Comments that don't warrant a thread

[sek69]

Part of me wonders if Konnan and Killings are crazy/awesome enough to file a lawsuit against TNA over the independent contractor. It's not every day that someone quits a wrestling promotion over working conditions like this.

I'd argue Killings would have the best case anyone could have, didn't he get hurt in a TNA ring only to have them basically tell him to fuck off when it came to helping pay his medical bills?

[Bix]

Part of me wonders if Konnan and Killings are crazy/awesome enough to file a lawsuit against TNA over the independent contractor. It's not every day that someone quits a wrestling promotion over working conditions like this.

I'd argue Killings would have the best case anyone could have, didn't he get hurt in a TNA ring only to have them basically tell him to fuck off when it came to helping pay his medical bills?

Pretty much. It may have been another show booked through TNA, but still...

[gordi]

smarkschoice was better than Corey's old spidertwist forum. Probably the best forum overall I've seen for wrestling discussion. A good amount of people couldn't think straight on Coey's board though some great posters certainly did hang out there.

I'd say that when SC had the Greatest Wrestler Ever poll going, it led to some of the very best wrestling discussion that I've ever seen. Many of the people that made that work are posting here now from time to time. I'm hoping that the DVD Club threads will lead to some similar discussion.

[anarchistxx]

Bring back K-Kwik.

 

Smarkschoice was good for discussion, but don't forget it was close to shutting down in the months before GWE because nobody was posting anything.

 

But, yeah, I only really post here now, it's a nice quiet place I can let any feeling be known, without the whole world jumping on me. Post in UKFF Off Topic as well, but I wouldn't touch their wrestling section.

[anarchistxx]

Oh, also I just thought I'd let people know that Scott, or Canada's Greatest Heel as he's known, died in a car crash at the weekend.

 

He had the formerly really active Canada's Greatest Forum, for which I was a member for a while. Don't know if any of you knew him/knew of him.

[Jingus]

Didn't know the fellow myself, but that's like a morbid thought I've had before: who knows how many random people I've met on the internet might be dead now, and I'd never have any idea they weren't even on this planet anymore? We've all known a shitload of folks that we don't keep in regular contact with, or that sometimes just vanish and you never see 'em again.

 

I'd argue Killings would have the best case anyone could have, didn't he get hurt in a TNA ring only to have them basically tell him to fuck off when it came to helping pay his medical bills?

Pretty much. It may have been another show booked through TNA, but still...

 

It was at an indy show, indeed. But it was booked through TNA's informal talent agency, which basically exists just to steal 25% of their wrestler's income from working on the indies. And then they only LOANED him the money for surgery, insisting that he pay them back asap. And remember, because of the "independent contracter" bullshit, he couldn't have paid for it on his own because he doesn't qualify for medical insurance. So, for the millionth time, Fuck TNA.

[Bix]

Does anyone know what happened to the (shitty, but existent) TNA health insurance that they even mentioned during angles? I'm curious if it disappeared or just provides no coverage for the surgeries.

[Jingus]

Either it cost way too much compared to what it actually covered, or it never really existed.

[Bix]

Either it cost way too much compared to what it actually covered, or it never really existed.

I would guess the former, as I know for a fact that was legit (while really bad).

[sek69]

They probably just offered the same plan anyone could buy directly from a HMO. Being a pro wrestler would put those kind of plans out of the reach of anyone working for TNA except for the upper main eventers.

[Loss]

Huh?

 

--Lucha Libre on 6/30 at Southwestern College Gym in Chula Vista, CA with Rey Misterio Sr. & Hijo del Rey Misterio vs. Psicosis & Fobia

There is now more than one Rey?

[Bix]

Rey Sr's son (Rey Jr is his nephew, remember?). He's supposed to be not good yet.

[Jingus]

Arguably, he could go by Rey Misterio Jr, if the kid really wanted to. Not like most of the Mexican traditionalists have all that much respect for Rey after letting the WWE alter his name and re-mask him.

[Tim Evans]

Well there was a poster I saw on Cubsfan webiste where they made him look like Rey Jr. as much as they could.

[sek69]

Well there was a poster I saw on Cubsfan webiste where they made him look like Rey Jr. as much as they could.

I think it's just the Mysterio family mask style. When Sr. was still masked it was the same style as well.

