Benoit's Brain - Harbinger of things to come?

[IrishCanadian25]

Source ABCNews.com

ABC News is confirming that tests conducted by Julian Bailes of the Sports Legacy Institute show that Chris Benoit’s brain was severely damaged at the time he murdered his wife and son before taking his own life. According to the tests his brain resembled that of an 85-year-old Alzheimer's patient. Bailes said that the damage was the result of lifetime chronic concussions and head trauma.

Chris Benoit was famous for his flying headbutt, which is a lot of stress on the brain each time the maneuver is pulled off. While nothing can justify his actions, this at least helps the coping process.

Benoit's brain was damaged? Well no shit.

Actually, with head trauma coming into play now (as well as it has been a hot topic in the NFL for a year now) I wonder if WWE will come under scrutiny for head trauma rather than just steroids.

I hope WWE starts taking concussion testing and time off more seriously. I mean, it almost ended Bret Hart's life with his stroke! Wrestlers (if you read their autobiographies) often talk about working through it, or finding out weeks or months later that they had suffered a grade whatever concussion!

How much of a problem is this? How much of a problem will it become?

 

[Slim Pickns]

The thing about the Benoit tragedy or anything of its caliber in any sport is that it gets people thinking about all sorts of problems that they may not have thought of before.

The WWE superstars bang heads all the time, but now you can bet that it will get alot more attention then it was. It took this event to get people to notice how much the superstars put themselves through. I'm not saying is totally on his wrestling career, we don't know all of what caused it, but that had something to do with it and now this will be brought up in the media once again when talking about the dangers of wrestling.

Head trauma is a serious issue, so I believe (and hope) that the WWE and all sports take the necessary steps to prevent this from becoming a major problem in the future.

 

[Skullz Crack'Em]

It is sad, but also a relief as well because we now know he had no genuine intention of doing this to his family because of the severe brain damage. It knocks away those beliefs that he was an evil person to do that to his family because he had no idea what he was doing at that time.

WWE is definitely banning flying headbutt manuevers off the top ropes now after hearing this. The wrestlers should know what moves is too dangerous to do where it will affect them in the long run. Benoit should have known that the headbutt was dangerous to his brain, but he kept doing it anyway. Look what the Pedigree has done to Triple H's knees, they are completely injury prone after any little damage his knees takes which leads me to think he will give up doing the move sometime in the future. This is why moves are being banned from left to right, some people may not like it,but it is for the best for the wrestlers' health.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Benoit used to take chair shots to the back of the head, I cant recall any other wrestlers who are willing to do that. There's a good reason too. It fucks you up, as obviously you can tell.

I dont think this will lead to WWE banning chair shots or anything similar to that. If anything I dont think they'll consider it an issue. And neither do I. People choose to become a wrestler. Weather there a fan and they want to get involved, for fame or money. It's there choice, I'm sure wrestlers know the risks.

 

[l0ucifer]

You know this whole thing just really makes me sad. When i read this article this morning i was ready to brush it off as more BS but really, somthing has to be done. I really think that Wrestling in general needs to have a union type of delegation for the performers because non fans think its just fake and they dont get hurt but these guys are on the road 300 days out of the year (i believe) doing anything this strenuous for 300 days out of the year is going to get at you eventually they need a real health plan and they need shrinks and more importantly they need TIME OFF! Do you realize the only time these cats get a break is when they are shooting a movie (which is only like 1 percent of the group) or when they get injured and have to have surgery and rehabilitation, thats insane. I love watching my wrestling every week but i think its time that Wrestling becomes seasonal and things may lean this way because this story isnt going away and somthing major is going to have to be done here. I think in the long run it will be alot better for the business.. WWE in particular will need to actually get some guys with talent and not just huge juiced up guys with 5 moves each. We may actually seen some technical wrestling again.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

Jake, I am glad you brought up chair shots. When I read this, it brought back memories of Mick Foley, hands cuffed behind his back, taking 12 chair shots from The Rock in an I Quit match. There is NO WAY that doesn't affect Mick somehow.

I wouldn't be shocked if we see more and more chair shots to the back rather than the head. Guys became so willing to take head shots for high spots, it practically became the norm.

