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Post by Dynamite Kid on Apr 8, 2010 19:20:53 GMT -5
It was a scary, scary time to be a wrestling fan. Everyone in the world was looking inwards at Benoit wondering what the hell was up and the news media was pretty damning about wrestling. I know that Kennedy lied, but that with his back to the wall he defended his company I still appreciate.
It did however lead to a few great moments.
One was Jericho owning Nancy Grace.
Another was Kevin Nash owning another talk show by pointing out that Benoit couldn't have been on steroids because of where the needle marks were, with the last thing he said being 'I know that's not what you want to hear' before he was cut off.
I was adrift as far as wrestling for a long time after that. I couldn't really watch it or even think about it. It was like a part of my childhood, namely Benoit, had been wrenched out and taken away from me. And not in the way that Mike Awesome was for example, because Awesome was just depressed. Benoit killed his wife and family too and ensured I could never think of him the same way again.
But it led to one of my favourite moments in my fandom history.
Someone on here posted wrestlers on Family Fortunes. And Sid, SID of all people, was heading the male wrestling team. SID. SID WAS ON A SHOW BASED ON GENERAL KNOWLEDGE. A QUIZ SHOW.
It was one of the funniest things I've ever seen and it really made me able to enjoy wrestling again, even if at first on a totally stupid and childlike level.
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Post by Enrico Palazzo on Apr 8, 2010 19:40:03 GMT -5
During Vengeance I popped out for a bit to get something to eat or something like that, and came back when Nitro was just about to pin Punk. So I didn't even know about the family problems.
The next day I went on the Internet at about 12 midnight, just to see any news for Raw, and then seen on another Forum the rumours and speculation. So naturally I checked the internet for further confirmation, and all I could find was vague, a couple articles from the Georgia press, or whatever. So I tried to allay my fears, despite the fact I probably knew. At this time the speculation was going into overdrive, and my belief was that someone broke in and shot the family. I was thrilled they dropped the angle, and I think Vince handled it in the correct fashion.
During the show, the horrible truth started to come to light, and ever since, a part of my love for professional wrestling perished that day.
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agent817
Fry's dog Seymour
Doesn't Know Whose Ring It Is
Posts: 21,170
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Post by agent817 on Apr 8, 2010 22:53:38 GMT -5
This was during a time when my "following run" probably was fading by the day. I am a longtime wrestling fan. Been one since I was 12, and admit that I have taken breaks, as well as sometimes get back into it. During that time, I followed wrestling from Fall 2005 to sometime in 2007, and I think June was the time that I stopped following, even though there were moments when I tuned into RAW or Smackdown just to see what was up.
Anyway, onto the Benoit subject: I was looking up some stuff on OWW or IMDB's RAW board and read that Benoit left for a family emergency. Benoit being one of my favorites, I kind of hoped that he would be back for action soon. I didn't watch Vengeance, by the way. I did however see the threads on the RAW board stating that Benoit died and was shocked as hell. Then I tuned into RAW that night to watch the tribute for him and was shocked that Nancy and Daniel were dead as well. I was starting to wonder that maybe some deranged killer killed them or something. I didn't check the message boards at all during the broadcast until afterwards. I read that someone mentioned Benoit murdering his wife and son. At first, I thought it was some troll trying to get attention. Then, everything on IMDB's RAW board, as well as GameFAQs' board for Smackdown vs RAW 2008 (Or was it 2007? I remember that was the game that was out at the time with the more alive board, while SvR08's board was open to discuss the game before its release) filled with lots of Benoit topics. Some got locked. Also, I went on Myspace and onto some wrestling fans group message board. Many, many Benoit topics came up until the moderator of the group said that all Chris Benoit topics will not be discussed any further.
Pretty much for the next few months, I didn't watch wrestling that much anymore. I did mention that I put it on RAW or Smackdown a few times here and there, but my full viewing of RAW didn't occur until March of the following year around the time of Wrestlemania. I was well aware of some things but I didn't really care. I was shocked about it. However, the first time I watched a Benoit match since the ordeal didn't occur until last summer when I put on a PPV DVD. Since then, I've become more and more comfortable to watch a match of his, but I won't deny any of the things that have happened. It all depends if I should think about it at that point.
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crash1984
Unicron
Scavenger Hunt All-Star
You don't need pants for the victory dance
Posts: 3,039
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Post by crash1984 on Apr 8, 2010 23:41:30 GMT -5
First the McMahon death angle-IMO this is one angle that deserves a place in Wrestlecrap, however I doubt it will ever get inducted because you can not mention this angle without Benoit. The most tastless part of the entire angle was the night after the limosuine explosing Vince got a ten bell salute on ECW. The same thing that Owen Hart and Eddie Guerrero got after they died. The audience chanted he's not dead the entire time.
About a week after it happened Sherri Martel who was a WWE hall of fame passed away. I don't know if it was NEWZ or legitimate but there were reports that they did not want to mention her due to the McMahon death angle and rather than opening the show with a graphic, she got a graphic mid-show and a tribute match.
Then came the Benoit mess-I don't know what else to call it but a mess. Benoit on ECW I thought was a great move as he could be used to put younger talent over plus the thought of a Benoit vs. Punk match sounded awesome and WWE were dropping the ball at Vengeance. I do not buy pay-per-views but after Vengeance I remember reading on another board people were ripping into the WWE for not only replacing Benoit with Nitro but choosing him over Punk to be ECW champion. Nitro as a champion really made no sense at that point.
The next day I was doing some other stuff about 6:30 I logged onto another board and seen something also being mentioned on TNA and I was wondering what was going on. I went on WWE.com and seen Chris Benoit and Family found dead. I was going to go to another website and find out more details but about that time the electricity went out. When it came back on I got back online and read the deatils and thought that with the reports about his family throwing up blood I thought it might have been a gas leak.
Then I watched the Raw tribute and the show just had one of those feelings that something was not quite right. Both Regal's and Chavo's comments came across as being cold and not what you would have expected. After the show ended I watched a Benoit match and then I got online to see what they had found out and that was when I learned the true details. I knew as soon as reports came out that the WWE was going to face a huge backlash and that wrestling was about to have a major change.
I think it is interesting to note ever since Benoit died I have not really been into wrestling the way I once was. I still can watch a Benoit match but before Benoit if the pay-per-view reports were good I would buy the dvd just after it came out. The only pay-per-view DVDs I have bought since the Benoit incident were Wrestlemania 24, Unforgiven 2008, Backlash 2009 and Slammiversary 2009. I have a huge collection of WWE DVDs I am thinking about selling.
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