WOW! I was very impressed with the Warrior the other night on Fox they tried to talk over him and at one point he said, "hey you get to talk every night on this show, can I talk please" I loved it.
Warrior came off intelligent and knowledgeable as he is, and was not rattled in the least, the hosts of the show however seemed perturbed that they were not getting the answers they wanted, [too bad].
This is the thing that makes most of us the "Top Guys' in the business mad, it is all about Steroids, period.
I feel the same way that most guys especially the Warrior that Steroids had nothing or very little to do with Benoit snapping, this is why I refused Nancy Grace the other evening.
You can get enlarged hearts from abusing many types of drugs not just Steroids. I get real frustrated when they keep on saying that over 60 wrestlers died over the last 10 years due to steroids.
Well one thing for certain they all did not die while working for the WWE. I think people forget over the last 10 years the AWA, WCW, IPW, WWF, WWE, and all the independent companies existed and Wrestlers died in many of those companies, the WWE is being a scapegoat as they are the main company left at this time.
WE need to look into the fact that the 60 or so wrestlers that dies, 90% I would say used Cocaine like crazy for days at a time and used Somas {muscle relaxers} to come down for days at a time, a yo yo type of effect, which ask any physician, it can take a huge toll on your heart.
To say Steroids was the main culprit is ludicrous at the very least. It is all speculation and still is, and we should not reach to judgement.
I know that in most, if not all other pro sports the Athletes are told the date and time in which they will be tested for controlled substances, which given enough time the athlete can so call clean out so to prevent being detected for controlled substances.
It is a shame as I think that wrestlers are not getting a fair shake here and other sports are way more invaded by steroids than wrestling, the numbers of athletes are greater in the other sports so the chance of them using is greater. I am tired of Wrestling getting hammered unjustly.
What about the positives the WWE has taken to help the athletes, 1.5 million or so paid for Operations the athletes may have needed to have, [neck, knee, broken bones], when failed drug tests, mandatory treatment to help the welfare of the athlete which is never discussed. After the Benoit tragedy numerous amount of grief counselors to help the wrestlers handle the horrific event. These are just some of the things the WWE is doing to try to help their employees.
I have never. nor have I ever heard of or seen a wrestler that was ordered to do anything against his or her will, whatever drugs any wrestler has ever taken was done on his or her own choice or decision.
Hey the wrestling business is not perfect and needs improvement, but lets not judge wrestling on a whole just because lately middle of the card wrestlers that are disgruntled and angry all are on TV lately most without credibility, are trying to jump on the negative band wagon, I believe for their own agenda. Where were they all before this tragedy?
I say let's see what the toxicology reports reveal on the Benoit family to see if there is any link to what caused a seemingly stable person flip out to the extent that he kills his family and to take the steps to prevent this ever happening again. Jeffery Dahmer, Son of Sam, Boston Strangler, all snapped and why? We need to study this tragedy and learn what we can do to prevent such a thing ever happening again.
I still stand on the fact wrestling needs a governing body along with the wellness program and a pension program to help these wrestlers deal with day to day stresses and expenses and keep them sane.
We all, every wrestler have a choice as a grown up adult to make the choice to take any drug and when just when is the person held accountable for his or her actions on taking these drugs
* * * * * * *
Georgie - I totally agree with your commentary yesterday The Wellness program should definitely give the wrestlers time off to heal and love their families. You are absolutely right. It is such a shame about the Benoit tragedy. I am so sick over it.
Yes, I so appreciate your work and so does my hubby Larry. You are such an asset to the industry. There should be more people like you - people who love the industry and what they do. The business needs more people like you writing for them.
Thanks again for everything Georgie, enjoy the 4th of July!!!
Love, Jodi --- fellow Elvis and wrestling fan!!
* * * * * * *
PRELUDE
----Last Tuesday was the first time I had to cover a major death for this site. It was a very sad and crazy day. The details kept unfolding and the story became harder and harder to cover. I never met Chris Benoit, but as being part of wrestling he was part of the brotherhood. I was a big fan of his and will always consider him one of the greatest wrestlers I ever had the chance to watch.
