Of’ graphic and Vince’s promo in the empty arena. I was shook up thinking he, Nancy and Daniel had died in some tragic way like a house fire or monoxide poisoning, and could only get through half an hour of the show as I was tearing up

I woke the next morning expecting to see if my thoughts were true, only to find out what actually had happened and I was stunned, angered and even more upset. Think I spent much of that afternoon either on here or the old Wrestlecrap forum

So surreal to think it’s a decade and a half since it happened but still seems so recent

[Supremo]

Similar to what’s already been mentioned, Benoit’s death made me completely reassess why I watch wresting and what I enjoy it for. Starting my fandom being attracted to the big characters and fun storylines, somewhere along the way I became a stupid, smarky little prick. I’d explain that Benoit was my favourite wrestler because I was a real fan who appreciated the art form. What a load of shit. The art of pro-wrestling is making you care and putting on a fun show without anyone ending up with mashed potatoes for brains.

It’s something I’ve thought about recently with Bryan Danielson. Whilst not exactly the same thing (I love Danielson because he’s the most sincere, endearing, likeable man in the business, not because the sheets told me to), but reading Danielson might be out again with more concussions does give me a similar sense of guilt for getting so much enjoyment out of his work. I know guys are responsible for their own health and the risks they choose to take, but spending the last few years cheering Danielson on as he smashed himself to bits, with zero change to his style, does make me wonder if I’m part of the problem. In retrospect, I know he shouldn’t have been taking top rope Dragon Suplexes from Kenny Omega, but in the moment I’m jumping off my couch with glee. Whilst I like to think I’ve grown up, and find just as much joy out of Danhausen stomping on some crisps, deep down maybe I’m still a workrate wanker complicit in guys badly messing themselves up for my entertainment.

Edited June 25, 2022 by Supremo

[AshC]

Is there a guy alive still who did the diving headbutt on the regular?

Chris Benoit. Dynamite Kid. Harley Race. Bam Bam Bigelow...

[Sphinx]

D-Von Dudley's still knocking about.

[SaitoRyo]

2 hours ago, Sphinx said:

D-Von Dudley's still knocking about.

Underwent spinal surgery a few months back. Go figure. 

[Tommy!]

8 hours ago, AshC said:

Is there a guy alive still who did the diving headbutt on the regular?

Chris Benoit. Dynamite Kid. Harley Race. Bam Bam Bigelow...

Race was 76 when he died of cancer, not sure I'd lump him I with the others. 

Also from what I remember Bigelows was the safest looking one you'll ever see, essentially landing like a big splash or standard front bump with zero whip or impact to the head. 

[Snitsky's back acne]

It's a shame that, due to the terrible circumstances of her death, Nancy will likely never get the mainstream recognition she deserves for her career. 

I cant believe its been 15 years. Crazy. I remember it like it was yesterday.

At least wrestling learnt a little from this horrible event and stopped (almost all) unprotected chair shots to the head. As a big ECW mark I look back on some of those matches and cringe. 

[David]

On 6/24/2022 at 2:50 PM, SaitoRyo said:

ICTE, 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. 

Really? It seems fairly plausible as a reason for what he did. It's not an excuse, of course.

Look at the likes of Phillip Adams who killed six people then himself, and Aaron Hernandez. Others such as Junior Seau and Dave Duerson killed themselves, thankfully taking no other lives along with them.

But yeah, CTE is a factor it would seem. Test results showed a brain so severely damaged it resembled that of an 85-year-old Alzheimer's patient, with damage noted all the way into the brain stem itself. That kind of mental imbalance inside a body in the kind of physical shape Benoit was in was never going to end well, sadly.

[SaitoRyo]

14 hours ago, David said:

Really? It seems fairly plausible as a reason for what he did. It's not an excuse, of course.

Look at the likes of Phillip Adams who killed six people then himself, and Aaron Hernandez. Others such as Junior Seau and Dave Duerson killed themselves, thankfully taking no other lives along with them.

But yeah, CTE is a factor it would seem. Test results showed a brain so severely damaged it resembled that of an 85-year-old Alzheimer's patient, with damage noted all the way into the brain stem itself. That kind of mental imbalance inside a body in the kind of physical shape Benoit was in was never going to end well, sadly.

Yeah, maybe 'explain' wasn't the best word for it. I believe it was most likely a combination of all of the above and that a domestic incident led to it happening when it did. Both Chris and Nancy had a lot of baggage and were heavily self-medicating for various reasons. 

Also, speaking of Benoit fifteen years on - his personal physician, Dr. Phil Astin, died of a heart attack on June 24. Fifteen years to the day since the tragedy. He was the one supplying Chris, Nancy and a bunch of other wrestlers (including Johnny Grunge) with copious amounts of prescription drugs and later spent, I believe, the best part of a decade behind bars. 

[Snitsky's back acne]

1 hour ago, SaitoRyo said:

Also, speaking of Benoit fifteen years on - his personal physician, Dr. Phil Astin, died of a heart attack on June 24. 

So fellow Canadian Biff Wellington died on the same date as Benoit and now Astin died 15 years to the day of it happening? ... and people say there's no conspiracy!? 

 

[SaitoRyo]

4 minutes ago, Snitsky's back acne said:

So fellow Canadian Biff Wellington died on the same date as Benoit and now Astin died 15 years to the day of it happening? ... and people say there's no conspiracy!? 

 

Sheeple* 

[sevendaughters]

Presume some of you have but I recommend the Lapsed Fan's coverage of the whole Benoit thing.

I've not watched him since, but it hasn't stopped my enjoyment for occasionally violent and hard-working guys. Nearly all of them haven't killed members of their own family, just themselves.

My WWE fandom was on the wane because of the Invasion and general dislike for HHH, but I would still gather for major PPVs and popped for WM20. This certainly didn't help, and considering in latter years how everyone important knew how it happened before Raw aired is, in my mind, probably the darkest indictment of Vince.