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Post by ChitownKnight on Jun 25, 2022 17:12:00 GMT -5
Crazy how much the board’s opinion has changed in the last 15 years. I remember in 07, people were still singing his praises. Maybe because they were in denial
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Post by "Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik on Jun 25, 2022 17:20:53 GMT -5
Crazy how much the board’s opinion has changed in the last 15 years. I remember in 07, people were still singing his praises. Maybe because they were in denial I mean I think it's possible to hold very different ideas together at the same time. I personally believe: - Benoit was a truly awful human being. - He definitely suffered brain damage that affected him and he's a prime example of the failure of past concussion policies. - He was one of the best wrestlers I ever saw. I don't think me recognizing that he had great matches undermines my belief that he's a terrible person. Like there are plenty of pro athletes like Karl Malone that I acknowledge were tremendous at the sport while also being terrible people.
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Ryushinku
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Post by Ryushinku on Jun 25, 2022 18:06:44 GMT -5
I was here, well, in 2007 it was still the WrestleCrap forum before these boards split off.
Being in the UK meant that, by the time I was awake and checking in here, the story had not only broke but was confirmed as a double murder - suicide.
So I missed the earliest blizzard of reactions, and the Raw is Benoit stuff. But I went through the entire news thread from start to finish. It was massive, dozens of pages and flying by fast. It was hard to take in, I think it took like an hour or two but doing the whole thing helped come to terms with it. After that I went to a couple other pro wrestling forums and did similar.
Lot of conflicting stories and information in the days after, it took a while for everything to come out. Wild time.
The fact it was Benoit, who had hero status in big sections of the IWC for many years, made it even more surreal. After Eddie had died a couple years before as well, man, it felt like a legit "can WWE and can pro wrestling in general survive this?" time for a good while there.
I am one of these people that still hasn't watched a Benoit match since. Personal choice, still choose not to.
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tirtefaa
Unicron
If you wanna know the truth, you gotta dig up Johnny Booth.
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Post by tirtefaa on Jun 25, 2022 18:09:02 GMT -5
Probably the darkest day for wrestling.
Chris Benoit spent the majority of his life perfecting his craft to become arguably one of the best wrestlers ever, only to instead become the person who created the biggest black eye that the sport has ever seen.
What I'll remember most about when the story broke was the apologists, conspiracy theorists and trolls who came out of the woodwork. It was amazing how far some would go to support their fandom.
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Post by cornettesracket on Jun 25, 2022 18:11:25 GMT -5
15 years ? Where does the time go ? I was able to stay up and watch the episode of raw(expecting the “funeral” of Mr McMahon) and was checking WWE.com for any news a couple of hours before(in Ireland it was 12am on this episode) and saw the banner of Benoit and year of birth and death and was genuinely shocked and saddened as Benoit was a great wrestler and I was a fan(that checked very f***ing fast) of his and that Willian regal tribute still stands out to me.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 25, 2022 18:28:49 GMT -5
Here's the crazy part about this. I know remember where I read this, but the timeline of events. I don't remember what day WWE got in contact with Benoit. But there was a story that after he did the crimes. There was word he debated trying to get a plane and actually make the show and wrestle Punk after everything happened. If THIS happened. Could you image what the scene backstage would be like? People would've been out for him backstage. Just an insane story. Bro. Imagine he DIDN'T kill himself. It would be f***ing insane if he was in prison right now.
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Post by Beets by Schrute on Jun 25, 2022 18:35:17 GMT -5
This was my post on Reddit:
I am tired of hearing “Benoit should be accoladed as a performer, not as a person,” as if he deserves a little bit of a pass because he did the best suplex ever.
He not only killed his wife and son, but it’s possible he was intent on traveling to wrestle that weekend as if nothing happened. He was aware and knowingly sedated his son so there wouldn’t be a struggle.
Chris Benoit deserves to be a forgotten footnote in the history of wrestling.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 25, 2022 18:50:23 GMT -5
I wasn't watching at the time (coincidentally had stopped after Benoit lost the title, more due to being bored with the reign of terror rather than being a big Benoit fan) I happened to come across a news report and assumed it was carbon monoxide poisoning or a home invasion, it was just before smartphones, social media was in its infancy and I wasn't online everyday and living in a part of the world where domestic US stuff has to be really major to get a mention so it was weeks later I discovered the truth and was gobsmacked. The wikipedia coincidence was a further piece of madness.
Very morbid, but Georgia is a death penalty state and killing a child may have earned him a death sentence if he was found to be capable for trial had he awaited arrest. It would have surely be the most prominent figure put to death for decades in the US, at least for someone who was well known pre arrest. He would have probably passed away on death row given the time these things take and his poor health.
