Chris Benoit died a year ago on June 25. I wasn't part of this board when this happened and it amazes me that no one made a post or a thread about this important anniversary (not that I could see, anyway). Whether you are pro-Benoit or lost respect for him after his death and that of his family, this event was a very important one in pro-wrestling history, and I think we will find that five or ten years in the future this will be remembered as one of the defining moments of the industry.

I don't have time to write my thoughts on the situation right now, but I will. I should tell you right now that I am a supporter of Benoit and I strongly believe that he was grossly mistreated by the media and the promotion he called home for so many years of his life. While I certainly don't think what he did was right, I strongly believe that the Benoit that killed himself and his family was not the same Benoit that his friends and family knew (I get this impression from every interview I've ever heard of Chris Jericho's, his father's and other co-workers and friends'). I was wondering what all of you thought of the Benoit situation and how it has affected wrestling as a whole and the WWE in the past year.

BTW, I put this under "General Wrestling" because it seems wrong to me to put this under WWE, seeing as how the WWE wants nothing to do with Benoit now, despite his achievements, sacrifices and influence.

It sucks to me that the whole thing happened. But, what can you do?

In case no one noticed, McMahan had his latest "accident" on the eve of the Benoit tragedy. Talk about bad taste!

I was a real Chris Benoit fan. I still have trouble trying to understand how anyone could be so evil and no one could see it. I do not believe that drugs or an elderly form of dementia were the cause, although either or both could have accelerated whatever was going on inside his head.

I am sorry for the Benoits and their families but I do not agree with WWE simply trying to make him disappear. He was a great wrestler and no one can argue with that and he does have living children who have to suffer with the knowledge of what their father did.

Honestly, as goofy as it is considering it's basically about me liking wrestling......the Benoit thing was the straw that broke the camel's back for me. I had always been what I would consider a "hardcore" wrestling fan since I was extremely young. But I do have to say that since the Benoit tragedy happened, my interest has increasingly died down.

Benoit was always MY guy. Being a fan of Dynamite Kid I think anyone could understand why. But I remember seeing pretty much Benoit come up as a wrestler. I remember his first stint in WCW in the early 90's. I remember him wrestling in ECW and watching him on some tapes that my and my friends got our hands on in about 95-96 with some of his worldly work. I remember going apeshit finding an RF Video best of Benoit tape at an ECW show I attended in 96. I remember going nuts everytime he won a title because in my mind we as fans would reap the benefits. I also remember how horrible I felt the night that I found out he died, prior to knowing the circumstances.

I also remember how I felt watching all of the TV coverage of what "really" happened.

Although I do agree that Benoit is easily one of if not the greatest wrestler of all time, but at the same time I can also see why the WWE is trying to distance themselves from him and his career.

I'm with you, DK. Ever since Benoit died, it's been hard for me to get into wrestling. It's only been for the past month or so that I've actually watched RAW again. I haven't been able to watch Impact for about 3 months solid after fading in and out for awhile. Benoit's death took the joy out of watching wrestling for me for about a year. The only joy I've got from wrestling (up until last night) came from refereeing.

I had a lot of rage against McMahon after Benoit and in a way I still do. He knows damn good and well that those guys use drugs to get their bodies in the shape HE wants them to be in.

WWE is now and has been since Vince took over a money making machine. It's great to make money but there should also be a human side to owning a business where bodies are on the line. I don't think Vince has a human side.

I first saw Benoit on Prime Sports Network in early 1995, around 12:30am one night, when ECW was on. I thought he had a terrible ring name, stupid trunks with a star, and an awful mullet...but I loved the way he and Dean Malenko operated as a tag team. When I caught Nitro in the fall of 1995, I was pleasantly surprised to see than Benoit and Malenko were there, along with Eddie Guererro. Even more thrilled that Benoit was a Horseman.

Toss in those three "new" guys whom I followed, add the oldies I followed in the 80s, and I was suddenly a rasslin' fan again after a three or four year absence. Benoit wasn't the sole reason I became a fan again, but he was part of it.

