The Aftermath & Future: What will happen next & will there be a backlash?

[coltx7]

Folks let try to keep this cool and NOT turn this another shitfest.

Alright so what does the future hold for wrestling?

My first thoughts:

Few weeks back Vince faked his own death. I guess ratings were his goal. Dispite insulting peoples inteligence. However it was tasteless. Next Sensational Sherri passes away. NOW Benoit and family are found dead.

Well here are second thoughts:

No matter what happens as always wrestling will continue. Ratings will/have gone up. Wrestling fans will bash Vince to no f/n end. This Vince death Angle with him will go down as the #1 worse moment in history. The next few weeks wrestling fans will be glued to they're internet and TV.

As soon as everything passes what do YOU think will happen next???

 

[ElMikeO]

I don't think the death angle will go down as the worst moment in history. The idea behind it was actually really good - they would have got the ratings they were going for because everybody loves a good "who did it?"

It is unfortunate that events like Sensational Sherri's passing and now Chris Benoits passing that make this look dis-tasteful. I'd agree if they would have started this storyline after the passing of a superstar, but if none of these tragic events would have happened I don't think anyone would be calling it dis-tasteful. Everyone is saying it is sick because something has happened now. WWE and/or Vince McMahon can't be blamed for trying a storyline that they tried before this tragic event.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

Coltx- Thanks for posting this, I was about to. The truth is, we all as wrestling fans need to take a step back and asses the state of this form of entertainment we all revere.

I was speaking to a friend of mine yesterday, who went off on a sidebar talking about what is happening to what we love and the people we grew up idolizing. I am 25, and I have been a wrestling fan since Wrestlemania 8. In the past week alone, I have watched as the deaths of Sherri Martel and now the bizarre deaths of Chris and Nancy, as well as their child, has taken the pro wrestling world to another difficult stage.

What worries me is the mainstream attention now. WWE was "successfully" generating a mainstream buzz with the death of Mr. McMahon in the limo. This on the heels of "successful" mainstream attention from Donald Trump's Wrestlemania appearance. The press, especially those members of the press who have jumped on pro wrestling at every turn, aren't going to look at this with a tear in their eye as we fans have. They are going to tee off like Barry Bonds in BP. Phil Mushnick, the hypocritical opportunist bastard at the top of the list.

But you have to stop and think about it: Miss Elizabeth dies from drugs while with Lex Luger. Eddie Guerrero and Scott "Bam Bam" Bigelow to toxic levels of drugs, alcohol, and a problem with their liver. Konnan going through dialysis. The list goes on and on. Professional wrestling has a problem, whether it is physical, psychological, or both.

The other thing that bothers me is the fact that professional wrestling gets no "free pass" or "time to grieve." For critics of this form of entertainment, there is no "too soon." They will reference the ridiculous psychological demands placed on wrestlers, but when a Marine comes home without psychological preparation to re-enter society and they flip out, we have to thank them for their contributions to protecting America's freedom. Wrestling is at the wrong end of a hideous double standard, and as fans, we will be major recipients of it.

I can only hope the WWE weathers this storm, and somehow emerges stronger. I hope they recognize the flaws that exist, whatever they are, and fix them as soon as possible. But overall, I hope we, as wrestling fans, never stop supporting those superstars who have captured our imaginations, and done so the right way.

 

[LadyFranchise]

I don't think the death angle will go down as the worst moment in history. The idea behind it was actually really good - they would have got the ratings they were going for because everybody loves a good "who did it?"

It is unfortunate that events like Sensational Sherri's passing and now Chris Benoits passing that make this look dis-tasteful. I'd agree if they would have started this storyline after the passing of a superstar, but if none of these tragic events would have happened I don't think anyone would be calling it dis-tasteful. Everyone is saying it is sick because something has happened now. WWE and/or Vince McMahon can't be blamed for trying a storyline that they tried before this tragic event.

I Totally agree with you. I saw fans all over the internet calling Vince an Asshole for creating such a storyline but you can't blame the WWE because they didn't know this was going to happen. I'm pretty sure Vince didn't say "Hey, Let's create a angle where my character is killed off even though there are going to be 4 deaths a couple weeks later." Vince showed what kind of man he was when he sent all the fans home even though they lost a TON of money.

 

[ElMikeO]

Vince showed what kind of man he was when he sent all the fans home even though they lost a TON of money.

Exactly. As one of the articles I read on here said, he's got a one of the worst jobs ever at the minute.

 

[darkpenguin]

I don't think the death angle was that distastefull, as Vince has said before in an interview he makes movies and as with most movies characters die and are killed off. People need to get their heads around the fact that its a soap opera and anything can happen.
I think vince should show some integrity and continue what he started, it's a storyline people lets not try and make this into something bigger then it is!