 

Rey Sr masked:

 

 

 

The Family Mysterio:

 

[Jingus]

Rey Sr masked:

 

 

 

The Family Mysterio:

 

X's are red violets are blue

[sek69]

Bah.

 

You can go to Luchawiki and search for their bios and see the pics there. Suffice it to say all three Mysterii have the same general mask style so it's not as if Hijo is trying to ape his cousin.

[Mad Dog]

I saw the RoH card for their first Japanese card and wow. That show has box office bomb written all over it. I don't see how a KENTA/CIMA tag team is going to bring anyone in for them.

[Bix]

DG is drawing well in Osaka right now so the CIMA/KENTA team should help.

[Mad Dog]

I guess maybe I was expecting more. I thought they would've opened the wallet for say an Ultimo Dragon, Super Delfin or used Morishima on both shows.

[Loss]

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.

 

6/27/2007 4:49:00 PM

Dan Wahlers weighs in on the Benoit family tragedy

 

The Benoit Family Tragedy

 

[email protected]

 

For once in my life, I am at a loss for words. There

are really no words that can adequately describe how I

feel about the events of the past two days. The

apparent murder of Nancy and Daniel Benoit at the

hands of Chris Benoit, and then his subsequent suicide

is just something that I can’t even begin to fully

comprehend or accept. But I’m going to attempt to put

my feelings down in words, because it’s what you guys

would expect from me.

 

This is a column I never ever wanted to have to write.

I wish I could just crawl in a hole, and make believe

it never happened. But unfortunately, this is real

life, and it did happen. Three people are dead, and

the circumstances surrounding the deaths will just

make your head spin. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen

before.

 

I got the horrendous news this past Monday afternoon,

"Chris Benoit and family dead." My initial reaction

was that this was someone’s idea of a really bad joke.

It had to be a joke. It just couldn’t be true. Not

another one. Not Chris Benoit. Please tell me it’s

not true. Those are the things I kept telling myself

as I came online to confirm the news, hoping against

all hope that it wasn’t true. Actually, hoping that

this was another sick WWE angle. What the hell, why

wouldn’t they go this far, I thought. There are no

lines Vince McMahon won’t cross. So why not? My

greatest fears were realized when I logged onto

Wrestling Observer.com, and saw the post from Dave

Meltzer. My heart sank, and tears began streaming

down my face.

 

In my 22 years of watching wrestling, this is the

worst thing that has ever happened. It may very well

be the worst thing to ever happen in the history of

the wrestling business. You’d be hard pressed to find

a more unbelievably tragic, and disturbing turn of

events. Three days later I still can’t come to terms

with what happened. I can’t believe that Chris Benoit

is dead, and I can’t even begin to grasp the fact that

he murdered his own wife and son. It’s like a bad

nightmare that you can’t wake up from. How could

something like this happen? There have been so many

wrestling deaths, and some have been sadder than

others. But this one affected me more than any other.

 

Chris Benoit was on a pedestal to me. He was a man

that I admired and respected perhaps more than any

other wrestler. I loved watching him compete in the

ring, whether it was the main event, or the opening

match. I can’t even believe I’m writing about him in

the past tense today. That is so incredibly messed

up. Benoit was one of my favorite wrestlers of

all-time, and I’m not one of those people that’s just

saying that because he’s dead. Anyone that knows me

knows how much I loved Chris Benoit, and how much of a

mark I was for him. Hell, if you like the true art of

professional wrestling, you have to be a mark for

Chris Benoit. The guy did it better than anyone I’ve

ever seen.

 

As far as what he accomplished in the ring, he will go

down as one of the greatest to ever lace up a pair of

boots, and nothing that happened this week will ever

change that fact. But I will never look at Chris

Benoit the same way again. I will never watch a Chris

Benoit match the same way. The love, respect, and

admiration I had for him as a wrestler will always be

there, and that will never change. But the love,

respect, and admiration I had for him as a person is

gone. As a person, I am disgusted and repulsed by his

actions. As a person he is a murderer. There’s no

other way to put it.

 

Killing your wife is bad enough, but to kill your

innocent 7 year old son, there are no words to express

how immoral that is on every possible level. That, to

me, is the most revolting part of this whole ordeal.

