R.I.P. Rabid Wolverine & Family

[TadChower]

I'm sad to report for those of you into the world of wrestling , that Chris Benoit & family have been found dead. While police are still investigating , this is a HUGE shock to the wrestling community.

My hearts and prayers go out to the relatives.

 

edit:http://www.wwe.com

It's true, and quite sad! Now is the time to FULLY drop the silly McMahon angle.

[sez]

I'm sad to report for those of you into the world of wrestling , that Chris Benoit & family have been found dead. While police are still investigating , this is a HUGE shock to the wrestling community.

My hearts and prayers go out to the relatives.

 

What the   Linkage please.  Nothing on google.

[ChadTower]

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/13567642/detail.html

He flew home yesterday and missed the PPV (he was going to win the ECW title) because of what was called a "family emergency"... well who flies home right before their family is killed?  That's ominous.

[mr.Curmudgeon]

I don't follow wrestling, but I've heard about this story. Chad, looks like you were on to something.

Tragic.

"WAGA, a FOX-owned and operated television station in Atlanta, reported that investigators believe Benoit killed his wife and 7-year-old son over the weekend, then himself on Monday." http://www.wrestlezone.com/article.php?articleid=184841074

But there's definitely more to the story:

"Fayette County District Attorney Scott Ballard is quoted in the Atlanta Journal Constition as saying "The details when they come out are going to prove a little bizarre." http://www.1wrestling.com/news/newsline.asp?news=29043

[ChadTower]

At the time I was hoping he went home to protect them.  It doesn't appear that way now.

[RTSDaddy2]

The police here in GA are now saying that while it is being investigated as homicides, they believe it was a murder-suicide within the home...that Chris killed Nancy and his son over the weekend, then himself yesterday.

My heart has been breaking in half since 8 PM last night when I got the news.  I refuse to believe the report until the police confirm it.  This just cannot be the Benoit I knew from watching him...the guy loved his family too much.  Something in him had to have snapped, big time.

To the positive, if there is any, for those that didn't see it, Mr. McMahon took center ring last night and said that the "storyline was to have continued the death of my character, Mr. McMahon...in reality, Chris Benoit, his wife Nancy and son are dead."   Sports entertainment takes a LOT of knocks from the press....but I felt this was WWE showing enormous personal character to not only ditch the storyline (which we all knew was horse anyway) but to cancel last night's show entirely.

If there's anyone I feel sorry for in that organization, it would be Chavo Guerrero.  He lost Eddie two years ago (an uncle) in a sudden death, and now Chris ( a close family member).  He looked like he was crumbling to pieces last night.

As for myself, again I've just been a wreck.  I've been a wrestling fan since I was 6, watching with my grandmother, so I've been a Benoit fan a long, long time.   He was my hero from the time he reached WCW...the guy was just a gifted in-ring performer, the best of my generation.  Nancy, of course, we all knew as the manager "Woman," so I knew of her actions out of the ring.  My heart just breaks for both families and the kids.

Like I said, I will not believe the reports until confirmed....and no matter what, I pray they all rest in peace.  They will be missed.  

[shardian]

That's a sad story. I have always liked Chris Benoit. I admired his work ethic and his passion. R.I.P.

[MikeQ]

I've seen a report that the wife killed the son and called Chris saying that he had to come home immediately.  When he got home, he flipped out and killed her and himself.

[TadChower]

I've seen a report that the wife killed the son and called Chris saying that he had to come home immediately.  When he got home, he flipped out and killed her and himself.

Yeah , despite conflicting reports , that's the theory I'm going with also. There were also talks of Chris & Nancy having a rocky marriage as of late. Plus the fact, I just don't vision Benoit taking the life of a child.

[ChadTower]

Dude, get a grip on your fandom here.  These guys are regular people like any of us.  They also have a tendency to be seriously drug addicted, road exhausted, and in constant physical pain.  Add in the chance of him coming home to something like another guy in his bed and a roid rage incident is very plausible.

Also don't forget his wife was a long time wrestling talent as well and known to be wonked in the head. 

EDIT: 

An autopsy will be performed on Chris, Nancy, and Daniel this morning, with the results to follow possibly as early as tonight. The investigators that were interviewed for the AP article on the circumstances of the death did not tell the condition of the bodies or possible cause of death, but the police story being told to sources is that Nancy was killed first on Saturday, then Daniel on Sunday, and then Benoit killed himself on Monday after sending the "curious text messages" to his inner circle of friends in WWE. The situation is being handled as a homicide and WWE has announced it as "double murder-suicide".

