WrestlingFigs > Wrestling News Posts > MY OBSERVATIONS FEEDBACK
MY OBSERVATIONS FEEDBACK
  • 09/08/2007 (9:08:30 am)
  • Georgiann Makropoulos

Please keep your thoughts coming…

 
I've been following this story since it happened, reading any online/newspaper/magazine articles pertaining to the Benoit murder-suicide and frankly, I don't know what to believe.
 
Truth is, Michael Benoit and the findings with Chris Benoit's brain tissue don't lie. After 18+ years of diving headbutts and chairshots, yeah there is going to be significant damage to the brain tissue and a history of concussions. And yes, Benoit was found with a form of steroids in his system when an autopsy was performed on him after his death.
 
My belief is that both things contributed to what happened. The fact that brain damage and steroids both cause depression and certain other mental ailments is proof that it wasn't a one sided thing that affected Chris Benoit's mental state. I have no doubt that had Chris Benoit wrestled more cautios (no diving headbutts, less chairshots) and never taken steroids that his wife, son, and himself would still be here today.
 
I agree that the WWE needs to have a less grueling schedule. House shows should be cut down and wrestlers should be given holidays and other special events (Mother's Day, Father's Day, etc) off. Not only would it help keep wrestlers happy and healthy, but it's good for business. People who attend house shows that see "dry runs" of PPV matches and then watch the PPV no doubt feel like they are wasting money for a match they've already seen, although maybe with a different outcome.
 
On the same note, wrestlers who are out with an injury should be given as much time as they need to return. It may seem like a bad decision, but with a less hectic schedule, you'll eventually have less wrestlers out with injury and it wouldn't be a problem.
 
I would even goes as far as to give the wrestlers a week every month off to spend with family. Instead of a live Raw, for example, the WWE could broadcast a recap or special highlighting a previous or upcoming PPV. Just something so everyone is not getting burnt out.
 
Adam Smith
 
* * * * * * * * * *
 
I started attending matches live 40 years ago. The old MSG, local armories, then later high school gym shows.  Basically three generations of wrestlers ago.  Ring steps and ringside seats were made of wood, trash cans and stop signs were on the side of the road.  Cage matches were primitive, chicken wire stretched in a wooden frame.  My area, the WWWF, went from Maine to DC out west to Steubenville, Ohio.  You could drive the whole circuit in a day.
Those wrestlers who succumbed early in life did so from complications of high blood pressure, diabetes, cancers even car crashes.  Very similar to what faced the average American male in the general public faced in those days. 
 
Fast forward 3 generations, those diseases now can be successfully treated and controlled, yet the death rate of wrestlers doesn't mirror that of the general public anymore. 
 
Concussions, steroids, human growth hormones, metal chairs and barbed wire clubs are now the norm, isn't progress grand.
 
Forty years doesn't seem that long ago, while the Taylor's hawk Splenda, the McDaniel's were selling Gulden's mustard, Wahoo was on the Jets. 
 
One final thought this website is called Wrestling Figures, which I also collect.  I now need 3 shelves to hold the replicas of those that have passed on......
 
Rich Kraemer Brick NJ
 
* * * * * * * * * *

 

Nowinski needs to remove himself from the Benoit equation--every news agency is aware he still works for the WWE on a variety of levels and it makes any actual potential for concussive "findings" suspect because it just looks like more grasping for "non-drug straws."
 
Mike Lano
 
* * * * * * * * * *
 
This statement was just im'd to me from one of our readers, wanted to share.  Boy is that true...
 
 "It's hard to believe that most of the wrestlers my grandmother watched are still going strong, and half the ones I grew up watching are dead."
 
* * * * * * * * * *
 
What do I believe? I believe that Steroids,Concussions, Xannax and any personal problems that Chris Benoit had all played a role in this terrible tragedy. How can someone with that much brain damage from concussions can still be allowed to wrestle?? I am sure that you mix that with a testosterone level of 57 to 1 which is inhuman plus xannax, which I know can be highly addictive. Tragic results can and will happen.
 
Whatever age we are, whatever gender we are, whatever we do in our lives, one thing always is true. WE ARE MORTAL!!! Vince, Get that through that thick head of yours!! I watch wrestling for wrestling. These wrestlers helped you become famous and put you in the position that you are in now whether they wrestled during the times of Bruno Sammartino, Bob Backlund, Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, Steve Austin..etc. Don't forget all of these wrestlers who have been IC,Tag Team, European, Cruiserweight Champions or even down to wrestlers who never hit that big. They are all human!! Remember that VINCE!!!
 
If congress does not shut the WWF/E down after all of this, Vince should turn over a whole new personality and be humane to his wrestlers!!
Oh.....as far as Steroid suspensions go, Shouldn't Vince suspend himself?!? My God, No man looks like that at age 62!!!  LOL !!!
 
