Benoit's Brain - Harbinger of things to come?

[Kasey]

I will do nothing of the sort when it comes to championing Vince McMahon or even defending him. Proper medical screening should be something he takes care of...including a serious psych evaluation and any kind of cranial scans as well as stringent toxicology work to find out whether or not his boys/girls are pissing clean. He won't do that, though, because that would dip into his bottom line. If anyone can tell me with any method of intelligence that he's doing his best...they're a complete shithead. Of course wrestlers understand the risks involved with the game. However, given the rapid body count before the age of 50 that the business produces, you'd think the head honcho of head honchos would take a step back and re-evaluate the way he does business. Then again, ethics were never a strong point for that ********er.

And he's not just some hick indy promoter with no resources hiring local yokel mercenaries to fill up cards, either. He has millions of dollars at his disposal. I, in all honesty, hope that Congress comes down on the WWE and TNA like a ton of bricks and regulates. I loved wrestling up until a couple of months ago when even a diehard wacko like me had to step back and ask myself: is all the death worth it for me to be entertained? My answer is no. This is why I haven't tuned in on Mondays or Fridays or Thursdays for months. For fuck's sake, trim the amount of appearances or the little bells and whistles like overbearing pyro if you can afford to give the guys a fucking CAT scan every now and again so they don't end up crazy or dead...or both. If the chemical problem was really sapped at its root, then maybe guys like Eddie would still be alive. The problem is that it's been tolerated and even the boys are afraid to lose their goddamn jobs, so they lie out their ass until they've been caught red-handed with the gas because you don't dare blow the whistle on the company. I say level the playing field. So what if we don't see any roided up freaks in the ring. Size doesn't equal talent. Then maybe they can start weeding out all the Batistas.

 

[Luther_Hull]

Are you being serious? Vince didn't walk into the Benoit house and kill Daniel and Nancy did he? No. How can you possibly blame it on Vince? Unless you're just determined to blame anything bad that happens in the wrestling business on him. Point is, no one in their right mind can blame this tragedy on him, and those who are are just plain ignorant, or the aforementioned 'shithead'.

Regarding the off season, I think it's a terrible idea, just give the wrestlers a few house shows off, the WWE is a business, not a mental health charity. Vince doesn't shove steroids into the wrestlers anyway, they choose to take them, hell, maybe he should check for steroids more, but if the wrestlers didn't take them or any other drug we wouldn't have this fucking problem anyway, so stop blaming Vince for the fact that your favourite wrestler was a drug-taking murderer.

 

[LadyFranchise]

Like a majority of the people who responded to this post, I too was sad saddened to read that Benoit had Brain damage, but that still doesn't change my opinion about what he did. Murder is Murder plain and simple.

For all of you who tend to blame Vince Mcmahon in the WWE and say "They should have known something about it!", let me ask you a question. How are you supposed to help someone when the help is asked for or wanted? Benoit should of went to the WWE management as soon as he saw the signs. As for the Paranoia (sp?) situation, WWE didn't know anything about that. Benoit got into his paranoia mode when he would go home from the airport. In reports, his driver said that Benoit would try to find different ways to get to his house . Unless the was monitoring his every move, they did not know he was doing such a thing.

You can't keep faulting the wwe for everything also. There were also other promotions that benoit wrestled for that contributed to his brain injury/illness. (Japan, ECW, and WCW)

 

[Kasey]

Are you being serious? Vince didn't walk into the Benoit house and kill Daniel and Nancy did he? No. How can you possibly blame it on Vince? Unless you're just determined to blame anything bad that happens in the wrestling business on him. Point is, no one in their right mind can blame this tragedy on him, and those who are are just plain ignorant, or the aforementioned 'shithead'.

Regarding the off season, I think it's a terrible idea, just give the wrestlers a few house shows off, the WWE is a business, not a mental health charity. Vince doesn't shove steroids into the wrestlers anyway, they choose to take them, hell, maybe he should check for steroids more, but if the wrestlers didn't take them or any other drug we wouldn't have this fucking problem anyway, so stop blaming Vince for the fact that your favourite wrestler was a drug-taking murderer.

I'm dead fucking serious, Luther. I can blame Vince because his way of doing business is the root problem for a lot of this shit. Vince has been turning a blind eye and downright encouraging the usage of banned substances for three decades. Wanna know how I know? I've seen his shows littered with roid monkeys since I was five. He works the talent like dogs 300 days out of the year, pumped full of steroids, painkillers to boot, and then takes a "gee, what happened?" stance towards it when someone croaks. The steroids aren't just for looks, my friend. They're also a recovery aid that allows their bodies to take the constant pounding and still be race-ready for the next show in the next city.

I'm not blaming everything bad in the wrestling business on him. I'm talking about HIS company. The fact is, the law of the land in the WWE stops and starts with him supposedly. You'd think that a few dead wrestlers would be enough of a wake up call to detach the greedy bastard from his money for one second. Wishful thinking, I know.