After all we hear from veterans about "I made a career of protecting my opponent" and Bret Hart saying "in my entire career I never injured an opponent," you wonder how hitting someone in the head with a chair protects them.

 

[Shocky]

Damn, he had the brain of an 85 year old essentially. It's fucking sad beyond belief to read that article. I've said it since the beginning, I don't understand why people tried to demonize Benoit from the start of this thing, because people don't understand the effects of mental illness.

Sure I'll catch shit, but Chris Benoit was a victim in this thing to. He is a victim of the souless machination known as professional wrestling, and i.e., the WWE in particular.

Now I know the argument already, well, who chooses to be a wrestler? You choose the lifestyle and on the road for 300 plus days a year, blah blah blah. So, does that not make the WWE responsible for this. Sure, Benoit wrestled elsewhere before hand, I get that.

Let's look at the WWE. Guys work 300 plus days a year, Vince Doesn't consider offseasons. Guys are getting popped for being connected to steroids. Someone like Umaga on Roids screams of a problem. These guys are fucking hurting beyond belief, and quite honestly, the WWE gives two shits about them.

It was reported that McMahon is going to go to Congress in a clown outfit, because that's what he thinks of the situation. Does anyone else feel absolutely disgusted by those comments. Is McMahon completely blind to the empire he created?

Congress is going to make McMahon pay for nearly 30 years of negligence and treating his wrestlers like second class citizens. Him implementing a Wellness Program and physicals the last few years to act as patchwork isn't going to be strong enough, and Congress is going to see right through his horseshit.

I am so pissed after reading this article. How in the hell was nothing done. Wasn't Benoit "paranoid" and thinking people were following him. I mean for fucks sake, the negligence in this is incredible. And I am so sick of McMahon strutting around and pretending like the situation iwth guys Health and Steroids isn't that big of a deal.

I'll paraphrase a quote from Frank Herbert's Dune, and it's spot. Each Empire in it's birth plants the seeds of it's own destruction. The WWF rose to fame on destroying the bodies of it's wrestlers and rampant drug and steroid use. That which created the WWE is now, 30 years later, going to be what destroys it, and I for one, maybe glad to see it go.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

Shock, great post as usual. Let me ask a follow up questions - do Wrestlers need a Union?

For years, people have cried out for better job quality, conditions, pay, etc. Now I say this with NO knowledge whatsoever of how a Union could impact the WWE, or even if it is feasible, but the question is - would it help?

 

[LastOfADyingBreed]

Fuck yeah wrestlers need a union. Any WWE wrestlers need to have an off season, period. Every other sport has an off season, and wrestling should be no different. It's not like we are getting quality 6 months of build up in a feud anymore, so what difference will it make. Wrestle 9 months out of the year, take 3 off. During those 3, you have retrospectives of the year, show some exclusive House Show matches, stuff like that. It'd work out fine instead of running wrestlers into the ground. Why do you think Indy wrestling is so much better then the WWE? They don't have a set schedule for the most part. They take bookings and take time off if they need it, and nobody says shit because they can't, it's a date by date deal, not a contract.

 

[Shadowmancer]

The Best way to solve it completely is to drop house shows in the states, do the occasional tour overseas with houseshows but dropping the houseshows they do in the states would help keep the wrestlers from wearing out. But a Union would be too hard to set up as it could lead to a huge problem in International wrestlers that want to do a tour of the states and are not members of the Union could end up blocking them from working the shows. A Union could also be the death of Wrestling in the US, There are a large number of problems that Unions create, just look at the Baseball Players association and the NFL players association, both have created problems as well as solutions.

 

[a7xoff]

Shock: GREAT POST MAN... I completly agree with you... How could no one know? I seriously think that WWE needs to keep closer watch over they're guys. Banning moves like the Shooting Star Press and 450 Splash I can see for saftey reasons, but every time I watched Benoit do one of those headbutts... Reguardless of how it looks that's gotta do damage, and that's evident now. Why WWE never banned moves like that in the past we may never know. Honestly I'd rather see another incident where someone get's their ribs broken by a Shooting Star Press then see anyone do headbutt moves of any kind... The bottom line is what's a few broken ribs compared to brain damage... I really just don't understand why WWE never looked into headbutt moves...