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Toates Madhackrviper
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Post by Toates Madhackrviper on Jun 25, 2022 18:51:59 GMT -5
I wasn't watching wrestling yet when it happened, and somehow I missed the news cycle surrounding it, so I didn't get any of the trauma surrounding it that others have. I think thats why I find the art <----> artist thing so easy in this case. Plus the fact that he's dead, and he doesn't benefit in any way from any sort of positive attention for his old work.
That said, I completely understand people who are too disgusted by what he did to feel the same.
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Post by Rudy Gobert Fadeaway on Jun 25, 2022 18:52:29 GMT -5
I can't believe ECW New Breed babies are old enough to question life
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Post by David-Arquette was in WCW 2000 on Jun 25, 2022 19:36:21 GMT -5
I still can't believe this happened. Just awful and evil actions on the part of Benoit. People still defend the guy to this day, as if he was perfectly decent and then snapped, despite him being abusive and unpleasant long before this happened.
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Mecca
Wade Wilson
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Post by Mecca on Jun 25, 2022 19:54:47 GMT -5
Crazy how much the board’s opinion has changed in the last 15 years. I remember in 07, people were still singing his praises. Maybe because they were in denial I mean I think it's possible to hold very different ideas together at the same time. I personally believe: - Benoit was a truly awful human being. - He definitely suffered brain damage that affected him and he's a prime example of the failure of past concussion policies. - He was one of the best wrestlers I ever saw. I don't think me recognizing that he had great matches undermines my belief that he's a terrible person. Like there are plenty of pro athletes like Karl Malone that I acknowledge were tremendous at the sport while also being terrible people. That's me, dude was a awful human it doesn't change that he's one of the best in ring performers I've ever seen.
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Post by 1 Free Moon-Down with Burger on Jun 25, 2022 19:57:22 GMT -5
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Post by ben:friendship frog on Jun 25, 2022 19:58:30 GMT -5
First off, the victims are Nancy & Daniel 100%
I think it's a tragic case though because Chris was obviously so far gone by then. The head trauma, depression and god knows what else, we'll never fully know but I just find the whole thing so unbelievably sad.
15 years later and wrestling is more dangerous than ever though. I'm not saying something like this will happen again but people seem to be landing on their heads more than ever before. At least the chair shots are far safer for the vast majority.
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Mecca
Wade Wilson
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Post by Mecca on Jun 25, 2022 20:03:00 GMT -5
Here's the crazy part about this. I know remember where I read this, but the timeline of events. I don't remember what day WWE got in contact with Benoit. But there was a story that after he did the crimes. There was word he debated trying to get a plane and actually make the show and wrestle Punk after everything happened. If THIS happened. Could you image what the scene backstage would be like? People would've been out for him backstage. Just an insane story. Bro. Imagine he DIDN'T kill himself. It would be f***ing insane if he was in prison right now. That may have been the end of the WWE...
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ayumidah
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Post by ayumidah on Jun 25, 2022 20:04:41 GMT -5
My mother's birthday is June 24th. So it's always a weird time of year.
That's also what made me break entirely away from watching 24/7 news cycles. The way they just dug even at the most insignificant things, and what Nancy's sister has said since about what she went through during those times because of the media coverage... ugh. Yeah.
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Post by Sparvid on Jun 25, 2022 20:04:54 GMT -5
Now without reading the article (and keep in mind that all the information hadn’t come out yet), I thought there had been some kind of accident, or even that someone had broken into the house and killed the family. I remember thinking that for a whole family to die at once, the most realistic cause would be a gas leak or similar.
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Post by Cyno on Jun 25, 2022 21:05:14 GMT -5
Crazy how much the board’s opinion has changed in the last 15 years. I remember in 07, people were still singing his praises. Maybe because they were in denial Five stages of grief are very much a real thing. Though it's more sad to me than anything that people's hero worship of him still allows them to deny the evil of what he did. It was a rude wakeup call that we truly don't know these people and what goes on in their private lives.
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Post by Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!! on Jun 25, 2022 21:09:44 GMT -5
I hate him for what he did and I hate that there are people still getting huffy if you can't separate the art from the artist.
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Post by nakedmideon on Jun 25, 2022 21:55:18 GMT -5
Here's the crazy part about this. I know remember where I read this, but the timeline of events. I don't remember what day WWE got in contact with Benoit. But there was a story that after he did the crimes. There was word he debated trying to get a plane and actually make the show and wrestle Punk after everything happened. If THIS happened. Could you image what the scene backstage would be like? People would've been out for him backstage. Just an insane story. How does anyone know this?(not being funny,genuine question)
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