Chris Benoit And His Family Die

[filkertom]

Oh my fricking god. This is awful beyond awful.

WWE wrestler Chris Benoit, his wife Nancy (known as "Woman" back in the day), and their son Daniel were found dead today in their Georgia home. He was only 40. That's all we've got right now. Tonight's episode of RAW (which would've continued the appalling travesty of Vince McMahon's fake "death" storyline) has apparently been cancelled been turned into a tribute show.

Benoit was one of the best and most respected workers in wrestling. He won championships numerous times, including the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XX, and was consistently one of the most athletic and convincing wrestlers in the business. He was the Real Deal, and I've been a fan of his for years and years, and this one hurts very badly.

Thanks to dbcooper for the heads-up.

ETA: It's worse. Much worse. It's being investigated as a murder-suicide: evidence suggests Chris killed his wife and son over the weekend and himself on Monday. More as I can confirm it.

Comments

[wwetuesday.livejournal.com]

Just heard this myself. Benoit was set to participate in last night's Pay-Per-View event, but left before the event stared. WWE Comentators only said that it was a famil;y emergency he had to attend to.

Benoit was one of my favorite wrestlers. Because he let his talking happen in the ring. He wasn't thje best talker, but he knew how to tell a story in the ring.

I'm glad the Vince Fake Death storyline is done, but not because of this.

[ladypoetess.livejournal.com]

I take a water exercise class at my local YMCA 3 times a week - and that Vince McMahon story was the hot topic of the class last Friday, among the 65-70+ crowd in the pool. An elderly Romania woman brought it up, absolutely convinced it was real, since she had "seen it with [her] own eyes." No matter what we said, we could not convince her it was fake, just entertainment, etc.

I have to wonder what she will say about this story, come Wednesday's class.

[docwebster.livejournal.com]

RAW is still on, just in an empty arena with the announce teams - and Vinny Mac himself opened the show in the ring, looking like a very old man and was on the verge of tears. The McMahon "death" was already scrubbed en masse from the website. I think you can call that an ex-angle. JBL's in tears on commentary, it's just.. I wish I could adequately express how this makes me feel.

[kshandra]

...Vinny Mac himself opened the show in the ring, looking like a very old man and was on the verge of tears. The McMahon "death" was already scrubbed en masse from the website. I think you can call that an ex-angle.

I'll echo what wwetuesday said above: This is the last reason in the world I would have chosen, but I am oh, so very grateful (I must be tired, I just spelled that like gridlore's tattoo) that they've ditched that plot. Even within the context of pro wrestling, I thought it was tacky in the extreme.

[aulayan.livejournal.com]

Fuck.

I stopped watching wrestling years ago, but I greatly enjoyed his matches when I watched.

[ladysmith.livejournal.com]

Oh my god. Oh, no...

He was one of the only reasons to watch anymore. Oh...

And their son... he was little. I remember when Nancy and Chris got married, and what a stir it caused because she left some other wrestler. It wasn't that long ago.

Shocked. Absolutely shocked.

Might have to go watch tonight.

[aulayan.livejournal.com]

It's sad, the first time I'm watching Raw in years, because of this.

What's even worse, is if the ratings are significantly higher than normal, you know McMahon will ... no. Not even this, He's not that inhuman.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

No, he won't. He tried that a few weeks ago, literally doing a storyline in which he killed himself off. Everybody was disgusted, moreso when Sherri Martel passed away and barely got mentioned. This... one of their top guns, building him back toward the peak, and his whole family goes... god, this could destroy the company. Seriously. How many of the current workers are gonna want to come back?

[aulayan.livejournal.com]

They'll come back.

Remember Owen Hart? And that happened in the arena.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

I really wish I thought you were wrong.

[aulayan.livejournal.com]

Well, They did diss Sherri, but they're obviously not dissing Chris.

The workers have a paycheck to earn. And the tribute is appropriate to Chris.