Maybe he should check for steroids more? Are you serious, man? No shit the WWE is a business. So is a crack house. Wanna champion that for me? Vince is just like a crack dealer, and just as guilty, because he calls the shots. McMahon could stop the substance problem TODAY, IF he wanted to. It doesn't even take me reading a quote from the authorities outright stating that his testing procedures are shit and that he's provided insufficient evidence to them for me to know that he's working as hard at stopping substance abuse as I am at getting a degree in quantum physics. Too little, too late.

How many dead superstars does it take for these companies to re-evaluate their business practices? And I'm well aware of the "nobody makes the wrestlers take the stuff" argument. Well, nobody stops them, either, do they? If the playing field was truly leveled, then there would be no temptation to take them because the status quo physically wouldn't require them in order to have a good body and they know they'd be out of a job instantly if they fucked around with any performance enhancers. McMahon could level the playing field overnight if he wanted by making it zero tolerance in terms of taking the stuff. Instead, he started the Wellness program with apparently good intentions (bullshit) and only really got off his ass when the media and Congress came down on him due to Benoit going apeshit.

Why am I the only one who notices this pattern? Does anyone honestly think Vince or his company would have done anything to the named superstars busted in the online pharmacy investigation? If you do, I feel sorry for your diminished intellect.

 

[Kasey]

You can't keep faulting the wwe for everything also. There were also other promotions that benoit wrestled for that contributed to his brain injury/illness. (Japan, ECW, and WCW)

I can fault all of them plenty. Hell, Japanese promotions don't piss test for anything (even in MMA, which is an actual sport). WCW had just as many roid-monkeys and they're just as guilty for letting the shit slide (too bad they're not around to get investigated...that'd be a hoot for Uncle Ted).

 

[Shocky]

God I miss Kasey fucking awesome as usual.

This is clearly coming down to an age issue with some. The lines are starting to draw with the older people looking at this situation then the young people. Don't take it the wrong way, but the real world offers more shades of gray then the black and white world that people live in during their younger years.

It's quite simple, I've said it and feel the same way Kasey does. Why not drug test or screen, or do more physicals, because it takes money out of McMahons pocket book, that's why. This shit on, well Benoit wrestled elsewhere, blah blah, it's a horseshit argument. Benoit has been with the WWE for 7 years, he was with the WWE longer then he was with WCW or ECW, so throw those arguments out the fucking window.

This is no different then a guy busting his ass on a construction site for years, then turning around and suing the company when he throws his back out. The WWE does not give adequate time for their wrestlers to heal. If they are not back on time, they start to lose merchandising revenue and they will eventually lose whatever push they have coming to them. Why, because Vinnie Mac cares about dollars and cents, not common sense. This is the same thing that killed WCW, and if you haven't read the Death of WCW, then you need to read it now.

It's real simple, and it's why people get tested almost anywhere they go now. Why do most jobs have physicals and such, because the company doesn't want to be responsible when they kill over and didn't do anything about it. Any major sport has physicals, why did the WWE wait until two years ago to do all of this. Why, because it's patchwork. It's a front to make themselves look good to the media, that's all.

Then the next question is, why would the WWE offer Benoit help if he didn't ask for it. Did you not read the article, his brain was not functioning properly. Come on people, this isn't his heart, or a liver, or a kidney, it's his brain. He was mentally handicap, and unfortunately, we won't know how long he has been suffering from Brain damage. I'll say this loud and clear, for all intents and purposes, Chris Benoit did not have full control of himself on a mental ability, the sooner people learn to understand that point, the better. His brain had signs of aging to it the same as an 85 year old man. So tell me this, if an 85 year old man killed two people, would you demonize him the same way you have demonized Chris Benoit. If you answer yes, then that's you're own thinking, but I'll probably call you a liar.

Does this excuse Chris Benoit, that's up to Chris Benoit and whatever deity he believed in, it's not for you to judge. Let the man rest in peace. And yes, the WWE has to take some blame for this for not doing proper screenings on their guys, it's plain and simple. Disagree if you want, I don't care, but for people to think the WWE has no blame in the physical and mental destruction of Chris Benoit are completely naive in my opinion.

Luth and Dragon, don't take this post the wrong way, it's in no way a bashing of your opinions, I just think that this one, you may see things differently in ten years. I could be wrong, but you never know. The point of this is, I'm sad that the only three times I have made sure to watch Raw live as it happened during the last two years has beenf or this years draft, which ended horribly. The other two were paying respect to two guys I have been watching for over a decade, and it sucks not to see them here anymore.

It is my strong belief that if the powers that be in the WWE cared more about the wrestlers, then "Wellness Policies" would have been created years ago, instead of patchwork after one of it's biggest stars kills over. Don't get me wrong, McMahon is certainly not the only promoter to get the blame, but he has the cross hairs of congress firmly on his chest. He is the head of the Snake known as wrestling, If Congress feels they can make an example out of McMahon, then why would any other promoter dare take on Congress if McMahons falls to them. This is a long need example setter for this industry that has spent decades upon decades living off the fallen bodies of deceased wrestlers, and it has to stop.