Benoit: 1 Year On

flahavaj

How do people feel about Benoit one year on from his death and that of his family? Can you watch footage of Benoit in his prime and appreciate him for the masterful worker that he was, or has his final act soured your opinion of him forever. Should WWE continue to ignore him like he never existed or is it time for them to acknowledge the fact that while he was a murderer, he also played a more than significant part in their product for a sustained period over the last decade?

My own take on it is this: I've gotten to the stage where I can completely separate my opinion of Benoit as a person from my opinion of him as a wrestler.

I've long held the opinion that as a pure in ring worker, Benoit might just have been the greatest performer ever outside of Japan, better than Flair, Hart even Michaels. Before his death and the awful circumstances surrounding it I thought that he epitomized everything that was great about wrestling. He was the kind of wrestler that respected the past, who was without ego, who was steeped in the old school traditions of the dressing room, who worked with the same intensity whether he was wrestling a dark match or the Main Event of Wrestlemania, who saw the bull**** backstage politics of the wrestling business as a hindrance rather than a help in his rise to the top, he was respected as much by the casual fan as your most elitist of smarks and remains one of the few WWE champions ever to have gained a spot at the top of the card based purely on his phenomenal workrate.

With his final act however, he went from being a beacon of all that is good about wrestling , to being a symbol of the darker, scummier side of all that is wrong the business. For months after he died, it was hard, almost impossible for me to watch his matches without my thoughts drifting to the insanity that overtook him in his final days. How could I sit there and take pleasure from anything associated with a guy who could murder an innocent child in cold blood? It made no sense to me.

As the months wore on and as WWE continued to pretend he never existed and continued to edit him out of DVD releases and 24/7 footage, I began to ponder the increasing silliness of this attitude. Surely pretending the guy never existed at all doesn't erase the memory of his terrible act from the minds of pretty much anyone who knows anything about wrestling?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to excuse what the guy did. Killing your own child and the woman you love was probably the worst act imaginable and whether you blame the steroids, the insane amount of bumps he took, the business that exploited his willingness to take such bumps or a combination of all three, nothing will alter the fact that he was a murderer pure and simple. Equally, however keeping up a pretence that he never even existed is hardly a healthy way for WWE to ensure that such a thing could ever happen again and is just as short sighted as the people who must surely have seen the signs and did nothing.

And it so it came to the stage that rather than hating the guy, I came to pity him. I'm not even going to get into the reasons behind what he did, thats a deadhorse thats been beaten one too many times. What i DO realise is that there's nothing that wrong with watching his matches with a degree of admiration. It all comes down to being able to appreciate his work while at the same time realising that being a great wrestler but a flawed person CAN go hand in hand. It would be hypocritical to boycott Benoit but continue to immerse myself in watching the product of a business frequented by liars, backstabbers, cheats, drug pushers and God knows what else. Its not so much a case of judging Benoit as a person, but rather taking a long hard look at your prsonal interpretation of the whole affair and how much you're prepared to separate the reality of his act and the persona he portrayed in his career.

In fact thats the true irony of this whole thing, it was the fact that the man himself, Benoit, was no longer able to separate reality from the madness that engulfed him that opened this whole can of worms in the first place.

Christ that was much longer than i expected. I'm sure its bull**** to most people and I'll ship a whole load of flak for it, but so be it. Flame away kids.

rovert

Was waiting for this thread, last June seems like a lifetime ago doesnt it? Ivwe only recently watched a Benoit match. I dont think Ill ever watch his DVD documentary but I can seperate the man and his "art" to some degree. But I cant sit though the crossface without making the grizzly assocaition, similarly any shots of him rubbing his hands.

WWE should only mention Benoit only if neccessary, WWE markets to children and they shouldnt really be exposed to the events of last June for the sake of appeasing internet geeks who have all his matches anyway.

Fozzy

I don't think I've watched any Benoit matches in the last year apart from the Raw tribute show. In the beginning I just didn't want to see any. After that it wasn't an intentional effort, I just haven't really had any interest in watching any of his matches. Great wrestler for sure, but I'd get more enjoyment out of watching a good match by a less great wrestler now I think

I can't really fault WWE's stance on the issue now. It's a lot easier for them to distance themselves from Benoit than to try to defend themselves from people who'd accuse them of glorifying a murderer

One thing I have found is that a lot of fans find it easy to forget about Nancy and Daniel because they weren't the ones in the public eye. I have no doubt that if Nancy had been the murderer then fans would absolutely despise her and they would always be talking about how great Chris was. That was actually the first reaction of a lot of people when they heard it termed a "murder-suicide". But it seems that some people just don't consider Nancy and Daniel when they think about the situation and they can only focus on how Chris was so great and we should all still honour him and bull**** like that

michael.etc...

