Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Update on Benoit

From MSNBC-- http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19424899/?GT1=10056


What are your thoughts on what you have read. Nate, what can you attest psychologically with your professional background???

5 comments:

Nate said...

I honestly don't know what to think. I'm shocked, and quite honestly I feel kinda betrayed. I trusted Chris Benoit as an entertainer, and for that I had respect for him. Now, I'm split in my opinion; it's shitty that he's a murderer, but I always liked him as a wrestler.

I remember you & me watching his incredible match with Angle at the Rumble 2003. I remember we were on our feet waiting for that fateful tapout that earned Benoit the World title at Wrestlemania 20.

The most interesting part is the constant flip-flopping of wrestling "fanz," like you find on, say, Death Valley Driver or 411 Forums. It went from "OMG IT'S A HORRIBLE TRAGEDY" to "Let's all remember the life of a great human being," to "What a sick fucker." And all of that coming from the same people, all under 24 hrs.

It's some crazy shit, man. Not only so much the tragedy, but the hypocracy that apparently must exist in the majority of wrestling fandom.

Ron said...

Debate time.

I'm personally already sick of the Benoit story. Sure, I thought the guy was an amazing performer and I screamed my lungs out when he "won" the IC belt from Curt Henning at Freedom Hall and booed like crazy when NWO Nick Patrick came out and reversed the decision. But, based on the coverage so far, it looks as if this might go the way of Anna Nicole Smith and be all over the press for a few days. That is something I hope the press avoids.

With that being said, I don't know if the reaction of the wrestling fanz is especially hypocritical. I knew Chris Benoit as some guy who wrestled well and who was entertaining to watch. I didn't know what kind of a man he was, what kind of a father he was, what kind of a husband he was, or whether or not he was capable of murder. What you are seeing on the boards is the people's image of Benoit being shattered. He went from an object of some level of hero-worship to a vile criminal all within the span of 24 hours.

The "standard" wrestling death, if there is such a thing these days, is some sort of health issue related to steroids or a drug overdose. No doubt that the hair-trigger forums that are the internet were filled with people who heard of Benoit's death and assumed that this was the same thing. Hence the tribute and tragedy comments. Once the new info is included, then it turns into a more expected commentary.

Nate said...

I guess I want to stay in the "I won't change my opinion of him as a wrestler, because I don't know shit about his personal life" camp.

I'll be honest: For some reason, this event is really fucking with me. I ordinarily don't get bothered by the deaths of famous people, but there's something about the Benoit tragedy I just can't shake. In my private thoughts, I've equated it with the 9/11 events, only so far in that, during that period of time, I was trying to get as much news as possible on what the fuck was going on, and there hasn't been anything since that had me remotely interested in news until now.

I think I'll be staying away from wrestling forums for a while, maybe more than a month. I actually read somewhere, some fanz who are suggesting that Benoit's title reigns be discredited & ignored. There's hypocritical, then there's just wicked stupid.

Will said...

You cannot take away what he accomplished in the ring. I mean people see him in the ring and put him on this higher plane, but he is a person like anyone else. The thing that shakes me the most is that he killed his son. I mean yes murdering his wife was really bad but killing your own child.

I will always remember his great matches and I will admit will be different to watch now, but nonetheless entertaining.

Rev. Joshua said...

I don't know any other way to put this and it may sound fucked up, but I've always found this kind of murder fascinating. Not exciting or arousing, but fascinating. There are so many ways to kill someone and so many circumstances under which to do it; most murders are pedestrian bullshit, like that cunt that killed his pregnant girlfriend in Ohio. He was a selfish prick who didn't want to deal with another kid, but there's a logic to that. It's a twisted logic; it shows no respect for human life and is rightly condemned, but there's a logic to it. Or a drunk driver t-bones a minivan and kills a family of five. We know what happened: a fuckup fucked up, what a surprise. Film at eleven.

What Benoit did, though, was beyond comprehension. And I mean that in the sense that there is no rational explanation, condoning or condemning, for what Benoit did. His mental state had to have been so far removed from even what you might only charitably describe as normal that there are seemingly no words in the English language to describe it.

I can't imagine the horror show that Benoit's mind and home must have turned into over the course of 72 hours. You don't wake up and, with the full faculties of a sane man, decide to kill your wife, your son, and yourself over the course of three days in the manner that he did. Something in his brain was broken irreparably and his actions are the result of that. Those actions defy understanding and for that I can't turn on him like some will and probably already have and say he was an evil fucking bastard and what he did was his own choice. Evil's a cartoon character and you don't choose that kind of fucked up. It chooses you.

Sleep peacefully, Benoit family.