Pro wrestling journalist Irvin Muchnick has done some really good work investigating the Chris Benoit case over the past year, and I just read this very interesting piece over at Slam Wrestling.
With the one-year anniversary of the brutal murder-suicide coming up next month, you'll be hearing more about the case once again. I'm actually reading an advance copy of Scott Keith's book about Benoit and the curse of the Hart Family Dungeon, and it's really sad and eye-opening. And I'm planning to post some of my own thoughts on the crime and also on working with Chris.
But for now, I'll just say that Muchnick does bring up some great points about how the investigation has been pushed aside, and how poorly WWE handled the case. I completely agree with his point about that joke of an interview on Larry King with Vince's propaganda army.
The whole thing is just still so surreal and sad. And yet I still believe that no one's learned a damn thing from what happened.
Comments (9)
Blaming Vince McMahon and the WWE for what Chris Benoit did is like blaming Ronald McDonald when you get a bad cheeseburger from McDonalds.
What is the deal with people excusing his behavior? "He was on steroids, he had multiple concussions" Why not, he was a wife beating asshole who finally murdered her and then killed his child while he slept.
Look at OJ Simpson, no one blames the NFL for OJ going crazy and killing a couple of people, they just see him as the murdering asshole that he is. His body took a pounding, he had concussions, yet no one makes an excuse for him, so why does Benoit get a pass???
While I have to say that while I agree with Matt wholeheartedly, I am not entirely sure that the article is "excusing" his behavior in any way. Also, while the author does appear to have a bone to pick with WWE and others involved in the case, I don't see any examples of him blaming the actions of Benoit on anyone else. He was quite objective about shedding a new light on the case to those who may be uninformed. There's no need to post a Benoit hate blog, as that would accomplish nothing. Everyone knows he was a "murdering asshole" and that subject doesn't warrant much coverage. That is something more attuned to forums, perhaps a "Chris Benoit flame thread." I think the unanswered questions of this case are quite intriguing, and it will be very interesting to see what happens when and if the "truth" about some of said unanswered questions (and accusations) comes to light.
Aside from all of that, perhaps you aren't actually referring to the article referenced in this blog, and instead just the media in general. I think we all agree that those sensationalizing twats have made a mockery of this tragedy and Vince and the rest of the WWE should not have to put up with it as they so have graciously done so far. Why is it that as a society we feel the need to point fingers and drop the hammer every time tragedy strikes? By "the hammer," I am referring to creating new laws. This mentality disgusts and appalls me. The WWE is going out of their way to test everyone and comply with what seems like orders barked out from congress, and they shouldn't even have to. It's not the WWE's responsibility to police their wrestlers anyway, it's the police's. Yet they still in good faith do what they can to appease the ridiculously high population of critics and congressmen.
If anything, all of this nonsense is contributing to the overall lack of quality in the shows that we've seen over the past few years. How can they focus their efforts on improving the quality of the shows when they have all of this other nonsense to deal with?
Bret screwed Bret.
Benoit is a murdering asshole.
The WWE is alright.
Katie Vick lives!
Yuck.. please excuse that ridiculous typo in the first sentence of my previous post. =P
Yeah I was meaning more in a general the media sucks kind of rant. My basic gripe is that whenever something terrible happens in a sport of some sort, you get a bunch of idiots coming out of the woodwork discussing everything that is wrong about a sport that they know nothing about.
Take Hockey, when Marty McSorely and Todd Bartuzzi did some terrible things on ice, these people who couldn't tell you icing from an ice cream cone come out and speak about how hockey is horrible, why do they allow fighting etc... Or this week with 8 Belles dying at the derby, look I know nothing about horse racing, other than big animals run fast, but all you need to do is watch animal planet to know that a horses natural instinct is to run faster than the other horses, so racing them is natural, not cruel.
So when Benoit did his thing, they bring out Marc Mero and his flawed list, they bring out Dave Meltzer and his flawed list, and they sit there and make excuses. I mean its a pretty fucked up world when Warrior makes the most sense about the Benoit case...
Is Scott Keith's book called "Profiting on a Tragedy for Dummies?"
Seriously, it's disgusting.
The problem with the WWE is the were complicit in letting Benoit perform a move that ultimatly contributed to what happened. I'm pretty sure there's no arguement that he needed to stop doing the Diving Headbutt and WWE could have taken a more proactive role in preventing him from further injuring himself.
At the same time I don't believe nobody has learned anything. The WWE started a concussion program finally and they finally started realizing the toll the business can take on it's superstars and started helping past stars get help. Jake Roberts, Ron Simmons, and Scott Hall would probably all disagree that nobody's learned anything. I mean Scott Hall was out of rehab and CHECKED HIMSELF BACK IN. That's huge.
"Scott Keith's book about Benoit and the curse of the Hart Family Dungeon"
Sounds like a page-turner. Or, alternatively, like a more spiteful version of Bret's book. Whichever.
Steve-
I'm not exactly crazy about Scott Keith's writing, but taking the attitude that accepting money for writing about true crime is terrible and disgusting is pretty ridiculous. Should Newsday's writers not get paid? Should Newsday not write about violent crimes?
Seth-
I must ask...what's so eye-opening about the book? I doubt he has any new info, as opposed to Matthew Randazzo's book, which looks like it will have a ton of information that was never public before.
Matt, people aren't giving Benoit a "pass" but they look at his steroids, HGH use and the x-rays of his damaged brain and rightfully point to wrestling having affected his mental health. Benoit is a product of the WWE's "looking the other way" policy and he & his family might be alive today if no one in the business took steroids and if chair shots, diving headbutts, etc. were banned from the ring. We can only speculate, but I believe the WWE is partially responsible for what happened.
Interesting you mention OJ...Former WWE star Chris Nowinski has done research on concussions and his book "Head Games" and talks about how concussions can cause serious brain disorders and the main subjects are football players. Many have suffered depression and committed suicide and it has been linked to post-concussion syndrome.