I agree with alot of your points. The guy contributed a crazy deal of positives to the wrestling business in terms of his output, and it would be a disservice to your own enjoyment of wrestling to ignore that. He was an absolutely sensational worker.

However, after reading Ring of Hell, it really has made me take a long hard look at what lengths are worth going to for the sake of your art. I think i'll always be able to appreciate his matches, but at the same time, never so naively as before.. if that makes any sense....

flahavaj

michael.etc... wrote: »

I agree with alot of your points. The guy contributed a crazy deal of positives to the wrestling business in terms of his output, and it would be a disservice to your own enjoyment of wrestling to ignore that. He was an absolutely sensational worker.

However, after reading Ring of Hell, it really has made me take a long hard look at what lengths are worth going to for the sake of your art. I think i'll always be able to appreciate his matches, but at the same time, never so naively as before.. if that makes any sense....

I've got that in order and I'm looking forward to reading it. Perhaps once I've read it I'll be forced to alter my opinion somewhat.

rovert

michael.etc... wrote: »

Ring of Hell

Opens can O' worms

michael.etc...

flahavaj wrote: »

It would be hypocritical to boycott Benoit but continue to immerse myself in watching the product of a business frequented by liars, backstabbers, cheats, drug pushers and God knows what else. Its not so much a case of judging Benoit as a person, but rather taking a long hard look at your prsonal interpretation of the whole affair and how much you're prepared to separate the reality of his act and the persona he portrayed in his career.

That's a pretty timely comment considering the book too. If much of what is written is to believed, the industry is absolutely rotten with despicable people, and it's no wonder an ill man like Benoit was able to degenerate into the state he was in.

Mossy Monk

I watch his DVD from time to time. Awesome wrestler regardless of what he did to his family.

jeffk

Where did people order ring of hell from?
Have it on amazon.co.uk works out around €16.50,dont know if that's cheap?

rovert

jeffk wrote: »

Where did people order ring of hell from?
Have it on amazon.co.uk works out around €16.50,dont know if that's cheap?

Id hand on heart recommend a amazon reseller called bookdepository

michael.etc...

I ordered it from Amazon for about 11 pound sterling, which isn't bad for a new hardback. And i think you can get it along with the Stampede book, for about 20, which is a steal because theyre both freaking great.

jeffk

rovert wrote: »

Id hand on heart recommend a amazon reseller called bookdepository

cheers rovert but there over a pound dearer and like with amazon you wont get ripped of as amazon control it.its not like some shoddy dealer on ebay.
Methinks ill wait and see if play get it and when more people on this forum have their say on it before i rush out and purchase it.

Cool_CM

jeffk wrote: »

cheers rovert but there over a pound dearer and like with amazon you wont get ripped of as amazon control it.its not like some shoddy dealer on ebay.
Methinks ill wait and see if play get it and when more people on this forum have their say on it before i rush out and purchase it.

Not true, I used to work with Amazon, Amazon control everything, even if you are dealing with a shoddy dealer you'll never get screwed for money because the payment has to go through amazon anyway, and can easily be reversed if a complaint is made.(Actually I remember being in training when the story broke this time last year and buying the action figures before they took them off the shelves.)
I was watching loads of stuff on youtube about Bret Hart recently and totally forgot about the match he had with Chris Benoit in the same arena that Owen died in. Was really weird watching the interviews with Benoit about it.
He was a great wrestler and I'll always remember the ladder match between himself and Jericho at the Royal Rumble 01 as one of the best matches I've seen, but watching him now can never be the same.

jeffk

Cool_CM wrote: »

Not true, I used to work with Amazon, Amazon control everything, even if you are dealing with a shoddy dealer you'll never get screwed for money because the payment has to go through amazon anyway, and can easily be reversed if a complaint is made.(Actually I remember being in training when the story broke this time last year and buying the action figures before they took them off the shelves.)
I was watching loads of stuff on youtube about Bret Hart recently and totally forgot about the match he had with Chris Benoit in the same arena that Owen died in. Was really weird watching the interviews with Benoit about it.
He was a great wrestler and I'll always remember the ladder match between himself and Jericho at the Royal Rumble 01 as one of the best matches I've seen, but watching him now can never be the same.