 

[Mad Metal]

The only thing I didn't agree with is to be glad to see the WWE go for their wrong doings. Despite some can be little too critical or point out many wrongs when done in the business as wrestling fans because we care about it's direction, I'm sure at the same time almost all don't want to actually see the WWE go, which (even JR said this) it's ironic to wish a company ill.

Despite I am not happy at all that Chris Benoit had to go, I am happy that changes are slowly being implied for the best of the superstars. Like Mr. McMahon said, if he can do something then anyone can. That's piratically his entire attitude and the way he sees it all. It's no secret at all, even Mr. McMahon admitted it himself. Maybe he can do a lot of traveling and withstand anything inside a wrestling ring, but doesn't mean the entire locker room is a duplication of Mr. McMahon.

I just hope with what is happening currently, in the somewhat near future professional wrestling can rise to a new all-time high not only for the fans' entertainment but for the lives and health for the wrestlers. We just need something that best suits everyone, not just one man.

I'm not wishing ill to no promotion or any superstars what so ever. I truly believe Congress doesn't wish ill to the WWE either. All what is being done is what is being needed. This might be the cure that many other professional wrestlers were waiting for as well; assuring the WWE becomes a more suitable environment for the performers because as a wrestling fan, I also care about the people I cheer for as well as the ones I may feel doesn't pull that well of a performance.

Above all, everything is just a real wake up call that's been needed to happen that will no doubt change the business forever.

 

[MonsterMash]

I guess this brings some closure that he had limited mental capacity at the time.

As far as an off-season goes, I'd be in favor for it. It would give the guys a decent break to recuperate, probably result in fewer injuries, and would help out the creative crew by not having to come up with a full year of original programming. It may even make storylines better. Problem is that it would give Vince's wallet a square kick in the junk. I don't know the exact figure that they net each year, but take the monthly average and let's say the off-season is three months long. That's a lot of cash. Come to think of it, it's not just one kick below the belt, it's several of them.

 

[mabuza]

I always beleived that the whole Beniot incident had more to do with depression/mental illness & brai damage than any steriods.While I dont condone steriod (ab)use,I yet to here about a case where roid-rage resulted in a guy killing his family over a 3day period.
The biggest flaw in the Wellness Policy is that it doenst address the real reason guys are using banned substances.Not everyone wants to abnormally huge.Alot of guys are being beat-up soo badly its the only way for them to heal injuries& maintain muscle mass.
Eddie died because he put himself under tooo much starin.He had multiple injuries& was in pain,but they let him wreslte anyway.If he had been given time off after he dropped the WWE title or even after WM21,He might still be alive today.

 

[RikRaines]

Does the WWE need an off season? Yes, well kinda. I would keep the brand split, but I would reduce it back down to two brands (Raw/Smackdown!). Take the ECW roster and divide the few guys there are between the two brands. Here's an example of the tour schedule that could be done, involving both brands along with Major Pay-Per-Views:

• January: Raw/Smackdown! - Royal Rumble
• Febuary: Raw/Smackdown!
• March: Raw/Smackdown! - Wrestlemania
• April: Raw
• May: Raw
• June: Raw
• July: Raw/Smackdown! - Summerslam?
• August: Smackdown!
• September: Smackdown!
• October: Smackdown!
• November: Raw/Smackdown! - Survior Series
• December: Raw/Smackdown!

So in a set-up like this, both brands work nine months and recieve three months off. You can keep all Major Pay-Per-Views in place; minus Summerslam, which you move to July. We would also then get Six Dual Brand PPVs and Six One Brand Only PPVs. If during one brands downtime, the other brand starts to hurt from injuries and such, you can call a wrestler to come in from another brand to work in their place OR even better, call up some development talent.

Reduce the amount of titles in general. Basically combine the belts, so that you have:

• WWE World Heavyweight
• WWE Intercontinental
• WWE World Tag Team
• WWE Crusierweight
• WWE Woman

The titles can easily be switched back and forth between brands, you could even have a champion stick around a little longer to drop a title to the other brand before they take their vacation.

