Chris Benoit - R.I.P

[The Curmudgeon]

It's no secret that The Curmudgeon is a big wrestling fan, and so it was a major shock when I was just casually looking through a wrestling site when I read the news:

CHRIS BENOIT AND HIS FAMILY ARE DEAD.

I started watching wrestling years ago, and at that time Chris was in WCW, and as I read how good he was I always wished he would jump ship to the show I watched. And he did. To be honest, he was never my favourite wrestler (even though he's one of the all time greatest, no question about that). He was always there.

Now, I'm not going to go into any gushing tributes to a man I never knew (unlike some of the wrestling sites, Jesus, talk about too much) but its came as a bit of a shock to me. Someone I've watched for YEARS, read about and talked about for years - is gone.

And not only gone, but if reports are true, taken not only his own life but his wife and child's as well. There's so many conflicting feelings right now... do we hate this man? I don't know.

Safe to say the WWE as a whole is pretty fucked right now. I don't know who watches it or not, but the owner, Vince McMahon, "died" in a car explosion three weeks ago, and all manner of fake reports were flooding in and fake scenes of crying and eulogies. It's all done in the worst possible taste. Especially given that a Hall Of Famer, Sensational Sherri, really DID die a week after the stunt. How do you talk about a real death one minute, and in the same quiet, sad voice talk about a fake death? I have no idea - but WWE announcers did it.

And then this. But unlike Sherri, Benoit was main event material, always on TV and always in the title hunt. Hell, he was main event on Sunday night when he was replaced due to "personal reasons."

Anyway, enough talk. You may not follow wrestling but, well, this is the "what we're into" thread section and, for me, wrestling and the WWE just lost something special.

[InvisibleWolfMan]

Hi,

I thought I'd drop my two cents here:

What a tragic waste of life.

I've never watched any of his matches or known anything else about him previous to this horrific event, but it's obvious that he had a LOT of serious issues that he just couldn't keep a grip on. I wonder just how bad it really got for his wife and child in the months prior to this. As someone who's seen and experience many numerous "domestic disputes" (to use a far lighter term), I feel worst for the mother and child. No matter how bad things felt for him, they didn't deserve or do anything that should have equated to a double homicide.

I won't show any pity or remorse for this man, no sir. Another person on another forum that I visit (NIGHTMARE forum) hit the nail right on the head when she said that he can burn in Hell. It's not saying he was a horrible wrestler or putting down his many achievements. It's saying that in the end, as a man who should have spared his family the suffering and anguish he put them through, he chose to KILL them. That's right, KILL THEM.

We're not talkin' about ice cream and a Sunday stroll through the park, people.

We're talking about MURDER, and the worst kind. Can any of you imagine strangling your spouse, then heading upstairs to kill your own kid? Did she try to convince him to calm down? Did she try to get him to get help? Did she plead with him not to hurt her or their child? Did she remind him how much she and the son loved him? Did she plead for him to spare her life? Did she plea with him not to let their son witness what he was about to do to her? Did he wake up to the noises? Did he see it? Did he hear it all go on and didn't run because he was too terrified to move? Did he cry out for his mom? Did he plea for his life when his dad exterminated him like some unwanted pest? What right did he have to take their lives? Remember, he did that to them FIRST....then took his own life.

Murderous Coward!

Living with someone violent (mental problems or not) is ***pardon my French*** fuckin' SCARY. And these kind of people always seem to sweet talk their way back in. And the closer you are to them, the harder it is to keep that guard up because most humans have that little nagging voice called "compassion," which oddly enough likes to overextend itself to the furthest outreaches when it's regarding someone who is beloved. They loved him, and it cost them their lives all because he was a murderous coward.

My comments may ruffle some people's feathers who read this reply, but this kind of issue is always deeply dividing. It doesn't mean I don't hold any respect for those of you out there that don't agree with me. It doesn't mean your opinion doesn't have any validation. I just don't agree with a murderous coward's actions.

And that's the bottom line.

Kindest Regards,

InvisibleWolfMan

[trashcanman]

I'm an old-time wrestling fanatic, but I haven't watched since the early nineties. This is a terrible, terrible thing to have happened in any sport or in any walk of life. I didn't know much about the man but anytime you murder your wife or child, much less both, I'm "happy" to hear they offed themselves afterwards and saved us the time. What a sad mess. I just hope that this doesn't kickstart some kind of backlash about violence on television or some bullshit. Chalk this up as a horrible and tragic turn of events for a very sick man and move along, please.

[The Curmudgeon]

Yeah, I could see this happening too Trashy. I can see a lot of people seeing wrestlers, and fans of wrestling, as something far lower than they already do.

Wolfman - I'm not comfortable labelling him some inhuman monster. Yeah, what he did WAS cowardly and terrible BUT by all accounts he was, before that day, a great, loving father and husband. I don't think he was a BAD guy - I do think he was a mentally ill one. If he had a history of violence towards women (or people in general, for that matter) it would be a different matter - but he didn't.

I'm no expert on the human mind, but I think something .. happened.. I dunno, that made him do what he did. Voices, paranoia.. whatever. But he was obviously insane and so... oh man, I dunno. Like I said - this is a very hard topic to cover.

On a slightly more upbeat note, something I've never seen in wrestling happened on Monday. Vince McMahon, who was supposed to be dead (daughter crying last week and everything), stood in the middle of a ring (empty arena) and said "in a recent storyline I was supposed to have died. However, in REALITY, Chris Benoit..."

I think a lot of young wrestling fans got a rude awakening this week.