Fuck

[thebitterguy]

Just heard that Chris Benoit and his family have been found dead.

I'm sure there'll be more information coming in, but this is a tragedy for the business. I know Chris Benoit has always had a good reputation as a hard working professional. Personally, he's always been one of my favourite performers.

Comments

[crashing-angel.livejournal.com]

From Wiki:
PW Headlines stated that Benoit called in to WWE Sunday and said he would be unable to make it back as his family was ill and they were spitting up blood.
That's very very sad...

[ulaliya.livejournal.com]

Wow. That's just awful.

[creativedv8tion.livejournal.com]

I'm stunned... I'd met his wife, Nancy, back when she was still married to Kevin Sullivan. She was a customer at my then-wife's store and my ex-wife got her to come into my store to say hello and hand deliver an autograph. Her daughter worked at the Victoria's Secret in the mall as well.

Chris was always one of my favourites as well. He was the consummate performer. He was The Total Package, moreso than Luger ever dreamed of.

This is as great, if not greater, loss for the fans and the business than Eddie's death.

[thebitterguy]

It appears it may be even a greater tragedy. I'm feeling very sad and angry right now.

[creativedv8tion.livejournal.com]

Agreed.

[mouseferatu.livejournal.com]

You sure it's not just another stupid PR stunt, like the Vince McMahon "car bomb"?

[eddyfate.livejournal.com]

Yes. It's being reported in various Atlanta news outlets, and last night Vince came out and talked about how that night was supposed to be a tribute to the death of his character, and how the very real death of Chris Benoit happened. He also closed the arena (Raw was live from an empty stadium), and nothing says "Vince is serious" than turning away the fan's money.

[stop-no-dont.livejournal.com]

I feel like I just got punched in the gut.

[whisper-jeff.livejournal.com]

o.O

Wow. I haven't watched wrestling since I lived with Adam, but Benoit was always one of my favourites, on many levels. This sucks but for it to be his entire family as well?... Shocking. Wow.

[thebitterguy]

Yeah, the news coming out is getting worse.

[whisper-jeff.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I saw an article on tsn.ca (http://www.tsn.ca/headlines/news_story/?ID=211878). Not good. Very bad, in fact, and I suspect it'll only get worse.

[tfbretz.livejournal.com]

Holy crap.

I've never been a big follower of wrestling, but Benoit was someone I always enjoyed watching.

[psychosymphony.livejournal.com]

This is definitely a dark day in wrestling history. I just can't believe not only is he gone...but his family too.

I met him once...and i have to say it's hard to say there is any nicer guy in the business. He will definitely be missed.

[thebitterguy]

The circumstances are about as bad as I'd hoped they wouldn't be. This is very disturbing.l

[psychosymphony.livejournal.com]

Seeing as i hate the media with a fucking passion....i'm more prone to wait for something more concrete before believing anything. I'll tell you this though....even if half of what they have said is true...i'll still respect the man as a wrestler...and not be like everyone else and hate him for what happened.

[absinthe-dot-ca.livejournal.com]

Apparently it's now being investigated as a possible murder-suicide (http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2007/jun/25/wrestler_chris_benoit_wife_son_found_dead/?breaking_news)...

[thebitterguy]

Yeah. There was really no good way for this to turn out.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

And it just gets more depressing as time goes on.

[thebitterguy]

It's bad. I almost don't want to know what actually happened.

[viktor-haag.livejournal.com]

Richard Iorio contributes this disturbing information about the wider issue of the mortality of wrestlers (http://prowrestling.about.com/od/whatsrealwhatsfake/a/wrestlersdeaths.htm).

I'm not entirely sure that wrestling is all that different from professional football in this regard: I have no figures, but anecdotally, it seems to me that the rumoured mortality and ill health of pro football players in US is quite disturbing.

[thebitterguy]

Possibly. I don't pay that much attention to football players. That list was kind of a heartbreaker, though.

[viktor-haag.livejournal.com]

I don't pay that much attention to pro wrasslers, myself. It occurs to me that the price of celebrity, especially where same requires radical treatment of one's physical body, is almost certainly much too high.

[thebitterguy]

Viktor, please. They're Sports Entertainers.

There's additional problems with Wrestlers. They don't have an off season (like he said) and they lack a union, so there's no collective voice. Even the most popular performer can be turfed if he disagrees with the management (ie the McMahon family).

Add to that the damage they do to their bodies as a matter of the daily activities, plus any 'special injections' they receive, and they're pretty much screwed.

[viktor-haag.livejournal.com]

Sports Entertainers

Potayto, Potahto.

disagrees with the management

I cannot say I have ever been a fan of Vince McMahon, even from my position of hardly paying any attention to this particular kind of spectacle. What little I have seen of WWF/E has lead me to believe not very nice things about McMahon which I'd hesitate to say in public.

As for your analysis of the predicament they're in, is your analysis of the situation that they're gulled into it, or willing victims because of the money/fame?

[thebitterguy]

I think it's a game of inches. They make sacrifices bit by bit until they've given so much they can't really go back.

It's an industry that people get into because they love it. They make the tiny sacrifices day by day.

AFAIK, IANAW.

[redeem147.livejournal.com]

I don't know him, but someone else on my list is a fan and linked to the story. It's got me thinking about Malcolm again.

[thebitterguy]

Yeah, that's what it's got me thinking about.