A set-up like this would allow workers (Wrestlers, Ring Crews, Road Agents, etc) three months off to recoup, spend time with their family, and just enjoy life in general. Something like this is drastically needed in the wrestling industry right now and even more in the WWE.

 

[TheOneBigWill]

Source ABCNews.com

Chris Benoit’s brain was severely damaged at the time he murdered his wife and son before taking his own life. According to the tests his brain resembled that of an 85-year-old Alzheimer's patient. Bailes said that the damage was the result of lifetime chronic concussions and head trauma.

Chris Benoit was famous for his flying headbutt, which is a lot of stress on the brain each time the maneuver is pulled off. While nothing can justify his actions, this at least helps the coping process.

While its still a sad day in the sport, to have lost someone as great as Chris Benoit. I'm happy that they brought-forth more information that leads away from it being steroid related, or even worse.. an evil type of plan in his mind, all along. I just have a few theories on the situation, with this news.

1. They said he had massive brain damage & it was like resembling that of an 85 year old Alzheimer's patient. If thats the case, he wrestled like the week, or Tuesday prior to all this, didn't he? Clearly if his brain was damaged that badly, wouldn't that mean he would've had to of shown signs of that in his last on-air match? (was it with Marcus Cor Von, or Elijah Burke?)

2. Murder is Murder, no matter how you deem it. It won't be justified, except for in defensive of one's life. That brings me to my next theory. If his brain was like that of an Alzheimer's patient.. who's to say he even knew who his Wife & Son were?

I know its hard to believe this, which is why its a theory, but what-if he thought his Wife was someone who broke in.. & when he "lost it" trying to get her out of the home, she hit him.. which turned him to defend himself against her? And ultimately killing her. Then, clearly since they said his brain showed that much damage.. but he seemed fine on t.v. earlier in the week.. what if he only had periods of times when he went through not knowing where he was, or who anyone was.. & came to realize what he did to Nancy.. thus making him decide (badly, but still through his mind the best resort) to kill his Son?

Yes, once again.. murder is murder.. unless its in defense. The murder of Nancy may of been (in Benoit's mind, at the time) in defense. The murder of his Son, may of been out of believing it's the best possible thing for him. Because of the turn of events. (yes, bad, I know.. don't complain to me about it, I know)

In conclusion, I think that with this.. Chris Benoit should be allowed to rest in piece. I don't think W.W.E. should edit him out of their stuff, as the Von Erich's (many of them) committed suicide as well. And mainly all that happened because of depression, NOT because of severe brain damage.

I know my plea's will go unanswered & unheard.. but for anything left that's pure & decent regarding Chris Benoit.. just let it rest. Show him in his true greatness, wrestling. Don't remember him through all the scandals, through all the theories. Just let them all rest.

 

[michiganj24]

Sorry but dropping Houseshow s would probaly kill the WWE. That is a significant chunk of their merchadising revenue. I also dont know if an offseason for the whole WWE is the answer. Instead all wrestlers should be required to take time off during the year. Yes this will make them think on the fly with wrestlers being twice a year but shutting the whole company down is not the way to go and will never happen.

As a side note to this they were talking about concussion in all sports and mentioned how there have been number of suicdes of Football players after brain damage. One of the senators is no propsing to instintute new requiremnets on all sports in which concussions are common including boxing, wrestling, hockey and football. They didnt say what exactly but mentioned thing slike increased penalties fro actions leading to concussions and increased safety measures like making Pro boxers adopt the headgear that is mandatory for Amateurs but illegal in Pro ranks

The Best way to solve it completely is to drop house shows in the states, do the occasional tour overseas with houseshows but dropping the houseshows they do in the states would help keep the wrestlers from wearing out. But a Union would be too hard to set up as it could lead to a huge problem in International wrestlers that want to do a tour of the states and are not members of the Union could end up blocking them from working the shows. A Union could also be the death of Wrestling in the US, There are a large number of problems that Unions create, just look at the Baseball Players association and the NFL players association, both have created problems as well as solutions.

