Which wrestling death affected you the most?

[d_henderson1810]

Chris Benoit for one, partly because of the enormous toll he left behind. It was tragic because a man, his wife and his 7 year old child all died on the same weekend.

But the bigger tragedy is the man Benoit must have become to do this. Who knows what was in his brain when he did it. In a weekend, one of the best ring techinicians in wrestling history destroyed himself, his family, his legacy and everything he had worked for. His entire career, his life was wasted because of this act.

His parents have to bury a son, daughter-in-law and grandson, and then balance between grieving a son and not looking to excuse his monstrous actions.

Also, all memories of his matches are tarnished. We can never enjoy his World Title win at WMXX again or all the awesome matches he fought.

Never has one death had such far-reaching consequences. It changed the industry, with WWE's concussion policy and other measures. I read that most of WWE's policies in the last few years are in light of the Benoit tragedy, with increasing wrestler safety and increased scrutiny on professional wrestling.

Another is Junkyard Dog. He was one of my favourites in the 80's, and his charisma and entertainment brought many a smile to wrestling faces. He can work in the Attitude Era as a hardcore wrestler, and in the PG era with his dance and entertaining children. Everyone loved JYD. Hearing that he died in a car crash was very sad. I heard that he fell asleep at the wheel after attending his daughter's graduation, so at least his final day on earth would have been a happy one for him.

 

[Glacier]

Macho Man.

I would say the Undertaker but Paul Bearer brought him back to
life.

 

[ECW]

Road Warrior Hawk hit me pretty hard. I knew that he had a bunch of issues but I was not prepared for his death so early in his life.

Chris Benoit was another one that was tough to handle.

JYD, Louie Spicoli, Buzz Sawyer, Big Dick Dudley, Gentleman Chris Adams, Playboy Buddy Rose, and, of course, Eddie Guerrero all touched my heart as well. They were all wrestlers that I liked a great deal.

 

[tdmoon]

Has to be Dusty Rhodes for me.
When I first started watching wrestling, I was a huge fan of the Horsemen. Dusty was the main nemesis of the group, was always battling at least one of them. He was the main good guy and was always at or near the top of the card in the big shows. I couldn't stand the guy, but fully recognized he was a very big deal.
Curt Hennig would be close. I really liked him from the beginning of his career and his win over Bockwinkel for the title with the help of Zbysco was one of my early mark out moments watching wrestling. He also took part in another of my favorite matches, when Lawler took the title from him. I was always a bit disappointed Hennig didn't reach the heights I had hoped in the WWF, he was a fantastic all-around wrestler.

 

[Just Do It]

The Chris Benoit one still shocks me. My brother (fan) text me that morning,went on WWE.com where it was confirmed. The details were not known then, and then it all unfolded. Mind boggling, and so tragic.

 

[NSL]

Owen in a landslide. I wasn't so much sad over him dying, but the tribute show, and watching the PPV half-unfold after the incident made it way too real, at an all too impressionable age. He was finally starting to come into his own, and not be Bret's little brother, and it was all swept out from under him.

Benoit's death was tragic, and hit me hard, only because I could never wrap my head around the entire thing. I have seen the effects of drugs and wrestling firsthand, but to see it hit someone that hard, and seemingly that fast, and to his entire family...It was sad. Sad just doesn't seem strong enough.

Macho Man's felt like a personal loss, because I had met him a ton of times at MSG as a kid. Still hard to believe that he's gone.

 

[blackcomicnerd]

Owen Hart. At the time my mom wouldn't let me order ppv's and we still didn't have internet at the time. Like many kids in my situation we learned about the ppv results the next day at school. My friends that actually watched the ppv live that night told me and it completely shocked me. I couldn't believe it all day until that night when Raw came on.

Chris Benoit. At the time I wasn't watching wrestling so I when I heard about it initially I was shocked because I liked him when he was in WCW and when he first came to the WWF/WWE. When I learned about happened I was even more shocked and angry. I just couldn't understand how someone could murder their own child and wife like that. Ironically his death kind of made me start watching wrestling off and on again until 2012 when I started watching it consistently again.

 

[agentmichaelscarn]

Probably Warrior. I was a die hard Ultimate Warrior fan as a kid, I mean he was basically my hero as a kid. So I hated how he was basically erased from WWE for years, then when he came back for his HOF I was so excited. So him dying right after that really shook me up, atleast as much as a "celebrity" could. If he died say 5-10 years ago I probably wouldn't have been as upset. But seeing him again rekindled all the memories I had as a kid of him so it made it that much harder when he died.

 

[Blade]

When I first saw the news of Benoit's death announced on WWE.com, my blood ran cold. At this point, the public didn't know what had really happened, just that the bodies had been found in the Benoit home. But I knew immediately that something was very wrong here. From what I knew, Benoit didn't have any health or drug issues. He was still performing well every night. This shouldn't have happened.

As I read the original article about his death, again, before the murder/suicide thing was made clear, I got more and more uncomfortable and ill to my stomach. I wasn't sad. Something in my mind was stopping me from being sad. Because I knew this wasn't an accident like Owen, or a health/drug issue like Eddie. This was something worse, something far more sinister.

And then the details of what really happened emerged, I realised my gut feeling had been correct. And that made everything more confusing. I didn't know if I should hate Benoit, if I should feel sad, so I just kind of became numb to the whole situation for about a week.

Benoit's death didn't affect me the most in terms of sadness or nostalgia. But it certainly made me feel the strongest emotions.

 

[Kurgen]

All of those deaths affected me in a shocking and sad manner, especially Benoit's.
Dusty was kind sad but he had not been looking well recently and I wasn't shocked.
Rowdy Roddy Piper was the one that had more impact, I know he was 61 but he didn't seem to have health issues and he was one of my favorites from way back, I had been following the debacle over his podcast and the release from the WWE Legends contract, and was waiting for him to return on Piper's Pit somewhere else, then the news hit that he passed away. After the Hogan being banned from the WWE, Piper was one of the last legends that started Wrestlemania, and the way they just did a simple tribute on Raw was disappointing. I know Dusty had more duties backstage and deserved a big tribute, but Piper should have had at least half of what Dusty had, and that's what made me more sad. After he gave so much to the business and fans, he deserved more and did not get it.

 

[ShinChan]

Chris Benoit hit me too hard as i was a big fan of his and how he died made me more sad......
and also Roddy Piper.... Too shocking and too early i thought it fr him....