Ill keep that in mind thanks, I don't wanna go of subject anymore

Minto

I was originally going to save this for the podcast, but frankly, I've better things to rant about than a child-killer! Thats all Benoit is to me. Ever since last June, and as Rovert said, it feels like a lifetime ago, I've thought a lot about weather the Benoit who choked his wife and child was the same person who had performed in front of the people when he did what he did.

After months and months of thinking about it, I've decided he WAS the same person. If I turned around tomorrow and killed my wife and child, people wouldn't say oh well, he was still great at what he did, the Minto we knew would never do what he did! It'd be more like rot in hell you sick bastard, so to Chris Benoit I say, you were a coward to kill your wife, a sick, sick man coward to "mercy kill" your son and you were a coward to avoid the judgment of a court by killing yourself!

Chris Benoit should never be inducted into any Hall of Fame and WWE are 100% right to erase his memory. I know a lot of you out there would disagree with what I've said, but hey thats life!

Vince135792003

It's hard to believe it was only 12 months ago. It feels a lot longer than that.

I watched one Benoit match since the whole thing. The day the results of the scan they did on a piece of his brain, I watched the Angle/Benoit cage match which was at a time when he was really pushing himself to the limit and not long after was out with neck surgery.

I can't look passed what he did and appreciate what he did in the ring.

In terms of feeling angry, or sad or whatever towards Benoit after reading all the reports and watching the documentaries from the US on him, I don't feel anything anymore. I do feel very sorry for the families.

I'm going to pick up the Ring of Hell book too.

fatal

For anyone looking to pick up "Ring of Hell",its 15 euro's delivered on book depository.The link is:

http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/WEBSITE/WWW/WEBPAGES/showbook.php?id=1597775797

Minto

I'm getting really tempted to buy this book. I normally stay well clear of these kinda books, but this one kinda appeals to me.

fatal

Minto wrote: »

I'm getting really tempted to buy this book. I normally stay well clear of these kinda books, but this one kinda appeals to me.

The book has received good reviews

HBK

Minto wrote: »

I was originally going to save this for the podcast, but frankly, I've better things to rant about than a child-killer! Thats all Benoit is to me. Ever since last June, and as Rovert said, it feels like a lifetime ago, I've thought a lot about weather the Benoit who choked his wife and child was the same person who had performed in front of the people when he did what he did.

After months and months of thinking about it, I've decided he WAS the same person. If I turned around tomorrow and killed my wife and child, people wouldn't say oh well, he was still great at what he did, the Minto we knew would never do what he did! It'd be more like rot in hell you sick bastard, so to Chris Benoit I say, you were a coward to kill your wife, a sick, sick man coward to "mercy kill" your son and you were a coward to avoid the judgment of a court by killing yourself!

Chris Benoit should never be inducted into any Hall of Fame and WWE are 100% right to erase his memory. I know a lot of you out there would disagree with what I've said, but hey thats life!

Agreed!!!

Mr.Nice Guy

flahavaj wrote: »

How do people feel about Benoit one year on from his death and that of his family?

I think it was a ghastly, cowardly and sick act and I still feel quite dsiturbed about it. I mean, how do you rationalise something so appalling? If he'd just taken his own life he'd be revered right now which is itself a bit weird but anyway...I can't really stomach the guy. I was one of his biggest fans and held hopes of seeing him wrestle live. His moment with Eddie at WM20 was one of my favourite wrestling moments. Many of his matches were major favourites of mine. Now it's all just tainted.

flahavaj wrote:

Can you watch footage of Benoit in his prime and appreciate him for the masterful worker that he was, or has his final act soured your opinion of him forever.

Personally, I can't. I know this is a debate amongst many wrestling fans and some feel thay are able to, but I can't see myself sitting down and enjoying his matches seeing as in the back of my mind I'll know and remember what he did. Everything's just so tainted now.

flahavaj wrote:

Should WWE continue to ignore him like he never existed or is it time for them to acknowledge the fact that while he was a murderer, he also played a more than significant part in their product for a sustained period over the last decade?