From:  Stephen Faust
 
* * * * * * * * * *

 

Your observations on the recent Benoit news & such were a good read. As for why Chris Benoit killed his wife & son, I believe that it did have an effect on his judgements & abilities to reason. BUT, it was not the main catalyst.

I never knew him personally, but taking in accounts of what others said of his recent behavior (compared to his past & the numerous findings that came out during the investigation & media blitz), it was probably a combination of factors weighing on a troubled, damaged mind.

Here's a guy who lives for the industry he works in. He's reached the age of 40 & it's becoming even more of a challenge to maintain the work-rate & image that HE expects out of himself (besides what wrestling expects from him). Then there's the stress of life at home with the family & life on the road without them. So much going on & so much that he misses out on. Your wife misses you, your growing son needs you. I can imagine that a marriage can get pretty rocky, especially for wrestlers...

And each wrestler's story is different. Each one has his own boulders to bare. Perhaps there were issues with young Daniel. Maybe Chris' relationship with Nancy was lacking in several respects. We'll never know now.

...The stresses of everyday life, the losses of personal friends in the business over the years, the untold amounts of physical pain Benoit put himself through while wrestling such a grueling style; depression, doubts, loneliness that can set in at any moment. Just watching the nightly news can leave someone with a deep despair about the world's future & the qualities of life if they dwell on it all long enough... and everything else that might have been weighing down on him.

Chris Benoit was a man who reached the brink. And with the unknown damage to the man's brain, it became increasingly difficult for him to cope with the tribulations of his life. Couple that with the use of steroids, or even just massive levels of testosterone, and you have a man who may have lost complete control of himself. And it led him to making the worst mistake of his life...

Hypothetical: Imagine if an 85 year-old man with dementia injected as much testosterone as Benoit did. I wonder how much control an orderly would have had over him in a nursing home? What would the rage have been like? How much control would an old man have over himself? What would be the result? I can't imagine that it would have been good. That's for sure.

And Benoit KNEW what he did was wrong. The bibles left by their lifeless bodies, in my opinion, showed direct intent to express in metaphor what Benoit wasn't able to express through words. His remorse, guilt, and perhaps his hope that God would guide, protect & keep his family on their way... and maybe some desperate plea to the Almighty for forgiveness, or to express to the world he left behind that he wasn't as cold-blooded as the impression of his horrible acts of brutality told that he was.

Maybe Ted Dibiase was right. Maybe it was a mercy killing.

But the act itself is not one of a sane mind. More so of a clouded, disturbed, fragile state...

I am 29 years old & Chris Benoit is one of the biggest reasons why I love pro wrestling. I've watched it since I was 9 or 10. So many hours of great memories. As time went by, you distinguished your favorites from the cast of thousands. There's always something that stands out to you about your heroes.

Chris Benoit was one of my heroes. In your heroes, you look for the qualities that mean something to you. That YOU identify with, perhaps. Chris Benoit was a man of passion & extremes. One of respect & example (before the tragedy). One of few words, but pin-pointed accuracy. He put up with years of obscurity in WCW, battling through all the politics & barriers... only to finally reach the pinnacle of his career, finally, when he won the World Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Mania...

                                     and a few short years later, he fell so far...

No question. Chris Benoit murdering his wife & son are an unspeakable horror. My heart will always go out to them & their families. I think I'll always contemplate & have dynamic, mixed feelings about it all.

I'm not a religious person, but I do believe there's something out there. Something spiritual, meaningful. Call it God. Or love. You could even call it The Force.

Chris Benoit committed acts of evil, but I hope that his soul doesn't dwell in darkness; damned & alone forever. I hope some sort of light finds & surrounds him. And leads him back.

Thanks for your time. Sorry for the long novel. BUT, when you asked for feedback, this is what was on my mind.

Keep writing great stuff.

Colyn T. Spencer

 

* * * * * * * * * *

 

Here is what I think about the Chris Benoit Findings: On the eve of the
NFL season, even though it is technically here (thanks Colts and
Saints), I want to say that not only does the wrestling industry need to
wake up and pay attention, but so does the NFL.  With also the recent
Rodney Harrison suspension for HGH and that coach for the Cowboys, it is
also imperitive that both WWE and the NFL have a REAL drug testing
policy that works.  As for what was found with Benoit's brain, I am not
surprised.  With all the hits he took, I am not surprised in the least
that his brain turned out like that.  Both the NFL, and WWE , but
especially the NFL must take concussions much more seriously than they
do with all the hits to the head that the participants sustain.  The
health of these athletes must be paramount.

Terri Bey

 

* * * * * * * * * *

 

Georgie  [email protected]

 

 

Tags:

Comments are closed.