How did you find out about Owen & Benoit's deaths?

[ACG2x]

Not to get too morbid, but since to me the passing of these two are the most shocking wrestling deaths of the last 10 years, I was wondering how people discovered this.

Please, PLEASE keep on topic here as well. This is not a thread to discuss whether or not Benoit should or should not be mentioned on WWE TV again or how his death occured.

Simply, how did you find out?

Mods, if this gets too OT, please feel free to lock it up.

For me, it was-

Owen
I actually didn't order Over the Edge and was going to get a bootleg copy from my buddy who IIRC had a "pirate box". I was watching the morning news while getting ready for school when I saw a snippet of a Vince McMahon news conference where he looked all said with some graphic about "Tragic Wrestler's Death" flashing across the screen.

I was like "what the hell?" I didn't have time to confirm it was Owen that died before I had to go to school. I found my buddy who confirmed that it was Owen. Later I watched the tape in shock. I still get chills from when JR is first announcing it and that fan behind him does the motion with his hands signifying that Owen fell from the top of the arena and then makes the "cut" motion to his throat with his hand. *shudder*

Benoit
I am usually on top of INTRAWEBZ NEWZ however for some reason wasn't online that day. My wife and I were sitting down for a late dinner and we turned on Raw (yes, she's a fan as well). When the graphic about Benoit RIP flashed, I about spit up my food. We were in such shock it took us far longer than normal to eat.

I stayed on here and other sites throughout the night as Raw aired and afterward.

[kittylimits]

Owen - I was watching the PPV. I'll never forget the image of JR's face and the constant, "This is not the show" reminding, and then the announcement.

Benoit - I had a feeling the second he didn't show for the PPV, and how I heard that nobody was able to reach him all Sunday. I honestly just knew. I came online that evening at around 5:30 and a friend IMed me... "Wtf Benoit." Me: "Oh no, what happened?" Friend: "he's like...dead."

[seano]

Owen: I was watching Over the Edge thru some weird glitch in my cable company. Basically, if I put the cable box on the channel prior to the PPV channel and then put my TV set on Ch.4 (vs. Ch.3) I could get full audio and a scrambled image.

Well, I didn't see very well, but I got to hear very well just what the hell happened.

Benoit: I found out he died when I got home from work, went to the TV and turned on USA (got home right at 8) and saw the "In memory of..." image that they ran before Raw started. I guess news broke of his death online while I was commuting home.

[Crappler El 0 M]

I found out about Owen after I watched the Jesse Ventura Story on NBC. At the close of the program, the local newswoman said something like: "Tragedy at a wrestling show. Wrestler Owen Hart dies.' I rushed to my computer to find out more. I can honestly say that he was my favorite wrestler at the time. I used to frequently post in the WWF message boards on AOL, and I was one of the regulars who posted in Owen's board. I must have spent all night chatting with people about it and searching for more news. It was probably the saddest wrestling death for me.

I found about Benoit's death around 4:30 or 5:00, just hours before his Raw tribute show. I was in a bit of shock, though I had read reports about a family emergency the night before being the reason for him missing his PPV match with Punk. I found out about the murder/suicide not long after Raw went off the air.

[blackielawless]

Owen: Me and my friend were watching the PPV live. They came back from a promo and the camera was just sorta over looking the crowd and everyone had that deer in the headlights look.
You could just sense that something was wrong. And then they turned the cameras on to King and JR and that was it. My friend and I just sorta sat there, in silence, not really knowing what to do. I think tears rolled down our faces for sure. Then watching Jeff Jarrett fight off the tears was extremely hard as they continued the PPV, to which this day I don't know if it was the right thing to do.

Benoit: I had read on the news boards that he was missing the PPV due to a family emergency. For some reason, this struck me as weird, since Benoit was always there. The next day, Monday I go to see the results of the PPV and there were mixed news bits about Benoit missing or not returning calls, etc. Then I think like at 4pm the news broke. I was sitting here at work like I am now. I remember just sitting here, trying to grasp the idea, "how could this be, one of my hero's is dead?" I remember thinking. I will admit, at 28 years old, I did shed tears. My buddy who I later called and told the news to was just as in shock. Little did we know just how "in shock" we would later be as the news unfolded.

Sadly, i've made that call to my friend one to many times (He doesn't have internet but is a huge wrestling fan) to let him know "who died".

[Mayonnaise]

Owen's by listening to the PPV (back in the scramblevision days) and Benoit's through a WWE Text message.

[Bobby Womack]

owen hart - heard it from a friend but assumed it was a storyline until i watched raw and it became painfully clear that it wasnt

benoit - i fell asleep with the tv on and was in and out of sleep throughout the night and one of the things i heard was 'wrestler kills wife and child' or something like that and when i woke up i just (wishfully) dismissed it as part of my dreams, until i got on the internet later and saw it all over the place

[Loki]

Owen: my dad was zapping and caught a glimpse of a CNN report. He asked me "do you know a wrestler called Owen Hart?" "Sure, why" "He died during an in-ring stunt" "..."

Benoit: I logged in here at the 'crap, and found a sticky topic about Benoit's death

[gsguy]

Found out about Owen in the newspaper the morning after. Hadn't been into wrestling as much at the time.

Benoit I found out about at the forums. Same with Eddie.