If true that chucks MikeQ's suggestion out the window.  It also chucks a roid rage incident out the window as they don't last for days.

[TadChower]

Yeah , I hear ya Chad. It's still a big shock to the wrestling world,fan or not. 

[lordtodd75]

has this hit national news yet?

[ChadTower]

All over the place in the mainstream media, especially in Georgia.

[lordtodd75]

I guess it did
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19424899/

unbelievable!!! I thought this was just a rumor. If he did kill his wife and kid, I have no empathy for him. Although I suppose I will reserve judgement until more details surface. I will say this, there shouldn't be any more tributes for Chris Benoit until everyone knows the facts.

[shardian]

I guess it did
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19424899/

unbelievable!!! I thought this was just a rumor. If he did kill his wife and kid, I have no empathy for him. Although I suppose I will reserve judgement until more details surface. I will say this, there shouldn't be any more tributes for Chris Benoit until everyone knows the facts.

Maybe you should have reserved comment on judgement too.

[ChadTower]

Let's just say this... it's very rare for the Police to say something like "murder suicide" this early unless they're pretty certain that is the case.

[lordtodd75]

I guess it did
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19424899/

unbelievable!!! I thought this was just a rumor. If he did kill his wife and kid, I have no empathy for him. Although I suppose I will reserve judgement until more details surface. I will say this, there shouldn't be any more tributes for Chris Benoit until everyone knows the facts.

Maybe you should have reserved comment on judgement too.

Nah, I think I would rather voice my opinion, that is if its ok with you 

[mr.Curmudgeon]

Man, wrestling has become a strange, strange empire. When I was a kid, it seemed innocent and fun. Andre' the Giant, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, Hulk Hogan.
Now, from what I've gathered from various wrestling fans site (following this latest Benoit story)...it seems like people couldn't tell (for a long time) whether this was a "storyline" or whether it was a real double-murder/Suicide.

WTF?? How far gone has the wrestling industry gotten where you could mistake a double-murder/suicide as part of the "entertainment"? If even for a nanosecond?

I feel for the fans on this, since it seems like this Benoit guy going on a murderous rampage (if the preliminary reports are accurate) is blowing their minds. But, man, shouldn't they have taken a step back and looked at where this industry has led them?

Maybe this story will be the catalyst for positive change. It just seems to have gotten so damn violent.

[shardian]

Man, wrestling has become a strange, strange empire. When I was a kid, it seemed innocent and fun. Andre' the Giant, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, Hulk Hogan.
Now, from what I've gathered from various wrestling fans site (following this latest Benoit story)...it seems like people couldn't tell (for a long time) whether this was a "storyline" or whether it was a real double-murder/Suicide.

WTF?? How far gone has the wrestling industry gotten where you could mistake a double-murder/suicide as part of the "entertainment"? If even for a nanosecond?

I feel for the fans on this, since it seems like this Benoit guy going on a murderous rampage (if the preliminary reports are accurate) is blowing their minds. But, man, shouldn't they have taken a step back and looked at where this industry has led them?

Maybe this story will be the catalyst for positive change. It just seems to have gotten so damn violent.

WWE was already getting bad press for having a storyline with Vince McMahon being "killed" when his limo blew up. I don't watch wrestling any more, but I saw some ad on a website that said something about Vince McMahon being dead and had to go check out WWE.com to see if it was true. So, with that already in the air alot of people at first thought it was a publicity stunt. Vince McMahon cam out last night and made a statement and ended the dead plotline.

[ChadTower]

Wrestling was always like this, the massive amounts of money in it over the last ten years have just magnified the strangeness.  The weird incidents didn't get much press before that because they were "just rasslers" and there wasn't enough money in the industry for it to matter.

[mr.Curmudgeon]

But, again, as an "outsider" to this entertainment medium, it just seems to me that it's being billed as "wholesome family entertainment"...
I know wrestling, of this sort, is born more out of the carny tradition, as opposed to "sport" wrestling, but it seems to me that the lines have been severely blurred with today's modern format.