Considering WWF/WWE still airs footage of sex offenders, murderers and other questionable characters, it's quite contradictory that they think they're taking a hard line by editing out Benoit (although he does appear in Horseman group segments on 24/7's Nitro episodes).

I think my joy for modern wrestling probably died when Shane McMahon walked into Nitro and the show ended with a promo for a Kane/Undertaker match.

I have a WWE DVD (I only own two) and one of them has Benoit in a ladder match. My daughter bought the DVD for me well before the Benoit tragedy. I watched in again shortly after I discovered WWE was editing Benoit out of everything and couldn't believe the number of times he used that flying head butt in one match. I started paying closer attention to how many times a wrestler takes hard hits to the skull after that.

Wrestling has been shit ever since the WCW folded. I can only watch "the oldies" nowadays.

Here's my take. It's long, just so you know.

Benoit was and still is one of my favourite wrestlers of all time. I have always had a soft spot for Canadian wrestlers whether they were good or not simply because I am Canadian and I love all things Canadian. Benoit, however, was not only Canadian, but from my home province of Alberta and grew up only an hour and a half away from where I did. He was also damn good in the ring and his character always seemed to highlight the best of his strengths (talent, intensity) and make you forget about his weaknesses (size (according to the McMahon standard), mic skills).

As I sat back and watched the interviews of his friends and family after the tragedy happened, I got the impression that the Benoit that killed himself and his family was not the same Benoit that everyone knew and loved. Chris Jericho for one said this in different words over and over in every interview he did. As the whole story unfolded it seemed to me that this was a tragedy that could have been avoided but at the same time could not have. It's no doubt that the culture and lifestyle of professional wrestling played a huge part in this with the steroid use and the crazy schedule that makes it almost impossible for someone to take time off. It's also clear that Benoit himself, being quiet and keeping to himself, also let this happen by not asking for help or demanding time off.

When Benoit died, I also lost interest in wrestling for a little while. Since his death, I can't watch WWE programming anymore, instead I turned to TNA (which luckily proved to be quite entertaining in my opinion). I am so sickened by the way Vince McMahon treated Benoit, erasing him from the WWE's history and taking back a statement of condolence to the family. That's low, I don't care how horrible a crime Benoit committed. The wrestling world lost a pioneer, an influence and a damn good wrestler; by all accounts a stand up guy that wanted nothing more than to serve the company that made him a name even when some of his fans thought he would be much better off without the WWE. Yes, Benoit did a terrible thing and I certainly do not mean to sugar coat the grossness of the situation, but I think that it is a great disservice to Benoit that he will forever be remembered in the history books by of the last weekend of his life instead of the 40 years of a good life he lived before that.

I was trying to find the quote that Raine Maida of Our Lady Peace, who did Benoit's entrance music, "Whatever," after he heard of Benoit's death (Our Lady Peace also happens to be my favourite band of all time and I consider Raine Maida to be a Canadian lyrical genius, but I digress), but I couldn't seem to find it. However, it went something like this: When Raine first met Benoit and Benoit asked the band to write an entrance song for him, Raine was at first unsure about having his name attached to this violent sport. However, when Benoit sat down with Raine and explained to him that wrestlers and rock stars (what with their crazy schedules and culture of drugs, alcohol and other abuses) are not that different and that wrestling for Benoit was not about violence but about athleticism and entertaining the fans, Raine was persuaded. When Raine heard about the Benoit tragedy he was saddened for the surprisingly quiet and intelligent man that he only had one occasion to meet and hoped that he would be remembered for his achievements in the sport rather than the sad and unfortunate circumstances that led to this tragedy.

Raine basically said exactly what I think. Unfortunately, Benoit won't be remembered for his achievements and this is in large part due to the WWE refusing to acknowledge Benoit.

