Saturday, June 30, 2007
10 Years Ago In Memphis Wrestling..
USWA: The Jerry Lawler-Brian Christopher soap opera continued on this week’s tv show on June 28th. Lawler said in an interview on the show that pro-wrestling was better when there was a little mystique to it, and refused to answer the question as to whether or not Christopher was his son. Christopher kept wanting to answer the question, but Lawler kept stopping him….. Several of the recently fired guys were back, in particular, Steven Dunn, Mabel (Viscera) and Reggie B. Fine. Lawler cut a promo on the tv show challenging any ECW wrestlers to come to the next Memphis show on July 13th, and Paul Diamond & Steven Dunn also challenged any ECW tag team to face them….. There was a lot of talk that this group would soon wind up as a WWF satellite promotion, as Dr Tom Pritchard was moving to Memphis to head the WWF training program…… Christine Jarrett, Jerry’s mother and Jeff’s grandmother, was fired from her job of working the box office in Louisville. No reasons were given for her firing…… P.J. Walker (Justin Credible) was in this promotion, doing a Konnan-style hoodie gimmick…… Glen Jacobs was no longer wrestling as the Fake Diesel, and was back in his old gimmick as the masked ‘Doomsday’, wearing a Lord Humongous mask. Jacobs and Mabel were feuding with each other.
RassleResults: LAW Rector, AR 6.29.07
----Arnez over Scott Graham...Super Striker over Mr.X...Tommy Redneck/Alec Fontez over Rockin'Randy/Acid...Slim Pickens over Trendsetter by DQ... Idol Bane over Psycho...Chris O'Neal over Greg Anthony by DQ
----About 60 in the building with a gate close to $360...If The Asylum won both singles matches then they got a Tag Title match next Friday... Trendsetter pinned Slim after the spear but then beat Slim w/ the ref's belt after the match and the ref reversed the decision...Jeff O'Dell made huge announcment, Jeff officially Disbanded the Championship Committee, and he as CEO of LAW now controls all aspects...Bane/Graham injured Arnez with a double team Spike Ghost of Andy Kaufman...Jeff O'Dell announced next week it will be another re-match w/ TGB vs O'Neal but if any ref makes a three count on tgb then he will FIRE THEM!...Acid is a real good solid worker. He needs gear though!!
Remember when...... by Gene Jackson
Remember when Ed Ferrara was "Oklahoma" in WCW? I hadn't really thought about that angle in a long time but last night I was watching this month's Legends of Wrestling roundtable discussion on WWE 24/7 with Jim Ross, Michael Hayes, Mick Foley, Jerry Lawler, and Eric Bischoff and the topic was "Wrestling Biggest Heatseekers" among those discussed were Lex Luger, Buff Bagwell (JR told the story of Buff's mom calling in to say he was sick and couldn't make some house shows), Paul Heyman, Scott Hall, and of course Vince Russo. During the discussion of Russo, Hayes asked Jim Ross how he really felt about the whole Oklahoma bit from WCW. Ross said he himself wasn't hurt by it but that it upset his children alot and that bothered him. Hayes then asked how did he compare that to the things Vince has done to him, like the 'Kiss My Ass Club' and the 'Pulling J.R.'s head out of his ass' skit right after J.R.'s colon surgery. J.R. said he didn't appreciate any of it, but said he felt McMahon did it cause he thought the fans would be entertained by it, where he feels 'Oklahoma' was just a personal attack that really wasn't done for entertainment value.
Now in MY PERSONAL OPINION, I think right the opposite. While I don't know what McMahons intentions were , I (nor anyone else I know) found that skit McMahon did it about J.R. at all entertaining and it served no real purpose other than make McMahon look stupid and to make fun of J.R. On the other hand, I thought 'Okahoma' (at first at least) was a very funny impression of J.R. In the vein of the skits WWE had done in the past in those times with the 'Scheme Gene', 'Huckster', and 'Nacho Man' skits. Everyone's biggest problem seemed to be the fact they were making fun of J.R.'s Bells Palsy. I didn't think that was the case, it's not like the whole character was based around J.R.'s Bells Palsy, the punchline of the joke (in my opinion at least) was the fact he was coming out putting over "Dr. Death" Steve Williams like God, which J.R. always did, and he his overselling on commentary. The fact he would sit there and tell you Silver King was a "star linebacker at Tiajuana State University" was freakin' hilarious and the fact they would be having something stupid going on in the ring and he'd start screaming about it like Ross would "JUVI'S GOT THE PINATA....PINATA......PINATA......PINATA..." The Bells Palsy was just part of his physical appearence at the time, just like his cowboy hat. I'm not defending them for doing it, it probably was in bad taste but hell it was the 'Monday Night Wars' that wasn't the lowest blow that had been thrown. Where I do have a problem with the Oklahoma character was it was carried on for TOOOO LONG!! Once or twice would have been funny in a Saturday Night Live skit sort of way, but it was like telling a joke with the same punchline every week and by the time he was in the ring with Madusa it had long since wore out it's welcome and was just beating a dead horse. In speaking of this, Michael Hayes then questioned Eric Bischoff about this piece of business.
NWO 4 horsemen parody
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Yes, the infamous nWo Arn Anderson retirement parody. Michael Hayes told Bischoff that this skit made him and a LOT of other wrestlers very angry and said he thought this and the Oklahoma character were two of the most disrespectful things he ever saw. Bischoff agreed and says he regrets allowing them to do it, but at the time he didn't really think it was a personal attack on Arn Anderson from Nash and company that came up with it. Again in MY PERSONAL OPINION as a fan I thought it was one of the funniest things ever on Nitro, can I see where Arn and his peers would be upset? Absolutely. Arn was being forced into retirement at an early age (well for some) and I'm sure it was hard to deal with and being mocked by people he didn't particularly like had to be tough BUT, had they not did that promo (I, at least) wouldn't have made it a point to watch that Fall Brawl ppv that was building up to, but after seeing that and knowing how personal it was you had to watch it to see if things were gonna turn ugly for real AND RIGHT THERE is the difference between this and the other skits in this article. The Oklahoma character never sold one ticket, or caused ANYONE to buy a pay per view. Vince's skit on J.R. never sold a ticket or drew one extra buy for a pay per view. I can state for a fact that the nWo horsement skit did at least sell at least one more pay per view cause I wouldn't have bought it had I not wanted to see the aftermath of that skit. Take that for what it's worth.
Site News!!
----A story that was posted earlier today was yanked a few hours after it was posted. The original story is still posted HERE, but from all my reliable sources, they are telling me the story is untrue. Mike Porter apparently did do time in prison, but that was way back in the early 1990's, and it's very common knowledge on the Nashville Wrestling scene. How this constitutes "news" now is pretty ridiculous. It wasn't a 12 year old kid. The way I understand the story it was with an under aged male teenage prostitute. The kid was 16 or 17 or something like that. This "Robert Lee" character has been described to me as not much more than a troll, so I will not posting anymore news items from his site. My apologies to Mike Porter.
----As I expected, I have got some heat for the XOW story. I love it when everyone says Tony Watts should sue me. Everything I put in that story is believed by me to be 100% true. The other stuff is my opinion. I do want to invite Tony Watts to respond. As always, and some of you seem to forget this, but I do try to present both sides of every story.
----As I expected, I have got some heat for the XOW story. I love it when everyone says Tony Watts should sue me. Everything I put in that story is believed by me to be 100% true. The other stuff is my opinion. I do want to invite Tony Watts to respond. As always, and some of you seem to forget this, but I do try to present both sides of every story.
Benoit Coverage: Benoit Was Wearing Brody Shirt!!
----This Beno
it story has some really strange crap going on with it. Remember the photo I posted of the last photo taken of Benoit alive?? CLICK HERE to take another look. It was a freakin BRODY shirt!!! Guys over at Trent Van Drisse's board said that the shirt was bought from the Black Market Online store and suggested that MVP bought it for him, because MVP shops there. I got to have me one of those shirts!! And no, it doesn't have nothing to do with Benoit. Bruiser Brody ruled!!
it story has some really strange crap going on with it. Remember the photo I posted of the last photo taken of Benoit alive?? CLICK HERE to take another look. It was a freakin BRODY shirt!!! Guys over at Trent Van Drisse's board said that the shirt was bought from the Black Market Online store and suggested that MVP bought it for him, because MVP shops there. I got to have me one of those shirts!! And no, it doesn't have nothing to do with Benoit. Bruiser Brody ruled!!
Reactions to the Benoit Tragedy Part 2- WWE/The Media by Gene Jackson
So I'm gonna go ahead and write this since I mentioned it in my last article but after this I'm done with this whole Benoit topic, I'm sick of reading about it, hearing about it, and talking about it and I'm sure most of you are too. Last time I talked about the fans reaction to the Benoit tragedy but another aspect is the WWE's reaction. Now I've never been one to cut them any undue slack but I personally think they have handled this as well as they possibly could. A lot of people in hindsight have criticized them for doing the tribute show but you have to consider they didn't get the news untill 4pm with RAW going on the air LIVE that night at 7pm so there wasn't much time to ponder the situation. Obviously at that time they had no details and looking back people say "well they should have suspected something", I don't think so. Your mind doesn't usually automatically go to that extreme especially when it was someone that was apart of their "family". So, with short notice in just a couple of hours time they threw together a nice tribute for Benoit just as they had done for Eddie and Owen before him. Now it's up for debate if there was some speculation on their part that caused them to cancel the live show and send everybody home but I think that was more towards the fact that Vince was gonna appear on camera and drop the 'limo angle' and even in the face of something like the death of Benoit and his family you still couldn't predict how the crowd would respond to it all.
So they did the tribute and AFTER RAW went off the air the details became public, WWE quickly pulled all tribute videos off WWE.com and the following night Vince acknowledged it on the air on ECW that they had made a mistake. Yet regardless of that assholes in the media proceded to go right ahead and blast him for doing a "tribute to a murderer." So many awful things have come out of this situation but one of the many is I've realised just how easily the general public's opinion is swayed but what the media reports. As I mentioned before, me being known as "the wrestling guy" in most circles all kinds of people at work and people calling me at first were like, "man what do you think caused him to snap", then after a night or two of assholes like Nancy Grace and Geraldo saying it was "roid rage" now everyone is stating as a fact, "wow, those steroids are dangerous, can't believe they made that guy kill his family" Now I'm not saying it is or isn't a result of steroids, I don't know but I'll tell you for damn sure that cunt Nancy Grace doesn't either but that doesn't stop her from saying it 100 times during her show. Now you've got Debra "Mrs. Stone Cold" McMichael Marshall squeezing out a couple more minutes in the spotlight to go on tv and bury the wrestling industry that helped make her a household name, at least for 15 minutes. Just like in the last steroid scandal for Vince they try to find people who are gonna come on there and make wrestling look like a joke and who are bitter. They are getting Bret and I hear "Warrior" is gonna be on one soon. Brian Christopher came off like a moron on Anderson Cooper, so far Chris Jericho is the only person who has saved some face. Ken Wayne gave a good interview except that he's hard to take serious when he's calling it "the rasslin business". (Of course that's the name of this site so what the hell do I know)
In the end this tragic event will mostly go down as another opportunity for assholes like Phil Muschnick and others like him to drag wrestling through the mud and try to put the full brunt of the blame on Vince McMahon and I just don't think that's fair. Yes, a lot of guys use steroids and yes a lot of them have died because of it, and a lot more will but Vince McMahon didn't draft them into the wrestling business and he didn't put a gun to their head to work for WWE or use steroids. They are grown men and ultimately it was their decision. Was it "roid rage"? Was he just crazy all along and it finally came out? Was it some other drug? Truthfully, regardless of what the reports come back with no one will truly ever know or understand so it's better just to accept that it happened and move on. This type of shit happens everyday, it's just this time it happened to be someone everyone knew (or at least thought they did) and loved. There's two schools of thought on this, you can damn him to hell and hate his guts. or you can "look on the bright side" and remember him for his great wrestling talent. But either way, don't try to pin the shit on Vince, for once something's not his fault, that is of course unless he tries to make an angle out this or something. I can see it now, the Pegasus Kid and The Black Tiger pull up in a lowrider to say they were the ones that blew up the limo. I better stop before someone sends this to them and they decide to do it.
So they did the tribute and AFTER RAW went off the air the details became public, WWE quickly pulled all tribute videos off WWE.com and the following night Vince acknowledged it on the air on ECW that they had made a mistake. Yet regardless of that assholes in the media proceded to go right ahead and blast him for doing a "tribute to a murderer." So many awful things have come out of this situation but one of the many is I've realised just how easily the general public's opinion is swayed but what the media reports. As I mentioned before, me being known as "the wrestling guy" in most circles all kinds of people at work and people calling me at first were like, "man what do you think caused him to snap", then after a night or two of assholes like Nancy Grace and Geraldo saying it was "roid rage" now everyone is stating as a fact, "wow, those steroids are dangerous, can't believe they made that guy kill his family" Now I'm not saying it is or isn't a result of steroids, I don't know but I'll tell you for damn sure that cunt Nancy Grace doesn't either but that doesn't stop her from saying it 100 times during her show. Now you've got Debra "Mrs. Stone Cold" McMichael Marshall squeezing out a couple more minutes in the spotlight to go on tv and bury the wrestling industry that helped make her a household name, at least for 15 minutes. Just like in the last steroid scandal for Vince they try to find people who are gonna come on there and make wrestling look like a joke and who are bitter. They are getting Bret and I hear "Warrior" is gonna be on one soon. Brian Christopher came off like a moron on Anderson Cooper, so far Chris Jericho is the only person who has saved some face. Ken Wayne gave a good interview except that he's hard to take serious when he's calling it "the rasslin business". (Of course that's the name of this site so what the hell do I know)
In the end this tragic event will mostly go down as another opportunity for assholes like Phil Muschnick and others like him to drag wrestling through the mud and try to put the full brunt of the blame on Vince McMahon and I just don't think that's fair. Yes, a lot of guys use steroids and yes a lot of them have died because of it, and a lot more will but Vince McMahon didn't draft them into the wrestling business and he didn't put a gun to their head to work for WWE or use steroids. They are grown men and ultimately it was their decision. Was it "roid rage"? Was he just crazy all along and it finally came out? Was it some other drug? Truthfully, regardless of what the reports come back with no one will truly ever know or understand so it's better just to accept that it happened and move on. This type of shit happens everyday, it's just this time it happened to be someone everyone knew (or at least thought they did) and loved. There's two schools of thought on this, you can damn him to hell and hate his guts. or you can "look on the bright side" and remember him for his great wrestling talent. But either way, don't try to pin the shit on Vince, for once something's not his fault, that is of course unless he tries to make an angle out this or something. I can see it now, the Pegasus Kid and The Black Tiger pull up in a lowrider to say they were the ones that blew up the limo. I better stop before someone sends this to them and they decide to do it.
Friday, June 29, 2007
Wife of wrestler who passed away young speaks out on the profession
----This came from http://www.wrestlingobserver.com/. Everything this woman says is 100% true. You also have to look at the smaller promotions where the guys want to to make it to the WWE - they are juicing up to look the part.
My name is Debbie Fernandez, wife of the late Ray “Hercules” Fernandez and I am writing to you because I am sickened by the recent tragic event to strike the Wrestling World. I am also appalled at the fact that Vince McMahon is trying to play off the idea that there is not a Steroid Use problem in the WWE. After Ray died, I was too devastated to open up a discussion re
garding the deadly roll that Steroid use plays in the lives of these wrestlers, but now, after seeing yet another tragedy, I must speak up. Vince McMahon acquires these young men, who are eager to join the world of wrestling, and who do not know any better and think that they are going to be rich and famous, but at what price?
garding the deadly roll that Steroid use plays in the lives of these wrestlers, but now, after seeing yet another tragedy, I must speak up. Vince McMahon acquires these young men, who are eager to join the world of wrestling, and who do not know any better and think that they are going to be rich and famous, but at what price?He all but preaches that his Wrestlers do not take Steroids, and they are periodically tested, now does anyone really believe that? There is a reason why so many Wrestlers have died at such a young age, partly due to the Steroid use, and most importantly because most of them end their wrestling career with NOTHING! They have no health benefits, they have no retirement, and they are just tossed out like yesterdays trash. The only one who benefits from their blood, sweat and tears is Vince McMahon. They wrestle when their sick or hurt because they are so scared to lose their jobs, and they will, so the only way that they can stay in the game is to take steroids. Does Vince McMahon really expect us to believe that he knows nothing about the wrestlers using steroids?
The problem is that like my husband, many of the wrestlers from that era were too loyal to the profession to say anything, because if you rocked the boat, you knew you were on your way out. They just had to suck it up and do whatever it took to keep their jobs. They control everything you do professionally and personally, right down to picking your accountant, so that he can steal you blind. With all the money that the WWE brings in, you would think that they would take care of their investments and offer them the proper benefits that they and their families deserve. Now, I do not believe that Chris Benoit’s actions were caused by Steroid use, but, I do feel that Vince McMahon should be held accountable for the fact that he IS aware of everything that is going on, and that the majority of Wrestlers do take Steroids. When is it going to be enough? When are these guys going to join together and realize that unless they stand up to McMahon and fight for the benefits that they deserve, and that the WWE can afford to give them, they are headed for an early grave.