Now if six months later, they do a tribute episode to a stupid storyline (Re: Big Show's dad "dying", ~six months after Owen's tribute episode) ...

Ugh, I just made myself sick.

[kinsfire.livejournal.com]

I'm not a huge fan of wrestling, to be honest, but I recognise the name.

I remember seeing the Owen Hart memorial show, and watching these people who even I knew as the official bad guys who laughed at peoples pain talking about Owen with tears flowing.

I'd imagine that there are stories about Chris like there were about Owen, like the one where he was supposed to win a given night, but it was the first time in a new fighter's home town, so he asked to let the newbie win.

Have to look for stories about Chris.

[shaharazad.livejournal.com]

I'm speechless. There has been so much tragedy in the business.

[fabricdragon.livejournal.com]

http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/World/2007/06/25/4289665.html

WWE said he was "replaced at the last minute due to personal issues"
and they said "the family wasnt shot" thats it.

[cktraveler.livejournal.com]

God, no, not him ... he was one of the last legendary talents who was still able to ... gah.

[dbcooper.livejournal.com]

As you can tell by my entry, I did not want to believe the news myself. May he, Nancy, and Daniel rest in peace; may his surviving family, friends, co-workers and loved ones remember all the happy times well; and best wishes to all the fans (myself included) who enjoyed his matches.

Damn.

[ladyskada.livejournal.com]

*blink*
*blink*
Well.
Shite.
Nice guy. Played the ass rather well, but always a great person and a good entertainer...
*wanders off, still blinking*

[unclelumpy.livejournal.com]

Farewell to one of the last wrestlers who could actually... Y'know... WRESTLE... Instead of just look good and spout off insipid catchphrases!

[ladysmith.livejournal.com]

I'm not liking the direction this is turning.

According to WWE.com, this has turned into the investigation of a double murder/suicide. Reports are saying that Benoit killed Nancy and their son over the weekend, and then killed himself today.

I don't want to believe that.

[ladyskada.livejournal.com]

Sadly, AP just reported that Benoit strangled his wife, smothered their son and then hung himself in his weight room.

Personally, I'm baffled as to the "why", as the few times I talked to him backstage, he was very laid-back. The only reason I can think of? She was leaving him. But he always said he'd do what Steve Austin did . . .

[ladysmith.livejournal.com]

It makes NO SENSE!!!

I'm having real trouble reconciling this whole mess with the image of the man that everyone spoke of in such glowing terms last night.

[ladyskada.livejournal.com]

Agreed. I haven't followed pro wrestling in years, ever since a friend of mine stopped performing. But I met Chris a number of times over the years and chatted with him backstage. He was always very intense, but tended to confine his temper to the ring and to training. He was always concerned that his children (this was before he remarried, he's got 2 other children) would think that violence was the answer. He always emphasized that this was a job, a show, and that real issues should be resolved across a table.
Haven't trouble matching up that man with the reports that are coming in.

[ladysmith.livejournal.com]

I just got back from the supermarket. And this is what the moms are talking about while they do their shopping.

I keep hear the word "steroid" bandied around. (As in, he must have been on them to do this...)

And I'm willing to bet that VinnieMac is having some really nasty flashbacks right about now.

[danruk.livejournal.com]

A link to the above mention and 'suspicion' in this article: Linked by way of courtesy of a fellow WWE and fur friend Peromyscus:

But I second: I don't want to believe that!
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WRESTLER_DEAD?SITE=ORMED&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Well....

[stdharma.livejournal.com]

Fuck. Just....fuckity, fuck, fuck, FUCK!

Benoit was the only reason I was even CONSIDERING starting to watch ECW again. And now this happens. The only consolation is that he, Eddy, and the Dynamite Kid are probably tearing the house down in the Summerlands.

Re: McMahon.

Yes, Vince looked old, worn and tired. He's seen too much death in and out of the ring. He's starting to feel that bony finger tap on his shoulder, and hear that monotone voice far off in the distance. I am glad they ended the whole "death" angle, but I wouldn't be surprised if Vince decides to retire for real and let Steph, Shane, Linda and Hunter run the business.

