WWE Superstar & family found dead

[BetteDavisEyes]

WWE Firing back against allegations that roid rage caused deaths


I have to agree with the WWE on this one. To me, the binding of the feet and hands as well as the time lapse between the deaths suggests deliberation on his part which just makes it that much harder to fathom.

[mu_agd]

I just read this on espn.com:

In an interview with ESPN.com on Tuesday, Ballard indicated that the boy had needle marks in his arms. The district attorney said he believed that the boy had been given growth hormones for some time because the family considered him undersized.

If this is true, that is seriously messed up.

[BetteDavisEyes]

The details get weirder and sicker.

Needle marks found on the son? WTF?!? Giving him growth hormones b/c they thought he was undersized?


Vince McMahon will apologize on the ECW show tonight for the tribute that aired.

[JonInKC]

Vince McMahon will apologize on the ECW show tonight for the tribute that aired.[/QUOTE]


I'm watching ECW now. Vince said something at the beginning to the effect of ...in light of the news that has come about there will be no more mention of Benoit tonight so that the healing process can begin.

[BetteDavisEyes]

The contents of his text messages have been released

He used his phone and his wife's phone to tell people know where to find them.


WWE will no longer honor Chris Benoit and will continue to perform as they always do

[jitterbug13]

I haven't watch wrestling in years but me thinks WWE is trying their best to cover this thing up.

[BetteDavisEyes]

Timeline of events


I don't think they're trying to cover it up so much as do damage control b/c they are definitely being skewered in the media. They are deflecting the attention off of themselves and onto Chris himself b/c ultimately, they didn't do anything. HE was the one who snapped, murdered his wife & son, and then killed himself.

[_Lisa_]

I just wish that WWE had waited to air the special on Chris Benoit until more information was known.

[DaemonSeid]

Originally Posted by BetteDavisEyes

The contents of his text messages have been released

He used his phone and his wife's phone to tell people know where to find them.


WWE will no longer honor Chris Benoit and will continue to perform as they always do

see...now here is the question....ok you choose not to honor him...but how does anyone know what kind of stress he was undergoing from work that drove him to doing what he did?

Face it, this is a circus that travels all over the world and they perform everyday and have at least 2 big events MONTHLY and these guys are expected to perfrom these feats that defy human nature...sure most of this is 'fake' but it's not everyday a guy has to be able to lift someone 200+ pounds on a weekly basis for 52 weeks a year....so...ok maybe I am playing devil's advocate and yes what he did was wrong but come on....someone should at least try to find out what drove him to doing this.....hey...the WWE has not been known to foster healthy relationships:

Steve Austin was beating up on his wife Debra Marshall (who was also married to another wrestler Steve McMichael )

Rick Flair's 2nd wife left him because of steroid and alcohol abuse as well as physical abuse


Randy Savage was married to Miss Elizabeth who divorced him over abuse allegations (this is true folks) and wound up dating Lex Luger who ALSO physically abused her and she later died of an accidental O.D.


There are many more...so it will be interesting to find out what comes of this...if anything.

[CrimsonTide4]

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

see...now here is the question....ok you choose not to honor him...but how does anyone know what kind of stress he was undergoing from work that drove him to doing what he did?

Face it, this is a circus that travels all over the world and they perform everyday and have at least 2 big events MONTHLY and these guys are expected to perfrom these feats that defy human nature...sure most of this is 'fake' but it's not everyday a guy has to be able to lift someone 200+ pounds on a weekly basis for 52 weeks a year....so...ok maybe I am playing devil's advocate and yes what he did was wrong but come on....someone should at least try to find out what drove him to doing this.....hey...the WWE has not been known to foster healthy relationships:

Steve Austin was beating up on his wife Debra Marshall (who was also married to another wrestler Steve McMichael )

Rick Flair's 2nd wife left him because of steroid and alcohol abuse as well as physical abuse


Randy Savage was married to Miss Elizabeth who divorced him over abuse allegations (this is true folks) and wound up dating Lex Luger who ALSO physically abused her and she later died of an accidental O.D.


There are many more...so it will be interesting to find out what comes of this...if anything.

I remember all three of those instances and I am sure there are many more. I believe since Benoit's is so public with well documented information about his wife's and son's deaths, that this will cause a probe and hopefully some sort of help for WWE wrestlers on problem solving, decision making, etc.

I was never a Benoit fan(but I didn't despise him), more into the Rock, Hulk Hogan, and a few others, but he always appeared off to me. Maybe it was the missing tooth.

[DaemonSeid]

Originally Posted by BetteDavisEyes

WWE will no longer honor Chris Benoit and will continue to perform as they always do

^^^^^

How verifiable is the site? I missed ECW last night and I don't see this mentioned on the wwe.com site....will keep looking tho


can I ask another question....the prelim reports show no sign of of a struggle...so how did he manage to kill them both and they didn't know?

[AlphaFrog]

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

How verifiable is the site? I missed ECW last night and I don't see this mentioned on the wwe.com site....will keep looking tho

I saw ECW...that's what he said. WWE.com is not mentioning it because a)they don't want that kind of publicity and b)to respect the family.

ETA: I just re-checked their site, and they put up a CYA timeline - telling everyone what info they had when, so that people realized that the decision was made before they had many facts.

[_Lisa_]

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

can I ask another question....the prelim reports show no sign of of a struggle...so how did he manage to kill them both and they didn't know?

They did say there was a possible sign of struggle with his wife:

Originally Posted by SI.Com

...Benoit's 43-year-old wife was killed Friday in an upstairs family room, and her feet and wrists were bound and there was blood under her head, indicating a possible struggle.

