Chris Benoit and family found dead

I was planning on mentioning concussions yesterday but the real world got in the way.....Chris Nowitski has been speaking about the dangers of concussions with wrestlers, football players for a while now.

 

Yes, Benoit is responsible for his actions. But years of steroid abuse and multiple untreated concussions can still be looked at as contributing factors.

 

Benoit is culpable, but so is McMahon. He forces his wrestlers to use steroids otherwise they lose their spot on the card. A wrestler's spot determines just how much money they make. He has them drop each other on their heads four nights a week, more than 300 times a year.

How many wrestlers died in the last five years that were employed by McMahon? How many died around 40 years of age?

They're chattel to him. One dies, another one's ready to step up. And when that one dies, look, there is another wrestler.

No, I'm not Phil Mushnick. I'm a wrestling fan. But this may be the last straw. I am not sure I can keep watching an industry that kills its young in the name of t.v. ratings and profit margins.

 

The more stories there are like this, the more Jericho looks smart for getting out when he did.

 

It is to do no such thing. That is talk-show dumbassery at its worst.
It is to point out that, if these factors contributed to a murderous rage, they should be studied and prevented to prevent more murderous rages.
To look for explanations beyond "Some people are bad," is not to excuse Benoit. It is to try and make sure, as best we can, that it doesn't happen again.

 

It bothers me to say this, but guys like Foley and Funk and Sabu and Flair and Angle are going to die in a wrestling ring. The business is so ingrained in them, it's who they are, and they can't get away from it. Foley has enough money where he can sit in his Long Island home and write books for the rest of his life. He doesn't need to put anyone else over. Funk and Flair are in their sixties. There's no need for them to be wrestling. Sabu is going to participate in one ultra-violent match that's one too many. He nearly died two years ago, and now he's back flipping around rings, jumping through tables and wrapping himself in barbed wire? It has to take a toll. Angle has a deathwish.

Van Dam, Jericho and Rock all deserve credit for being smarter than the average wrestler. Van Dam had his side business. He was smart enough not to go to Iraq after WWE said they couldn't guarantee his safety and wouldn't be able to compensate his wife if he died while in the Middle East. Jericho and Rock have mainstream entertainment and media jobs that promise more money and less abuse on their bodies.

 

I forgot about the Rock and didn't know that about RVD. Just amazing to see how some guys like Hogan have come out sane compared to everyone else.

 

FB, to have a discussion about contributing factors is fine. But the discussion taking place right now in the media is far from rational.

That being said, as a wrestling fan, I definitely agree that the WWE works too rigorous a schedule--as evidenced by many of their veteran hands leaving for other companies or quitting the business altogether in the past couple years.

WWE definitely could use an offseason, or mandate vacation time for its employees.

 

Hogan's an asshole. In the 1980s, Jesse Ventura suggested unionizing wrestlers, knowing that they needed health and retirement plans. Hogan realized that it would cut into his share of the gate, and went to the other wrestlers to kill the union. Now, there are a bunch of wrestlers from that era who pay out of pocket for surgeries that they desperately need.

 

Hogan did whatever he could to make more money for himself, which in itself is fine, but he did at the expense of people's health.

 

FB, you're right, the possibility of it being 'roid rage' should be looked into.
My problem is that the media has taken to blaming steroids for nearly everything gone wrong in the athletic world. I think it's lazy journalism. Of course it's going to come out he was on steroids. No shock there. But that doesn't necessarily mean they caused this incident. However, I have a feeling that's going to be the immediate assumption of the "lazy columnists" out there. I think there's a number of factors involved, but less than 48 hours after the bodies were discovered, a lot of journalists are eyeing steroids and nothing else.

I'm not saying that's you, FB. From your post, it seems you have the right idea. Let's wait and see all the facts before we start allocating blame on steroids.

 

Would anyone mind re-posting a few of the prominent news clips about this, for those of us who can't wade through 19 pages of this thread? Thanks a lot.