In my view, no. They gear themselves towards so many young people so I don't see how or why they would acknowledge him considering what terrible things he did. He was a sure-fire Hall of Famer and legend but now he will forever be known as a disgrace and I feel it is a fitting enough turn of events for what he did.

RebelRockChick

Can't believe it's a year since this happened. I remember watching the PPV and commentators saying that Benoit was not at the show because of a family emergency. Who would of thought what came out in the media the days that followed.

While I have lost respect for him as a person over the tragic event, I still respect his work in the business over the years. He was such a talent. Obviously there is a difference between a character seen on tv week after week and how someone lives their personal life, I can separate the two, but the industry is bound to have some effect on your personal life, not that i'm making excuses.

I can still watch his matches and appreciate him as a professional wrestler, but I can see why WWE are erasing him from previous recordings, and how he will never be inducted into the HOF anything, as many will only remember him because of his last actions.

Personally, I believe Benoit was an amazing wrestler and easily one of the best. Lets not kid ourselves, he was never the most entertaining thing on TV, but when he was just wrestling (which is essentially all he did anyway) he was great.


I have no problem whatsoever differentiating between Benoit the wrestler and Benoit the man.

The only difficulty comes because he used his real name in the ring. If it were Triple H it'd be easier. Cos then you could seperate them (eg: Triple H was awesome, but Paul sucked, etc.).


As for Benoit the person... I never hung around with him. We were never close friends. I never helped him design his tights, we never sat down and had a conversation together... Yep... I, like everyone here, did not know Benoit. Therefore, I don't really care what he did in his spare time.

Has it directly affected me? No.

Has it affected the product i enjoy? No.

The only difference between now and last year, is that there was an extra man on the roster. Do I miss his matches? Sure. Who doesn't?


Fact of the matter is when Benoit was on my TV he was wrestling. I like wrestling, so it is in my interest to watch him wrestle and see him do his stuff in the ring. When he left my TV, he pretty much left my mind, and made space for Booker T or Kane or whomever was going to come out next. I didn't know Benoit personally, so i really don't care what he did.

Kane is my favourite wrestler. So, if i find out tomorrow that Kane was found dead in a public toilet with three prostitutes, one of whom he strangled to death and they all died on a big cocaine overdose... will i hate Kane?

No. Kane is a burned, evil monster that wrestles for my entertainment. And I don't know Glen Jacobs, so i really don't care what he does. Will I miss his matches? Sure. But thats about it.


I cant have some huge resentment for a wrestler. Where does that fit in in daily life? I can't stand around all day expressing my hatred for John Cena or wishing a career-ending injury on Triple H cos he plays politics.



They wrestle either way. Benoit wrestled and he did a damn good job of it. And i respect him for that. I'm a huge wrestling fan, so I do miss him being around. Like anyone else, when he is on your TV screen for so long, you just get use to him being there.


As for WWE and 'that book'. WWE understandably don't want to promote Benoit. But I think it was a scumbag-y move to present a tribute show, only to start the following nights show (ECW) by pretty much saying "we're sorry we did that". Benoit didn't do a reality show on WWE. He wrestled and he did a good job of it and should be respected and remembered for it. Erasing him from Ric Flair's Hall of Fame speech is ridiculous. Trying to pretend he doesn't exist is just embarrassing. You don't have to make a DVD on him to "See what happened before benoit murdered his family, with 3 hours of extra features, you'll be killing for more", but you don't have to pretend he was never there in the first place. Just let it be. I wonder if his Main Event World title match against Randy Orton will remain intact on the Summer Slam anthology? Or will Orton be wrestling against a big blur? Its just silly.


As for the book. From Vince being a cocaine-addicted racist to Arn Anderson tricking women into bed.. the whole book just seems like some fan trying to say anything and everything bad about wrestling so he can cash in on it. I wouldn't buy the book and I wouldn't waste my time reading it.






... But hey... Isn't that why we all have our own opinions?




*EDIT*


Wow.. no one used an emoticon yet :eek:

Vince135792003

Deleted User wrote: »

As for WWE and 'that book'. WWE understandably don't want to promote Benoit. But I think it was a scumbag-y move to present a tribute show, only to start the following nights show (ECW) by pretty much saying "we're sorry we did that". Benoit didn't do a reality show on WWE. He wrestled and he did a good job of it and should be respected and remembered for it.

Leaving aside when the WWE knew precisely what happened, you believe that they were wrong to announce that they regretted doing the tribute show? They had to.