CHRIS BENOIT : MY THOUGHTS
"You always rooted for him, because he was a good guy and he overcame the odds," said Dave Meltzer, editor of the Wrestling Observer, a weekly news letter. "It's like if you watched 'Rocky,' and in the end it comes out that Rocky killed his wife and his son."
----The quote above I took from one of the various random sites I was looking at over the weekend. It really summed up my feelings about the whole Chris Benoit story. When I first heard about this tragedy I was very sad for whole family, but I was really upset that one of my favorite wrestlers had died. Eddy Guerrero’s death almost took me completely away from wrestling. Have ever watched a TV show and when they kill off a character, then that is it?? That is the way felt like when Eddy died.
----I am not blind to the fact of the lifestyles of all the wrestlers. I have seen most of it first hand. Pain pills are a must in most circles. Smoke a little weed is not frowned upon. I have seen guys drinking anything from diet coke to vodka backstage. If you can perform on that given night and you do not hurt yourself or your opponent, then so be it.
----Are the steroids as bad as they were before Eddy died?? I would say yes. They are tested, but tests are made to have ways of getting around them. That was prevalent yesterday when they discovered that Benoit was taking 10 months supply every 3 to 4 week. When looking at a wrestler that you say would make it in the WWE, what do most of think about?? Their body – if it doesn’t look good, then they are not going to make it. No one gains or cuts without using stuff like testosterone, Windrol, Deca, Anadrol or a variety of different steroids along with meal supplements and such. The guys wanting contracts are encouraged to look good and there are very few ways of doing that.
----Is steroids really the problem here?? I think the general wear and tear on the body, the plan rides and the other drugs help a lot also. Have you ever been on a long trip and come back and you are so tired?? These guys are doing it every week. No other sports group, TV crew, movie crew or rock star has a year around schedule like these guys do.
----Can you blame Vince McMahon for all the abuse and the deaths?? Maybe he could make less days a month on the schedule. That would improve things. But, let me tell you the fans want to see the big muscle guys. They don’t want to watch guys that look like the guy next door. That is one of the big reasons that indy's in this area only draw around 100 people. The main point that most people don’t realize is no one forces you to take the 'roids. No one forces you to take the pain pills. No one forces you to become a wrestler. No forces you to be a drug addict. I have heard many of the guys when I mention they are drug addicts, they say, “It’s just steroids!” This is all on the individual – if they want to make it big – they know what they have to do. If not, then get a decent looking body, a real job during the week and wrestle on the weekends.
----I say all of the above because I know Eddy Guerrero was smart enough to know what he was doing. I never blamed Vince McMahon and I never blamed steroids. Eddy lived his dream and knew he had to take certain paths to do it. Those paths may have shortened his life and I miss seeing him wrestle to this day. It was on him.
----Chris Benoit is a different case. You can say it was the road, the 'roids and the abuse of his body. It could have been all those factors. If they do some research on his brain and find that he did all of this because of concussions, then I will retract what I am about to say. Benoit was a coward. I have spoke to a few people on this during the week saying, “well if it was only his wife, then maybe I could see why..”, because both my ex-wife and I both wanted to kill each other more times than one. Guess what though?? I didn’t. I didn’t take my angry or whatever out on her. I didn’t kill her, and then kill our kids. This man did.
----Study the timeline and the series of events. He killed his wife. He apparently bonded her feet and hands. Her head was busted in the back. She was there for at least a day before he then went into his son’s bedroom and smothered him. And then he did the most coward act of all – he killed himself. He could not face the world after what he had done.
----I really don’t care how many times I cheered him on. I would watch his PPV matches only because I knew they would be good. The fact is - he had a monster living inside of him. A man that actually could take the life of a child is nothing more than the devil himself. Is there forgiveness for something like this?? Yes there is. But, I will never be able to forget this story every time I watch a Chris Benoit match. Will it make his matches worse?? Is he a horrible worker now because he killed his family?? No his skills will forever live in the matches. His legacy will be killing his family – not what it should have been – one of the greatest wrestlers that ever lived.
