Wrasslins' Chris Benoit and family found dead

[Sublimewind]

I donno if many of you are wrasslin' fans but this is comming as quite a shocker to a lot of people right now... (Link and quote do not match BTW)http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/6960688Quote »Cops: Death of Benoit, family 'bizarre' Associated Press, Updated 22 minutes ago STORY TOOLS: FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. (AP) - Pro wrestler Chris Benoit canceled a pay-per-view appearance at the "Vengeance" event in Houston because of "personal reasons" a day before he, his wife and their 7-year-old son were found dead in an apparent murder-suicide.Details of the deaths "are going to prove a little bizarre" when released to the public, Fayette County District Attorney Scott Ballard told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Autopsies were scheduled Tuesday by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.Authorities were investigating the deaths at a secluded Fayette County home as a murder-suicide and were not seeking any suspects.Investigators believe Benoit (pronounced ben-WAH) killed his wife, 43-year-old Nancy, and son Daniel during the weekend and then himself Monday. The bodies were found Monday afternoon in three separate rooms of the house, off a gravel road about two miles from the Whitewater Country Club.Chris Benoit, his wife and son were found dead on Monday in their Georgia home. ( / Associated Press) Ballard told The Associated Press a gun was not used in any of the deaths, but he would not say how the three died."We're pretty sure we know, but we want to confirm it with the crime lab," Ballard said early Tuesday.Fayette County Coroner C.J. Mowell did not return calls seeking comment. The answering service for his funeral home said he was out of town.Authorities also declined to say whether drugs or steroids were found inside the house. "We're not releasing any information as far as what was located inside the house," sheriff's Sgt. Keith Whiteside said Tuesday.Asked about the condition of the interior of the house, Whiteside said investigators found "nothing really out of the ordinary." He said Benoit was found in the home's weight room, his wife in an office and the son in an upstairs bedroom.Whiteside said toxicology tests could take up to a week or longer to complete.Neighbors said the Benoits led a low-key lifestyle."They were nice," said Lorre Jones, who lives across the street. Her daughter Alaina said: "We would see Chris walking in his yard from time to time. He wasn't rude, but he wasn't really outwardly warm."Jimmy Baswell, who was Benoit's driver for more than five years, placed a white wreath at the Benoits' gate Tuesday."I saw him with his family all the time," said Baswell. "They always seemed like they were the happiest people."World Wrestling Entertainment said on its Web site that it asked authorities to check on Benoit and his family after being alerted by friends who received "several curious text messages sent by Benoit early Sunday morning."The WWE, based in Stamford, Conn., said it had been asked by authorities not to release further information on the deaths.Benoit, born in Montreal, was a former world heavyweight champion, Intercontinental champion and held several tag-team titles. His names in the ring included "The Canadian Crippler.""WWE extends its sincerest thoughts and prayers to the Benoit family's relatives and loved ones in this time of tragedy," the company said in a statement on its Web site.Benoit had maintained a home in metro Atlanta from the time he wrestled for the defunct World Championship Wrestling. The Fayette County Tax Assessors Office lists the value of the house, situated on more than 8.5 acres, at nearly $900,000.advertisementSTORY TOOLS: print send blog LIKE THIS STORY? The WWE canceled its live "Monday Night RAW" card in Corpus Christi, Texas, and USA Network aired a three-hour tribute to Benoit in place of the scheduled wrestling telecast.Benoit's wife managed several wrestlers and went by the stage name "Woman," The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. They met when her then-husband drew up a script that had them involved in a relationship as part of a story line on World Championship Wrestling, the newspaper said.Benoit has two other children from a prior relationship.Benoit became a standout at an early age among wrestling prospects who trained in the dungeon basement of the house where fellow Canadians and professional wrestlers Owen and Bret Hart trained. Owen Hart was killed during a wrestling event in 1999."He was like a family member to me, and everyone in my family is taking it real hard," said Bret Hart, a five-time champion with the now-defunct World Wrestling Federation.

[Mavrik]

yeah I've been following this story since monday... I was a big fan of Benoit.Another news site states that the wife was strangled on saturday, the son suffocated on sunday and Chris hung himself shortly after. I don't know if they figured out why just yet...