And don't get me wrong, I'm a HUGE fan of  "sideshow" Americana, but every time I've caught a glimpse of wrestling lately...I've been sorta' appalled.
Like one time I turned to a WWE show, or something, on television...only to glimpse McMahon's son (I guess) get his face pushed into his father's naked and exposed ass (in front of millions of families; Kids, etc) . Seriously. WTF?   

(and not to mention the women's outfits. I'm all for soft-core porn, but as "family entertainment"?)  Anyhow...sorry if anyone feels that this is a derail. I'm just fascinated by how bizarre wrestling seem to be now. And how damn popular it is, as well.

[mr.Curmudgeon]

Wrestling was always like this, the massive amounts of money in it over the last ten years have just magnified the strangeness.  The weird incidents didn't get much press before that because they were "just rasslers" and there wasn't enough money in the industry for it to matter.

Speaking of money, some one on FARK made a good point:

"If the WWE called the police after getting weird text messages that led them to suspect something bad had happened, only to go ahead and run a tribute show when they had to be pretty darn sure that it was a murder/suicide and he'd killed his family, well, then they truly are soulless money grubbers."

[ChadTower]

But, again, as an "outsider" to this entertainment medium, it just seems to me that it's being billed as "wholesome family entertainment"...

WWE is not billed as "wholesome family entertainment" and has not been billed that way for many years now.  It is rated appropriately by the TV ratings bodies.  Raw is 9-11pm monday night and the tamer Smackdown is 8-10pm friday night.

They decided to run the tribute show before that detail was out.  You can't just reverse live television on the fly.  Remember, they had three hours of live television to replace with only a couple of hours' notice.  It will turn out to be embarrassing but doing much of anything else was damn near impossible.  They are very unique in the fact that they run a weekly live two hour program with very little form restriction on it.  Sometimes it gets weird as a result.

[mr.Curmudgeon]

WWE is not billed as "wholesome family entertainment" and has not been billed that way for many years now.  It is rated appropriately by the TV ratings bodies.  Raw is 9-11pm monday night and the tamer Smackdown is 8-10pm friday night.

Then maybe I'm just getting that feeling from the people who watch this stuff. I mean, I see kids all over the arenas (on TV), and there's WWE toys in every store, and parents feel it's perfectly fine to share in this "sport" as a family.
 

[romperwomb]

Watching Triple H dressed as Kane as he performed necrophilia on Katie Vick's "body" has turned me off of pro wrestling since.   

[shardian]

Speaking of money, some one on FARK made a good point:

"If the WWE called the police after getting weird text messages that led them to suspect something bad had happened, only to go ahead and run a tribute show when they had to be pretty darn sure that it was a murder/suicide and he'd killed his family, well, then they truly are soulless money grubbers."

Well they cancelled the show and consequently have to refund all of the tickets. Not to mention that all of them in the business were friends with Chris and his family. Given the situation at hand, they did what  was appropriate.

[mr.Curmudgeon]

Well they cancelled the show and consequently have to refund all of the tickets. Not to mention that all of them in the business were friends with Chris and his family. Given the situation at hand, they did what  was appropriate.

Yeah. Sounds like they had a crappy hand to deal with. Wouldn't want to be Vince right now.

Watching Triple H dressed as Kane as he performed necrophilia on Katie Vick's "body" has turned me off of pro wrestling since.

W.......T..........F?   

[shardian]

Watching Triple H dressed as Kane as he performed necrophilia on Katie Vick's "body" has turned me off of pro wrestling since.

W.......T..........F?   
[/quote]

Mae young giving birth to a hand was the axe for me. FYI Mr. C - Mae Young is like 80 years old.

[ChadTower]

Well they cancelled the show and consequently have to refund all of the tickets. Not to mention that all of them in the business were friends with Chris and his family. Given the situation at hand, they did what  was appropriate.

They don't have to refund the tickets, they can give out tickets to a subsequent event if they want.

Mr C, you know as well as I do that no one can prevent parents from exposing their kids to inappropriate stuff.  The toys do make it a bit ambiguous, I agree on that, but in general Raw is the adult brand and Smackdown is the "family" brand with tamer content on regular network television.  Kids shouldn't be watching Raw.  I don't let my kids watch Raw and I take them to live (non WWE) events regularly.  Hell my kids were *on* TNA Impact twice clearly visible in the front center.  It's all about knowing the product and exposing them only the appropriate stuff, same as any other medium.