As for the influence this tragedy has had on the professional wrestling world, I think the industry missed a big opportunity to change it's ways, just like they missed the same opportunity when Eddie Guerrero died. Instead of using this as a learning experience and changing policy and taking a long hard look at themselves, the WWE just swept it under the rug and counted it as another unfortunate but inevitable loss.

Anyway, I feel that I'm rambling now, so I'm going to stop.

Naw, it's good ramblin'... well stated, Jillie.

I agree that his entire life should overshadow his final weekend. There are questionable circumstances regarding Jimmy Snuka and his dead girlfriend, yet he still receives royal treatment from the WWE.

I was a little ticked when folks asked me to put up some sort of memorial image of Benoit on Da' Site, when the news broke...then said something like: "get that fucking image of Benoit off of there", about 24 hours later. Primary reason I don't like to post news, rumors or speculation (I've even cut out some of that stuff at the beginning of a few submitted recaps).

Different topic: I remember talking to a random 12 year old kid, somewhere. Maybe at the magazine aisle in the grocery store, or at a sporting event. He was confused about Benoit's "death" and couldn't figure out how it was different from "Mr. McMahon's death". I felt sad of his innocence, yet somewhat envious.

EDIT: Just so ya' know...I do NOT make a habit of talking to random 12 year old kids. You sickos!

You guys know what hurt me the most about the Benoit stuff?

For years I always looked at him as someone who was in the "right" of the business. Strictly old school, cared about the "sport" and it's history, and conducted himself in the correct manner IMO. That was what Benoit's legacy in the sport would have been. One of the best in ring performers who never made the business look bad....EVER.

But after the incident, that was all shot to hell. Sure I know the guy busted his ass night in and night out, supported his family, and gave everything he had in the ring. But at the end of the day because of his own actions he killed his family and his entire legacy. That saddened the hell out of me.

Although I clearly see why people have the opinion that Vince is a scumbag for knowing all of this is going on behind his back, but at the end of the day we all make our own choices and should be accountable for our own actions.

I will never say that Benoit was not responsible for his own actions -- he was.

We read about what Benoit did every day of the week all over the world but somehow it is different when it is someone that you never thought could do that and you start to wonder who else you know that might have that capability. It scares the hell out of you.

My step Grandfather was murdered when I was very young. My Grandfather died before I was born and I considered my step Grandfather my Grandfather. It wasn't just a sudden death and it wasn't an accident and you never forget that someone took his life.

What I felt was not for Chris Benoit or Nancy Benoit or even their son. It was over for them. I felt for the parents and the siblings of the Benoits. I still wonder how Benoit's parents can wake up every morning and feel the guilt they must feel (because as a parent you can't help but feel guilt) for what Benoit did. And how Benoit's children must feel knowing that their father was capable of that kind of violence.

Chris Benoit was a great wrestler who turned into a murderer. I don't believe there is any relationship between the two. It happened to Benoit as it has happened to other humans. It does not take away from what he did in the ring and we will always appreciate the wrestler, but we certainly will never idolize the man.

I feel most for Benoit's surviving kids, actually. While Eddie Guerrero's daughters will grow up knowing their father was a great wrestler and a great man, appreciated by everyone he worked with and was able to overcome some huge obstacles, Benoit's surviving son and daughter (from his pre-Nancy marriage) will have to suffer with constantly hearing how their father is a monster and a terrible man.

I also agree that Benoit was responsible for his actions. Actually, no, let me rephrase that. I don't think he was aware of what he was doing on that fateful weekend. It seems to me that he had lost his mind by then. However, he did have the responsibility to look after himself and his health well before it got to that point.

I must also add here that after Benoit died I really felt that Angle was the next one to go. Luckily, he got out of the WWE and his health and wellbeing seems to be much better now with a lighter TNA schedule. True, he's been injured twice since he's been there, but he's also been allowed to take the time off he needs to get better.

Angle's a fucking mess. He's been busted for DUI recently as well.

:lol:

Have you seen what he has to go home to? :rolleyes:

THAT could explain a lot...