Sincerely,Debbie Fernandez
“The Same Promotion - Different Name – the XOW Story.”
PRELUDE
----It posted the following when I returned from Mississippi about this story - "Even if you are not part of the Mississippi wrestling scene, you will enjoy this story – it includes all the backstabbing, talent robbing, women fighting in the parking lot bullshit that you will have grown to love on this site." I was accused by my buddy Axeman of "getting off" on stuff like this. Not sure if that is the right term, but this story at been in the making for over two weeks. And it actually gives the readers - not all workers - an insight of what goes on in small promotions.
THE STORY
----You know I have talked before many times about the wrestling business being a backstabbing business. You have very few friends in this business. When I owned part of CCW I had my other owners – my “friends” - take the wrestling ring and hide it from me, because my ex-wife had made some comment about getting out of the business. It was all done behind my back and with all said and done – I actually still consider those guys friends. I actually have very few friends that are not in one way or another associated with the wrestling business. I have two friends that I went to high school with that I still keep in touch with, but my other friends consider pretty much of guys in wrestling.
----Brody Hawk helped get Tony Watts in this business. Watts had planned to run only one show under his XOW [Extreme Outlaw Wrestling] name. Hawk talked his friend into starting a weekly show and they worked week in and week out to put on a show in a market that is totally flooded with wrestling. It’s much like the Tennessee area, but within a 40 minute or closer drive, you can have 4 or 5 shows running every weekend. On 3.15.07, this group celebrated its 2cnd Anniversary and that is a major feat in it’s self.
----Some trouble started brewing earlier this year when I was told that allegedly on one of the All Pro Productions shows that a lot of money was missing and Tony’s wife – Tammy - was the culprit. I was told that she was allegedly caught “red handed” with $80 taking from the XOW till. Brody Hawk had to put a padlock on the refrigerator at the building, so the Watts family would quit eating and drinking up the concessions. Even though you might trust your friend, if you can’t trust their family, then there is no way you can do business with them.
----I had been hearing rumors around 2 weeks before the benefit show that something was going to happen. Tony Watts was positioning himself to take full control of the building and to get the license renewed in the XOW name. One of the area workers had this to say about the situation – “Just another prime example of wrestling politics and backstabbing....someone works with another guy doesn’t like what there role is in the show gets pissed and leave to start his own show to run the other guy outta business.”
----Sammy Hall showed up to register new licenses and due to the fact of some miscommunication, Brody Hawk [after hearing bout Watts’ plans] was not able to get a license under the XOW name. Watts showed up first and continued with his name. You got to remember this was Watts’ name, but Brody had been booking the shows for over 2 years. Brody first registered the new license in his name with “Xpress Outlaw Wrestling”, but due to the fact that if you own a promoter’s license in the state of Mississippi you can’t wrestle on his own show that has changed. The promotion is now in his girlfriend’s name – Cynthia Jones - the organization is being called XWO – “XTreme Wrestling Organization” Brody also has full control of the building now.
----Also leading up to the benefit show, there was talk that Tony Watts was going to try to stop the benefit, because I believe it was under his license. Cooler heads did prevail and the benefit did take place. But, guess what?? After the show, Watts’ family decided to come over to try to start shit. They even called the landlord of the building to tell him that Brody was taking stuff out of the building. Tell me if it is only me, but someone has to be low – scum of the freakin earth – to try to do anything to try to tamper with a benefit. I don’t care what your personal feelings towards anybody is, but when a person has cancer and the boys are trying to do a benefit for her, then you don’t stick your fuckin nose in to try to start shit. Not before, not during and not after the show.
----So what happens now?? Tony Watts takes his license and rumors are he is going to run shows on Friday nights in Pontotoc, MS. I have been told he has a money man and even offered a few of the guys on the All Pro show on Friday night $100 to work his shows. How long that could last before the money mark is tired of losing money?? Watts said to some people that he wanted to get away from Brody so he could have more control over the show and make some of the money. WTF?? Do the math on the gates – until you draw 80-120 people a week, you are just going to break even. All the promotions in that area usually don’t draw over 250 in total.
----As I said to a few of the workers this weekend, the Pontotoc-Ecru-New Albany area is a small pie to try to draw crowds. It seems that the XOW promoting was starting to do well in Ecru, but now with someone else trying to get some of the pie, then everyone’s piece just gets smaller. There has even been talk of a Thursday show in driving distance of these groups. Proof positive – that all it takes to run a show these days is a ring, a building and some money. You don’t even have to be a worker or even have real workers on your show. I really hope the current new XWO crew in Ecru stick to their guns and stay with Brody. No promoter, if smart, will book talent that can work all three shows. The talent pool on Friday night will be thin as TFW has the best talent in the area on Friday nights. And if you work for the new XOW, then you will not work XWO. It would not be good business to showcase the same talent every night of the week.
----Oh yea, remember the part about having friends in this business?? You know when I finally sold CCW to Steve Creasy and ended my days of promoting, Creasy quickly tried to get all the guys from the old CCW crew to work for him. Some of them did and I don’t hold that against them. He promised money and then backed out on a lot of that. But, guess what two guys told him no? They told him no, because they knew he had screwed me and I had treated them good. Brody and Cody Hawk. They are both stand up guys. That can not be said about a guy like Tony Watts. He is the friend that backstabs you and does stuff behind your back. Just a final thought – if you are a worker in this area, which kind of guy do you want to work for?? Or has it got so bad that friendship really doesn’t matter anymore??
----It posted the following when I returned from Mississippi about this story - "Even if you are not part of the Mississippi wrestling scene, you will enjoy this story – it includes all the backstabbing, talent robbing, women fighting in the parking lot bullshit that you will have grown to love on this site." I was accused by my buddy Axeman of "getting off" on stuff like this. Not sure if that is the right term, but this story at been in the making for over two weeks. And it actually gives the readers - not all workers - an insight of what goes on in small promotions.
THE STORY
----You know I have talked before many times about the wrestling business being a backstabbing business. You have very few friends in this business. When I owned part of CCW I had my other owners – my “friends” - take the wrestling ring and hide it from me, because my ex-wife had made some comment about getting out of the business. It was all done behind my back and with all said and done – I actually still consider those guys friends. I actually have very few friends that are not in one way or another associated with the wrestling business. I have two friends that I went to high school with that I still keep in touch with, but my other friends consider pretty much of guys in wrestling.
----Brody Hawk helped get Tony Watts in this business. Watts had planned to run only one show under his XOW [Extreme Outlaw Wrestling] name. Hawk talked his friend into starting a weekly show and they worked week in and week out to put on a show in a market that is totally flooded with wrestling. It’s much like the Tennessee area, but within a 40 minute or closer drive, you can have 4 or 5 shows running every weekend. On 3.15.07, this group celebrated its 2cnd Anniversary and that is a major feat in it’s self.
----Some trouble started brewing earlier this year when I was told that allegedly on one of the All Pro Productions shows that a lot of money was missing and Tony’s wife – Tammy - was the culprit. I was told that she was allegedly caught “red handed” with $80 taking from the XOW till. Brody Hawk had to put a padlock on the refrigerator at the building, so the Watts family would quit eating and drinking up the concessions. Even though you might trust your friend, if you can’t trust their family, then there is no way you can do business with them.
----I had been hearing rumors around 2 weeks before the benefit show that something was going to happen. Tony Watts was positioning himself to take full control of the building and to get the license renewed in the XOW name. One of the area workers had this to say about the situation – “Just another prime example of wrestling politics and backstabbing....someone works with another guy doesn’t like what there role is in the show gets pissed and leave to start his own show to run the other guy outta business.”
----Sammy Hall showed up to register new licenses and due to the fact of some miscommunication, Brody Hawk [after hearing bout Watts’ plans] was not able to get a license under the XOW name. Watts showed up first and continued with his name. You got to remember this was Watts’ name, but Brody had been booking the shows for over 2 years. Brody first registered the new license in his name with “Xpress Outlaw Wrestling”, but due to the fact that if you own a promoter’s license in the state of Mississippi you can’t wrestle on his own show that has changed. The promotion is now in his girlfriend’s name – Cynthia Jones - the organization is being called XWO – “XTreme Wrestling Organization” Brody also has full control of the building now.
----Also leading up to the benefit show, there was talk that Tony Watts was going to try to stop the benefit, because I believe it was under his license. Cooler heads did prevail and the benefit did take place. But, guess what?? After the show, Watts’ family decided to come over to try to start shit. They even called the landlord of the building to tell him that Brody was taking stuff out of the building. Tell me if it is only me, but someone has to be low – scum of the freakin earth – to try to do anything to try to tamper with a benefit. I don’t care what your personal feelings towards anybody is, but when a person has cancer and the boys are trying to do a benefit for her, then you don’t stick your fuckin nose in to try to start shit. Not before, not during and not after the show.
----So what happens now?? Tony Watts takes his license and rumors are he is going to run shows on Friday nights in Pontotoc, MS. I have been told he has a money man and even offered a few of the guys on the All Pro show on Friday night $100 to work his shows. How long that could last before the money mark is tired of losing money?? Watts said to some people that he wanted to get away from Brody so he could have more control over the show and make some of the money. WTF?? Do the math on the gates – until you draw 80-120 people a week, you are just going to break even. All the promotions in that area usually don’t draw over 250 in total.
----As I said to a few of the workers this weekend, the Pontotoc-Ecru-New Albany area is a small pie to try to draw crowds. It seems that the XOW promoting was starting to do well in Ecru, but now with someone else trying to get some of the pie, then everyone’s piece just gets smaller. There has even been talk of a Thursday show in driving distance of these groups. Proof positive – that all it takes to run a show these days is a ring, a building and some money. You don’t even have to be a worker or even have real workers on your show. I really hope the current new XWO crew in Ecru stick to their guns and stay with Brody. No promoter, if smart, will book talent that can work all three shows. The talent pool on Friday night will be thin as TFW has the best talent in the area on Friday nights. And if you work for the new XOW, then you will not work XWO. It would not be good business to showcase the same talent every night of the week.
----Oh yea, remember the part about having friends in this business?? You know when I finally sold CCW to Steve Creasy and ended my days of promoting, Creasy quickly tried to get all the guys from the old CCW crew to work for him. Some of them did and I don’t hold that against them. He promised money and then backed out on a lot of that. But, guess what two guys told him no? They told him no, because they knew he had screwed me and I had treated them good. Brody and Cody Hawk. They are both stand up guys. That can not be said about a guy like Tony Watts. He is the friend that backstabs you and does stuff behind your back. Just a final thought – if you are a worker in this area, which kind of guy do you want to work for?? Or has it got so bad that friendship really doesn’t matter anymore??
Benoit Coverage: Fan Responds To the Column Below
Fan Responds To Phil Mushnick's NY Post Column06/29/2007 by Matthew Boone
Mr. Mushnick, You are one sick, twisted individual. You want to make the Benoit Tragedy into more than what it was. You want to say that steroid abuse became prevalent because of Vince McMahon's reign as wrestling kingpin. I hope you don't step in what you're shoveling. Because it's nothing more than a load of crap.
Drugs have been a part of professional sports and entertainment for a long time. Superstar Billy Graham used steroids. As did Jesse Ventura and Hulk Hogan after him. They did so before the worked for Vincent Kennedy McMahon. Yet you don't seem to try and villify other promoters from the past and the present.
You go after Vince McMahon with ruthless abandon in a crusade to rid the planet of the most public face in professional wrestling. There are reasons that wrestlers are dying young. They are the ones making bad choices.
Eddie Guerrero took steroids before he even came to the WWF. When he died, it had been almost four years since he stopped taking them. It was his abuses before he came to the WWF(E) that killed him, not anything he did after he got there.
Chris Candito didn't die because of his past drug abuses. He died because of a clot that was thrown after surgery. Had the surgery come about because he fell off a curb picking up the morning paper, and not because of an injury he suffered in a wrestling ring owned by Dixie Carter, you would not make mention of it.
Brian Pillman was taking steroids and painkillers before he even decided to become a pro wrestler, when he was trying to make a name for himself as a professional football player in his hometown of Cincinnati.
Michael Hegstrand (aka Hawk) was taking steroids back when he was working for Verne Gagne. Louis Mucciolo (aka Louie Spiccoli) struggled with drugs before and after his WWF tenure. Yet you seem content to place the blame for all of these deaths on Vince McMahon.
Davey Boy Smith, Curt Hennig, Richard Rood, you want to blame them all on Vince McMahon as well. Guess what, you can't. These men all made a choice. They took the drugs. They weren't force fed them.
For every Chris Benoit out there, there is a John Tenta, John Minton, Andre Rousimoff, Rodney Anoa'i, Keith Franke, Joesph Marella, or Larry Latham out there that didn't die because of drugs. You want to blame Vince McMahon for their death's too. How about Randy Anderson, Vivian Vachon, David Adkinsson, Chris Adkinsson, Brian Hildebrand, Jerry Tuite, Gary Albright, Eddie Gilbert, or Jumbo Tsuruta, who's legacies never included employment by Vince McMahon on Raw, Smackdown, Superstars of Wrestling, All American Wrestling or any of the other shows that WWE ran in the past 25 years?
The "steroid problem" in wrestling is only apparent because of journalists like yourself that makes it out to be a problem.
To use the deaths of Daniel and Nancy Benoit as a soapbox to spread your message of hate, it's just wrong. To contact the author of the above column, e-mail http://us.f532.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=jjmademedoit@yahoo.com&Subj=WZ
Mr. Mushnick, You are one sick, twisted individual. You want to make the Benoit Tragedy into more than what it was. You want to say that steroid abuse became prevalent because of Vince McMahon's reign as wrestling kingpin. I hope you don't step in what you're shoveling. Because it's nothing more than a load of crap.
Drugs have been a part of professional sports and entertainment for a long time. Superstar Billy Graham used steroids. As did Jesse Ventura and Hulk Hogan after him. They did so before the worked for Vincent Kennedy McMahon. Yet you don't seem to try and villify other promoters from the past and the present.
You go after Vince McMahon with ruthless abandon in a crusade to rid the planet of the most public face in professional wrestling. There are reasons that wrestlers are dying young. They are the ones making bad choices.
Eddie Guerrero took steroids before he even came to the WWF. When he died, it had been almost four years since he stopped taking them. It was his abuses before he came to the WWF(E) that killed him, not anything he did after he got there.
Chris Candito didn't die because of his past drug abuses. He died because of a clot that was thrown after surgery. Had the surgery come about because he fell off a curb picking up the morning paper, and not because of an injury he suffered in a wrestling ring owned by Dixie Carter, you would not make mention of it.
Brian Pillman was taking steroids and painkillers before he even decided to become a pro wrestler, when he was trying to make a name for himself as a professional football player in his hometown of Cincinnati.
Michael Hegstrand (aka Hawk) was taking steroids back when he was working for Verne Gagne. Louis Mucciolo (aka Louie Spiccoli) struggled with drugs before and after his WWF tenure. Yet you seem content to place the blame for all of these deaths on Vince McMahon.
Davey Boy Smith, Curt Hennig, Richard Rood, you want to blame them all on Vince McMahon as well. Guess what, you can't. These men all made a choice. They took the drugs. They weren't force fed them.
For every Chris Benoit out there, there is a John Tenta, John Minton, Andre Rousimoff, Rodney Anoa'i, Keith Franke, Joesph Marella, or Larry Latham out there that didn't die because of drugs. You want to blame Vince McMahon for their death's too. How about Randy Anderson, Vivian Vachon, David Adkinsson, Chris Adkinsson, Brian Hildebrand, Jerry Tuite, Gary Albright, Eddie Gilbert, or Jumbo Tsuruta, who's legacies never included employment by Vince McMahon on Raw, Smackdown, Superstars of Wrestling, All American Wrestling or any of the other shows that WWE ran in the past 25 years?
The "steroid problem" in wrestling is only apparent because of journalists like yourself that makes it out to be a problem.
To use the deaths of Daniel and Nancy Benoit as a soapbox to spread your message of hate, it's just wrong. To contact the author of the above column, e-mail http://us.f532.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=jjmademedoit@yahoo.com&Subj=WZ
Benoit Coverage: Benoit Tragedy Wakes Up The Media by Phil Mushnick
----The infamous Phil Mushnick always has strong words for Vince McMahon and he didn't disappoint us here.
June 29, 2007 -- LOOK what it has taken for the news media to finally begin to report that Vince McMahon has been operating a death mill the past 25 years.
Look what it took for the news media to finally learn and report that McMahon produces a TV show that regularly features physically fit and soon-to-be dead young men.
It didn't take one death, or even 20, for the media to finally wake up. Hell, pro wrestlers have been steadily dying young since the early 1980s, when McMahon began to rule the industry.