HHH and the corpse thing was definitely in bad taste and they paid for it.  Ratings went down and they got the expected sponsor/viewer backlash. 

[mr.Curmudgeon]

I'm not advocating censorship or anything, and Chad, it seems like you are being responsible in how you introduce this into your family, even though I think it's a double-edge sword, since your kids are bound to actively seek out RAW material, as they are being brought up as fans of wrestling and the characters overlap (don't they?).

But it certainly seems like there are millions of other parents, who are extremely irresponsible and misguided when it comes to this "sport". And I guess I'm a bit annoyed by the industry's violence peddling over these blurred lines.

I remember the day when the biggest upcoming scandalous event in wrestling was when Hulk Hogan promised to try to bodyslam Andre' the Giant. 

Btw, I was THERE! Wrestlemania III! 

[shardian]

Of course the worst "bad taste" moment in wrestling was in WCW when sting "fell" from the rafters and busted thru the ring (it was a dummy). They did this right after Owen Wilson DID fall to his death in the WWF. People in the audience were crying and screaming. That was pathetic.

[lordtodd75]

Mr Curmudgeon is here? P&R here we come 

[mr.Curmudgeon]

Naw. I'm behaving. People are really, genuinely upset about this and I can empathize.

[ChadTower]

Of course the worst "bad taste" moment in wrestling was in WCW when sting "fell" from the rafters and busted thru the ring (it was a dummy). They did this right after Owen Wilson DID fall to his death in the WWF. People in the audience were crying and screaming. That was pathetic.

Erm?  I don't remember that and Owen Wilson is an actor.  Owen Hart is the guy who fell from the rafters.

Sting had been using that rope based entrance for a long time but I certainly don't remember anyone anywhere in the wrestling industry mocking Owen Hart's death, especially given that one of WCW's highest paid stars was Owen's brother.

Mr C, I agree, some parents suck.  Not much can be done about that.  My kids are bound to actively seek out Raw stuff eventually, you're right, and that's just part of growing up. 

There were real life major incidents among pro wrestlers back then too, they just didn't get media attention.  Wrestlers died young regularly back then as well.  As always happens, when it becomes big money, things happen faster and harder.

[ChadTower]

I just realized they have another hour of live TV to cover tonight.  Smackdown gets taped tonight for friday, which of course isn't shown live, but ECW is shown live from the Smackdown event... I don't know that it's a very good idea to put a live event crowd on TV tonight.  They'll have no control over how they're going to respond, chant, sign, etc.  I could see as many antiBenoit signs happening as proBenoit signs and that could get ugly quickly.

Anything that happened in the crowd could be edited out for Smackdown but not for the live ECW show tonight.

[RTSDaddy2]

The state of wrestling today is sad, to interject.  I agree, Vince just goes too far over the top.  I miss the days - again when I was a kid - that there were a bunch of little promotions: NWA, AWA, etc...it was less theatrics and more action, and - quite frankly, it WAS a better product.

At some point, you have to say to yourself, it surely must have been less dangerous for the performers as well to a point; how else do you explain that a lot of those guys are still living and today's heroes (Gurrerro, Benoit, Brian Pillman, etc) are now dead due to drugs or other issues?  The 70s and 80s were either a better time, or the heroes I worshipped as a kid just stayed the hell away from whatever drugs they were offered.

[ChadTower]

There ARE a bunch of little promotions.  All over the place.  They're just not on national TV, and that is exactly how it was back in the day too.

If you want small promotion wrestling just do some googling in your area.  You'll probably be surprised at what you find.  The NWA still very much exists and is still spread out in a territorial manner across the US.

And absolutely check out Ring of Honor.  Consistently the best live shows you'll ever see, all available on DVD shortly afterwards.  Coming to PPV soon.

[alomar721]

The word now is that Chris strangled his wife and suffocated his boy and then he hung him shelf in his weight room. a sad day indeed.

scott

[ChadTower]

Apparently the wife asked for and was given a restraining order against him in 2003.  They later reconciled, obviously.

Toxicology reports are reportedly coming out at 3pm.  It will be interesting to see if they're testing only for recreational drugs or if they'll check for steroids too.

[alomar721]

they are looking into the steroids. the news reported it may have will know at 3:00