You can look at it clinically I guess. Wrestling is a product. It's about people playing characters and you've got to separate the character from the person.

That's not what drew me to wrestling though. The wrestlers I loved were the ones that incorporated aspects of themselves into their characters making me feel like I knew them even though I didn't really, resulting in me rooting for them even more like Eddie Guerrero, Flair, Foley etc..

So when Chris Benoit did what he did, he killed in me the image of the kind of guy I thought he was. It sounds stupid but that's how I used to look at wrestling.

I could go on and on but I'm not sure I am making total sense. It's hard to explain.

Bubs101

ShawnRaven

Mossy Monk wrote: »

I watch his DVD from time to time. Awesome wrestler regardless of what he did to his family.

My sentiments exactly. I'll still watch his matches. He didn't do anything to me or my family!

Anyways, do the radio and TV stop playing Phil Spector produced and written songs despite the fact that he's a murdered. No, they don't.

Do i condone what he did? Do i understand why he did it. F*ck no, but i'd rather watch a Benoit compilation of matches than watch Friday Night Smackdown these days. For me, that's the long and the short of it.

VR!

gimmick

While in no way should Benoits last actions ever be admonished, he was no longer a properly functioning human being.

From seeing the 5th Estate show on CNN where there was some pretty interesting testimonies from the likes of Chris Nowinski shows that Benoits head was a sieve and really should have received proper medical care long ago. Again, thats not to forgive Benoit, as he knew better than anyone else the amount of gas and pain killers he was introducing into his body on a daily basis. he should have known better and known when to stop. Afterall, he supposedly based his wrestling career on The Dynamite Kid. He wanted to emulate him in the ring, not out of it. He should have known when enough was enough.

But that leads to the other side of this as well. Why do WWE not provide adequate testing regularly to its performers? It happens in all legit sports (La Puertas death for Sevilla slipped under the radar of a medical exam not long before his tragic death). if proper head exams were provided, which they bloody well should given the amount of head traumas the wrestlers would suffer weekly/monthly, Benoit would have been a prime example of someone who should not, under any circumstances, be allowed continue wrestling and should have been put under proper doctors orders. WWE are very responsible for what happened.

Again this is not forgiving or understanding etc what happened. But that is a long over with argument.

Re the question of the thread, well I actually watched Hard Knocks over the weekend. It was weird seeing this smiley happy guy where people were telling all these heartwarming stories about a man they all obviously loved. It was stranger knowing what was to come to pass in June 2007. It tugged at the heart a tad seeing Nancy and Daniel in the ring after his WMXX moment.

The question I asked myself after watching it (and it is actually rubbish), was can i watch the extras and finally finish watching Super J Cup 1994 etc and I thought why not. People watch OJ Simpson in the Naked Gun and laugh, a movie made before his alleged "indiscretions", and we all know what happened there.

The whole WWE ignoring he ever existed is also damn stupid. Its like they seem to think that by going down the ostrich route nothing like this can ever happen again. By acknowledging what happened would surely be a step to showing that they actually do care for their performers and families by showing that they can take measures to stop anything like this ever happening again. However, he should never be inducted into the Hall Of Fame. That would be an insult to the family of his death wife and innocent child.

Benoit was a great wrestler. I will watch his matches, but certainly won't admire the man he ended up being.

Jimmy McMurtry

It doesnt seem like a yr has gone by seems longer for some reason, I can stil watch his matchs bt cant help tinkn durin dem wat happend

Mossy Monk

What school did you go to Jimmy McMurtry?

Bubs101

Mossy Monk wrote: »

What school did you go to Jimmy McMurtry?

School of Hard knocks;)

Mossy Monk

Mossy Monk wrote: »

What school did you go to Jimmy McMurtry?

Don't be an ass

john concannon

Leave the man alone.

I have a short opinion about Benoit.The man was a great wrestler(greatest I ever saw live although I would love to see Kobashi as well) but I tried my best not to learn his life story because God knows the man isn't worth it now.

I can still enjoy his matches(I'll probably go to hell for it ) because I can seperate the Art from Life.He is a horrible man who messed up so many lives and murdered two innocent people.

Cactus Col

I remember when I heard about Chris Benoits death, must've been on the monday night, a couple of hours before raw. And then staying up to watch the tribute show.

