Chris Benoit and Wife found dead

[Borgland]

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Sidenote: As terrible as this is, does anyone think this have any affect on TNA, business-wise (people turning away from WWE or enforcing their own Wellness Policy)?

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WWE fired Kurt Angle for obvious drug use and refusing to seek treatment fot it. He also refused to take time off to heal the numerous serious injuries he had/has. He's had either 2 or 3 major neck surgeries in the last 4-5 years alone. They didnt want the bad publicity if he died.

TNA hired him practically the day he was fired. They've made no effort to do what the WWE tried to do and make him get help.

So far any "Wellness Policy" is for appearances only and neither company as ever made any serious attempt to enforce one.

That article I quoted earlier mentioned that Benoit took a roid test on passed on April tenth. I call [censored]. Either he failed and they said he passed or he never really took one.

[Blarg]

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I think anyone who believes this was a true stand-up guy, and he just snapped, is very naive. Maybe he was, maybe he wasn't, but neither you nor I really have a clue

Wrestling fans bond with the wrestlers, true, but don't trick yourselves into thinking you know what they're really like.

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Yup. Well said.

[4thstreetpete]

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Sidenote: As terrible as this is, does anyone think this have any affect on TNA, business-wise (people turning away from WWE or enforcing their own Wellness Policy)?

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According to the wrestlers, TNA is a drug haven there. Only problem with TNA is that they're not high profile enough to be of anyone's concern. Because of the mainstream press this story is taking, it will affect the WWE huge. To what extent no one really knows now because there's never been a scandal of this magnatude. TNA will feel the fallout and be guilty by association but even they are walking a thin line. If they keep losing money and if one day they lose their television from Spike (unlikely) they are finished.

People forget how important TV is to these promotions, if there's a scandal big enough that cable networks decide to pull the plug on wrestling they would be done too. MMA fighting Pride in Japan was drawing bigger numbers than WWE and so much more mainstream than WWE lost their television because of a Yakuza (Japanese Mafia) scandal. Fuji TV pulled out and no other networks wanted to pick up Pride and shortly afterwards the biggest MMA promotion in the world is finished. They've recently been bought out by the UFC owners but it just shows how important television is to the promotions. No TV means no PPV, no merchandise sales etc etc...

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http://wwe.com

WWE® Shocked At Latest Developments In Benoit Tragedy, Concerned By Sensationalistic Reporting
Written: June 26, 2007STAMFORD, Conn., June 26, 2007 – World Wrestling Entertainment is stunned and saddened by the details released by local authorities concerning the double homicide-suicide involving Chris Benoit, his wife, Nancy, and his son, Daniel.

However, WWE is concerned with the sensationalistic reporting and speculation being undertaken by some members of the media following the press conference held by the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department and the District Attorney. During the press conference, the investigating authorities made the following points, all of which run contrary to the media speculation that "roid rage" was a factor in the senseless murders and suicide:

1. The authorities stated that all drugs found in the house were believed to be legal prescriptions.

2. Steroids were not, and could not, be related to the cause of death (asphyxiation). Authorities had no factual basis to speculate as to Benoit’s state of mind, and rightly did not do so.

3. Toxicology tests have not even been completed, so there is no current evidence that Benoit even had steroids or any other substance in his body. In that regard, on the last test done on Benoit by WWE's independently administered drug testing program, done on April 10, 2007, Benoit tested negative.

4. The physical findings announced by authorities indicate deliberation, not rage. The wife's feet and hands were bound and she was asphyxiated, not beaten to death. By the account of the authorities, there were substantial periods of time between the death of the wife and the death of the son, again suggesting deliberate thought, not rage. The presence of a Bible by each is also not an act of rage.

5. WWE strongly suggests that it is entirely wrong for speculators to suggest that steroids had anything to do with these senseless acts, especially when the authorities plainly stated there is no evidence that Benoit had steroids in his body, pending the toxicological reports, and that they had no evidence at this time as to the motive for these acts.



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How the hell would there be evidence whether he did or didn't have roids in his body before the tox exams come back? WTF?

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WWE is continuing to monitor the ongoing investigation being conducted by local authorities.

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Sounds like they'll do a great job.

[Borgland]

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http://wwe.com

WWE® Shocked At Latest Developments In Benoit Tragedy, Concerned By Sensationalistic Reporting
Written: June 26, 2007STAMFORD, Conn., June 26, 2007 – World Wrestling Entertainment is stunned and saddened by the details released by local authorities concerning the double homicide-suicide involving Chris Benoit, his wife, Nancy, and his son, Daniel.