[Next Level was WRONG]

Owen - Since I had to go to school the next morning I tped the show and was going to watch it in the morning (as usual), however my parents were up before me and were talking about how "one of the wrestlers died" and were waiting for it come back up on the morning news program. (GMTV, I beleive.)

Benoit - Browsing the internet and came on here only to see the first sig that I come across tell me of Benoit and family. Which hit pretty hard.

Also,

Eddie - Watching Velocity by myself in the middle of the day when the "Eddie Guerrero R.I.P" flash came up at the end.

[Reverend BTY]

Owen- Chatroom.
Benoit- Bored at work.

Exciting, eh?

[Cheeba]

Owen - Saw it on Lordsofpain.net
Benoit - I had no idea until RAW came on

[Jaffa is behind you.]

I found out about Owen from my brother, and I found out about Benoit when I watched Raw that night it came on. It was the first Raw I had watched in 3 weeks, because I had just gotten home from China. I missed from One Night Stand to Vengeance, which is when things interesting actually started to happen in the WWE.

[Agent P]

I was reading a newspaper the next day and that's how I found out about Owen.

I logged onto wwe.com at about 5:45 pm and saw the graphic and couldn't believe it.

And since we're adding Eddie into the mix. I logged onto this very forum at about 3-3:30 and saw a "Post your favorite Eddie Guerrero moment" thread. I clicked on it, the main poster said something to the affect of "RIP Eddie" and that's when I found out.

[Jon The Joker]

Owen:
I was watching the PPV and I remember that when JR broke the news I was balling like a baby

Benoit:
Well I didn't watch RAW the night after because I had to work, but I was out eating with my friends and I was walking by the TV they had and it showed Benoit's pic and said something about steriods and him being dead. I was taken back for a while.

[Aaron E. Dangerously]

Owen: Not sure how I found out. Kind of one of those things you just come to know.

Chris: At the forums, I believe. Either the forums or on Yahoo's front page.

[Sharpy Snow]

Owen: Found out the next day when my dad was flicking through teletext and said 'Oh god. One of the Harts have died D='

Benoit: Was at a friends house. Both her and one of my best friends (Her boyfriend who was also there) are not Wrestling fans at all. While they did couply stuff, I asked to check her computer to see what the 3 Hour Raw would be like. On there was the In Memory of Chris picture. I stared in disbelief. Then started swearing. Then broke down. Friends comforted me and we watched the start of Raw to see what happened.

[BlackJackRobby]

I will mention how I found out about a few wrestlers deaths, with emphasis on Chris, Owen, and Eddy.

I was 17 when he died, and me and my father bought every PPV for WCW, WWF, and ECW. I cannot remember why, but I swear it was the first PPV in over two years we did not order.

I was either on Wrestlezone or Rajahs at the time getting the minute by minute report. I kept on telling my father (like he would care) what was going on. So when he died how the internet made it sound until they announced it was not that grim.

I still remember asking my father if you could survive a 30 foot drop like they said Owen had taken, and he was telling me it had to be a typo because that is a long ways down.

Later in the night when they had confirmation on it, I remember going from site to site to get as much news as I could. I was not sad really just in a state of disbelief.

With Eddy, during that time I was only able to watch Smackdown, due to working Mondays and at that time had no DVR. I even was able to go to the Smackdown show in the cities as it was not sold out, at the time if it did I cannot remember.

As I was saying I was only able to watch Smackdown, and my daughter who was only 3 loved saying all his catch phrases. He was the family hero for me, my wife, and daughter. So when I went to get tickets I went online to Wrestleview right after the purchase. I was shocked and really sad, I did not attend the show. My daughter for a few months after being so young still loved him, and just knew he was not on tv.

I remember crying thoughout the RAW broadcast and was very happy, I did'nt attend the show because it was hard to maintain some composure.

For Beniot, I worked a double shift 16 hours. Came home at 2 A.M. and went to watch some wrestling when I saw the image and then Vince in the ring. I could not believe it, and even though right away I knew it had to been a murder suicide or somthing like it I had to see the show.

For both the Eddy and Beniot tribute shows I kept them on my DVR's for months. They allong with Dean, was how I got back into wrestling during 96'.

The only other two that hit me pretty hard were Mr. Perfect as I was yelled at by him while working at a casino. He was always one of my favorites, and I have been able to talk to his dad at casinos a few times after. I only once brought up how I was the biggest fan of his sons and I was very sad to hear about his death. I think that was in 2006 so a few years after his death, as to not be the stupid fan that has to say it all the time.

My other one was Road Warrior Hawk. I was promoting my first wrestling show, and it was supposed to be the Road Warriors come back to MN. I was given a bunch of autographs from them to spread about the area, and had a memo to give to the media how pleased they were to be coming back to Duluth MN. I never got to give those out though.

When he passed away, the venue that I was going to run the show at closed down.

And with that my first wrestling show was canceled.

[Confused Mark Wahlberg]

Owen I heard on the Stern show when I used to listen to it.

Benoit I found out when I came back from the gym and logged on here.

I saw a post that said something like, 'Will the WWE go on with the show?' and I knew someone had died.

[mo]

I actually got Over The Edge for free for wahtever reason, so that's how I saw that.
And I found out about Benoit on the forums.