[drunkenmaxx]

it has also been reported that a bunch of prescription meds and steroids were found in the house. also, it was discovered that he had been illegally administering human growth hormone to his son.

[GrayFox]

really sad....He was one of my favorite guys (back in the day when I watched wrestling). A few weeks ago I was talking to my nephew and watching RAW (or whatever it's called now) and we we're talking about Benoit and how great of a wrestler he was...

[Sublimewind]

What truely is a shame is his son was 7 and nobody will ever really know the events of the weekend... I just don't know how anybody could do something like this, but it's a sad sad world these days... and not getting any better...

[Toasted7]

I was very sad when I heard the news. We will probably never know what REALLY happened, that's the saddest part of all.

[scherry2]

I feel very sad for the wife and son. whatever his problem was was no reason to take anothers life.

[Mavrik]

Well the news is stating one thing and wwe.com another. I don't know whats true anymore. the news says it was a steriod rage... wwe says no drugs were involved. who knows.

[AKLGT]

of course WWE wants to avoid anything that suggests he was doping up. it's still a "sport" and they don't want people thinking they just dope up and that's why they are so big.

[ZubenElGenubi]

and now for the latest twist...http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/06/....htmlQuote, originally posted by CNN »ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- Investigators are looking into who altered pro wrestler Chris Benoit's Wikipedia entry to mention his wife's death hours before authorities discovered the bodies of the couple and their 7-year-old son.Benoit's Wikipedia entry was altered early Monday to say that the wrestler had missed a match two days earlier because of his wife's death.A Wikipedia official, Cary Bass, said Thursday that the entry was made by someone using an Internet protocol address registered in Stamford, Connecticut, where World Wrestling Entertainment is based.......Benoit's page on Wikipedia, a reference site that allows users to add and edit information, was updated at 12:01 a.m. Monday, about 14 hours before authorities say the bodies were found. The reason he missed a match Saturday night was "stemming from the death of his wife Nancy," it said.Reporters informed the Fayette County district attorney's office of the posting Thursday, and the agency forwarded the information to sheriff's investigators, who are looking into it, a legal assistant said in an e-mail to the AP.WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt said that to his knowledge, no one at the WWE knew Nancy Benoit was dead before her body was found Monday afternoon. Text messages released by officials show that messages from Chris Benoit's cell phone were being sent to co-workers a few hours after the Wikipedia posting.WWE employees are given WWE e-mail addresses, McDevitt said, though he did not know whether Chris Benoit had one."I have no idea who posted this," McDevitt said. "It's at least possible Chris may have sent some other text message to someone that we're unaware of. We don't know if he did. The phone is in the possession of authorities."On Thursday afternoon, the Wikipedia page about Benoit carried a note stating that editing by unregistered or newly registered users was disabled until July 8 because of vandalism.

[Mavrik]

wow that is quite the twist.

[AKLGT]

ya, that is nuts!

[TJinPgh]