And they said they found his son in bed, so I'm assuming he was asleep when Benoit suffocated him.

[moe.ron]

Good article on other death in the wrestling world.

Benoit tragedy not the only one
Kevin Hench

Professional wrestling is fake.

The carnage it has left in its wake is not.
Add Chris Benoit to the long list of freakishly muscled carnival attractions for whom a pro wrestling career ended tragically.

Toxicology results are pending and Benoit may well have been battling deeper, more primal personal demons when he reportedly killed his wife and son before taking his own life, but only the most naïve observer could ignore the overwhelming evidence that most wrestlers who look like Benoit have undergone countless cycles of chemical enhancement.

The prescription anabolic steroids found at Benoit's home have long been known to contribute to paranoia, depression and the violent outbursts we've come to know as "roid rage." Couple that with the near-compulsory painkillers a wrestler must take to do his job effectively after enduring countless body slams and you have a cocktail for massive, mind-altering mood swings.

The Benoit story is the latest and most tragic installment in an ongoing saga that the men who get rich promoting professional wrestling would prefer their fans didn't know too much about.

Vince McMahon wants you to think about the stars of today and tomorrow, not the cemetery of steroid-fueled bodies his "sport" has helped put in the ground. But on the grim occasion of the deaths of Nancy and Daniel and Chris Benoit, let's remember some of the other pro wrestlers who died before their time.


Ravishing Rick Rude — Died at 40 of an apparent heart attack in 1999, a bottle of prescription pills for his bad back at his side. The autopsy report said he died of "mixed medications." Rude was an admitted user of anabolic steroids.

Louis Mucciolo, a.k.a, Louie Spicolli — Died in 1998 at age 27 when he suffocated on his own vomit after ingesting massive amounts of Soma and alcohol. Investigators also found an empty vial of testosterone, pain pills and an anti-anxiety drug at the scene.

Brian Pillman — An admitted user of steroids, he died of a heart attack at age 35 in 1997 on the morning of WWF's In Your House: Badd Blood pay-per-view event.

Rick "the Renegade" Williams — Died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at age 33 after being released from his World Championship Wrestling contract in 1999.

"Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig — Found dead of a cocaine overdose at age 44 in his motel room on April 10, 2003, the morning of a match. Hennig's father maintained that steroids and painkillers contributed to his death.

Rodney "Yokozuna" Anoa'i — Died of a heart attack in 2002 at 34.

Davey Boy Smith, "The British Bulldog" — Died of a heart attack at age 39 on May 17, 2002. An autopsy report indicated that past steroid use had likely played a part in his death.

Michael "Road Warrior Hawk" Hegstrand — An admitted steroid user, he died of a heart attack at age 46 in 2003.

Michael Lockwood, "Crash Holly" — In 2003, at the age of 32, he choked to death on his own vomit after ingesting 90 painkiller pills.

Jerry Tuite, "The Wall" a.k.a. "Malice" — Died at age 36 in 2003 of an apparent heart attack in his hotel room.

Raymond "Hercules" Hernandez — Dead of heart failure in 2004 at age 47.

Ray "The Big Boss Man" Traylor — Found dead of a heart attack in 2004 at age 42.

Eddie Guerrero — After a long battle with painkillers, he was found dead of a heart attack by his nephew in his hotel room at age 38. The first person his nephew reportedly called was Guerrero's best friend, Chris Benoit.

Chris Candido — Died in 2005 at age 33 from a blood clot after breaking his tibia and fibula and dislocating his ankle in a pay-per-view event.

Owen Hart — Fell to his death at age 34 in 1999 when the rigging that was lowering him into the ring malfunctioned.
And then there's the story of the Von Erich wrestling family.

Wrestling patriarch Fritz Von Erich, nee Jack Adkisson, had five wrestling sons: Kevin, David, Kerry, Mike and Chris.

David died in a hotel room in Tokyo at the age of 25 in 1984 just as he was embarking on a three-week pro wrestling tour of Japan. The official cause of death was acute enteritis, severe inflammation of the intestines.

Three years later, Mike committed suicide by overdosing on the tranquilizer Placidyl at the age of 23. After David's death, Mike had suffered a series of setbacks including a serious shoulder injury that had left him severely depressed.

Devastated by the deaths of his older brothers and frustrated by his own limitations as a wrestler, the youngest and smallest brother, Chris, shot himself to death at the age of 21 in 1991.

Two years later, Kerry, who had battled a long addiction to painkillers, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the age of 33, leaving eldest brother Kevin as the only survivor of the sport that had defined his family.

And now Chris Benoit, his wife and son have been added to the long, unbearably sad list of victims claimed, in part, by the brutal chemical calculus that is professional wrestling.

There is no arguing that the physical capabilities of these massive men can provide awesome theater. When Hulk Hogan lifted the 500-pound Andre the Giant and dropped him to the canvas, it was legitimately hugely thrilling.

But keep in mind there is a price these impossibly engorged specimens are paying for your entertainment.

And the price for many of them is their very lives.

[Lady Pi Phi]

Originally Posted by BetteDavisEyes

WWE Firing back against allegations that roid rage caused deaths


I have to agree with the WWE on this one. To me, the binding of the feet and hands as well as the time lapse between the deaths suggests deliberation on his part which just makes it that much harder to fathom.

I find it a little strange that the WWE is so adament about these deaths not being the cause of "'roid rage". If I were Vince I would be hoping for something like this rather than saying "yep, it wasn't the steroids, I employed someone who was a genuine psychopath".

If it wasn't steroids, ok, but if it was because he was #$&%ed in the head, I don't think I would be posting continuous updates, and now he is supposedly apologizing for the tribute that was aired...this whole situation is totally messed up.