However, WWE is concerned with the sensationalistic reporting and speculation being undertaken by some members of the media following the press conference held by the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department and the District Attorney. During the press conference, the investigating authorities made the following points, all of which run contrary to the media speculation that "roid rage" was a factor in the senseless murders and suicide:

1. The authorities stated that all drugs found in the house were believed to be legal prescriptions.

2. Steroids were not, and could not, be related to the cause of death (asphyxiation). Authorities had no factual basis to speculate as to Benoit’s state of mind, and rightly did not do so.

3. Toxicology tests have not even been completed, so there is no current evidence that Benoit even had steroids or any other substance in his body. In that regard, on the last test done on Benoit by WWE's independently administered drug testing program, done on April 10, 2007, Benoit tested negative.

4. The physical findings announced by authorities indicate deliberation, not rage. The wife's feet and hands were bound and she was asphyxiated, not beaten to death. By the account of the authorities, there were substantial periods of time between the death of the wife and the death of the son, again suggesting deliberate thought, not rage. The presence of a Bible by each is also not an act of rage.

5. WWE strongly suggests that it is entirely wrong for speculators to suggest that steroids had anything to do with these senseless acts, especially when the authorities plainly stated there is no evidence that Benoit had steroids in his body, pending the toxicological reports, and that they had no evidence at this time as to the motive for these acts.



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How the hell would there be evidence whether he did or didn't have roids in his body before the tox exams come back? WTF?

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WWE is continuing to monitor the ongoing investigation being conducted by local authorities.

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Sounds like they'll do a great job.

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...of trying to cover their asses. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[Blarg]

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All,

One thing this really underscores is that people know far less than they think they do about what celebrities are really like.

The reports/allegations of domestic abuse/violence and prolonged steroid use do not fit in at all with what all the fans had been citing repeatedly earlier in this thread based on "insider information" from various sources.

The fact of the matter is, this is all big business and the fan sites and other sources of information are often, at least to a degree, part of that whole machine.

While tragic and shocking to everyone, I suspect that this stuff is far less surprising to some people who really knew him than to fans who were convinced they had an idea of what kind of person this is.

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Yes, this should be a lesson to people to be less completely ridiculously credulous. It seems people will swallow almost anything.

Publicist: "Newsflash: Star is great guy! Kisses babies!"
Gullible Dope #1: "Wow, really?!?!??? I knew it all along!"
Gullible Dope #2: "Yeah, we're brothers in spirit!"
Gullible Dope #3: "Way less lame than the people I know, like what's his name."

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SK,

I think that regardless of what the facts of the situation turn out to be, it's pretty classless for WWE to react to the reports at this time w/ that release trying to distance their organization from any allegations of steroid use.

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Ditto. Talk about self-serving.

[Borgland]

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I really do hope this changes the business. At least bring in more awareness and hopefully saving more lives down the line.

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I hope it puts an end to the business.

And I used to be a hardcore fan, driving hundreds of miles to WWF/WWE/indy/ECW shows, reading the sheets and the BB's nearly every day, and never missing a televised show from about 1997 to about 2002.

The list goes on and on of the dark side of wrestling, the guys who end up dead or crippled. For what? Pointless violence as a means of entertainment?

Sure, in the late 90's the characters became more "reality-based" and less cartoonish. Those of us who were Hulkamaniacs weren't eight years old anymore, so the characters had to be more three-dimensional. Families involved in storylines, backstage friendships highlighted, "shoot-angles"--storylines based on reality. We still marked out. We believed the story about Benoit, family man, work ethic blah blah blah. Story from whom? Jim Ross? "Inside reporters," who as it was pointed out earlier don't want to ruin the careers of their friends?

Wrestling is a brutal, brutal world, and I'm not really seeing the redeeming value right now. Not even a sick suplex.

Wrestling is fake. In more ways than I ever knew.

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QFT

[El Diablo]

4sp,

"There are various "insider" wrestling websites that go about reporting about the business of wrestling and the behind the scenes but they all walk a very fine line about what 'should' be reported."

That's basically my point. That's not at all how people earlier in the thread were treating those sites. Instead, they were using those sites as the basis for their opinions on what sort of person Benoit was and whether or not he did things like use steroids. Using those sites to make those types of judgements doesn't seem very reasonable based on the info now being reported. That's all I'm saying.

[MikeyPatriot]

El D,

What is your opinion of Britney Spears, and what do you base that opinion on?