And it didn't take Monday's suicide of a McMahon-made star, Chris Benoit. It took three deaths in one weekend in one home; it took Benoit's murder of his son and wife for modern pro wrestling to finally be stamped with a skull-and-crossbones caution label.
Hell, Brian Pillman died at 35; Louie Spiccoli was 27; Chris Candido was 33. For all the drugs Eddie Guerrero relied on to become one of McMahon's champs, it was miraculous he made it to 38.
"Ravishing" Rick Rude was 41; "The British Bulldog," Davey Boy Smith, was 39. Curt Henning, "Mr. Perfect," died at 44. "Road Warrior Hawk" made it to 45, which can be like 85 in pro-wrestling years.
Given cartoon names, they were real people. They are among the most renowned pro wrestlers who died young - just since 1995. There are dozens more from where they came from, and wound up. None of their deaths made for big, nationwide news.
Uppers in the morning, painkillers at night, juice in between to sustain those massive physiques, the kind the industry has demanded and rewarded since McMahon took over. That's the regimen. You wanna be a TV star, don't you?
But the media only went for the fun stuff, helping McMahon promote "Wrestlemania" or Donald Trump's made-for-pay-per-view feud with McMahon.
Until Monday, and since McMahon became king, pro-wrestling deaths would occur only one at a time. No big deal. If you've ignored one, you can ignore them all. Even during the drug trial that led to the conviction and imprisonment of the WWE's McMahon-appointed doctor, McMahon, himself a former steroid user, escaped media inspection.
Until this week, the only sudden, premature death of a pro wrestler that caused a national stir came in 1999, when Owen Hart died what in pro wrestling relativity constituted a natural death. He didn't drop dead; he was dropped dead, from the rafters in a pay-per-view skit-too-far.
Hart's death made big news. For two days. Sure, it did. He died a spectacular, public death. Wrestlers dying in a hotel room, prescription bottles on the night table, don't make noise or news, even if the deceased did perform on TV the night before.
But there was no ducking this one. Benoit, 40, wasn't just a current, excessively muscled WWE star; he didn't die solo. He also killed his wife and kid. Three deaths at once; that's tough to ignore. And steroids were found. Naturally.
So this one made news. And, for the first time, the news media began to note a pattern: Pro wrestlers do drugs, go crazy and die young. Well, whattya know.
Monday night, in the midst of a plot in which he was supposed to have been murdered, McMahon knew exactly what to do. He replaced that night's USA Network show with a Benoit memorial. McMahon's best ratings have been generated by tribute shows following the sudden, real deaths of his performers. He cashes in on these guys coming and going.
And aside from a news media that are just now waking up to McMahon - in addition to the deaths, his WWE TV shows rely on fringe pornography that's in large part aimed at kids and teens - McMahon has long been enabled by friends in very high places.
Lowell Weicker, a former governor and senator from Connecticut, where the WWE is headquartered, is a major WWE stockholder and sits on its board of directors. Weicker also serves as president of the board of Trust for America's Health, a health policy research group. Hmmm.
Then there's Dick Ebersol, head of NBC and USA Network sports, who has long been in McMahon's corner, both as a business partner and buddy. It was Ebersol who turned NBC over to McMahon in the form of the XFL, an obscene blend of pro football and WWE that also died young, but from embarrassment.
Joe Lieberman, the senator from Connecticut who has famously targeted the entertainment industry for its reliance on garbage - especially when thrown at kids - helped fund his last campaign with donations from the McMahon family.
Then there are big shots such as Trump, happy to throw in with McMahon for all the attention they can generate together.
When Congress subpoenas MLB about steroids, that's huge news, as it should be. But imagine if every season four or five big-league players died drug-related, performance-related and institution-related deaths. Well, it happens in pro wrestling.
Imagine if there were a long-running, scripted TV series in which recurring characters kept dropping dead, for real, in their 20s, 30s and 40s. That would be the most scandalous story in TV history. But it has been happening in pro wrestling.
Pro wrestling manufactures death. And the guy who owns and operates the biggest factory, the boss who sets the standards, is Vince McMahon. And, though it took 25 years and the deaths this week of Chris Benoit, his wife and son, the media are finally beginning to notice.
phil.mushnick@nypost.com from New York Post
June 29, 2007 -- LOOK what it has taken for the news media to finally begin to report that Vince McMahon has been operating a death mill the past 25 years.
Look what it took for the news media to finally learn and report that McMahon produces a TV show that regularly features physically fit and soon-to-be dead young men.
It didn't take one death, or even 20, for the media to finally wake up. Hell, pro wrestlers have been steadily dying young since the early 1980s, when McMahon began to rule the industry.
And it didn't take Monday's suicide of a McMahon-made star, Chris Benoit. It took three deaths in one weekend in one home; it took Benoit's murder of his son and wife for modern pro wrestling to finally be stamped with a skull-and-crossbones caution label.
Hell, Brian Pillman died at 35; Louie Spiccoli was 27; Chris Candido was 33. For all the drugs Eddie Guerrero relied on to become one of McMahon's champs, it was miraculous he made it to 38.
"Ravishing" Rick Rude was 41; "The British Bulldog," Davey Boy Smith, was 39. Curt Henning, "Mr. Perfect," died at 44. "Road Warrior Hawk" made it to 45, which can be like 85 in pro-wrestling years.
Given cartoon names, they were real people. They are among the most renowned pro wrestlers who died young - just since 1995. There are dozens more from where they came from, and wound up. None of their deaths made for big, nationwide news.
Uppers in the morning, painkillers at night, juice in between to sustain those massive physiques, the kind the industry has demanded and rewarded since McMahon took over. That's the regimen. You wanna be a TV star, don't you?
But the media only went for the fun stuff, helping McMahon promote "Wrestlemania" or Donald Trump's made-for-pay-per-view feud with McMahon.
Until Monday, and since McMahon became king, pro-wrestling deaths would occur only one at a time. No big deal. If you've ignored one, you can ignore them all. Even during the drug trial that led to the conviction and imprisonment of the WWE's McMahon-appointed doctor, McMahon, himself a former steroid user, escaped media inspection.
Until this week, the only sudden, premature death of a pro wrestler that caused a national stir came in 1999, when Owen Hart died what in pro wrestling relativity constituted a natural death. He didn't drop dead; he was dropped dead, from the rafters in a pay-per-view skit-too-far.
Hart's death made big news. For two days. Sure, it did. He died a spectacular, public death. Wrestlers dying in a hotel room, prescription bottles on the night table, don't make noise or news, even if the deceased did perform on TV the night before.
But there was no ducking this one. Benoit, 40, wasn't just a current, excessively muscled WWE star; he didn't die solo. He also killed his wife and kid. Three deaths at once; that's tough to ignore. And steroids were found. Naturally.
So this one made news. And, for the first time, the news media began to note a pattern: Pro wrestlers do drugs, go crazy and die young. Well, whattya know.
Monday night, in the midst of a plot in which he was supposed to have been murdered, McMahon knew exactly what to do. He replaced that night's USA Network show with a Benoit memorial. McMahon's best ratings have been generated by tribute shows following the sudden, real deaths of his performers. He cashes in on these guys coming and going.
And aside from a news media that are just now waking up to McMahon - in addition to the deaths, his WWE TV shows rely on fringe pornography that's in large part aimed at kids and teens - McMahon has long been enabled by friends in very high places.
Lowell Weicker, a former governor and senator from Connecticut, where the WWE is headquartered, is a major WWE stockholder and sits on its board of directors. Weicker also serves as president of the board of Trust for America's Health, a health policy research group. Hmmm.
Then there's Dick Ebersol, head of NBC and USA Network sports, who has long been in McMahon's corner, both as a business partner and buddy. It was Ebersol who turned NBC over to McMahon in the form of the XFL, an obscene blend of pro football and WWE that also died young, but from embarrassment.
Joe Lieberman, the senator from Connecticut who has famously targeted the entertainment industry for its reliance on garbage - especially when thrown at kids - helped fund his last campaign with donations from the McMahon family.
Then there are big shots such as Trump, happy to throw in with McMahon for all the attention they can generate together.
When Congress subpoenas MLB about steroids, that's huge news, as it should be. But imagine if every season four or five big-league players died drug-related, performance-related and institution-related deaths. Well, it happens in pro wrestling.
Imagine if there were a long-running, scripted TV series in which recurring characters kept dropping dead, for real, in their 20s, 30s and 40s. That would be the most scandalous story in TV history. But it has been happening in pro wrestling.
Pro wrestling manufactures death. And the guy who owns and operates the biggest factory, the boss who sets the standards, is Vince McMahon. And, though it took 25 years and the deaths this week of Chris Benoit, his wife and son, the media are finally beginning to notice.
phil.mushnick@nypost.com from New York Post
Benoit Coverage: More on the Wikipedia Story
----Benoit had to have told someone he killed his wife for this to be posted.
An anonymous user operating a computer traced to Stamford, Conn. — home to World Wrestling Entertainment — posted an entry to pro wrestler Chris Benoit's biography on Wikipedia.org announcing the death of his wife Nancy at least 13 hours before police in suburban Atlanta said they found her body along with her husband's and that of their 7-year-old son, FOXNews.com has learned.
Reporters informed the Fayette County district attorney's office of the posting Thursday, and the agency forwarded the information to sheriff's investigators, who are looking into it, a legal assistant said in an e-mail to the AP.
WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt said that to his knowledge, no one at the WWE knew Nancy Benoit was dead before her body was found Monday afternoon. Text messages released by officials show that messages from Chris Benoit's cell phone were being sent to co-workers a few hours after the Wikipedia posting.
WWE employees are given WWE e-mail addresses, McDevitt said, though he did not know whether Chris Benoit had one.
"I have no idea who posted this," McDevitt said. "It's at least possible Chris may have sent some other text message to someone that we're unaware of. We don't know if he did. The phone is in the possession of authorities."
Employees at Wikipedia.org said the posting went live on their site on Monday at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. Police, however, said they found the bodies Monday at 2:30 p.m. EDT.
The posting reads: “Chris Benoit was replaced by [Johnny Nitro] for the ECW Championship match at Vengeance, as Benoit was not there due to personal issues, stemming from the death of his wife Nancy.” According to a Wikipedia.org report published after FOXNews.com made inquiries, the edit was reversed just under one hour later with the comment:
"Need a reliable source. Saying that his wife died is a pretty big statement, you need to back it up with something."
The posting apparently was made in reference to Benoit's scheduled appearance on Sunday night at an Extreme Championship Wrestling event in Texas.
An employee from Wikipedia.org told FOXNews.com that he called and left a message with investigative authorities in Fayetteville, Ga., at around 11 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, after the posting was brought to the attention of the St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Web site.
“I chat with other editors on IRC — Internet relay chat — and somebody pointed it out to me on a relay chat and that it came from a Stamford connection, and that it took place at midnight Eastern Standard Time on Monday morning,” said Wikipedia.org volunteer coordinator Cary Bass. “I called and left a message with the police department.”
The computer-generated time and date stamp of the Benoit entry are listed as 4:01, 25 June 2007. Wikipedia.org lists its entries according to Universal Time, also known as Greenwich Mean Time.
Further investigation, according to Wikipedia.com, shows that one hour after the first edit reversion, another anonymous edit by 125.63.148.173 using unwiredAustralia.com.au, a wireless Internet service provider, was made adding about the aforementioned personal issues: "which according to several pro wrestling websites is attributed to the passing of Benoit's wife, Nancy."
That edit was reverted less than 20 minutes later, with the following comment: "Saying 'several pro wrestling websites' is still not reliable information." The second edit was made by a computer in Australia from a wireless network, according to Wikipedia.org.
A message left by FOXNews.com with Lt. Tommy Pope of the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department was not immediately returned.
Investigators so far have ruled the Benoit killings as a double homicide-suicide.
Wikipedia.org claims to be one of the largest reference Web sites, and is written collaboratively by users from around the world. Approved users can make submissions and change entries that are posted on the site almost immediately. Bass said the site is constantly monitored to correct inaccuracies.
Bass said when there is a high-profile case, such as the Benoit killlings, Wikipedia.org limits postings to registered users, which is now indicated at the top of the Benoit entry. According to the listed history on the Benoit entry, the computer used to post the 12:01 a.m. entry had a Stamford, Conn., Internet Protocol — or IP — address, a numeric designation that is assigned to every computer with an Internet connection, and that same address has been used to post about a dozen other messages on the site, dating back to May 16, 2007.
***Credit 007 Wrestling Message Board
An anonymous user operating a computer traced to Stamford, Conn. — home to World Wrestling Entertainment — posted an entry to pro wrestler Chris Benoit's biography on Wikipedia.org announcing the death of his wife Nancy at least 13 hours before police in suburban Atlanta said they found her body along with her husband's and that of their 7-year-old son, FOXNews.com has learned.
Reporters informed the Fayette County district attorney's office of the posting Thursday, and the agency forwarded the information to sheriff's investigators, who are looking into it, a legal assistant said in an e-mail to the AP.
WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt said that to his knowledge, no one at the WWE knew Nancy Benoit was dead before her body was found Monday afternoon. Text messages released by officials show that messages from Chris Benoit's cell phone were being sent to co-workers a few hours after the Wikipedia posting.
WWE employees are given WWE e-mail addresses, McDevitt said, though he did not know whether Chris Benoit had one.
"I have no idea who posted this," McDevitt said. "It's at least possible Chris may have sent some other text message to someone that we're unaware of. We don't know if he did. The phone is in the possession of authorities."
Employees at Wikipedia.org said the posting went live on their site on Monday at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. Police, however, said they found the bodies Monday at 2:30 p.m. EDT.
The posting reads: “Chris Benoit was replaced by [Johnny Nitro] for the ECW Championship match at Vengeance, as Benoit was not there due to personal issues, stemming from the death of his wife Nancy.” According to a Wikipedia.org report published after FOXNews.com made inquiries, the edit was reversed just under one hour later with the comment:
"Need a reliable source. Saying that his wife died is a pretty big statement, you need to back it up with something."
The posting apparently was made in reference to Benoit's scheduled appearance on Sunday night at an Extreme Championship Wrestling event in Texas.
An employee from Wikipedia.org told FOXNews.com that he called and left a message with investigative authorities in Fayetteville, Ga., at around 11 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, after the posting was brought to the attention of the St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Web site.
“I chat with other editors on IRC — Internet relay chat — and somebody pointed it out to me on a relay chat and that it came from a Stamford connection, and that it took place at midnight Eastern Standard Time on Monday morning,” said Wikipedia.org volunteer coordinator Cary Bass. “I called and left a message with the police department.”
The computer-generated time and date stamp of the Benoit entry are listed as 4:01, 25 June 2007. Wikipedia.org lists its entries according to Universal Time, also known as Greenwich Mean Time.
Further investigation, according to Wikipedia.com, shows that one hour after the first edit reversion, another anonymous edit by 125.63.148.173 using unwiredAustralia.com.au, a wireless Internet service provider, was made adding about the aforementioned personal issues: "which according to several pro wrestling websites is attributed to the passing of Benoit's wife, Nancy."
That edit was reverted less than 20 minutes later, with the following comment: "Saying 'several pro wrestling websites' is still not reliable information." The second edit was made by a computer in Australia from a wireless network, according to Wikipedia.org.
A message left by FOXNews.com with Lt. Tommy Pope of the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department was not immediately returned.
Investigators so far have ruled the Benoit killings as a double homicide-suicide.
Wikipedia.org claims to be one of the largest reference Web sites, and is written collaboratively by users from around the world. Approved users can make submissions and change entries that are posted on the site almost immediately. Bass said the site is constantly monitored to correct inaccuracies.
Bass said when there is a high-profile case, such as the Benoit killlings, Wikipedia.org limits postings to registered users, which is now indicated at the top of the Benoit entry. According to the listed history on the Benoit entry, the computer used to post the 12:01 a.m. entry had a Stamford, Conn., Internet Protocol — or IP — address, a numeric designation that is assigned to every computer with an Internet connection, and that same address has been used to post about a dozen other messages on the site, dating back to May 16, 2007.
***Credit 007 Wrestling Message Board
Rating for 6.23.07 - Second Highest Ratings of The Year!!!
----This week's show scored a minor victory posting the second highest rating of the year with a 3.8 [63,966 viewers]. The 1.27.07 show is the only one that beat it this year with a 4.1 rating. This increase in viewership I think can be contributed to the company airing two really good shows before this show. Also there was major interest in the Sal Corrente/Jerry Lawler story because with it being all over the news people wanted to tune in to see if Lawler said anything. It was only a minor victory, because the show also took one of the biggest dips ever when over 20,000 people turned the show off after watching the Lawler interview. Rest of the show leading up to that had really been bad, so they felt rest of the show would be the same. In the worst quarter [4th], which had the best match of the show, still did almost 6,000 viewers than average, but they did end the show with 27,000 less viewers than they started with.