 

[speedy316]

Frankly this news doesn't suprise me! When i read the story on the Benoit killings it didn't feel like drug OD to me, it felt like something inside him snapped and he went crazy and these recent brain damage discoveries seem to confirm that! They do need to start concussion tests and the such like look a Chris Nowinski man had a promising career ahead of him and concussions put him on the shelf, pemanatly! A previous poster said Mick Foley took 12 chair shots to the head with his arms tied behind his back and its no suprise when i read Have a Nice Day and Foley is Good that Mick had to turn over the financial runnings of his house and family to his wife because he said he was becoming forgetful and such! I also read that Mick believes a chair shot to the side of the head isnt as bad as on top! Bloody Hell Mick it dont matter where you take it, you are still getting whacked by a chair to the head, it still probably hurts like hell and you feel it for the rest of your days.

 

[kennyg9]

Here is my solution:

You have to keep house shows. It is alot of revenue for the WWE and they cant shine away from that it will hurt business to much

You need to create an offseason. As far as TV is concerned, on monday you show house show footage and classic raw moments and matches for raw during the offseason and friday for smackdown. ECW you show as a RAW A.M. type show which is a summary of recent happenings in current WWE so people stay fresh with what is going on.

You have this type of a schedule as pay per view:
January - Royal Rumble
February - No Way Out
March/April - Wrestle Mania
April - Backlash
May/June/ - OFF!!!!!!!!
July - Great American Bash
August - Summerslam
September - OFF!!!!
October - Unforgiven
November - Survivor Series
December - Armageddon

This way you keep all your main 4 pay-per-views and atleast an event before or after them.

This style will give your top talent especial some time off to heal up and not be so beaten up. Injury will be reduced with this format and you keep your top stars healthy so you dont have to worry about injuries and rewriting storylines. It also gives creative team so time to write up really good storylines for major pay-per-views.

You have 9 pay-per-views which will create higher buyrates per event without a doubt. ALso during this off time it gives wrestlers time to heal and improve on ability.

 

[Downward Spiral]

To say my opinion hadn't changed after reading about this latest revelation would be a lie. Now, for any moron who wants to challenge this as an 'unjustified excuse we've been looking for' to shield Benoit's name, really needs to now look at these latest findings and see that they do make a pretty big difference, at least in my eye.

This man, drove himself to obviously a point of near-insanity, doing what we as wrestling fans, loved to see him do. He put his body on the line every night for the wrestling business, and we all thanked him for that before he killed his family. To be completely ignorant of the fact that he and his family died because he was in a mental state that was ultimately caused by his overwhelming devotion to the business, is ridiculous. We've been straddling and scratching around to sniff out any possible explanation, no matter how feeble and pathetic it was, but now, this is cold, hard evidence that Benoit was not thinking straight, and should not be condemned as much as he has been by people here.

Now that I think about it, I shouldn't be jumping the gun here, because nothing can really excuse his actions, but as of right now, the fact looks to be that this was all caused because of him doing what we all praised him for doing. Like the article said, this does help somewhat (no matter how much, it still does) with comprehending just exactly what transpired with this whole Benoit incident.

But away from Benoit, and to the WWE. We all heard that talk of steroids, which all came to a head directly after this incident, when nothing was confirmed or denied, and when people were fisihing for 'roid-rage' excuses for the incident. For months, the WWE was in the spotlight because of this Benoit saga, and also for its steroid (or lack thereof as it may be perceived) policy. Now, this comes out, and now, it just makes the WWE look bad in two lights. One is that the revelations of steroid takings in the company over the years are making a mockery of their so called policies on drugs, and that their wrestlers have now publicly lied about what they have done with the drugs in the past. Two, is now revealed after we see this. We all know how much being a wrestler takes out of you, but safety issues are going to be coming to a head again. It looks right now, that there is a faint chance that it is somehow the WWE's fault that Chris Benoit did what he did.

I'm looking out for this story to continue, as the WWE plunges deeper and deeper into infamy.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

Gang:

It's important to note the news that WWE.com now has a "famous chairshots" segment. Available to relive are such moments as The Roc vs Makind's "I Quit" match, Tommy Dreamer on Raven, and Mike Awesome on Masato Tanaka (a man who took wild chairshots his whole career).

