Chris Benoit and family found dead

I can't believe that there are people who care enough about wrestling to memorialize a wrestler in their sigs, and I really can't believe that they don't take that shit down when it comes out that the dude likely butchered his wife and child.

I genuinely can't believe it.

 

Maybe a separate thread on the issue of McMahon and premature deaths of performers is in order?

 

Just caught the wire story. This is awful - this hit me harder than even Eddy.
When I think of the Rabid Wolverine, I still remember his great matches with Kurt Angle, for whom we've been on deathwatch for a couple of years now.
I have the feeling neither steroids nor the ways of VKM can explain this.

 

WWE lists this update:

According to lead investigator Lt. Tommy Pope, of the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department, in Fayetteville, Ga., the deaths of WWE Superstar Chris Benoit, wife Nancy and son Daniel were the result of a double murder-suicide, WWE.com has learned.

Benoit failed to appear both at Saturday’s live event in Beaumont, Tx., and WWE’s Vengeance: Night of Champions in Houston Sunday night, after informing WWE of a family emergency. Several curious text messages sent by Benoit early Sunday morning prompted concerned friends to alert Richard Hering, VP of Government Relations for WWE, Inc. Hering, in turn, spoke with Fayette County sheriffs Monday, and requested that they respond to the Benoit residence to check on him and his family.

Authorities representing the Sheriff’s Department initially had a difficult time entering Benoit’s new Fayetteville home Monday afternoon, which had been guarded by two large German Shepherds roaming freely around the property. Once authorities entered the residence, they quickly located the bodies of Benoit, Nancy and Daniel. WWE was notified of the discovery at approximately 4 p.m.

At 10 p.m. Monday night, Lt. Pope held a press conference in conjunction with Scott Ballard, the district attorney for Fayette County. The press conference officially ruled authorities’ findings as a double murder-suicide from within the home.

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.

The three bodies have been received by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s crime lab, in Decatur, Ga., where autopsies will be performed Tuesday morning. Toxicology reports will not become available for at least two weeks.

WWE.com has further information relating to both the investigation and the cause of death, but the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department has requested that WWE.com not release any additional details at this time.
————————

When I first heard about this, I like everyone else assumed that CB wouldn't do what they're now saying he did. I thought of a real-life enemy. The details of them coughing up blood made me think that maybe there were some carbon monoxide problems there. Oh well. It's a sad day for the wrestling industry, but a sad day for Benoit's extended family. I feel bad for his other two kids, a son and daughter. I like many will hold out hope that he didn't do this, because I've thought highly of him over the years.

 

Now why would you put on there that you know something, but you are gonna hold it?
This isn't a show.

 

We live in a fucked up world when the cult of personality attached to a fucking wrestler trumps the likelihood that he murdered his family.

It might be a rush to judgment to say that he definitely offed his family (though I seriously doubt it), but it cuts both ways. It certainly wouldn't be a rush to judgment to take the sigs down until it's determined one way or another with this dude sliced up his family.

Those of you with this dude in your sig need to O.D. on some damn perspective. I don't give a shit how beloved this dude was.

 

As I posted on the rasslin' thread, I watched the tribute show and kept wondering if they weren't celebrating a murderer. Of course, the WWE couldn't have known that at the time. In retrospect, the best move would have been to cancel the show completely until more was known.

 

And THIS is why I think the recent storyline needs to be mentioned in the lede.

 

How so? That's the WWE saying they know more, not the AJC.

 

Again, hindsight is 20/20 in regards to whether the show should've even taken place tonight. There had been a precedent set with Owen Hart and Eddy Guerrero and, WWE even took it to a further extreme tonight by not having a live show. I think they made the right call for the amount of time they had to make the decision.

As for the people with Benoit in their sigs, as much as it pains me to say it, I agree with the people who say it's in bad taste.
I've been a wrestling fan for 26 years and Chris Benoit was one of my all-time favorite performers. I loved his professionalism in the ring and every single story I heard about him outside the ring told me he was someone who deserved and earned respect. I know most of you don't follow professional wrestling as closely as some of us, but there are very few wrestlers you can point to and say "No one has ever said anything bad about Chris Benoit." (I think the Undertaker, The Rock and Bobby Eaton are among the select few who've lived above the fray.)

Hearing the news tonight, when it first broke, I was devastated. It pained me and I wanted to believe it was some horrific accident. But the journalist inside me instantly thought "murder-suicide." Even then, I wanted to believe it was something else. I was even willing to think that Nancy Benoit may have been the culprit, not wanting to believe that someone I had as much respect for had done such a horrific thing.
But the more and more the details are leaked out, the more I realize that I cannot honor Chris Benoit anymore. If the details are true, he murdered his wife and he murdered his 7-year-old son. I cannot even believe I just typed those words.
My sadness has turned to anger toward Chris Benoit. How could you do this? How could you do this to your wife and baby boy? How could you do this to your two older children? Your mother and father and siblings? How could you do this to your fellow wrestlers, who, say what you will about them, spilled genuine tears due to your actions.

I'll always have respect for Chris Benoit, the wrestler. But, if the facts hold true and he murdered his wife and baby boy, before ending his own life, then I take back my RIP. If we all find out it's true, then you deserve no rest, Chris. You deserve nothing.

 

Watching it on DVR now -- Cole talked about the wife and kid about 30 minutes in.

 

OK, if you're WWE, what do you with your show Tuesday night?

Given the timing of everything Monday, it seemed smart to cancel the regular show and run a tribute instead. But with this apparently now believed to be a murder-suicide situation, how do you handle your TV taping Tuesday night? It would seem pretty odd to keep paying tribute to Benoit given the details that are coming out, but you can't really just go back to storylines and "business as usual" either, can you?