The Agent vs The Spellbinder Interview w/ Reggie B. Fine Opening the Vaults of Memphis Classic Wrestling: The Invader vs. Koko B. Ware
1st Quarter – 4.6 [77,397 viewers]
Interview w/ Jerry Lawler from his Disney Room
2cnd quarter – 4.5 [74,711 viewers] [-2686 viewers]
"Total Protection" Mr. Hughes vs. King Cobra Tim of Too Cool Two & Kevin White vs Dustin Starr & Tattoo 3rd Quarter – 3.2 [53,725 viewers] [-20986 viewers]
Johnny Dotson vs Sean Schultz
4th Quarter – 3.0 [50,031 viewers] [-3694 viewers]
12 Week Average – 2.7 – 44,192 viewers
12 Week High – 3.8 = 63,966 – 6.23.0712
Week Low – 1.6 = 26,862 viewers – 5.05.07
Growth from start to finish [–27,366 viewers]
What was Memphis watching?? Channel 3 News and CSI Miami - 7.8 [131,626 viewers]
----The show will be up on the site sometime tomorrow.
The Agent vs The Spellbinder Interview w/ Reggie B. Fine Opening the Vaults of Memphis Classic Wrestling: The Invader vs. Koko B. Ware
1st Quarter – 4.6 [77,397 viewers]
Interview w/ Jerry Lawler from his Disney Room
2cnd quarter – 4.5 [74,711 viewers] [-2686 viewers]
"Total Protection" Mr. Hughes vs. King Cobra Tim of Too Cool Two & Kevin White vs Dustin Starr & Tattoo 3rd Quarter – 3.2 [53,725 viewers] [-20986 viewers]
Johnny Dotson vs Sean Schultz
4th Quarter – 3.0 [50,031 viewers] [-3694 viewers]
12 Week Average – 2.7 – 44,192 viewers
12 Week High – 3.8 = 63,966 – 6.23.0712
Week Low – 1.6 = 26,862 viewers – 5.05.07
Growth from start to finish [–27,366 viewers]
What was Memphis watching?? Channel 3 News and CSI Miami - 7.8 [131,626 viewers]
----The show will be up on the site sometime tomorrow.
Benoit Coverage: Death of Nancy Benoit Posted on Wikipedia Hours Prior To Body Being Found
----This is some strange shit!!
The anonymous individual responsible for suggesting, 14 hours before police discovered the body, that WWE wrestler Chris Benoit's wife was dead is saying his/her comment was a "terrible coincidence."
In a post made at 12:26 AM EDT Friday morning to the talk page of a Wikinews article headlined as the "Death of Nancy Benoit rumour posted on Wikipedia hours prior to body being found", the user admitted to writing that Nancy Benoit was dead at the Wikipedia article page for Benoit came from information that was garnered from "rumors and speculation online." Freakishly, the post turned out to be true.
The IP Address of the individual making the apology was identical to that of the one who posted the Nancy Benoit rumor, a strong confirmation of the admission's authenticity. The lengthy apology was not signed, with the individual claiming, "I am just an everyday individual who posted a wrongful remark at the time that received so much attention because it turned out to actually happen."
Wikinews originally broke the story about the suspicious edit after receiving a tip from Wikipedia administrators. The fact the edit originated from a computer in Stamford, CT (the site of WWE headquarters) appears to be another coincidence.
The anonymous editor left a lengthy apology to the Wikimedia community, explaining, "I hope this puts an end to this speculation that someone knew about the tragedy before it was discovered."
In a post made at 12:26 AM EDT Friday morning to the talk page of a Wikinews article headlined as the "Death of Nancy Benoit rumour posted on Wikipedia hours prior to body being found", the user admitted to writing that Nancy Benoit was dead at the Wikipedia article page for Benoit came from information that was garnered from "rumors and speculation online." Freakishly, the post turned out to be true.
The IP Address of the individual making the apology was identical to that of the one who posted the Nancy Benoit rumor, a strong confirmation of the admission's authenticity. The lengthy apology was not signed, with the individual claiming, "I am just an everyday individual who posted a wrongful remark at the time that received so much attention because it turned out to actually happen."
Wikinews originally broke the story about the suspicious edit after receiving a tip from Wikipedia administrators. The fact the edit originated from a computer in Stamford, CT (the site of WWE headquarters) appears to be another coincidence.
The anonymous editor left a lengthy apology to the Wikimedia community, explaining, "I hope this puts an end to this speculation that someone knew about the tragedy before it was discovered."
Wikinews is continuing to follow the story, but the anonymous user has declined an interview.
Below is the full, unedited apology:
... Hey everyone. I am here to talk about the wikipedia comment that was left by myself. I just want to say that it was an incredible coincidence. Last weekend, I had heard about Chris Benoit no showing Vengeance because of a family emergency, and I had heard rumors about why that was. I was reading rumors and speculation about this matter online, and one of them included that his wife may have passed away, and I did the wrong thing by posting it on wikipedia to spite there being no evidence. I posted my speculation on the situation at the time and I am deeply sorry about this, and I was just as shocked as everyone when I heard that this actually would happen in real life. It is one of those things that just turned into a huge coincidence. That night I found out that what I posted, ended up actually happening, a 1 in 10,000 chance of happening, or so I thought. I was beyond wrong for posting wrongful information, and I am sorry to everyone for this. I just want everyone to know it was stupid of me, and I will never do anything like this again. I just posted something that was at that time a piece of wrong unsourced information that is typical on wikipedia, as it is done all the time.
Nonetheless, I feel incredibly bad for all the attention this got because of the fact that what I said turned out to be the truth. Like I said it was just a major coincidence, and I will never vandalize anything on wikipedia or post wrongful information. I've learned from this experience. I just can't believe what I wrote was actually the case, I've remained stunned and saddened over it.
I wish not to reveal my identity so I can keep me and my family out of this since they have nothing to do with anything. I am not connected to WWE or Benoit at all in anyway. I am from Stamford as the IP address shows, and I am just an everyday individual who posted a wrongful remark at the time that received so much attention because it turned out to actually happen. I will say again I didn't know anything about the Benoit tragedy, it was a terrible coincidence that I never saw coming.
I hope this puts an end to this speculation that someone knew about the tragedy before it was discovered. It was just a rumor that I had heard about from other people online who were speculating what the family emergency Chris was attending to. I made a big mistake by posting this comment on his page, since all we had were what we thought was going on and nothing about what actually was going on yet, and sadly what happened turned out to be my speculation at the time. I assumed wiki would edit out my information, which they did, so thats why I didn't go back to edit it out myself.
I know I keep repeating it but I feel terrible about the mainstream coverage this has received, since it was only a huge coincidence and a terrible event that should of never happened. I am not sure how to react, as hearing about my message becoming a huge part of the Benoit slayings made me feel terrible as everyone believes that it is connected to the tragedy, but it was just an awful coincidence. That is all I have to say, I will never post anything here again unless it is pure fact, no spam nothing like that. Thank you, and let this end this chapter of the Benoit story, and hopefully one day we will find out why this tragedy ever actually happened.
Below is the full, unedited apology:
... Hey everyone. I am here to talk about the wikipedia comment that was left by myself. I just want to say that it was an incredible coincidence. Last weekend, I had heard about Chris Benoit no showing Vengeance because of a family emergency, and I had heard rumors about why that was. I was reading rumors and speculation about this matter online, and one of them included that his wife may have passed away, and I did the wrong thing by posting it on wikipedia to spite there being no evidence. I posted my speculation on the situation at the time and I am deeply sorry about this, and I was just as shocked as everyone when I heard that this actually would happen in real life. It is one of those things that just turned into a huge coincidence. That night I found out that what I posted, ended up actually happening, a 1 in 10,000 chance of happening, or so I thought. I was beyond wrong for posting wrongful information, and I am sorry to everyone for this. I just want everyone to know it was stupid of me, and I will never do anything like this again. I just posted something that was at that time a piece of wrong unsourced information that is typical on wikipedia, as it is done all the time.
Nonetheless, I feel incredibly bad for all the attention this got because of the fact that what I said turned out to be the truth. Like I said it was just a major coincidence, and I will never vandalize anything on wikipedia or post wrongful information. I've learned from this experience. I just can't believe what I wrote was actually the case, I've remained stunned and saddened over it.
I wish not to reveal my identity so I can keep me and my family out of this since they have nothing to do with anything. I am not connected to WWE or Benoit at all in anyway. I am from Stamford as the IP address shows, and I am just an everyday individual who posted a wrongful remark at the time that received so much attention because it turned out to actually happen. I will say again I didn't know anything about the Benoit tragedy, it was a terrible coincidence that I never saw coming.
I hope this puts an end to this speculation that someone knew about the tragedy before it was discovered. It was just a rumor that I had heard about from other people online who were speculating what the family emergency Chris was attending to. I made a big mistake by posting this comment on his page, since all we had were what we thought was going on and nothing about what actually was going on yet, and sadly what happened turned out to be my speculation at the time. I assumed wiki would edit out my information, which they did, so thats why I didn't go back to edit it out myself.
I know I keep repeating it but I feel terrible about the mainstream coverage this has received, since it was only a huge coincidence and a terrible event that should of never happened. I am not sure how to react, as hearing about my message becoming a huge part of the Benoit slayings made me feel terrible as everyone believes that it is connected to the tragedy, but it was just an awful coincidence. That is all I have to say, I will never post anything here again unless it is pure fact, no spam nothing like that. Thank you, and let this end this chapter of the Benoit story, and hopefully one day we will find out why this tragedy ever actually happened.
***Credit: 007 Messageboard
NBW TV COMMERCIAL!!!
----Here is the commercial for the new NBW TV show. YouTube has a really kewl new feature. After the video is done playing then it lists a bunch of other NBW videos you can watch. Take a look!!
Rant of The Week by "The Phantom Lord" Joseph Davis
I’m trying to think of an intro that does justice, but nothing really comes to mind right now. All I can say really is I am Phantom Lord and this is my Rant of the Week. It’s been a surreal week to say the least because of the whole Benoit situation. There are several stages of grief and right now I am firmly in denial. I still can’t believe this happened. I can’t believe that Chris Benoit killed himself but before he did he killed his wife and son. It was only a couple days ago but it all ready feels like it was weeks and months as time seems to have slowed down. So here I am sitting here trying listening to Dream Theater while I try to put the words together for a column. I know lately my columns have been pretty hit or miss, but to be honest I was phoning those in. I mean wrestling really was becoming stupid to say the least as the WWE and TNA tried to out dumb each other so to speak.
But then something like this happens and everything stops. My friend Aurora hit me up on AIM on Monday night and said Chris Benoit is dead. His whole family is dead and ever since then mentally I’ve been in a kind of a fog. At first when you hear a whole family is dead you think either tragic accident or something far worse. I thought well maybe it was a gas leak. I mean air conditioning systems can easily fill a house with carbon monoxide or some other gas if there’s a problem with the ventilation. As the night when on it became more clear that it wasn’t a horrible tragedy, it was something far worse. Chris Benoit killed his wife and son and then killed himself. Like I said with denial I personally can’t even believe what I just typed but with each day new facts come out about this case and it makes it seem all the worse.
Chris by all accounts ritualistically killed his wife and son hours apart. It’s one thing to snap and kill everyone around you. What Chris did from all the reports was pretty damn premeditated. So seeing how he is a cold blooded murderer that brings up an issue for wrestling fans alike. Chris was beloved by so many so do we ignore Benoit’s career and say the hell with him because of what he did.
I honestly don’t know. I know plenty of people who have said I hope he’s burning in hell and I’m sure if there is something beyond this miserable world he probably is. But I am having trouble dismissing Chris Benoit the wrestler just because of what Chris Benoit the man did. When it comes to Professional Wrestling, to say it’s filled with choir boys would be a bold face lie. It’s quite the opposite. It’s actually filled with its fair share of pedophiles along with boozers, junkies, and other assorted weirdo’s. Chris Benoit I don’t believe was any of the above. Sure he probably did his fair share of steroids, but name me one person in the WWE who doesn’t. He probably also popped his fair share of pills but when you go at 100 mph in the ring like he did it comes with the territory. But when it came down to it Chris wasn’t any of that to the best of my knowledge (for all we know the autopsy could show he did an 8 Ball before he did what he did).
Chris didn’t pretend to be something he wasn’t. It wasn’t like he had some wacky gimmick and was a zany character. Chris Benoit was Chris Benoit. A no non-sense tough as nails son of a bitch in the ring who would keep coming at you till you had no more. Because of what happened, Chris will always be remembered not for the five star classics he had or the brutal battles he fought but he will be remembered as that guy who killed his wife and kid and then himself when he was probably roided to the gills. I don’t want to remember Chris Benoit like that. I want to remember him as the great wrestler that he was and after the last couple of days I just don’t know if I will be able to.
Last week things seemed simple enough on ECW. Chris Benoit had a hell of a match with Elijah Burke and he won a shot at the ECW World Title. An ROH wet dream was booked with Benoit vs. C.M. Punk for the ECW World Title. In a different time or perhaps in a parallel universe, this would be the main event of an amazing ECW Show at the ECW Arena and we would be marveling about how it was the greatest match ever. But it was not to be as Benoit never made it to the PPV for the match. Judging by the reports basically Chris lied about why he couldn’t make it to a show on Saturday and by all accounts he was dead way before the PPV even started. The horrible news of Monday wasn’t known yet so for all we knew, Johnny Nitro was a transition champion because Benoit was winning that belt soon enough.
I noted in my last column (I think) how Chris looked annoyed that he was drafted to ECW. In the grand scheme of things in the WWE, ECW is the bottom rung. It’s officially graduate school for Ohio Valley Wrestling’s top stars and a proving ground for all those other guys they can’t fit onto RAW or Smackdown. After the match with Elijah last week he had this weird look on his face. Almost a look of why am I back in this shit hole. It’s not like Chris wouldn’t be good for ECW. He sure as hell would have made guys like Elijah Burke, C.M. Punk, Monty…err Marcus Corvon, Kevin Thorn, and others a lot better as they would raise their game just to be able to keep up with him. But you could just tell when he was looking at that belt something didn’t seem right.
But hey Benoit was a gamer he could deal with this. I mean they were gonna ship him off to RAW after a few months anyway so what’s a few months on ECW. You’re still pretty much on Smackdown. It’s still the same building and shows with the same guys. It wasn’t like when ECW was on its own and was running shows on a shoe string budget last year because the WWE couldn’t be bothered with it. Even though it was a demotion it was hardly a drastic change for him. At the most at least he wouldn’t have to put over The Great Khali and Mark Henry. If I were a wrestler I would consider that a blessing.
Chris Benoit was everything one who is getting into wrestling should stride to be. He was the best at what he did and he could make almost anyone look good or in the case of Billy Gunn he could expose you for the talent less hack that you are. But none of that really matters because Chris Benoit is dead and he killed his wife and son and Chris Benoit the wrestler will never be held in the same respect again because of what Chris Benoit the man did.
One thing that is really annoying me about this whole situation is the media coverage it’s getting. Yes it’s a movie of the week on Lifetime waiting to happen, but the media coverage on the cable networks is mind numbing. First off the WWE isn’t going to let ANYONE appear on any of these shows so there goes any comments from anyone who worked with him recently. TNA isn’t going to let anyone go on any shows because well it’s TNA and well we don’t really need Kurt Angle on tv commenting about someone out of his mind.
But you got people like Bill O’Reily, Glenn Beck, Geraldo Rivera, and others who have no clue about anything to do with wrestling just driving home the whole “WELL IT WAS ROID RAGE”. I hate to stick up for the WWE on this, but Vince has got a point. We shouldn’t rush to judgment because we don’t know if it was steroids. I mean steroids take a while to work and it’s not like you can load up a needle and take a shot and suddenly you’re the incredible hulk (well unless you’re Bobby Lashley). It was revealed on the news that Benoit was being treated for low testosterone. Now you would think with a guy like Benoit, testosterone would be coursing through his veins. But one of the nasty little side effects of steroid us is basically your balls shrink and your testosterone levels drop to nil.
Low testosterone would explain if Benoit was moody and depressed, but it still doesn’t explain why he ritualistically killed his wife and son. As I said I don’t believe we will ever know the answer to that, but there could be a way to get a piece of the puzzle.
Christopher Nowinski who is championing the cause of post concussion syndrome has a theory that might explain what went wrong with Chris Benoit.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/27/us/27wre...and&emc=rss>http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/27/us/27wre...and&emc=rss
But Christopher Nowinski, a former professional wrestler who worked with Mr. Benoit, and who was forced to quit because of head injuries, said he believed that repeated, untreated concussions might have caused his friend to snap.“He was one of the only guys who would take a chair shot to the back of the head,” Mr. Nowinski said, “which is stupid.”Mr. Nowinski has written a book called “Head Games: Football’s Concussion Crisis” (Drummond Publishing Group, 2006), about chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a condition that can cause memory loss, depression and “bizarre, paranoid behavior.”Mr. Nowinski said that he had been trying to persuade the coroner examining Mr. Benoit to allow a brain exam to look for the telltale neurofibrillary tangles in the brain’s cortex, but that he had thus far been rebuffed.“Part of me hopes there was something wrong with his brain,” Mr. Nowinski said. “The Chris Benoit I knew was always more concerned about everybody else’s well-being than his own.”