So I have to ask - what is WWE thinking!? After Benoit was revealed as having a brain damage post concussion disorder in an autopsy, they show this?

Is anybody else a little outraged here?

 

[Luther_Hull]

Is anybody else a little outraged here?

Not in the slightest. Chair shots and head in shots are just part of te parcel in wrestling. WWE can't just pretend chair shots and the like don't happen, if they got rid of those then the fans who have remained watching since the Benoit incident would turn off because it would be so boring. Wrestling's a risky business, I appreciate that wrestler's put their bodies on the line to entertain but I'm sure as hell not going to use it as an excuse for someone killing their wife and son. Wrestling's a risky business, the wrestler's know that when they start, and they should make sure they know when enough is enough.

 

[Eternal Dragon]

Not in the slightest. Chair shots and head in shots are just part of te parcel in wrestling. WWE can't just pretend chair shots and the like don't happen, if they got rid of those then the fans who have remained watching since the Benoit incident would turn off because it would be so boring. Wrestling's a risky business, I appreciate that wrestler's put their bodies on the line to entertain but I'm sure as hell not going to use it as an excuse for someone killing their wife and son. Wrestling's a risky business, the wrestler's know that when they start, and they should make sure they know when enough is enough.

Very well put, and that's exactly what I've been thinking since reading this news.

What completely baffels me is that people are reading this news about Benoit's Brain, and completley clearing him of all charges, some even are saying that they knew he wasn't "evil." What? He killed a 7 year old boy and his own wife. I say that's pretty evil. I don't care how many chair shots he took, he did it of his own accord, and it is never an excuse for commiting such a horrible, horrendus, immoral act. Murder is unjustifiable. What shocks me even more is that people are actually condemning Vince McMahon more than Benoit himself. Vince McMahon is not a puppeteer, he's not the devil. He's a guy that runs a buisness, the WWE, that requires dangerous spots like steel chair shots. You can't possibly blame the murders on him. That's crossing a line. I know some people are debating things like the number of house shows, and things like that, which is fine to debate, but still don't use it as an excuse for Benoit.

Flames Out
Dragon

 

[IrishCanadian25]

Luther and Dragon, excellent points.

I don't want to give Benoit the karmatic "Get Out Of Jail Free" Card here with the brain thing. Not in the slightest. If he's in hell right now, I say turn up the heat and close the windows. But still, I found it in bad taste to debut the chairshot peice within a WEEK of that news.

And I certainly don't want to pretend the chairshots never happened. No need to insult wrestling fans FURTHER. But this isn't a slap in the face? The timing?

Vince McMahon brings the villification on himself by being such an animated, successful, polarizing figure. Don't sympathize with the billionaire. Eric Bischoff wrote the book, but Vince personifies "Controversy Creates Cash."

 

[Hdog684]

You need to create an offseason. As far as TV is concerned, on monday you show house show footage and classic raw moments and matches for raw during the offseason and friday for smackdown. ECW you show as a RAW A.M. type show which is a summary of recent happenings in current WWE so people stay fresh with what is going on.

You have this type of a schedule as pay per view:
January - Royal Rumble
February - No Way Out
March/April - Wrestle Mania
April - Backlash
May/June/ - OFF!!!!!!!!
July - Great American Bash
August - Summerslam
September - OFF!!!!
October - Unforgiven
November - Survivor Series
December - Armageddon

Actually the best way to do it is have the offseason between Survivor Series and Royal Rumble. It really makes the most sense in every way to do it then. It's the best time of year to do it, because it would include giving the wrestlers the holidays off like the do now anyway, but it would also fit in the storylines perfectly. Tradionally, the Royal Rumble is always the PPV when all the storylines end and they start new ones to build up towards WrestleMania, so it'd make the perfect launching point for the new season. It's also the one PPV that needs the least amount of buildup, because the Royal Rumble match hypes itself, as would the three world title matches, and that's basically the whole PPV. And of course Survivor Series is one of the big four, so it'd be a good place to have all the blowoff matches ending all the fueds and such going into the offseason.