Loss

I think you rock, and I support the idea.

He starts by saying he is at a loss for words, and then writes word after word after word. Then, he praises Benoit's "work ethnic".

I'm putting this here because I really don't want the Benoit thread to become about Dan Wahlers, but when I saw this headline, I immediately knew this was going to be ... something. I'm sure Dan is a nice guy to those who know him well, but he is an awful, awful writer. Awful.

Strummer, did the article mention what time the doctor's appointment was?

The media has a goldmine, which means this story isn't going anywhere.

I haven't seen this in print, so I don't know if this is really being reported or not, but I've read that WSB-13 out of Atlanta is now reporting that an empty wine bottle was found at the feet of Benoit's body.

"I could go into horror stories about wrestlers whose wives have had birth defective children; a wrestler who really didn't want to use steroids while his wife was pregnant because during fits of roid rage he had punched her, but at the times there were pressures from the top because he was getting too small; a wrestler who had a family history of heart problems, and who's doctor told him never to touch them, but without them was making 1/3 of what he was making while on them today." -- Dave Meltzer This was in an issue of the WON around Spring of 1990, but I don't know the date.

I would say that things like forcing Muhammad Hassan to do 1000 hindu squats for making an off-handed comment toward Shawn Michaels, or throwing Matt Striker out of the locker room are things that in hindsight can be looked at as warning signs. Wrestling has its own rules which are conveniently altered all the time, so there's nothing about either of those incidents within WWE that would seem alarming. My point isn't at all that WWE should have known at that point that the guy could be a murderer. However, that type of behavior is commended and encouraged in WWE locker rooms, and would be scoffed at in almost any other environment. I also acknowledge that there is some degree of hazing and paying dues for new athletes in any locker room in just about any sport. If WWE adds routine psychiatric exams to their wellness program in the future, which I suspect they will, that could prove interesting. Suddenly, JBL is forced to attend anger management classes and is diagnosed with having antisocial personality disorder while being put on meds. HHH has issues with body image and is forced to attend a self esteem workshop. This is all commentary on how I suspect WWE will handle the situation. While I don't see myself at any point totally absolving them of any blame, I also suspect that Benoit had characteristics of a psychopath from a very young age. I am also willing to admit that I could be completely wrong.

From F4W: - Alvarez stated he met Chris Benoit in the mid-90s and spoke to him occasionally, but that after Eddy Guerrero died, they spoke all the time - Said he kept a journal where he wrote to Eddy every day - Contacted Alvarez recently for recommendations on a good place to make replica championship belts. He wanted to present a gift to Booker T, who he thought was an amazing person - Confirmed that on the text message reports, "C" is Chavo and "S" is Regal - When Benoit had neck surgery in 2002, he refused to come off of steroids for fear of shrinking - Benoit and Nancy had fought about steroids many times in the past - The WWE apologizing for airing the tribute show was at the insistence of the USA network - Noted that as a F4W subscriber, Benoit provided a totally different address than is being indicated in text messages Direct quotes:

Bryan Alvarez did a really strong article in the new F4W. I don't want to directly copy/paste it, but I do want to recap it and explain the things he said that haven't really been discussed otherwise. I'll do so sometime this morning, probably.

Chris Nowinski is now making the media rounds discussing the affects concussions may or may not have played in Benoit's mental state. Ballard recently said somewhere that they now believe Daniel was in a choke hold and was not smothered.

I agree that Benoit being on suicide watch was a strong possibility. However, and maybe I'm judging him wrong, but I think knowing Wade Keller and the way he tends to cover things, he probably would have indicated this already on his website. Maybe not, but that's my first instinct.

From the Observer:

Which is it? It's not upsetting, as I was surprised by anyone reporting that they would apologize in the first place. I was merely pointing out that they didn't. According to live reports, building security confiscated every Benoit sign in the crowd at tonight's taping in San Antonio.

Well, that was hardly an apology. That said, at least Vince didn't comment on steroids.

Here's a good recap of the MSNBC segment I was referring to from the Torch:

Wow. This is not ending anytime soon.

The loss of the child is the biggest tragedy of all from all of this, and I sure hope it isn't being forgotten. I think you may see more discussion of that in the future. Right now, so many people are still trying to make sense of this and come up with an explanation for why it happened that I think it has dominated most of the discussion. Obviously, we may never fully understand the motive. The MSNBC segment was very informative, the best media coverage I've really seen of this. It was pointed out that even if steroids are not found in Benoit's system at the time of the death, that means nothing, as some of the most dangerous behavior from it can result when cycling off and craving it. Dr. Drew (from the old Loveline show on MTV) also pointed out that the last thing a physician would prescribe someone who was showing signs of depression would be anabolic steroids.

Bret Hart is about to be on MSNBC.

The Calgary and Edmonton shows next month have been cancelled. The RAW show in Calgary will now be in Corpus Christi to make up for last night.

I would be interested in one of the news stations interviewing Debra Marshall. She has been married to two wrestlers. She has been physically abused by at least one wrestler. She has been around both Chris and Nancy enough. She can compare the use of steroids and pain pills to that of other sports, because she knows what both wrestling and football locker rooms are like. An interview with her would be interesting.

Also, as Meltzer mentioned on Fox News, one of the text messages was bank account information.

From Keller:

Do you think every wrestler knew, and that the announcers knew? I can see an argument for most of them, but I don't know how much was shared with Punk, Edge or the announcers in comparison to what Malenko, Chavo, Regal, Vince, Steph and HHH probably knew.