Credit to the New York Times
I think this would make a lot of sense. When ever Chris did that back Suplex off the top rope he would smack the back of his head with a lot of force and energy on the mat. It wouldn’t surprise me the least if Benoit had a bunch of concussions that no one knew about. It’s not pleasant to think about a brain exam. I remember after John Wayne Gacy was executed they scooped out his brain and sent it to a lab to see if could shed light on why he did what he did.
It’s a very touchy subject and it’s up to Chris’s parents. I would hope they would sign off on this so that maybe we can get some sort of answer. It’s not a sure thing, but it could help in the long run so that something like this never happens again.
If you do that DIGG stuff, do Bix a favor and DIGG this article to spread the word on this issue.
http://digg.com/world_news/Making_an_effort_to_have_Chris_Benoit_s_brain_examined_for_signs_of_damage
You have to sign up to do so, but it’s worth it as this is an important cause. Even if this didn’t happen, there are plenty of other wrestlers and football players out there dealing with this.
All I know is this is a week we all wish never happened. The world of wrestling has lost one of the all time greats in Chris Benoit, one of the classiest women and with out a doubt the best heel valet ever in Woman, and an innocent little boy who did nothing but love his father and be by all accounts a perfect little gentlemen anytime he was backstage at a WWE show.
Eric Bischoff said it best on his blog when he said God bless Nancy and Daniel. God forgive Chris Benoit.
Chris for all we know could have asked for forgiveness when he slipped that cable around his neck and the 240 pounds on his weight set snapped his neck as he hung. If he didn’t kill himself he certainly would have deserved the death penalty. But in the end it’s not for me or you reading this or anyone else to pass judgment on him. We don’t know what was going on in his mind for sure. All we know is what he did and if there is anything beyond this would he is paying a price we all can’t imagine.
All you can ask is you hope they all are at peace. If your inclined to say a prayer for his other two children Daniel and Megan. They could probably use some peace themselves.
That’s it for this week. I hope I never have to write something like this again but I’m sure its only a matter of time until wrestling’s next tragedy.
But for now let’s remember the good times.
HE TAPPED…HE TAPPED…BENOIT WINS, CHRIS BENOIT IS THE HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION OF THE BAH GAWD WORLD
You can click here to send me any and all feedback at phantomlordnyc@yahoo.com or leave me some feedback in my Live Journal
And now the Plugs
Join The Psychotic Wrestling Alliance, The muthaship of E-Fed wrestling if you will. It’s booked in part by me so you know it’s good
Click here to visit ROCK365.NET for free Independent streaming music 24 hours a day seven days a week 365 days a year.
Click here to visit LethalWrestling.com…The site Vince Russo looks to for inspiration
If your bored bug me on that Myspace thing at Myspace.com/phantomlordlop
If I pissed you off here, then for all my opinions outside the world of professional wrestling, Visit my Blog at PhantomLordNYC.Blogspot.com
But then something like this happens and everything stops. My friend Aurora hit me up on AIM on Monday night and said Chris Benoit is dead. His whole family is dead and ever since then mentally I’ve been in a kind of a fog. At first when you hear a whole family is dead you think either tragic accident or something far worse. I thought well maybe it was a gas leak. I mean air conditioning systems can easily fill a house with carbon monoxide or some other gas if there’s a problem with the ventilation. As the night when on it became more clear that it wasn’t a horrible tragedy, it was something far worse. Chris Benoit killed his wife and son and then killed himself. Like I said with denial I personally can’t even believe what I just typed but with each day new facts come out about this case and it makes it seem all the worse.
Chris by all accounts ritualistically killed his wife and son hours apart. It’s one thing to snap and kill everyone around you. What Chris did from all the reports was pretty damn premeditated. So seeing how he is a cold blooded murderer that brings up an issue for wrestling fans alike. Chris was beloved by so many so do we ignore Benoit’s career and say the hell with him because of what he did.
I honestly don’t know. I know plenty of people who have said I hope he’s burning in hell and I’m sure if there is something beyond this miserable world he probably is. But I am having trouble dismissing Chris Benoit the wrestler just because of what Chris Benoit the man did. When it comes to Professional Wrestling, to say it’s filled with choir boys would be a bold face lie. It’s quite the opposite. It’s actually filled with its fair share of pedophiles along with boozers, junkies, and other assorted weirdo’s. Chris Benoit I don’t believe was any of the above. Sure he probably did his fair share of steroids, but name me one person in the WWE who doesn’t. He probably also popped his fair share of pills but when you go at 100 mph in the ring like he did it comes with the territory. But when it came down to it Chris wasn’t any of that to the best of my knowledge (for all we know the autopsy could show he did an 8 Ball before he did what he did).
Chris didn’t pretend to be something he wasn’t. It wasn’t like he had some wacky gimmick and was a zany character. Chris Benoit was Chris Benoit. A no non-sense tough as nails son of a bitch in the ring who would keep coming at you till you had no more. Because of what happened, Chris will always be remembered not for the five star classics he had or the brutal battles he fought but he will be remembered as that guy who killed his wife and kid and then himself when he was probably roided to the gills. I don’t want to remember Chris Benoit like that. I want to remember him as the great wrestler that he was and after the last couple of days I just don’t know if I will be able to.
Last week things seemed simple enough on ECW. Chris Benoit had a hell of a match with Elijah Burke and he won a shot at the ECW World Title. An ROH wet dream was booked with Benoit vs. C.M. Punk for the ECW World Title. In a different time or perhaps in a parallel universe, this would be the main event of an amazing ECW Show at the ECW Arena and we would be marveling about how it was the greatest match ever. But it was not to be as Benoit never made it to the PPV for the match. Judging by the reports basically Chris lied about why he couldn’t make it to a show on Saturday and by all accounts he was dead way before the PPV even started. The horrible news of Monday wasn’t known yet so for all we knew, Johnny Nitro was a transition champion because Benoit was winning that belt soon enough.
I noted in my last column (I think) how Chris looked annoyed that he was drafted to ECW. In the grand scheme of things in the WWE, ECW is the bottom rung. It’s officially graduate school for Ohio Valley Wrestling’s top stars and a proving ground for all those other guys they can’t fit onto RAW or Smackdown. After the match with Elijah last week he had this weird look on his face. Almost a look of why am I back in this shit hole. It’s not like Chris wouldn’t be good for ECW. He sure as hell would have made guys like Elijah Burke, C.M. Punk, Monty…err Marcus Corvon, Kevin Thorn, and others a lot better as they would raise their game just to be able to keep up with him. But you could just tell when he was looking at that belt something didn’t seem right.
But hey Benoit was a gamer he could deal with this. I mean they were gonna ship him off to RAW after a few months anyway so what’s a few months on ECW. You’re still pretty much on Smackdown. It’s still the same building and shows with the same guys. It wasn’t like when ECW was on its own and was running shows on a shoe string budget last year because the WWE couldn’t be bothered with it. Even though it was a demotion it was hardly a drastic change for him. At the most at least he wouldn’t have to put over The Great Khali and Mark Henry. If I were a wrestler I would consider that a blessing.
Chris Benoit was everything one who is getting into wrestling should stride to be. He was the best at what he did and he could make almost anyone look good or in the case of Billy Gunn he could expose you for the talent less hack that you are. But none of that really matters because Chris Benoit is dead and he killed his wife and son and Chris Benoit the wrestler will never be held in the same respect again because of what Chris Benoit the man did.
One thing that is really annoying me about this whole situation is the media coverage it’s getting. Yes it’s a movie of the week on Lifetime waiting to happen, but the media coverage on the cable networks is mind numbing. First off the WWE isn’t going to let ANYONE appear on any of these shows so there goes any comments from anyone who worked with him recently. TNA isn’t going to let anyone go on any shows because well it’s TNA and well we don’t really need Kurt Angle on tv commenting about someone out of his mind.
But you got people like Bill O’Reily, Glenn Beck, Geraldo Rivera, and others who have no clue about anything to do with wrestling just driving home the whole “WELL IT WAS ROID RAGE”. I hate to stick up for the WWE on this, but Vince has got a point. We shouldn’t rush to judgment because we don’t know if it was steroids. I mean steroids take a while to work and it’s not like you can load up a needle and take a shot and suddenly you’re the incredible hulk (well unless you’re Bobby Lashley). It was revealed on the news that Benoit was being treated for low testosterone. Now you would think with a guy like Benoit, testosterone would be coursing through his veins. But one of the nasty little side effects of steroid us is basically your balls shrink and your testosterone levels drop to nil.
Low testosterone would explain if Benoit was moody and depressed, but it still doesn’t explain why he ritualistically killed his wife and son. As I said I don’t believe we will ever know the answer to that, but there could be a way to get a piece of the puzzle.
Christopher Nowinski who is championing the cause of post concussion syndrome has a theory that might explain what went wrong with Chris Benoit.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/27/us/27wre...and&emc=rss>http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/27/us/27wre...and&emc=rss
But Christopher Nowinski, a former professional wrestler who worked with Mr. Benoit, and who was forced to quit because of head injuries, said he believed that repeated, untreated concussions might have caused his friend to snap.“He was one of the only guys who would take a chair shot to the back of the head,” Mr. Nowinski said, “which is stupid.”Mr. Nowinski has written a book called “Head Games: Football’s Concussion Crisis” (Drummond Publishing Group, 2006), about chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a condition that can cause memory loss, depression and “bizarre, paranoid behavior.”Mr. Nowinski said that he had been trying to persuade the coroner examining Mr. Benoit to allow a brain exam to look for the telltale neurofibrillary tangles in the brain’s cortex, but that he had thus far been rebuffed.“Part of me hopes there was something wrong with his brain,” Mr. Nowinski said. “The Chris Benoit I knew was always more concerned about everybody else’s well-being than his own.”
Credit to the New York Times
I think this would make a lot of sense. When ever Chris did that back Suplex off the top rope he would smack the back of his head with a lot of force and energy on the mat. It wouldn’t surprise me the least if Benoit had a bunch of concussions that no one knew about. It’s not pleasant to think about a brain exam. I remember after John Wayne Gacy was executed they scooped out his brain and sent it to a lab to see if could shed light on why he did what he did.
It’s a very touchy subject and it’s up to Chris’s parents. I would hope they would sign off on this so that maybe we can get some sort of answer. It’s not a sure thing, but it could help in the long run so that something like this never happens again.
If you do that DIGG stuff, do Bix a favor and DIGG this article to spread the word on this issue.
http://digg.com/world_news/Making_an_effort_to_have_Chris_Benoit_s_brain_examined_for_signs_of_damage
You have to sign up to do so, but it’s worth it as this is an important cause. Even if this didn’t happen, there are plenty of other wrestlers and football players out there dealing with this.
All I know is this is a week we all wish never happened. The world of wrestling has lost one of the all time greats in Chris Benoit, one of the classiest women and with out a doubt the best heel valet ever in Woman, and an innocent little boy who did nothing but love his father and be by all accounts a perfect little gentlemen anytime he was backstage at a WWE show.
Eric Bischoff said it best on his blog when he said God bless Nancy and Daniel. God forgive Chris Benoit.
Chris for all we know could have asked for forgiveness when he slipped that cable around his neck and the 240 pounds on his weight set snapped his neck as he hung. If he didn’t kill himself he certainly would have deserved the death penalty. But in the end it’s not for me or you reading this or anyone else to pass judgment on him. We don’t know what was going on in his mind for sure. All we know is what he did and if there is anything beyond this would he is paying a price we all can’t imagine.
All you can ask is you hope they all are at peace. If your inclined to say a prayer for his other two children Daniel and Megan. They could probably use some peace themselves.
That’s it for this week. I hope I never have to write something like this again but I’m sure its only a matter of time until wrestling’s next tragedy.
But for now let’s remember the good times.
HE TAPPED…HE TAPPED…BENOIT WINS, CHRIS BENOIT IS THE HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION OF THE BAH GAWD WORLD
You can click here to send me any and all feedback at phantomlordnyc@yahoo.com or leave me some feedback in my Live Journal
And now the Plugs
Join The Psychotic Wrestling Alliance, The muthaship of E-Fed wrestling if you will. It’s booked in part by me so you know it’s good
Click here to visit ROCK365.NET for free Independent streaming music 24 hours a day seven days a week 365 days a year.
Click here to visit LethalWrestling.com…The site Vince Russo looks to for inspiration
If your bored bug me on that Myspace thing at Myspace.com/phantomlordlop
If I pissed you off here, then for all my opinions outside the world of professional wrestling, Visit my Blog at PhantomLordNYC.Blogspot.com
Shows For The Weekend 6.29 to 6.30.07
----TONIGHT!!! for LAW in Rector, AR with …Arnez, Christopher O’Neal, Tommy Redneck, Alec Fontez, Psycho “The Golden Boy” Greg Anthony, Erik Hayes, TL Jones, Jon Michael, Christian Jacobs, Slim Pickens and many more.
----TONIGHT!!! The Future of Wrestling has a show at the TFW Arena in Tupelo, MS with Shawn Reed,Josh Matthews, Chris Styles, "Bad Attitude" Tony Dabbs, Special Ed, Cassanova Kid, Chris Kaos, Hittman, T-Byrd, "Southern Thunder" Chris Kilgore, The Freakshow, The Interns, Hunter Montgomery Jackson, and much more.Tickets are $5. Doors open at 6:30 and the show starts at 8:00.
----Saturday night, Golden Triangle Wrestling returns for a show behind Cathy's restaurant, located on Highway 45 in West Point, MS. "The Warrior" Justin Reed, Hittman, Josh Matthews, Chris Styles, Jack Irons, "Southern Thunder" Chris Kilgore, Hunter Montgomery Jackson, and much more. I believe tickets are $5. Doors open at 7:00 and the show starts at 8:00.
----Saturday night New Blood Wrestling @ Country Nights 1901 Saint John Ave - Bell time 8:00 PM in Dyersburg, TN –Tank, “Real Deal” Tim Edwards, Gunner Thompson, J Weezy, Kilo, Jeremy Moore, Slim Pickens, Mark Justice, “Picture Perfect” [Jon Michael/Christian Jacobs] and more.
----Saturday night @ True Force Arena 256 Gill Street Jackson, TN at 7:30 PM with This Saturday Night June 2nd in Jackson Tennessee @ the True Force Arena on Gill Street Ron Rage, Way Cool, PK Ripper ,Highrollers, Steven Rampage, Big Boy BOB, “Black Label Society” [Void and AJ Bradley],The MoonDogs, Lawman Williams, Ravishing Randy, Wildside, Hardknox, Johnny Thunder, Billy Joe Dream, Punisher Dra Black, Azreal.....All taking place this saturday night bell time 7:30 tickets only $5.00 This is a Live TV Taping for channel 17 in Memphis, TN
----Saturday night in XOW in Ecru, MS for Mark Manson, Jay Webster, Shawn Manson, Max Steele, Izzy Rotten, Neil Taylor, Kross, JR Mauler, Cody Hawk, Brody Hawk, Colton Anderson Pappy, Psycho and many more!
----Saturday night in Ripley, TN with TLCW 207 Washington Street Match: Flash Flanagan,TGB Greg Anthony, Stan Lee, Maxx Corbin,Albino Rhino, Tommy Redneck, Rockin' Randy, Erik Hayes, Dell Tucker, ", "Rhythm & Blues" and much more!!!
----Saturday Night in Batesville, Arkansas. Main Event Wrestling located at the Old Miller Gym at 9th and Oak Street. Admission is FREE to the public, sponsored by local businesses and community leaders. With such star's as "Crazy" Luke Graham Jr., Gerry "Chubby" Graham, Scottie Graham, The Casino Kid, "Mr. Playboy" Tommy Wayne, "The Suicide King" Ray Ray, Danger Zone{"Hot Rod’ John Ellison, "Dangerous" Dave Cox, Johnny Harper}, "Byg Daddy" Moose, "The Velvet Lover"Cody Thunder, "The Southern Submission Machine" Wild Bill, Eric Wayne, Kid Nickels, Chris Stryker, Matt Justus, and many more. Bell Time is 8 P.M, door's open @ 7:15 P.M.
----TONIGHT!!! The Future of Wrestling has a show at the TFW Arena in Tupelo, MS with Shawn Reed,Josh Matthews, Chris Styles, "Bad Attitude" Tony Dabbs, Special Ed, Cassanova Kid, Chris Kaos, Hittman, T-Byrd, "Southern Thunder" Chris Kilgore, The Freakshow, The Interns, Hunter Montgomery Jackson, and much more.Tickets are $5. Doors open at 6:30 and the show starts at 8:00.
----Saturday night, Golden Triangle Wrestling returns for a show behind Cathy's restaurant, located on Highway 45 in West Point, MS. "The Warrior" Justin Reed, Hittman, Josh Matthews, Chris Styles, Jack Irons, "Southern Thunder" Chris Kilgore, Hunter Montgomery Jackson, and much more. I believe tickets are $5. Doors open at 7:00 and the show starts at 8:00.