 

[BlackHoleCradleShock]

I liked the Vince death angle about as much as I liked the I'm Your Papi angle with Eddie and Rey.
It's like a beautiful disaster,
you know it's horrible and wrong but curriosity gets the best of you and you can't help but look anyway.
Anyone remember Kerwin White(Chavo)??
The same went for that,
it was cheesy, stupid, and racist but at the same time it was kindof amusing.

The thing i' really uncertain of is ECW,
everyone looks and treats it like a C-list show,
and it has a lot of the younger un-experienced guys.
Now with Nitro as the champ i'm not sure how well it's going to go.
Especially cause the program is only an hour long and there's one title.

There's a lot they can do,
let's hope they make some good choices with it from here on out.

 

[TheTig101]

i don't think that vince mcmahon has done anything wrong over the 'Mr. McMahon death' angle, how could he have known that there would be 4 tragic deaths just a couple of weeks later? i think he did the right thing too in cancelling Raw and you could see how upset he was when he gave his opening speech. i also find it hard to beleive that a man ike chris beniot is capable of murdering his own family. i am still in shock

 

[sevmce]

There does seem to be a larger proportion of deaths in wrestling due to drugs / alcohol than most other forms of sport or entertainment. There has also been a lot of injuries recently.

I think both can be put down to the wrestlers simply being overworked. With all the house shows, public appearance etc, they don't seem to get much recovery or relaxation time. Read any wreslters biography and you see how little time they got to spend with their family. Nearly all of them have had divorces or periods in rehab. The pressure on these guys to perform even when they're injured is extreme.

By simply cutting down the working time they could save both the performers and the product. Do we really need to see every superstar every week? Sometimes familarity breeds contempt ( cena's current championship reign for example).

My solution is to scrap ECW and divide the talent between RAW and Smackdown and produce at least a stronger middle card with a large variety of intercontintal and US candidates, with the cream of each going for the main titles. Other sports have never suffered from having large "squads" to choose from, or soap opera's that have a large cast to allow for more diverse storylines so why should Sports entertainment?

 

[BrooklynBuc]

I don't blame Vince McMahon for the death storyline, but he burned himself with some bad karma. The storyline is two weeks old, and after Sherri Martel died they thought about dropping the angle. Now with this happening, they had to. They made the right decision too. You can't play around with death because the way things are, you never know what kind of karma you bring yourself.

I'm hoping Chris Benoit didn't commit suicide. It almost sounds like he was set-up by someone else. Why would he kill his son, fly to work, fly back, kill his wife then kill himself the next day? I don't have the mentality to know rhyme or reason in this situation, but it doesn't make sense, right?

The aftermath of this will just like after 9/11 and Owen Hart and Eddie Guerrero died. It'll be somber for the next month or so. People will wear armbands and dedicate moves and matches. Then life will go on. It's part of life to keep on going because you have to. There's NO WAY they'll make an angle out of this because you simply can't in good taste. (At least Eddie's storyline was more of inspiration to Mysterio to win the World Heavyweight Title, even if the death was exploited) Probably this week for ECW/Smackdown there will be just matches and no heel promos, then next week, life will return to normal. WWE will just go on. That's all we can do.

 

[JoshK1985]

Professional wrestling is a dark dark career. I mean a lot of these guys have drug demons, alcohol demons and so fourth. All the time you spend out there putting your body on the line night in an night out is grueling both mentaly and physically. I mean look at some of the older guys who still wrestle like Greg Valentine and Jake Roberts. I mean I saw Valentine wrestle about a month ago and he was kinda sauced and in terrible shape he struggled for a good minute to pu on the figure four, hell we all know about Jakes problems.. It is sad and thoes guys are like that because the wrestling business chewed them up and spit them out. I mean hell, look at mike awesome. Wrestling was over for him and he had a hard time dealing with it and ended it.. Look at Billy Graham he did all these steroids to become a bonafide superstar now he is so messed up he can't hardly walk.. So I guess what I'm trying to say is wrestling will never have credability because of what happens to these guys.. Plus this will all be compounded ad made look worse by the media.. It is such ashame.

 

[mork83]

I think this is probably the most tragic/shocking thing to ever happen in wrestling. Simply because, if the reports are true, Benoit went out on such in such a horrible way. With something like Owen Hart's death, it was an accident and he is revered today. I have no idea how Benoit will be remembered.

Also, I really like Vince McMahon, people may dislike him for creative decisions or business practices, but overall he is a genius and a very passionate man. I understand that the reason the WWE is so popular is because Cena/Edge/Hardys are on TV, performing at a couple house shows, doing interviews, making appearances a couple times a week. I just wish they could have more time off, I really don't think it would hurt the product or their popularity.