I don't have too much of a problem with wwe's handling of him since his death. It's pretty understandable given the act he commited and the company's target audience. As adults we can (at least in theory) process Chris Benoits actions, and information about his health, his drug problems and marital issues and reach a conclusion. Kids, on the other hand, especially younger ones, would have a hard time processing the information, and in the end parents would take the easy route and demonise the man. Better to not give them the option.

While I was shocked by his death, and his actions, I must admit neither had much of a lasting impact on me. What happened was sad, but I didn't know the man, I didn't know his family, and it boils down to I don't really care all that much.

Mossy Monk

Deleted User wrote: »

Don't be an ass

Why are you calling me an ass? I am worried that any school could teach children English like that. I am a concerned poster.

john concannon

Maybe he has a difficulty spelling(not saying you do OP) like dyslexia or something else.Just don't be a douche to bad spellers in future.If infringed you will get a weeks detention after school.YA HEARD!

rovert

john concannon wrote: »

Maybe he has a difficulty spelling(not saying you do OP) like dyslexia or something else.Just don't be a douche to bad spellers in future.If infringed you will get a weeks detention after school.YA HEARD!

Nah, it looks more like text speak. Which is totally unneccesary here as there is no strict word count on posts.

john concannon

Its good to have it covered just in case though.Remember hearing of a poster who had barely learnt how to read and write and he got ripped to **** on another uk wrestling forum.

rovert

john concannon wrote: »

Its good to have it covered just in case though.Remember hearing of a poster who had barely learnt how to read and write and he got ripped to **** on another uk wrestling forum.

Dyslexics are far lesser headwreckers than txt speakrs

Mossy Monk

john concannon wrote: »

Maybe he has a difficulty spelling(not saying you do OP) like dyslexia or something else.

Believe me that is text speak. Not dyslexia.

gimmick

Good to see one of the few decent threads here taken totally off topic :rolleyes:

john concannon

If so why not just report instead of looking like a bully on an internet forum.Thats hardly going to make newbies want to sign up.

Sorry about going off topic Fozzy but it needed to be done.

JP Liz

As a wrestler Benoit was a legend and a great in ring performer

I don't condone what he did to himself and his family and would hope never to be in that situation

RIP Benoit Family

rovert

john concannon wrote: »

If so why not just report instead of looking like a bully on an internet forum.Thats hardly going to make newbies want to sign up.

Sorry about going off topic Fozzy but it needed to be done.

gimmick wrote: »

Good to see one of the few decent threads here taken totally off topic :rolleyes:

Way to steer it back lads. Hey maybe the poster has Fragile X?

Anyway who here has read Pain and Passion and/or Ring of Hell? As I would like to here from someone who has read both.

Fozzy

Please type using full words. It's in the charter

A friend of mine bought Ring Of Hell and I read some of the chapters, not the whole thing though. To be honest, it came across like tabloid journalism to me. A lot of the stuff I hadn't heard before and I couldn't help but think that a lot of the stories are things that the author heard off one person and just included everything that he heard instead of cross-referencing stories with other people. And I don't think that I read a single good remark about anyone in what I read, it was all about making everyone out to be the darkest people alive. I also heard an interview with the author on Figure Four Daily and he kind of rubbed me the wrong way. I won't be spending any money on the book anyway

I don't really understand how some people are able to completely separate Benoit the wrestler and Benoit the person. They're the same to me. Do any of you read a story like this: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article4151231.ece and think, "I'm sure he was a great karate expert, that's got to be separated from the fact that he's a child murderer". I just don't understand it

rovert

Fozzy wrote: »

A friend of mine bought Ring Of Hell and I read some of the chapters, not the whole thing though. To be honest, it came across like tabloid journalism to me. A lot of the stuff I hadn't heard before and I couldn't help but think that a lot of the stories are things that the author heard off one person and just included everything that he heard instead of cross-referencing stories with other people. And I don't think that I read a single good remark about anyone in what I read, it was all about making everyone out to be the darkest people alive. I also heard an interview with the author on Figure Four Daily and he kind of rubbed me the wrong way. I won't be spending any money on the book anyway

Share your opinion too, Ive a LONG post about the book in me about the book waiting to be unleashed.

Yeah Ive heard that interview too he came off far better and more professional on the interview he did with PWTorch. The book was SO totally rushed, you should read the article he wrote in Powerslam to promote the book. It is far more considered better written and edited than the actual book to the extent it was actually a major let down reading the actual book.