----Saturday night New Blood Wrestling @ Country Nights 1901 Saint John Ave - Bell time 8:00 PM in Dyersburg, TN –Tank, “Real Deal” Tim Edwards, Gunner Thompson, J Weezy, Kilo, Jeremy Moore, Slim Pickens, Mark Justice, “Picture Perfect” [Jon Michael/Christian Jacobs] and more.
----Saturday night @ True Force Arena 256 Gill Street Jackson, TN at 7:30 PM with This Saturday Night June 2nd in Jackson Tennessee @ the True Force Arena on Gill Street Ron Rage, Way Cool, PK Ripper ,Highrollers, Steven Rampage, Big Boy BOB, “Black Label Society” [Void and AJ Bradley],The MoonDogs, Lawman Williams, Ravishing Randy, Wildside, Hardknox, Johnny Thunder, Billy Joe Dream, Punisher Dra Black, Azreal.....All taking place this saturday night bell time 7:30 tickets only $5.00 This is a Live TV Taping for channel 17 in Memphis, TN
----Saturday night in XOW in Ecru, MS for Mark Manson, Jay Webster, Shawn Manson, Max Steele, Izzy Rotten, Neil Taylor, Kross, JR Mauler, Cody Hawk, Brody Hawk, Colton Anderson Pappy, Psycho and many more!
----Saturday night in Ripley, TN with TLCW 207 Washington Street Match: Flash Flanagan,TGB Greg Anthony, Stan Lee, Maxx Corbin,Albino Rhino, Tommy Redneck, Rockin' Randy, Erik Hayes, Dell Tucker, ", "Rhythm & Blues" and much more!!!
----Saturday Night in Batesville, Arkansas. Main Event Wrestling located at the Old Miller Gym at 9th and Oak Street. Admission is FREE to the public, sponsored by local businesses and community leaders. With such star's as "Crazy" Luke Graham Jr., Gerry "Chubby" Graham, Scottie Graham, The Casino Kid, "Mr. Playboy" Tommy Wayne, "The Suicide King" Ray Ray, Danger Zone{"Hot Rod’ John Ellison, "Dangerous" Dave Cox, Johnny Harper}, "Byg Daddy" Moose, "The Velvet Lover"Cody Thunder, "The Southern Submission Machine" Wild Bill, Eric Wayne, Kid Nickels, Chris Stryker, Matt Justus, and many more. Bell Time is 8 P.M, door's open @ 7:15 P.M.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
K.A.W. from the Jimmy Blaylock Show 1999 by Gene Jackson
To take a break from all the Chris Benoit talk, here's a clip from the The Jimmy Blaylock Show in 1999 that aired on a local station in Tupelo, MS. This will be the first of five segments from the show I will be posting over the next several days. This one features interviews and highlights from Kick Ass Wrestling from Memphis. Future segments will include one on IWF, Backyard Wrestling, the last fight ever at the Tupelo Fairgrounds, and the Jamie Dundee Riot from Corinth, MS that I've posted on my old site. Enjoy! (Video is posted with permission from Hollywood Jimmy)
Reactions to the Benoit Tragedy Part 1- The Fans by Gene Jackson
I first heard about the Benoit tragedy about 6:30pm on Monday evening, my internet was down so I didn't get to check the news sites like I normally do when I get home from work in the afternoon. My friend Mike called me and asked if I had heard about it and I told him no I hadn't been online. At that point there were no details other than Benoit, his wife, and son had been found dead in their home. I normally never watch RAW anymore, I 'DVR' it each week, then read the results and see if there's anything worth watching. However monday night I made it a point to watch. Now, I plan to write another part of this discussing WWE's reaction to all this so I'm not going to go into my thoughts on the tributes and everything right now, we'll get into that later.
So, I finish watching RAW and I go online and decide to cruise the message boards and see what people are saying. I checked several different message boards and the roller coaster of emotions was intense. The ones from early on in the evening before it hit all the major news outlets was that most people thought it was a "storyline", which was just totally asinine. Granted, WWE does some dumb shit but what would something like this have been trying to accomplish? Anyway, once some other news sources besides WWE.com started reporting it people started believing it was true. So then there are tons of posts from people proclaiming Benoit the best wrestler of all time, "a tragic loss of a great human being and family man" and "now he will be in heaven with Eddie Guerrero and Brian Pillman" etc......, then comes the press conference from police giving the theories that Benoit had killed his wife, then his son, and then himself.
Now, I go back to the same message boards and moments after posting the previous messages some of the exact same people are now posting "F*** Benoit, I hope he rots in hell" "He's a monster, I'll never watch his matches again, he's a disgrace to wrestling." Ok, that really didn't shock me, that's to be expected, however then you had a lot of people saying, "even if he did kill his family it doesn't change the fact he was a tremendous wrestler and who are we to judge him?" WHAT?? Who are we to judge him? People went back and forth for days (and some still doing it) debating if this will keep Benoit out of the hall of fame?? Police are trying to figure out why he killed himself and his family and people are debating if he should be in the f***ing hall of fame??? Who are we to judge him??? People saying "we shouldn't discredit his whole career based on this one act."
These arguments rage on and everyone has the right to their opinion but WTF?? If this was Joe Blow from down the street I don't think anyone would be saying "who are we to judge?" or "Let's not base our memories of him based on the fact he killed his family, let's remember the good times!" So why does he get special consideration? If someone strangled YOUR sister and nephew, would you be less judgemental if they had an awesome 'workrate'? Or because they were a former WWE champion? Again, to each their own, who am I to judge right? I just don't understand that school of thought, so I guess I find myself somewhere in the middle of "F*** Benoit, I hope he rots in hell" and "What about his great matches?" I feel bad that he had whatever problems that led him to do this, but it doesn't excuse it and it doesn't make it forgivable. To even consider putting him in the hall of fame is laughable, some things trump a great wrestling career and I would think killing your wife and kid is one of them. I'll be back to give my thoughts on the way WWE has handled this as well as the media's handling of the situation.
So, I finish watching RAW and I go online and decide to cruise the message boards and see what people are saying. I checked several different message boards and the roller coaster of emotions was intense. The ones from early on in the evening before it hit all the major news outlets was that most people thought it was a "storyline", which was just totally asinine. Granted, WWE does some dumb shit but what would something like this have been trying to accomplish? Anyway, once some other news sources besides WWE.com started reporting it people started believing it was true. So then there are tons of posts from people proclaiming Benoit the best wrestler of all time, "a tragic loss of a great human being and family man" and "now he will be in heaven with Eddie Guerrero and Brian Pillman" etc......, then comes the press conference from police giving the theories that Benoit had killed his wife, then his son, and then himself.
Now, I go back to the same message boards and moments after posting the previous messages some of the exact same people are now posting "F*** Benoit, I hope he rots in hell" "He's a monster, I'll never watch his matches again, he's a disgrace to wrestling." Ok, that really didn't shock me, that's to be expected, however then you had a lot of people saying, "even if he did kill his family it doesn't change the fact he was a tremendous wrestler and who are we to judge him?" WHAT?? Who are we to judge him? People went back and forth for days (and some still doing it) debating if this will keep Benoit out of the hall of fame?? Police are trying to figure out why he killed himself and his family and people are debating if he should be in the f***ing hall of fame??? Who are we to judge him??? People saying "we shouldn't discredit his whole career based on this one act."
These arguments rage on and everyone has the right to their opinion but WTF?? If this was Joe Blow from down the street I don't think anyone would be saying "who are we to judge?" or "Let's not base our memories of him based on the fact he killed his family, let's remember the good times!" So why does he get special consideration? If someone strangled YOUR sister and nephew, would you be less judgemental if they had an awesome 'workrate'? Or because they were a former WWE champion? Again, to each their own, who am I to judge right? I just don't understand that school of thought, so I guess I find myself somewhere in the middle of "F*** Benoit, I hope he rots in hell" and "What about his great matches?" I feel bad that he had whatever problems that led him to do this, but it doesn't excuse it and it doesn't make it forgivable. To even consider putting him in the hall of fame is laughable, some things trump a great wrestling career and I would think killing your wife and kid is one of them. I'll be back to give my thoughts on the way WWE has handled this as well as the media's handling of the situation.
Benoit Coverage - Last Photo Taken of Benoit
----This photo was taken during a doctor visit on Friday. This was either before or after he had killed Nancy.
Ratings - Better Late Than Never - 6.16.07
----I am two weeks behind on ratings due to going out of town last weekend. This show was a good show and it did over 5,000 more viewers than usual. Good deal – because if you have more viewers watching, then you want them to see something good. The highest quarter was the first, but then they settle in with little over 46,000 viewers for the next three quarters. That is also a good sign – even though almost 11,000 viewers turned the TV off after the first quarter, rest of the audience stay to watch the complete show.
----I will be back tomorrow with last week’s ratings and you may watch this show by clicking HERE or read the full report HERE.
6.16.07 – 2.9 [49,192 viewers]
Clip of the Assassins vs. Koko B. Ware and Corey Maclin Cage Match at Sam's Town
Dotson/King angle
1st Quarter – 3.4 [57,586 viewers]
Mr. Hughes vs. Tattoo
Interview w/ Jerry Lawler
Chris Lexx vs. Kevin White
2cnd Quarter – 2.8 [46,673 viewers] [-10,913 viewers]
The Insane Clowns & Reggie B. Fine vs. King Cobra & the Posse
3rd Quarter 2.7 [46,002 viewers] [-671 viewers]
Tim (of Too Cool Two) vs. Dustin Starr
4th Quarter – 2.8 [46,673 viewers] [+671 viewers]
12 Week Average – 2.6 – 43553 viewers
12 Week High – 3.6 = 60,608 viewers – 5.12.07
12 Week Low – 1.6 = 26,862 viewers – 5.05.07
Growth from start to finish – [-10,913 viewers]
What was Memphis watching?? Action News 5 and CSI Miami - 8.04 [134,984 viewers]
----I will be back tomorrow with last week’s ratings and you may watch this show by clicking HERE or read the full report HERE.
6.16.07 – 2.9 [49,192 viewers]
Clip of the Assassins vs. Koko B. Ware and Corey Maclin Cage Match at Sam's Town
Dotson/King angle
1st Quarter – 3.4 [57,586 viewers]
Mr. Hughes vs. Tattoo
Interview w/ Jerry Lawler
Chris Lexx vs. Kevin White
2cnd Quarter – 2.8 [46,673 viewers] [-10,913 viewers]
The Insane Clowns & Reggie B. Fine vs. King Cobra & the Posse
3rd Quarter 2.7 [46,002 viewers] [-671 viewers]
Tim (of Too Cool Two) vs. Dustin Starr
4th Quarter – 2.8 [46,673 viewers] [+671 viewers]
12 Week Average – 2.6 – 43553 viewers
12 Week High – 3.6 = 60,608 viewers – 5.12.07
12 Week Low – 1.6 = 26,862 viewers – 5.05.07
Growth from start to finish – [-10,913 viewers]
What was Memphis watching?? Action News 5 and CSI Miami - 8.04 [134,984 viewers]
Brian Christopher Talks About Chris Benoit
----I have been told that Christopher did not come off very good on this, but I didn't think it was so bad. He said, "I have alot of friends", which was really stupid. Christopher was not going to talk about steroid and Anderson kept bugging him about it. Judge for yourself.
----From www.youtube.com quote, which I found funny - "Having Christopher as an expert in the Benoit case would be like if Russell Crowe killed his wife and child, and they interviewed Pauly Shore about it."
----That really made me laugh hard, but if you look at it from another point - Brian Lawler has run those roads and knows very well all the pressures put on you.
----From www.youtube.com quote, which I found funny - "Having Christopher as an expert in the Benoit case would be like if Russell Crowe killed his wife and child, and they interviewed Pauly Shore about it."
----That really made me laugh hard, but if you look at it from another point - Brian Lawler has run those roads and knows very well all the pressures put on you.
Dustin Starr Talks About Benoit
----This is a really good blog entry that goes over what Dustin thinks about the Benoit situation. He also has a list of TOP TEN WRESTLING TRAGEDIES IN THE LAST 25 YEARS that he posted from another site. I really think this Benoit incident would be ranked #1 in the book after this week. #2: Eddy Guerrero, #3: Bruiser Brody, #4: Owen Hart and #5: Eddie Gilbert [not on their list]. Those are the five that affected me the most for both business and personal reasons. Starr also goes out to talk about Memphis Wrestling, Austin Lane, Tatt2 and bunch of other stuff. This was a very entertaining piece. CLICK HERE to read it.
Benoit Coverage - Bret Hart from "Nancy Grace" Last Night!!
----As you can tell, Grace has no idea about the wrestling business.
Benoit Coverage: McMahon Calls Benoit A Monster
By Alex MarvezEmail: alex@wrestlingobserver.com
Well, at least Vince McMahon didn’t try to slap a list of questions out of Meredith Viera’s hands.That was one of the few positive developments for World Wrestling Entertainment after owner Vince McMahon appeared this morning on the Today show.Before McMahon appeared, a news piece raising the possibility of a link between steroids and the Benoit murder/suicide as well as the deaths of some other wrestlers. That set the tone for the appearance.Among the more pertinent exchanges between Viera and an even-keeled McMahon [Note: Viera never said NBC has a business relationship with WWE before conducting the interview]
Viera called WWE on the carpet for issuing a press release Tuesday claiming that steroids couldn’t have been part of the reason for Benoit’s actions when the results of toxicology tests won’t be known for several weeks. McMahon tried to explain the press release was a reaction to “hysteria of the media” trying to link “roid rage” to Benoit’s actions.“Obviously, this was not an act of rage,” McMahon said. “It was an act of deliberation … There were a number of prescription medications found in the house. Whether they contributed to this, who knows? Whether there was some other aspect for something to do with this behavior, hopefully we’ll find out in some way.“What we’re about [in WWE] is putting smiles on people’s faces. We’re entertainers. We entertain all over the world. That’s the job description. It’s not something to be tainted and smear with this. It’s no different than a postal worker [shooting] up a post office. There was no indication whatsoever that this person turned into a monster and do what he did. Steroids may or may not have something to do with this. There were other pressures in terms of his son and wife. I don’t know, We may never know. But hopefully, we can put this to bed as best we possibly can and determine what happened once we have the real evidence.”
On WWE’s drug-testing policy: “Last February, we instituted a wellness policy to police for steroids or abuse of prescription drugs. We do urine and blood tests to determine as well as test the cardio aspect of things to test for heart disease and heart failure. It’s a comprehensive test. The last test he took of a random nature was in April and it was totally negative. That doesn’t mean he was not taking prescription medication or steroids when this happened. We don’t know.”
On 60 wrestlers under the age of 45 dying and what responsibility Vince McMahon feels toward their families: “We’ve had five individuals since we’ve been in business under contract to that died … I can only speak to those five.”[Note: McMahon’s answer doesn’t take into account the long-term impact that steroid use could have had on performers before WWE instituted its wellness program. But in McMahon’s defense, some of those young deaths also feature performers that never worked for WWE or died of drug-related issues].
On what type of impact it would make if steroids were found in Benoit’s system: “I can only speak of our wellness program and how effective that is … All we can do is the best we can with anyone else and establish the wellness program the best we can … This is a horrific tragedy. There is a rush to judgment here as to what caused this. There’s almost a hysteria around us. I don’t know whether it’s justified or not. We won’t know until we get the toxicology reports back. Once we get those back, we’re dealing in real facts. There was no way to tell this man was a monster. He was a mild-mannered individual.“Everyone in our organization are well-adjusted, family people. They go to work like anybody else except the definition of their job is to put a smile on everybody’s face. It’s important our organization continue to do that for our fans and move on as best as we possibly can not withstanding this devastating situation.”
Final comments: NBC did a better job than Nancy Grace and other CNN/FOX tabloid news shows have done in addressing this topic. But with a lack of knowledge about the wrestling business, Viera didn’t try to push McMahon on some of his answers like whether it was acceptable for wrestlers to take steroids if given a prescription or try to get much insight about what kind of person Benoit was. But I do give McMahon credit for appearing in this kind of forum to address the issue and handling himself professionally.