Of course Chris Benoit did not, allegedy, do this because of a hectic schedule because there are hundreds or thousands of people who are just as busy, but it can't be good for someone. Besides shock, the main thing I was thinking about while watching RAW last night was "When am I going to see the HHH or Edge memorial show". I have no idea what they can do, but it's scary and makes me all the more glad they released Kurt Angle when they did.

 

[jhambone213]

I don't see how anyone can say that the "Death of Mr. McMahon" storyline was tasteless. It had it's affect on me, pulling me back into wrestling as I was losing interest. And Vince did the right thing last night by hopefully ending this storyline.

As for Chris Benoit, I always looked forward to his matches, be it a job match with a up-and-comer or him co-headlining WMXX, he treated each match the same. He always seemed to do everything he could to sell it to the fans so they got what they expected out of his match. I got the chance to meet Chris at an autograph session, and he was quiet, but very willing to sign any merchandies the fans had, shake a hand, pose for a picture, etc. The wrestling world has lost a great entertainer, and the world has lost a great man.
God Bless the Benoit family

 

[IrishCanadian25]

We have now been through 4 moments like this in a decade with WWE, and in defense of Vince, he has come through each time. Owen Hart's death, Eddie's Death, Benoit's death, and 9/11, there is nobody we'd rather see with the mic in his hands than Vince. I would not want to be him right now, but I am glad he has come out to address this as the great business leader he is.

 

[harpoon]

I think often people get confussed between Vince in real-life, and Vince in WWE. Vince is not a cold, calculating, power hungry manic. He loves wrestling, and obviously just wanted to create more intrest with this storyline. Vince should be in no way blamed, or insulted because of what happened. If anything Benoit should recieve the backlash becausethe moment he killed his son I lost all respect I had for him. After its all settled down? It will be bad for WWE, I think WWE might consider having some kind of overhaul of all storylines to try to freshen things up after this horrible event.

 

[Cracker5000]

It is going to be a few rough few weeks for wwe. Maybe we will see more wrestling matches rather than storylines cause I don't think creative can think of any decent storylines right now.

 

[stampede dude]

im wondering how much of this vince knew of before the show went air? yeah they pulled all the merchandise off and the tribute stuff but if vince knew some of the details.... the guy is really caught in a hard spot what can he do to save face this so called wellness policy he has, he better take it more seriosly not letting these guys wrestle still with a fine or what ever the upper card guys are doing isnt gonna fly for sure now

 

[TCStyles]

One thing that needs to be addressed is the fact that the police found anabolic steroids in Benoit's home. Now apparently they were prescription steriods but still, what does this do to Vince and his Wellness Policy? One of his biggest stars just commited one of the most shocking acts in wrestling history, and now it also comes out he was juicing. What does this do to the WWE as a whole and Vince as the CEO??

Personally i think the Wellness Policy is kind of a joke anyway. Wrestlers will always find a way around the testing. Either way this will go down as one of the darkest periods in wrestling history.

 

[Shocky]

The one good thing, if there is any good, the McMahon Death Angle is gone. This was just a bad idea from the beginning. It shouldn't take someones death to realize that capitalizing on death isn't funny.

The main thing though, is the effects on the other wrestlers. These guys poured their hearts out last night, and only to find out a few hours later that Benoit was the perpetrator. Guys like Edge, Punk, Malenko and Guerrero, poured their hearts out, only to be betrayed one final time. How do you go on like that?

In the WWE their is no time to grieve. These guys have to be back out their tonight, and I for one couldn't do it. The feelings those guys must be going through, I couldn't imagine, and feel truly sorry for everyone that was betrayed.

What I would like to see, more focus on the actual wrestlers again. Events like this really make storylines look ridiculous and stupid. How the hell after monday night can anyone realistically boo Edge or Chavo? Hell, as much as I rag on Cena, it's impossible to do it now, even in a joking matter.

Listening to sports talk radio today, people dubbed this, the Death of Professional Wrestling. Their reasoning for this, the WWE now has its mainstream attention. The thing that is going to be brought up is the McMahon Death angle and Benoit's Death. The McMahon death angle is perhaps the worst, most tasteless angle in a long time. It's too bad that they didn't get the hint with Sherri dying last week, and drop the angle. Instead, we take a tragedy never seen in this business before for people to take a step back and look and say, maybe that wasn't such a good idea.

The Wellness program needs to seriously be re-addressed. Both Physical, and Mental Wellness need to be tested. On the Anabolic Steroids, they were prescribed, it was a doctors prescription, there isn't a big deal with these. Many people take steroids to heal themselves, and with a doctors prescription, it is perfectly legal.