Well, as I've said in other forums on the subject, regardless of what mental or chemical state Benoit was in at the time, there's no excuse for his actions. Period.That said, I can't say I'm impressed with the WWE's response to all of this in the shadow of finding out how everybody died.In the wake of all of this, they have gone to great lengths to distance themselves from the drug/steroid connections. They've given their contracted wrestlers and personalities their marching orders... deny deny deny.They've removed all mention of Chris Benoit from their corporate merchandising site, WWE Shopzone. So much so that not only does a search of his name yield a notice saying all items have been discontinued, but summaries of DVDs of pay-per-view matches he appeared in no longer carry his name. As if one, anybody would still WANT to buy Chris Benoit merchandise. And two, he would somehow benefit if they did.I suppose all of this could be acceptable, if it weren't for this.Monday night, when the three were discovered, the WWE's flagship show, RAW, was to have a 3 hour broadcast that, coincidentally, was scheduled to be a tribute show. Only instead of the subject being Chris Benoit, it was to be Vince McMahon, who's on screen character was apparently killed in a car bomb explosion.The problem with all of this? The life that Vince McMahon has led. I'm not talking about the on-screen "Mr. McMahon" character that WWE fans have grown to loathe. I'm talking about the man himself.This is a man who's business practices who have left more bodies by the professional wayside than a WWII minefield.Vince McMahon has NEVER cared who's life or career he had to destroy to get ahead.If that doesn't mean anything to you, then one should consider the REAL story behind Owen Hart's death. For those who remember the incident, Owen Hart was doing a stint as a character known as the Blue Blazer at the time of his death. He died during a ring entrance where he was to rappel down from the ceiling on a cable. The cable failed, he fell to his death.Do I think Vince McMahon was up in the rafters cutting the cable? No. But that doesn't mean he wasn't responsible. Those who knew Owen Hart knew he HATED that Blue Blazer gimmick. He thought it almost destroyed his career the first time, and wanted NO parts of it the second.So, if he hated it so much, why was he doing it? Because Vince McMahon forced him to. Why? Because Owen Hart, a devout family man, refused to run a senseless angle that involved him cheating on his wife. So, McMahon pushed him into that gimmick as a means of punishment.Vince McMahon didn't kill Owen Hart. But, if it hadn't been for Vince McMahon, Owen Hart would likely be still alive.All of this is true, yet a month ago we still had to endure 3 hours of Vince McMahon Appreciation Night.And, on Monday, we were supposed to endure yet another 3 hours of tribute to the same man.My no doubt long-winded point here is that, no, there are NO excuses for what Benoit did. And, he should not be glorified for it. But, with respect to the WWE, they have NEVER cared about what their wrestlers do or don't do off camera as long as it doesn't come back to bite the WWE in the (removed).They want to distance themselves from this story because they don't want people to talk about their over-hyped wellness and drug policies. And, they certainly don't want anybody to discuss the hypocrisy of praising a man complicit in one person's death attempting to eradicate the memory of another.

[AKLGT]

so... >> i take it you don't care for vince mcmahon??

[TJinPgh]

I don't know the man personally. He may be a wonderful family man and friend.But, as a rule, I don't like hypocrites or people who purposefully hurt others for their own gain or agenda.I can accept and agree that this one heinous act can erase a lifetime of apparently decent actions.I'm simply saying they will continue to eulogize a man who has spend the bulk of his professional life not caring who he hurt.It's hypocritical.

[Vibe_dude]

WWE as a business needs to be investagted.wow that is tooooo many employees and ex employess that have died very young...there are to many to list but it is crazy...i will not watch wwe anymore.its been years anyway,but i will not promote something that has so many problems with it.they need to get there act cleaned up.this make the whole bret hart thing look silly.

[Mavrik]

Vince is a business genius first off. And he is also the boss of the WWE. What he wants from his wrestlers, they do because he has their paycheque. Now... that all sounds familer... oh wait thats right, Those of us who work for someone all do what they want us to do regardless of if we like it or now. Sure Owen didn't like the Blue Blazer gimmick. Yeah so what? He could have LOVED the blue blazer gimmick and would have STILL fallen to his death.I guess you could always blame the cable company.

[TJinPgh]

Quote, originally posted by Mavrik »Vince is a business genius first off. And he is also the boss of the WWE. What he wants from his wrestlers, they do because he has their paycheque. True enough. It's one of the problems that exists in a near monopoly type situation. For the most part, you work there or you don't work in the business. Sure, there are some other companies out there, but they don't pay nearly as much.Quote »Sure Owen didn't like the Blue Blazer gimmick. Yeah so what? He could have LOVED the blue blazer gimmick and would have STILL fallen to his death.Perhaps. Though, I would still suggest that there is a difference between a decision made for business reasons (read ones you think will make money) and those done for punitive reasons.The Owen Hart/Blue Blazer gimmick was the latter. McMahon didn't do it because he thought he'd make bundles of money on it. He didn't do it because he thought Owen would enjoy it. He did it specifically for the opposite reason.Is it his right to do that? Of course. He owns the company. He can do whatever he wants. I don't deny him that. It doesn't, however, make him any more moral than Benoit, or any more deserving of praise.I guess you could always blame the cable company.[/QUOTE]

[Vibe_dude]

What it comes down to is...he (vince)can drny all the storys about roids all he wants.it is running through his company like the nile goes through africa.he himself has done it..thats y him and hogan have had such a feud.the wwe needs to be looked at by officials and shut down before more ppl die.