A dark day in pro wrestling indeed.

Saint Dharma

[netpositive.livejournal.com]

What a terrible tragedy. I've loved Chris Benoit for over 20 years now. Friends sent me tapes of him in Japan as Pegasus Kid and Wild Pegasus. (I still can't watch his J-Cup match against The Great Sasuke without absolute chills.) He brought me out to watch ECW live, during 1993. He pulled me back into watching WCW after several years avoiding it. And he made me anticipate happily seeing WWF, and later WWE, matches as more than just simple McMahon-by-numbers wrestling. Whenever I watched Chris wrestle -- whoever I watched him wrestle -- it was so precise, and so essential, it felt *real*.

And I also remember Nancy Daus Sullivan Benoit as "Woman", too. I remember Nancy absolutely riveting me in my seat, and I am a decidedly heterosexual female. But she had so much presence -- so much oomph -- and I hoped she and Chris would live happily ever after and somehow escape the insanity that is pro-wrestling.

But this, this is absolutely devastating. I couldn't bear to watch Smackdown for months after Eddy died, and this is even worse. As much as I adored Eddy on so many levels, I could *identify* so much with Chris -- with his passion for the business, his work ethic, even his desire for isolation and privacy.

My heart goes out to his family, like his children; his almost-family, like Chavo Jr., and his close friends, esp his best friend Dean. They have lost someone special. So have I, but I acknowledge the distance and one-sidedness of the relationship. Doesn't mean I don't feel something, and I still think that the world has lost something very special. ::(

[vid848.livejournal.com]

I found out at work and couldn't believe it. Not more than 15 seconds before the person told me, I was thinking about Benoit (or as I liked to refer to him, "Crispin Wa~!~!~!"). They weren't sure because they didn't
completely trust the friend who texted them with the news. About 20 minutes later, she pulled up the Yahoo page and showed me. I spend the next three
hours feeling like I was on the verge of hyperventalating.

I got home around 3:15a (typical time) and my roommates were worried about me (since I just broke down and cried when I learned about Eddie). However, my ex was at work herself and my roommate was already asleep. I was left a vague note about a change on RAW but not who, in order to prepare me if I hadn't heard.

With everything that has come out in the last few hours, my mind can only think of one thing: post-concussive brain injury. If things happened the way it is being reported now, it is SO out of character I can't help but think about this.

Look at Mike Awesome, pro football players like Mike Webster and Andre Waters. Former Patriot LB Ted Johnson is now suffering symptoms of Alzheimer's. We are just at the tip of the iceburg and I fear this death is really going to tear the hole and start Titanic down.

Chris, Nancy, Daniel.....you will be missed

[rook543.livejournal.com]

My first thought was ..."God this Vnce-Death angle is terrible!" and then as I read the news realized is was not a work. I remember seeing the Radicals with Benoit, Guerrero, Saturn & Malenko. Now two of them are gone....
this is beyond tragic!

[denali1.livejournal.com]

Damn.

Chris was the Canadian version of Arn Anderson, minus the ability to give an interview. When you went to the show, when he stepped in the ring... You KNEW you got every thing he had that night.

Damn.

Why Chris, why?!

[bryanp.livejournal.com]

Ye gods. Another "kill my family then myself" trip. I just wish these people would skip the first part of that equation. If you want to kill yourself, that's your right, but don't take others along for the ride.

[scruffycritter.livejournal.com]

And for once my initial reaction to "whole family found dead" after "wtf" was "It's gotta be carbon monoxide".

[ladysmith.livejournal.com]

That was my first thought, too.

[cirith-ungol.livejournal.com]

When the news first came out, there was something about 'vomiting blood' as the excuse for why he didn't show up at the PPV. I can't find that reference any more, but my first thought was some terrible sickness - maybe food poisoning. Not... not this.