There seriously needs to be a mental health aspect though. These guys are constantly on the road, constantly away from family. Wasn't it reported that Mercury was suffering severe depression. Didn't Brock state that he left because of depression of being away from his daughter? Roddy Piper said it best, the WWE uses these guys, and spits them out. He was crucified for it, and fired in 2003. Those words ring true today.

It maybe time for the WWE to seriously consider downsizing or scaling back their operation. These guys on the road 300+ days a year is not healthy. Look at the list of guys dead before 65 in this business. It's ridiculously long, and really, uncalled for. I seriously think the WWE should consider dropping mid-week houseshows altogether. Have the guys work Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, it gives them three days off a week to heal their bodies and get some quality time at home.

 

[ExtremeIronChef]

I think there should be a big overhaul in the WWE once this is all settled down. For one thing the wellness policy needs to be implemented a lot better. The top guys have to be checked just like everyone else and if steroids or some other drug show up they need to be punished. I don't care if it's HHH, HBK, Undertaker or whoever. It has to happen. I also think the storylines need to change. Maybe they should start implementing lighter hearted storylines. We need more wrestling too. More matches and matches that last longer too.

I have to applaud Vince though, like many others have stated, because he did do the right thing by appearing on TV. Like him or not, Vince McMahon, the real life person, is a genuinely passionate guy. Totally different from his on screen character. Vince and WWE do not deserve any kind of backlash that they will probably receive because of this fiasco. Bottom line is that something major needs shaken up but what that is only time will tell.

 

[Shadowmancer]

The Wellness policy needs to be looked at in a serious light get them help for stuff, have a mental health check once a month or something. This is also the time to capitalise on the attention that Wrestling is getting, regardless of the fact that it is negative and start putting on proper Wrestling performances with less emphasis on the storylines, with Storylines being there just less emphasised, this event may be a catalyst for the next boom period of Wrestling. While it comes out of Tragedy, I remember watching the Lion King 2 and it had a scene in it where you have Simba and the other male lion walking through an area that had had a fire, Simba brushes away some of the ash and a flower emerges. This is a great analogy for this as these event set the majority of the storylines back to zero, they can grow from there hopefully in a positive way.

 

[TheShowzOver]

I just had a thought as well i wonder if they will change the Ecw theme song currently 'Drowning Pool - Bodies'. I know it's just a song but the bodies literally did hit the floor with the Benoit family tragedy... it just wouldn't seem right hearing that anymore. That's my opinion anyway

 

[D-x 4evr]

yes i believe you are correct showz it does seem appropriate to change that song

well done for findin dat out

 

[Wrestlefan73]

The Vince death angle was not horrible. If WWE is considered a "male soap opera" then why all the fuss? Soap Operas do this all the time and I have never heard one complaint about it. Does that mean that Cryme Time should be scrapped because there was a beat down of a few guys by two black guys a couple of days ago? No, it's entertainment, that's all. WWE gets most of their storylines from actual life, ie Sgt Slaughter turning heel in 91, during Operation Desert Storm. Sensational Sherri passing was just a coincidence.

As for Benoit, of course the wrestling bashers of the world will call for the end of sports entertainment, blaming "roid rage" as the cause of the murder/suicide, but fact is, if steroids were the cause, which they weren't, but wouldn't this have happened before? Chris Benoit isn't the first person to ever use steroids, and no other athelete has killed because of "roid rage" so that couldn't be the reason.

Then there will be those that blast the WWE for the Chris Benoit Tribute Show on Monday night, but what were they to do? They were probably not aware of the facts. Atlanta police didn't release information quickly for fear that they were wrong, and just reported that they were dead.

I have heard all over radio, specifically Fox Sports Radio several people saying because of what Benoit did, they will never watch wrestling again. Well, I ask all of them: When Rae Carruth killed his pregnant girlfriend and their unborn child, did you stop watching the NFL? Didn't think so.

 

[dlew24]

Irish once again man you hit the nail on the head....Vince will catch a lot of heat from this whole death angle but he was just trying to do something to get the ratings up and to keep the fans interested.you can't blame Vince for trying to run a business.This is one of the worse times in wrestling i have ever witnessed,I'm only 21 but i have been watching wrestling since I was two and I can say there have never been times like this.The Vince death angle wasn't the worst but it was one off and might get the worst heat because 4 people died after it.It is hard to deal with everything thats being said about the benoits because we as fans don't think of him like he is being portrayed.It does seem like he is being setup it just doesn't make sense......But I do agree with taking ecw and making it for the younger guys they just have to find the right people and do the right booking to make it work,I'm a ECW original fan and some of the things I see don't thrill me but I don't think they have a lot of potential there.either way it goes wrestling will gone on and hopefully get better,but R.I.P. Chris and family