Vince135792003

Fozzy wrote: »

I don't really understand how some people are able to completely separate Benoit the wrestler and Benoit the person.

Yeah I can't either.

Just on Randazzo, he didn't come across great to me either on Figure Four. I'd like to read the book though just make my own mind on it and with a 3 week trip/prison sentence to the Gaeltacht on the horizon, I ordered it a couple of days ago.

Fozzy

Vince135792003 wrote: »

Yeah I can't either.

Especially Benoit of all people. There are few people whose lives revolved around wrestling as much as his. I don't think he could separate Benoit the wrestler and Benoit the person

Vince135792003

Fozzy wrote: »

Especially Benoit of all people. There are few people whose lives revolved around wrestling as much as his. I don't think he could separate Benoit the wrestler and Benoit the person

Exactly.

Bubs101

rovert wrote: »

Pain and Passion and/or Ring of Hell? .

Can someone give a quick synopsis of these books and whether they were written pre-Benoit or post? I've never heard them mentioned before

Fozzy

Bubs101 wrote: »

Can someone give a quick synopsis of these books and whether they were written pre-Benoit or post? I've never heard them mentioned before

Pain and Passion is about Stampede Wrestling, the promotion that the Harts ran. It was written a few years ago. I haven't read it but I've heard good things about it

Ring of Hell is just recently out. It's mainly about Benoit and what seems to be every bad thing he ever did in his life. Reviews I've heard of this have been mixed

Vince135792003

I haven't read either but will be in the near future. Here's what I've heard:

Pain and Passion was written prior to Benoit as far as I know. I have heard very little negative about it. Everyone seems to say it's very good.

Ring of Hell was written after the Benoit murder suicide. It's gotten a mixed reaction to say the least with some thinking it's really good and others thinking it's deeply flawed.

Randazzo will be on http://hardcoresportsradio.com with Mauro Ranallo at 8pm or so tonight.

Here's an extract from the book from his website:

RING OF HELL

Excerpt from Chapter I

The Mark

“The world [of wrestling] doesn’t push you to the depths of darkness. You do. That drives me nuts … It’s not the world of wrestling that drove [troubled wrestlers] to alcohol, the world of wrestling that drove them to drugs. You do that to yourself.”

Chris Benoit in 2004.

At the time abusing steroids, painkillers, alcohol, amphetamines, and psychiatric drugs because, as he told his father, “If I want a job, I have to.”

The most sacred, beautiful thing in the world to Chris Benoit was professional wrestling. Among his admiring colleagues, it was considered an indisputable fact that no one in the world took “the art” of pro wrestling more seriously. Performing in a wrestling ring was the transcendent creative high that Benoit dedicated his life to chasing. Benoit was addicted to that in-ring euphoria, and his obsessive hunger for his fix warped his personality and his priorities. He made sacrifices to advance and later to sustain his career that most people would not make for country, creed, love, or wealth. By most accounts a thoughtful and compassionate man in his private life, Benoit within the confines of pro wrestling was a self-righteous fool who repeatedly jumped headfirst onto a hard canvas until all four lobes of his brain sported brown polka dots of dead, rotting tissue. Benoit was wrestling’s tortured artist; he tortured himself and called it art.

Benoit dispatched his professional duties according to a medieval code of honor founded on sacrifice, humiliation, and the ritual self-infliction of pain as punishment for every flaw. Behind the scenes, this hysterical fanaticism motivated Benoit on one occasion to threaten to intentionally cripple himself on national TV if he was given a storyline he didn’t like. While training in Japan, Benoit suffered physical abuse worthy of the Inquisition in order to be taken seriously as a wrestler. When it was his turn as a veteran to discipline the “Young Boys,” Benoit beat, choked, ridiculed, and humiliated rookies.

Somehow, this otherwise normal and kind family man believed that the most important thing in the world was his rank in pro wrestling’s bizarre, militaristic backstage brotherhood. One pro wrestling legend and longtime coworker of Benoit’s told me that Benoit “wanted to be the guy that all the other guys pointed to and said ‘He’s the best.’ He wanted ‘locker room respect’ as being the ‘best of the Boys’ more than anything else in life. He was possessed by the desire.” The sacrifices Benoit made to achieve this nebulous goal cannot be defined as anything other than insane.