Understandably, wrestling fans are outraged at the ridiculous coverage given the Benoit murder/suicide Wednesday night on CNN’s Nancy Grace Show. I’m actually glad a technological glitch kept me from appearing last night as scheduled. Here is the link: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/295264/wrestling_fans_going_to_war_with_nancy.htmlX:
A copy of my syndicated column on the Benoit situation with an interesting quote from a family friend can be found here: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/sfl-627marvez-benoit,0,2628771.story
http://www.wrestlingobserver.com/
Well, at least Vince McMahon didn’t try to slap a list of questions out of Meredith Viera’s hands.That was one of the few positive developments for World Wrestling Entertainment after owner Vince McMahon appeared this morning on the Today show.Before McMahon appeared, a news piece raising the possibility of a link between steroids and the Benoit murder/suicide as well as the deaths of some other wrestlers. That set the tone for the appearance.Among the more pertinent exchanges between Viera and an even-keeled McMahon [Note: Viera never said NBC has a business relationship with WWE before conducting the interview]
Viera called WWE on the carpet for issuing a press release Tuesday claiming that steroids couldn’t have been part of the reason for Benoit’s actions when the results of toxicology tests won’t be known for several weeks. McMahon tried to explain the press release was a reaction to “hysteria of the media” trying to link “roid rage” to Benoit’s actions.“Obviously, this was not an act of rage,” McMahon said. “It was an act of deliberation … There were a number of prescription medications found in the house. Whether they contributed to this, who knows? Whether there was some other aspect for something to do with this behavior, hopefully we’ll find out in some way.“What we’re about [in WWE] is putting smiles on people’s faces. We’re entertainers. We entertain all over the world. That’s the job description. It’s not something to be tainted and smear with this. It’s no different than a postal worker [shooting] up a post office. There was no indication whatsoever that this person turned into a monster and do what he did. Steroids may or may not have something to do with this. There were other pressures in terms of his son and wife. I don’t know, We may never know. But hopefully, we can put this to bed as best we possibly can and determine what happened once we have the real evidence.”
On WWE’s drug-testing policy: “Last February, we instituted a wellness policy to police for steroids or abuse of prescription drugs. We do urine and blood tests to determine as well as test the cardio aspect of things to test for heart disease and heart failure. It’s a comprehensive test. The last test he took of a random nature was in April and it was totally negative. That doesn’t mean he was not taking prescription medication or steroids when this happened. We don’t know.”
On 60 wrestlers under the age of 45 dying and what responsibility Vince McMahon feels toward their families: “We’ve had five individuals since we’ve been in business under contract to that died … I can only speak to those five.”[Note: McMahon’s answer doesn’t take into account the long-term impact that steroid use could have had on performers before WWE instituted its wellness program. But in McMahon’s defense, some of those young deaths also feature performers that never worked for WWE or died of drug-related issues].
On what type of impact it would make if steroids were found in Benoit’s system: “I can only speak of our wellness program and how effective that is … All we can do is the best we can with anyone else and establish the wellness program the best we can … This is a horrific tragedy. There is a rush to judgment here as to what caused this. There’s almost a hysteria around us. I don’t know whether it’s justified or not. We won’t know until we get the toxicology reports back. Once we get those back, we’re dealing in real facts. There was no way to tell this man was a monster. He was a mild-mannered individual.“Everyone in our organization are well-adjusted, family people. They go to work like anybody else except the definition of their job is to put a smile on everybody’s face. It’s important our organization continue to do that for our fans and move on as best as we possibly can not withstanding this devastating situation.”
Final comments: NBC did a better job than Nancy Grace and other CNN/FOX tabloid news shows have done in addressing this topic. But with a lack of knowledge about the wrestling business, Viera didn’t try to push McMahon on some of his answers like whether it was acceptable for wrestlers to take steroids if given a prescription or try to get much insight about what kind of person Benoit was. But I do give McMahon credit for appearing in this kind of forum to address the issue and handling himself professionally.
Understandably, wrestling fans are outraged at the ridiculous coverage given the Benoit murder/suicide Wednesday night on CNN’s Nancy Grace Show. I’m actually glad a technological glitch kept me from appearing last night as scheduled. Here is the link: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/295264/wrestling_fans_going_to_war_with_nancy.htmlX:
A copy of my syndicated column on the Benoit situation with an interesting quote from a family friend can be found here: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/sfl-627marvez-benoit,0,2628771.story
http://www.wrestlingobserver.com/
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Benoit Coverage - Troubles with Daniel
WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt has provided the Associated Press more details about the report we posted earlier today about Chris and Nancy Benoit having problems related to their mentally impaired seven-year-old son Daniel before the murder/suicide of the family in their Atlanta-area home. The story can be found here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070627/ap_on_re_us/wrestler_dead
Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press has written the following Benoit-related stories: http://mikeoncrime.com/article/2789/benoit-family-tragedy-steroid-use-rampant-in-squared-circle-says-former-canadian-grappler
and http://mikeoncrime.com/article/2790/benoit-family-tragedy-steroid-use-can-rewire-brain-circuits-ramping-up-aggression-dialling-down-control
Bret Hart, who will be appearing with me on CNN’s Nancy Grace around 8:30 p.m. e.s.t., was slated to appear on Toronto radio station Prime Time Sports earlier today. The station web site is http://www.fan590.com/
and a commercial-free podcast of the show can be found at http://www.fan590.com/features/primetimesports.jsp
http://www.wrestlingobserver.com/
Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press has written the following Benoit-related stories: http://mikeoncrime.com/article/2789/benoit-family-tragedy-steroid-use-rampant-in-squared-circle-says-former-canadian-grappler
and http://mikeoncrime.com/article/2790/benoit-family-tragedy-steroid-use-can-rewire-brain-circuits-ramping-up-aggression-dialling-down-control
Bret Hart, who will be appearing with me on CNN’s Nancy Grace around 8:30 p.m. e.s.t., was slated to appear on Toronto radio station Prime Time Sports earlier today. The station web site is http://www.fan590.com/
and a commercial-free podcast of the show can be found at http://www.fan590.com/features/primetimesports.jsp
http://www.wrestlingobserver.com/
An Introduction from Gene Jackson
First off I just want to thank Brian for asking me to join the site, I've been a loyal reader since it's inception and look forward to contributing. I thought I would introduce myself and tell everyone what to expect from me. Some of you may be familiar with me and my writing from my 'Cheap Heat' column on hollywoodjimmy.com and my blog. For those of you who aren't most of my writing will be editorial in nature rather than results cause I don't make it to many shows these days other than the occasional WrestleBirmingham show to sell tapes and dvds. I also will be posting reviews of dvds, past wrestling shows, and other stuff of that nature. Also, look for video clips of old matches and interviews. As for my credentials to write about wrestling (not that you need any on the internet) I wrestled independent shows for several years which really doesn't mean shit, most all of my knowledge of wrestling comes from my lifelong obsession with it and YEARS of reading about it, studying it, and watching it every chance I get. I hope everyone will enjoy my writing but I'm sure it's not for everyone, so just take the good with the bad and bare with me, if you have any comments or suggestions feel free to email me at genejackson@charter.net. My first column will be up soon which will probably consist of two or three parts and it will be focusing on the reactions to the Benoit tragedy, from the WWE, wrestling fans, and the media. I'm also working on one about the Sal Corrente/Jerry Lawler situation. I know this topics have been covered here pretty thoroughly but I'm still gonna throw my two cents in for the hell of it.
GENE
GENE
Benoit Coverage Continues
Chris Benoit’s personal physician met with him the day of the murder, according to an Associated Press report. Dr. Phil Astin also said he prescribed testosterone to Benoit because of a low count being produced by his body. Astin said that condition likely stemmed from previous steroid use. Here is the link: http://www.accessnorthga.com/news/ap_newfullstory.asp?ID=94290X:
There are other details soon to surface nationally about the murder/suicide that include details about Nancy Benoit meeting with Astin the day before her murder to try and gain information about treating her son Daniel. WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt told me the promotion has information stating Daniel was suffering from Fragile X, which is an inherited mental impairment that causes autistic-like symptoms [more information about the disease can be found at FragileX.org]. McDevitt said it’s believed that Nancy Benoit was struggling trying to cope with Daniel and that neck surgery she had undergone wasn’t make the situation any easier for her and Chris.One question that can be posed is this: If Chris Benoit killed his wife in a fit of rage stemming from a confrontation about Daniel, did he later kill his son because of concerns about who would take care of a needs child while he was in prison? While this doesn’t make Benoit’s actions any more justifiable, the scenario may shed some light on why Chris Benoit killed his son before taking his own life.
**http://www.wrestlingobserver.com/
There are other details soon to surface nationally about the murder/suicide that include details about Nancy Benoit meeting with Astin the day before her murder to try and gain information about treating her son Daniel. WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt told me the promotion has information stating Daniel was suffering from Fragile X, which is an inherited mental impairment that causes autistic-like symptoms [more information about the disease can be found at FragileX.org]. McDevitt said it’s believed that Nancy Benoit was struggling trying to cope with Daniel and that neck surgery she had undergone wasn’t make the situation any easier for her and Chris.One question that can be posed is this: If Chris Benoit killed his wife in a fit of rage stemming from a confrontation about Daniel, did he later kill his son because of concerns about who would take care of a needs child while he was in prison? While this doesn’t make Benoit’s actions any more justifiable, the scenario may shed some light on why Chris Benoit killed his son before taking his own life.
**http://www.wrestlingobserver.com/
RassleResults: TIWF Jackson, TN 6.23.07
----Nigerian Nightmare beat Billy Joe Dream to retain the TV Title…Steven Rampage beat Azreal with Azreal just laying down for 1,2,3…Rampage beat Dre Black…Wildside beat Mr. Tiny, when Storm walked out on him…Void vs Weasel went to a 15 minute draw…”Black Label Society” [AJ Bradley/Robbie Douglas] beat “The Highrollers” [Storm/Wyked] to retain the TIWF Tag Team Titles when Storm turned on Wyked…Way Cool retained the TIWF Title beating Big Boy Bob.
----84 paid with 111 in the building with a $420 gate…They announced that they have plans of enlarging the building and adding another ac unit…This coming Saturday nigh has Rampage vs Dre Black, Wildside vs Spyder, Wycked vs Storm, Big Boy Bob vs Weasel, 6- Man Tag: BLS vs Johnny Thunder/Azreal/Billy Joe Dream and Way Cool vs Lawman Williams.
----84 paid with 111 in the building with a $420 gate…They announced that they have plans of enlarging the building and adding another ac unit…This coming Saturday nigh has Rampage vs Dre Black, Wildside vs Spyder, Wycked vs Storm, Big Boy Bob vs Weasel, 6- Man Tag: BLS vs Johnny Thunder/Azreal/Billy Joe Dream and Way Cool vs Lawman Williams.
Benoit Coverage: Roid Rage and Should Congress Step In??
'Roid rage' questions surround Benoit murder-suicide
• Performance steroids found in wrestler's home; toxicology report pending
• Physician: Steroids linked to psychosis, anti-social behavior, depression
• Benoit's wrestling group discounts suggestions of so-called "roid rage"
• Police: Wrestler strangled wife, suffocated his 7-year-old son, hanged himself
FAYETTEVILLE, Georgia (CNN) -- The discovery of anabolic steroids in pro-wrestler Chris Benoit's home has raised speculation that the performance-enhancing drugs may be linked to his death and the killings of his wife and young son.
The 40-year-old champion strangled his wife, Nancy Benoit, and suffocated his 7-year-old son Daniel, authorities said, before he hanged himself on a portable weight machine inside his lavish home outside Atlanta. Police have said no motive has been determined.
"A lot of prescription medication" was found in the home, including anabolic steroids, said Fayette County Sheriff Lt. Tommy Pope.
But authorities were still waiting on toxicology reports, which could take several weeks, to determine what, if any, medication was found in the bodies.
Chris Benoit was a pro-wrestler for 22 years and star of World Wrestling Entertainment, which strongly denounced any suggestion that steroid use could be connected to the tragedy.
The WWE said Benoit tested negative for drugs during an independently administered evaluation on April 10.
CNN Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta said Wednesday that it may never be known whether the deaths were linked to steroids or so-called "roid-rage."
"The drugs said to be found in the home are a synthetic form of testosterone," Gupta said. "A lot of people use it to build muscle mass, but there are longstanding known relationships between the steroids and roid rage. It could lead to psychosis and anti-social behavior and depression."
But the WWE said evidence gathered in the investigation indicates "deliberation, not rage."
"The wife's feet and hands were bound and she was asphyxiated, not beaten to death," said a statement posted on the company's Web site. "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."
Investigators found the bodies of Nancy and Daniel Benoit with Bibles placed next to them, authorities have said. "The presence of a Bible by each is also not an act of rage," said the WWE.
Former professional wrestler Del Wilkes said athletes use steroids to gain strength and size, which are key to success in the wrestling world. But he warned that the drugs sometimes come with "moments of uncontrollable rage."
"You can feel it coming on but there's nothing you can do about it," Wilkes said. "The next thing you know, a minor argument has gone into a full-fledged rage, when you've got your hands around somebody's neck. You're in a fight and doing things you wouldn't normally do."
Wilkes also said the drugs can also cause "tremendous" depression "when guys are coming off steroids after they've been on it for a long period of time."
An official who is part of the investigation told CNN that Benoit's name was on receipts that indicated he had purchased shipments of anabolic steroids and human growth hormones from Signature Pharmacy, an Orlando, Florida, facility that is at the center of a nationwide investigation into the sale of illegal steroids.
As the investigation unfolded Wednesday, details about events inside the home began to emerge.
Needle marks were found in Daniel's arm, said Fayette County District Attorney Scott Ballard. He said authorities suspect "that the boy had been taking growth hormones for quite some time," and are hoping to prove that with toxicology. The boy, Ballard said, was diagnosed with a form of dwarfism.
Daniel was found face down on his bed, but authorities said they do not know whether he was sleeping when he was killed. Ballard said authorities believe the child was asphyxiated using a choke hold. Benoit hung himself using the cord on a portable weight machine, Ballard said.
Ballard said Nancy Benoit's body was found face down on the floor in an upstairs family room, wrapped in a blanket with her feet and wrists bound and blood under her head.
Two days before Benoit and his family were found dead, the wrestler told co-workers by phone his wife and son were sick with food poisoning and he had been having a stressful day, according to the WWE.
Chris Benoit left no suicide note, Pope said, but had sent text messages to a co-worker early Sunday, which was received several hours later. He refused to divulge the contents of the messages.
The WWE, however, said the five text messages were sent to co-workers between 3:51 a.m. and 3:58 a.m. using both Chris Benoit's and Nancy Benoit's cell phones. Four of them were the Benoits' address; the fifth said that the family's dogs were in the enclosed pool area and noted a garage side door was open.
The WWE said it made numerous attempts to contact Chris Benoit at his home and at Atlanta-area hospitals. At 12:30 p.m. on Monday, it learned of the text messages and contacted police, the statement said.
"In a community like this, it's just bizarre to have a murder-suicide, certainly involving the death of a 7-year-old child," Ballard told reporters. "I think that's what I'm struck by most ... there's a 7-year-old boy who is dead."
Chris Benoit once had been arrested on a charge of driving under the influence in another Fayette County jurisdiction, authorities said, but had no other criminal record.
CNN learned that divorce papers for the couple were filed in Fayette County in 2003, but the divorce never took place. Ballard said it was his understanding that a protection order was sought in 2003, but later dismissed. He had he had not seen the filings.
CNN's Rusty Dornin and Adam Reiss contributed to this report.
-----
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/chris_mannix/06/26/benoit/index.html
Should Congress step in?
Benoit case latest sign of wrestling's steroid problem
In November 2005, 38-year-old professional wrestler Eddie Guerrero died in a Minneapolis hotel room due to what a coroner later ruled as heart disease, complicated by an enlarged heart resulting from a history of anabolic steroid use.
In the aftermath of that tragedy, WWE chairman Vince McMahon announced a new drug policy, one that would give "no special consideration" to anyone and would involve frequent, random drug tests performed by an independent agency.
In the wake of this past weekend's murder/suicide case, in which steroids were found in the home of pro wrestler Chris Benoit, one has to wonder just how well the WWE's new policy is working.
If steroids are common in pro baseball and football, then the drugs are rampant in pro wrestling, which places an enormous emphasis on the size of its athletes. Former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura admitted to using steroids when he was in the WWE and Hulk Hogan has admitted to taking steroids for 13 years. In 1993, McMahon was charged with conspiring to distribute steroids to his wrestlers, one of whom testified that McMahon had directed him to use steroids. McMahon was acquitted by a jury in U.S. District Court the following year.
Moreover, Bruno Sammartino refused to be inducted into the wrestling hall of fame in 2005 because he believed wrestlers were pumping themselves with steroids. More recently, a story by SI.com reporters revealed that former WWE champion Kurt Angle and other wrestlers allegedly received a wide variety of anabolic steroids supplied by Applied, the Mobile, Ala., compounding pharmacy that was raided last fall by investigators.
Of course, in wrestling, steroids are just the tip of the iceberg. While telecasts of Monday Night Raw or Friday Night Smackdown might give the impression that these athletes only work one or two days per week, the reality is that most are out there for five or six days. They perform high risk maneuvers, sometimes crashing through tables and taking steel chairs to their foreheads.
In the 1999 documentary Beyond The Mat, the wrestler known as Triple H was seen walking up the ramp following a particularly brutal match. As soon as he disappeared behind the curtain, a chiropractor grabbed him, strapped him to a bed and pushed each of his vertebrae back into place. To do so the chiropractor had to push his feet against the wall to apply enough pressure to realign the wrestler's back. Needless to say, there is some pain there.
And when Tylenol doesn't do the trick for pain relief, some wrestlers switch to a stronger drug -- and the results are often disastrous. In 1997, Brian Pillman was found dead amidst a sea of empty bottles of prescription painkillers. In 2003, Curt "Mr. Perfect" Hennig died of a cocaine overdose. Guerrero, who had a long history of drug abuse, was using narcotic painkillers. The list goes on and on.