THE END
----This link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9MZK08JqVU will take you to a match from youtube.com is one of the matches that paved the way of me being a big time Benoit mark. I had seen him wrestle on Calgary tapes, but when he stepped in the ring with my other favorite wrestler at the time – Jushin Liger – I totally marked out. At the time, I was watching Japanese wrestling – All Japan/New Japan – on a monthly basis. It was always a treat to see The Pegasus Kid vs Liger.
* * * * * * *
I noticed you have added a few of people's writings here and there. I had met Chris a couple of times and wanted to share my perspective of what he meant to me, so I completed something this morning and posted it at the link below, just in case you'd like to reference it or use it for anything:
From Rich Tate
* * * * * * *
Hi Georgie
I was wondering when your mailing out your next issue of the Chatterbox, if not already.
My subscription recently ran out and since wrestling is at such a low low low point right now I've lost A LOT of interest ......Chris Benoit was one of the reasons I started watching wrestling and one of the FEW reasons that were left to still watch it if he really did that to his family then his actions are truly UNFORGIVABLE but Chris Benoit the wrestler should STILL be recognized for being one of the best wrestlers pound for pound of all time and I believe WWE removing all mention of him on their website is ridiculous they are super hypocrites because they are so quick to cut ties with his name then why not give that entire Wrestlemania 20 gate revenue to Nancy and Chris' parents ?
Vince McMahon is beyond low life status nowadays and the ONLY good thing about the Benoit passing is that now they can end that SUPER IGNORANT Mr McMahon Death Angle .....I have a challenge to issue tho and you can print this if you want ...
I have a challenge to ANY CURRENT OR PAST WWE wrestler to step up and go where no one in the sport has ever, ever gone. To show some guts and become the Real World's Champion in front of the crowd that matters MOST .......the LOCKER ROOM and take a stand to form a union or a cult and strike ( remember a few years ago when they did the referee strike angle ) do it just like that except this obviously wouldn't be an angle wrestlers need to get smart and look at this the same way Vince looks at it I'm the only show in town ( no dissrespect to tna ) I can do what I want screw the fans and screw the workers well turn that around and think as a wrestler hey you know what you ARE the only show in town but so am I if you don't meet certain health and family demands I won't perform because yes I can't go to ecw or wcw anymore but guess what you can't take from ECW or WCW anymore either ......In all my years of watching wrestling I have only heard two wrestlers seriously discussing a Union and those two are Roddy Rowdy Piper and Bret Hart I'm not saying no one else has ever spoken up about it but those are the only two I have heard speak up about it in public ....its a shame that in a industry where you can't trust your co-workers and you can't trust your promoters you lose trust in your better judgement and during all that time you spend alone traveling, preparing for a match , working out at the gym, and driving so many miles from place to place that you don't think of more long term resolutions to solving wrestling's increasingly short term worries that leave so many years of lengthy anguish on its familes and fans !!
From Alonso
* * * * * * *
One of our readers sent this to me. Please sign it.
* * * * * * *
Hello there, my name is Josh and I would like to make a comment about some of the articles I been reading on the wrestling newsline on https://wrestlingfigs.com . like most other people who been passionate about wrestling, when I heard about the Benoit news i didn't know what to think. as days went on we got more information about what happened and medications that were found and i still believe waiting toxic reports. I just want to make a comment about how in most of the drug reports we get (since mostly everyone is pointing at the drug lifestyle in this) we get tons of information about steroids and only little about painkillers (opioid analgesic). I do think at least on some webpages painkillers need to be really looked at as a problem instead of just acting like they were ok because wrestlers are in pain... they are basically synthetic heroine. like we know what kind of steroids he had but no information on what kind of pain killers he had and at what doses. I hope this email was somewhat useful. Thanks * * * * * * *
Adrenaline, Rage and Aggression Jakks toy line names for example, out to be re-thought. This from Mike Lano. Need some changes in the figures line.