Known as an uncommonly doting and gentle father, Chris rarely saw his children so that he could make every date of his outlandish international touring schedule. Married to a woman with legendary sex appeal, Benoit left her at home to spend thousands of monotonous, lonely nights in dreary hotel rooms with stained carpets. A financially secure millionaire who lived in a mansion, Benoit left his luxurious home every week to pilot rental cars on interminable, transnational road trips with a junkie traveling partner who he dared not trust with any of the driving responsibilities. The friend of countless wrestlers who suffered fatal heart attacks due to steroid abuse, the naturally slight Benoit nonetheless knowingly poisoned his cardiovascular and endocrine system with the enormous amounts of bodybuilding drugs needed to sustain his wrestling career. Benoit sacrificed his relationship with his family and his quality of life so that he could perform in the wrestling ring, and, when Chris Benoit performed, he did his best to sacrifice what was left of his health and sanity.

In the words of former World Wrestling Entertainment writer Dan Madigan, “Benoit always left it all in the ring. He was never satisfied unless he left every drop of his soul in that ring every single goddamn night. He felt he owed it to the business he loved.” Benoit demonstrated his love and respect for the business by performing to the absolute limits of his drug-enhanced physical endurance in every match he wrestled, no matter how irrelevant. Nicknamed “The Cyborg” backstage for the way he combined the ferociousness and energy of an animal with inhuman mechanical precision, Benoit’s wrestling style was a relentless onslaught of authentic violence and reckless crash test dummy stunts. In a profession where even the lazy and cautious end up physically ravaged, Benoit worked far too hard; he put far too much of himself into every move, every strike, every fall. Chris Benoit crippled himself for a living.

By the time he was forty, Benoit’s body was in constant blinding pain, and his profoundly damaged brain was further scrambled by years of heavy amphetamine, steroids, alcohol, painkiller, and psychiatric drug abuse. For most of his life, Chris Benoit was a study in irreconcilable contrasts. In the end, Chris Benoit the mentally disturbed, self-mutilating wrestling freakshow and Chris Benoit the decent family man became one: Benoit murdered his own son with a variation of his fictional character’s signature wrestling hold.

It is blackly hilarious that, in a medium where lazy writing leads to idiotic plotlines in which the most saintly good guys undergo unexplained split second transformations into Satanic maniacs, it was “the best man in pro wrestling” who would commit the most gruesome, savage, and inconceivable real-life crime in wrestling history. None of Chris Benoit’s unlikely achievements can compare with his last, miraculous feat: he united wrestlers and fans alike around a single episode as the undisputed Low Point in pro wrestling history. Though it does not boast its own championship belt, the Bottom of the Barrel has arguably always been the most hotly contested title in the world of wrestling.

Conceived by carnival conmen and mobsters as a watertight method of scamming ignorant sports gamblers, pro wrestling from the beginning has been a cruel, lawless, and corrupt business. It attracts the same sort of mad, marginal misfits and street smart predators commonly associated with touring rock bands, motorcycle gangs, or the porn business. Chris Benoit was considered too decent, too honest, and most of all too small to survive in pro wrestling, where he could expect to be humiliated and tortured by his gigantic circus freak ex-con colleagues and worked to death by the ****bag promoters who make fortunes selling tickets to slapstick farces in which their ill-paid, uninsured employees kill themselves for applause. The humble, shy, soft-spoken Canadian gentleman with a reputation as wrestling’s most devoted father was the last man anyone would have ever expected to put all the other atrocities committed by wrestling’s roll call of killers, crooks, and conmen to shame.

After all, how could polite, respectful Chris Benoit compare to people like WWE Chairman Vince McMahon, Jr., the jacked-up billionaire whose feudal business practices have guaranteed that the wrestling industry will be a gruesome, high-fatality meatgrinder for decades to come?

This is how: on Friday, June 22, 2007, Chris Benoit bound and strangled his sedated wife Nancy with a TV cord. In the early morning of June 23, Benoit woke his sleeping seven-year-old son Daniel and fed him the anti-anxiety pill Xanax. Shortly afterwards, Benoit suffocated Daniel with his bare hands; Daniel’s unusual wounds were consistent with Benoit’s trademark wrestling submission hold, the Crippler Crossface. Finally, after a day of indecision over whether he should continue his pro wrestling career until his crimes were discovered, Benoit tied a noose around his own neck using a cord from his lat pulldown weight machine and lynched himself.

© Matthew Randazzo V Webmaster