That's why McMahon's declarations of cleaning up the sport seem to be about as genuine as O.J.'s quest to find the real killer. Size sells, and until people tire of seeing 300-pound men being choked and slammed through tables, steroids will continue to be readily available to professional wrestlers. Unless, of course, McMahon is forced to take stiffer action.
His three-hour "tribute" to Benoit on Monday night was a travesty. I can't speak to the man Chris Benoit was before last weekend, but the man he finished as was a murderer who took his wife away from her family and his 7-year-old son away from the world. If Congress -- which has involved itself in the fight against steroid abuse before -- is looking for something to do, there is a billion dollar industry with an enormous fan base that needs fixing.
Call professional wrestling sports or call it entertainment, but whatever you call it, realize that people are dying in it. They are dying because they believe bigger muscles lead to bigger paychecks. But no one is telling them that they can't spend a nickel of it if they are dead.
**http://www.gerweck.net/
• Performance steroids found in wrestler's home; toxicology report pending
• Physician: Steroids linked to psychosis, anti-social behavior, depression
• Benoit's wrestling group discounts suggestions of so-called "roid rage"
• Police: Wrestler strangled wife, suffocated his 7-year-old son, hanged himself
FAYETTEVILLE, Georgia (CNN) -- The discovery of anabolic steroids in pro-wrestler Chris Benoit's home has raised speculation that the performance-enhancing drugs may be linked to his death and the killings of his wife and young son.
The 40-year-old champion strangled his wife, Nancy Benoit, and suffocated his 7-year-old son Daniel, authorities said, before he hanged himself on a portable weight machine inside his lavish home outside Atlanta. Police have said no motive has been determined.
"A lot of prescription medication" was found in the home, including anabolic steroids, said Fayette County Sheriff Lt. Tommy Pope.
But authorities were still waiting on toxicology reports, which could take several weeks, to determine what, if any, medication was found in the bodies.
Chris Benoit was a pro-wrestler for 22 years and star of World Wrestling Entertainment, which strongly denounced any suggestion that steroid use could be connected to the tragedy.
The WWE said Benoit tested negative for drugs during an independently administered evaluation on April 10.
CNN Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta said Wednesday that it may never be known whether the deaths were linked to steroids or so-called "roid-rage."
"The drugs said to be found in the home are a synthetic form of testosterone," Gupta said. "A lot of people use it to build muscle mass, but there are longstanding known relationships between the steroids and roid rage. It could lead to psychosis and anti-social behavior and depression."
But the WWE said evidence gathered in the investigation indicates "deliberation, not rage."
"The wife's feet and hands were bound and she was asphyxiated, not beaten to death," said a statement posted on the company's Web site. "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."
Investigators found the bodies of Nancy and Daniel Benoit with Bibles placed next to them, authorities have said. "The presence of a Bible by each is also not an act of rage," said the WWE.
Former professional wrestler Del Wilkes said athletes use steroids to gain strength and size, which are key to success in the wrestling world. But he warned that the drugs sometimes come with "moments of uncontrollable rage."
"You can feel it coming on but there's nothing you can do about it," Wilkes said. "The next thing you know, a minor argument has gone into a full-fledged rage, when you've got your hands around somebody's neck. You're in a fight and doing things you wouldn't normally do."
Wilkes also said the drugs can also cause "tremendous" depression "when guys are coming off steroids after they've been on it for a long period of time."
An official who is part of the investigation told CNN that Benoit's name was on receipts that indicated he had purchased shipments of anabolic steroids and human growth hormones from Signature Pharmacy, an Orlando, Florida, facility that is at the center of a nationwide investigation into the sale of illegal steroids.
As the investigation unfolded Wednesday, details about events inside the home began to emerge.
Needle marks were found in Daniel's arm, said Fayette County District Attorney Scott Ballard. He said authorities suspect "that the boy had been taking growth hormones for quite some time," and are hoping to prove that with toxicology. The boy, Ballard said, was diagnosed with a form of dwarfism.
Daniel was found face down on his bed, but authorities said they do not know whether he was sleeping when he was killed. Ballard said authorities believe the child was asphyxiated using a choke hold. Benoit hung himself using the cord on a portable weight machine, Ballard said.
Ballard said Nancy Benoit's body was found face down on the floor in an upstairs family room, wrapped in a blanket with her feet and wrists bound and blood under her head.
Two days before Benoit and his family were found dead, the wrestler told co-workers by phone his wife and son were sick with food poisoning and he had been having a stressful day, according to the WWE.
Chris Benoit left no suicide note, Pope said, but had sent text messages to a co-worker early Sunday, which was received several hours later. He refused to divulge the contents of the messages.
The WWE, however, said the five text messages were sent to co-workers between 3:51 a.m. and 3:58 a.m. using both Chris Benoit's and Nancy Benoit's cell phones. Four of them were the Benoits' address; the fifth said that the family's dogs were in the enclosed pool area and noted a garage side door was open.
The WWE said it made numerous attempts to contact Chris Benoit at his home and at Atlanta-area hospitals. At 12:30 p.m. on Monday, it learned of the text messages and contacted police, the statement said.
"In a community like this, it's just bizarre to have a murder-suicide, certainly involving the death of a 7-year-old child," Ballard told reporters. "I think that's what I'm struck by most ... there's a 7-year-old boy who is dead."
Chris Benoit once had been arrested on a charge of driving under the influence in another Fayette County jurisdiction, authorities said, but had no other criminal record.
CNN learned that divorce papers for the couple were filed in Fayette County in 2003, but the divorce never took place. Ballard said it was his understanding that a protection order was sought in 2003, but later dismissed. He had he had not seen the filings.
CNN's Rusty Dornin and Adam Reiss contributed to this report.
-----
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/chris_mannix/06/26/benoit/index.html
Should Congress step in?
Benoit case latest sign of wrestling's steroid problem
In November 2005, 38-year-old professional wrestler Eddie Guerrero died in a Minneapolis hotel room due to what a coroner later ruled as heart disease, complicated by an enlarged heart resulting from a history of anabolic steroid use.
In the aftermath of that tragedy, WWE chairman Vince McMahon announced a new drug policy, one that would give "no special consideration" to anyone and would involve frequent, random drug tests performed by an independent agency.
In the wake of this past weekend's murder/suicide case, in which steroids were found in the home of pro wrestler Chris Benoit, one has to wonder just how well the WWE's new policy is working.
If steroids are common in pro baseball and football, then the drugs are rampant in pro wrestling, which places an enormous emphasis on the size of its athletes. Former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura admitted to using steroids when he was in the WWE and Hulk Hogan has admitted to taking steroids for 13 years. In 1993, McMahon was charged with conspiring to distribute steroids to his wrestlers, one of whom testified that McMahon had directed him to use steroids. McMahon was acquitted by a jury in U.S. District Court the following year.
Moreover, Bruno Sammartino refused to be inducted into the wrestling hall of fame in 2005 because he believed wrestlers were pumping themselves with steroids. More recently, a story by SI.com reporters revealed that former WWE champion Kurt Angle and other wrestlers allegedly received a wide variety of anabolic steroids supplied by Applied, the Mobile, Ala., compounding pharmacy that was raided last fall by investigators.
Of course, in wrestling, steroids are just the tip of the iceberg. While telecasts of Monday Night Raw or Friday Night Smackdown might give the impression that these athletes only work one or two days per week, the reality is that most are out there for five or six days. They perform high risk maneuvers, sometimes crashing through tables and taking steel chairs to their foreheads.
In the 1999 documentary Beyond The Mat, the wrestler known as Triple H was seen walking up the ramp following a particularly brutal match. As soon as he disappeared behind the curtain, a chiropractor grabbed him, strapped him to a bed and pushed each of his vertebrae back into place. To do so the chiropractor had to push his feet against the wall to apply enough pressure to realign the wrestler's back. Needless to say, there is some pain there.
And when Tylenol doesn't do the trick for pain relief, some wrestlers switch to a stronger drug -- and the results are often disastrous. In 1997, Brian Pillman was found dead amidst a sea of empty bottles of prescription painkillers. In 2003, Curt "Mr. Perfect" Hennig died of a cocaine overdose. Guerrero, who had a long history of drug abuse, was using narcotic painkillers. The list goes on and on.
That's why McMahon's declarations of cleaning up the sport seem to be about as genuine as O.J.'s quest to find the real killer. Size sells, and until people tire of seeing 300-pound men being choked and slammed through tables, steroids will continue to be readily available to professional wrestlers. Unless, of course, McMahon is forced to take stiffer action.
His three-hour "tribute" to Benoit on Monday night was a travesty. I can't speak to the man Chris Benoit was before last weekend, but the man he finished as was a murderer who took his wife away from her family and his 7-year-old son away from the world. If Congress -- which has involved itself in the fight against steroid abuse before -- is looking for something to do, there is a billion dollar industry with an enormous fan base that needs fixing.
Call professional wrestling sports or call it entertainment, but whatever you call it, realize that people are dying in it. They are dying because they believe bigger muscles lead to bigger paychecks. But no one is telling them that they can't spend a nickel of it if they are dead.
**http://www.gerweck.net/
"Nightmare" Ken Wayne on MSNBC
----Here is a clip that aired this morning on MSNBC. I thought Ken came off pretty good.
Site News!!
----As you can tell I started this morning with posting regular news items. I guess today will be business as usual. I will continue to post Benoit news as I get it from various sources. I also plan to do an article on my feeling about the whole situation, which will be posted on Friday.
----I would like to welcome Gene Jackson as a full time staffer. I have always enjoyed reading Gene's stuff and have ask him to join me here. He was writing stuff on his own blog, but I have convinced him to take all his writings and such and start posting them here. He will have a bigger audience on this site and I think everyone will enjoy his columns. I am looking for him to post anywhere between 2 to 5 times a week or maybe more. I have given him full control over his posts.
----I would like to welcome Gene Jackson as a full time staffer. I have always enjoyed reading Gene's stuff and have ask him to join me here. He was writing stuff on his own blog, but I have convinced him to take all his writings and such and start posting them here. He will have a bigger audience on this site and I think everyone will enjoy his columns. I am looking for him to post anywhere between 2 to 5 times a week or maybe more. I have given him full control over his posts.
Chris Benoit: Wednesday Links
The Associated Press has written a comprehensive Benoit story leading with how he told some WWE co-workers that his murdered wife and son had contracted “food poisoning,” which is why he missed a scheduled Saturday night appearance in Beaumont, Texas. Here is the link: http://breakingnews.nypost.com/dynamic/stories/W/WRESTLER_DEAD?SITE=NYNYP&SECTION=HOME
The Atlanta-Journal Constitution quoted people who knew the Benoits from outside the wrestling industry in its main story about the situation today. The newspaper also reveals that the DUI arrest Benoit had that Fayette (Ga.) County officials alluded to during a Tuesday news conference occurred in 1998 while he was working with WCW and before he was married to Nancy Benoit. Here is the link: http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/fayette/stories/2007/06/26/0627metbenoit.html
Debra Williams, the ex-wife of “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, felt compelled to speak out about the murder of Nancy and Daniel Benoit on the FOX 31 web site. “Domestic and drug abuse is out of hand in the WWE and something needs to be done about it,” said Williams, who claimed she saw Austin personally use steroids. “If only I had spoken up sooner, maybe Nancy and her little boy would be alive today ... That's why I'm going public now. Something has to change!” The victim of domestic violence by Austin in 2002 – which is the last year she worked for WWE -- Williams said she filed for a restraining order after a third incident between the two. Williams said Austin later forced her to write a letter to the courts asking the order be repealed. In turn, she consented to a gag order about the situation. The link to the story can be found here: http://www.myfoxcolorado.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=3607731&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1
Two wrestling fans emailed from Australia to say that Monday Night Raw, which airs at 3:30 p.m. every Wednesday on FOX8, would not air today and instead replaced by an episode of Jerry Springer.
The Corpus Christi Caller Times has an interesting story about the cancellation and rescheduling of this week’s Monday Night Raw as well as an early run on merchandise after news of his death (sans the gruesome details) began to surface. Here is the link: http://www.caller.com/news/2007/jun/27/wwe-event-is-rescheduled-locally-for-july-16/
Sports Illustrated reported about the link between Benoit and a Florida-based company accused of dealing steroids and human growth hormone. Here is the link: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/more/06/26/benoitcase/
Bret Hart once again weighed in on the Benoit murder/suicide in the Calgary Sun. “I can't begin to even understand what could drive somebody to do this,” said Hart, whose family helped train Benoit to become a pro wrestler. “The sad thing about it is I never saw Chris lose his composure and I never saw him get angry. He was always a very solid, sound, logical kind of guy. It’s totally the last thing you'd ever expect to come out of Chris Benoit. I think that's why everyone's having such a hard time coming to terms with this.” Here is the link to the story: http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/2007/06/27/4293695-sun.html
The Daytona Beach News Journal wrote an article about Nancy Benoit’s early beginnings in pro wrestling. Here is the link: http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Local/newWEST01062707.htm
“Tough Enough” alumnus and concussion expert Chris Nowinski told the New York Times that he believes Benoit’s problems may be related to repeated brain injuries suffered as a wrestler. Kevin Sullivan, who is Nancy Benoit’s ex-husband, also weighs in with his thoughts. Here is the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/27/us/27wrestler.html?ref=usX:
Wrestlemag.com is reporting that Sky Sports in the United Kingdom will replace the Benoit tribute show that aired Monday night with a two-hour “RAW - Greatest Championships” telecast. The show also will air in mainland Europe, Australia and Japan.X: Fayette (Ga.) County District Attorney Scott Ballard told ABC News that it’s believed Daniel Benoit died in a chokehold. Here is the link: http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/Story?id=3320736&page=1
**www.wrestlingobserver.com
The Atlanta-Journal Constitution quoted people who knew the Benoits from outside the wrestling industry in its main story about the situation today. The newspaper also reveals that the DUI arrest Benoit had that Fayette (Ga.) County officials alluded to during a Tuesday news conference occurred in 1998 while he was working with WCW and before he was married to Nancy Benoit. Here is the link: http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/fayette/stories/2007/06/26/0627metbenoit.html
Debra Williams, the ex-wife of “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, felt compelled to speak out about the murder of Nancy and Daniel Benoit on the FOX 31 web site. “Domestic and drug abuse is out of hand in the WWE and something needs to be done about it,” said Williams, who claimed she saw Austin personally use steroids. “If only I had spoken up sooner, maybe Nancy and her little boy would be alive today ... That's why I'm going public now. Something has to change!” The victim of domestic violence by Austin in 2002 – which is the last year she worked for WWE -- Williams said she filed for a restraining order after a third incident between the two. Williams said Austin later forced her to write a letter to the courts asking the order be repealed. In turn, she consented to a gag order about the situation. The link to the story can be found here: http://www.myfoxcolorado.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=3607731&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1
Two wrestling fans emailed from Australia to say that Monday Night Raw, which airs at 3:30 p.m. every Wednesday on FOX8, would not air today and instead replaced by an episode of Jerry Springer.
The Corpus Christi Caller Times has an interesting story about the cancellation and rescheduling of this week’s Monday Night Raw as well as an early run on merchandise after news of his death (sans the gruesome details) began to surface. Here is the link: http://www.caller.com/news/2007/jun/27/wwe-event-is-rescheduled-locally-for-july-16/
Sports Illustrated reported about the link between Benoit and a Florida-based company accused of dealing steroids and human growth hormone. Here is the link: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/more/06/26/benoitcase/
Bret Hart once again weighed in on the Benoit murder/suicide in the Calgary Sun. “I can't begin to even understand what could drive somebody to do this,” said Hart, whose family helped train Benoit to become a pro wrestler. “The sad thing about it is I never saw Chris lose his composure and I never saw him get angry. He was always a very solid, sound, logical kind of guy. It’s totally the last thing you'd ever expect to come out of Chris Benoit. I think that's why everyone's having such a hard time coming to terms with this.” Here is the link to the story: http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/2007/06/27/4293695-sun.html
The Daytona Beach News Journal wrote an article about Nancy Benoit’s early beginnings in pro wrestling. Here is the link: http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Local/newWEST01062707.htm
“Tough Enough” alumnus and concussion expert Chris Nowinski told the New York Times that he believes Benoit’s problems may be related to repeated brain injuries suffered as a wrestler. Kevin Sullivan, who is Nancy Benoit’s ex-husband, also weighs in with his thoughts. Here is the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/27/us/27wrestler.html?ref=usX:
Wrestlemag.com is reporting that Sky Sports in the United Kingdom will replace the Benoit tribute show that aired Monday night with a two-hour “RAW - Greatest Championships” telecast. The show also will air in mainland Europe, Australia and Japan.X: Fayette (Ga.) County District Attorney Scott Ballard told ABC News that it’s believed Daniel Benoit died in a chokehold. Here is the link: http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/Story?id=3320736&page=1
**www.wrestlingobserver.com
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