[chemrebel]

Quote, originally posted by Vibe_dude »What it comes down to is...he (vince)can drny all the storys about roids all he wants.it is running through his company like the nile goes through africa.he himself has done it..thats y him and hogan have had such a feud.the wwe needs to be looked at by officials and shut down before more ppl die.hubby is a fan so i get to hear about it, lucky me huh? the way he gets around regulation to this point is because wwe is not a real sport, it's "sports entertainment". it's a testosterone'd up version of a soap opera but with lots more choreography involved. since he can keep it close to him like that and keep govt entities at bay he doesn't have to have any sort of oversight board for steroids (sure they can tout their policies til they're blue in the face but any fan with half a brain cell of common sense can tell otherwise it's all wink-wink-nudge-nudge). i remember several years back when the co went public on the NYSE but i'm not sure if it still is and who if anyone outside the McMahon family holds stock. those would be the people that hold sway to vince imho to force him to get the sport clean. there are a lot of wrestlers that have left and do TNA, MMA stuff, or they're acting, and it seems like that sadly is the only way to get out of there. unless you die of course. it's the kind of thing that sure it's "fake", but nonetheless it will chew you up and spit you out then walk away.now all that being said, insofar as benoit, i do not think we will ever know the impetus of that horrible weekend. i think the wwe actually knows what its talking about when they discount the "roid rage" theory, given the timeline of things. by the same token, the depression fallout from steroid use from what i understand can be very long-term. then again maybe he just felt like nothing he could do to help his family was good enough anymore and he took the worst way out. doesn't matter what kind of rationale people or the media come up with, the ending is sadly the same.

[TJinPgh]

Quote, originally posted by chemrebel »the way he gets around regulation to this point is because wwe is not a real sport, it's "sports entertainment". it's a testosterone'd up version of a soap opera but with lots more choreography involved. since he can keep it close to him like that and keep govt entities at bay he doesn't have to have any sort of oversight board for steroids (sure they can tout their policies til they're blue in the face but any fan with half a brain cell of common sense can tell otherwise it's all wink-wink-nudge-nudge).I caught part of a shoot interview (a non-scripted behind the scenes tell all kind of thing for those who don't know) with Scott Steiner not long ago. A guy who'd probably fail a roid test if they did it with a metal detector, let alone a urine test.When he was in the WWE a couple of years ago (after they bought WCW) he was asked to take a steroid test and he told them something along the lines of "I'll take one just as soon as Triple H does." According to him, they never asked him to take another one, although he wasn't with the company much longer. Whether that was the reason he was released or the fact that they pushed him to the top of the lineup way too fast after being out of wrestling for over a year and was woefully out of shape, I can't say.Quote »now all that being said, insofar as benoit, i do not think we will ever know the impetus of that horrible weekend. i think the wwe actually knows what its talking about when they discount the "roid rage" theory, given the timeline of things. by the same token, the depression fallout from steroid use from what i understand can be very long-term. then again maybe he just felt like nothing he could do to help his family was good enough anymore and he took the worst way out. doesn't matter what kind of rationale people or the media come up with, the ending is sadly the same. Agreed. I doubt we'll ever know what he was REALLY thinking when he did it, or if he was thinking anything at all. Other than the text messages, some of which have become public, he didn't really leave a note or anything.Not knowing much of anything about forensic science, I wonder how they know HE did it. Agreed, his behavior before they were found was somewhat erratic. But, that lone doesn't a murderer make.Some friends of mine and I who follow wrestling immediately thought Kevin Sullivan when we heard they were "slain." I'm not suggesting Benoit did or didn't do it. Just wondering how they were so certain so quickly. Given that he, himself is dead, it's not like he'll ever have his day in court to have it all told one way or the other.