And that is the part I am having the hardest time

trying to come to terms with in my own head.

 

All I can imagine is that Chris had some very deep

rooted mental problems, and whether they were caused

by steroid abuse, drug abuse, or whatever it might be,

one thing is very clear. You have to be fucked up in

the head to do something like this. And it hurts me

so much to think of Chris Benoit in that way, but

there is no possible way to sugercoat this, or dress

it up to make it look nice. As much as I wish I

could.

 

The reports are that Chris tied up and gagged his wife

Nancy, and then choked her to death. He then

smothered his son with a plastic garbage bag as young

Daniel was apparently sleeping. I can’t even imagine

how terrified Daniel must have been as his father was

literally squeezing the life out of him. I want to

cry when I think about it. How can a father kill his

own son? How can someone go so far off the deep end

that murdering your own wife and son becomes a valid

option? I can’t fathom how that is possible.

 

He supposedly murdered his wife and son over the

course of a couple days, and then sat in the house

with the dead bodies for a day or two. Those are not

the actions of a sane person. Those are the actions

of a person that has broken all ties with reality, and

I have no idea what could have drove Chris to take

such drastic, final actions. Did he have an argument

with Nancy, and he just snapped in the moment, or was

this something he planned out? I have no answers,

only a million questions swirling around in my head.

And these are questions that there will never be any

answers to, because the answers died with Chris.

 

That’s why I say he must have been suffering from some

severe emotional and mental problems, and we as

wrestling fans would have had no knowledge of that.

All we saw was the character he portrayed on TV every

week. That’s all these people are. They are

characters on TV. We have no idea what they’re like

in real life, or what’s really going on in their head.

I would have never believed in a million years that

Chris Benoit would be capable of doing something so

heinous. But obviously, I, nor anyone else knew the

real Chris Benoit. It was stupid of me to place a man

I didn’t even know on such a high pedestal in my life.

 

 

Immediately after his death was announced, I wanted so

much to be able to write a nice bio piece on Chris,

and talk about some of my best memories of him. I

wanted to write about being there live at Madison

Square Garden for Wrestlemania 20, the night Chris

realized his greatest dream, and the emotion I felt

seeing him finally win the World Heavyweight

Championship. That was a highlight of my life as a

wrestling fan. I don’t know that anything will ever

top that night. It’s a memory I will always treasure.

 

It was the perfect storybook ending. Chris Benoit and

Eddie Guerrero, two smaller guys that had always been

overlooked for title consideration in the past,

standing in the middle of MSG hugging, both as World

Champions in WWE. It didn’t get any bigger or better

than that. Three years later, both men are gone.

What a cruel twist of fate that is. Who could have

ever imagined?

 

I wanted to talk about Benoit’s best matches, and most

memorable feuds today. I wanted to talk about how

much he meant to me, and how much I loved watching him

work. I wanted to honor and remember his Hall of Fame

career. But that became impossible when the news came

out that he had murdered his family. How can you

honor someone that did something so despicable?

 

An entire career that took more than 20 years of

blood, sweat, and tears to build will forever be

tarnished because of what happened this week. People

will no longer look at Chris Benoit as one of the

greatest wrestlers of all-time. They will look at

Chris Benoit as a murderer. It will never be, "Oh

yeah, remember that great match he had with Dean

Malenko." It will instead be, "Oh yeah, isn’t he the

guy that murdered his wife and son, and then killed

himself." And in the end, that may be one of the many

reasons Chris decided to take his own life. It was

indeed a tragic end to a storied career. And it’s

something I still can’t believe I’m writing about. I

don’t think I will ever understand.

 

Chris Benoit was one of my heroes, he was someone that

I looked up to for his work ethnic, and the way he

carried himself. He was such a class act, the kind of

guy you wanted to pattern yourself after. There are

few wrestlers that I respected and admired more than

him. But that illusion was shattered this week. It

was shattered into a million pieces. I will never

think of Chris Benoit the same way. And that makes me

very sad, and hurts me down deep in my heart and soul.

 

Three lives were ended this week, a brilliant career

was forever stained, a wife and mother lost her life,

and a 7 year old boy will never get the chance to grow

up, and experience all the best that life has to

offer. His live brutally snuffed out by his very own

father. There are no words in the English language or

any other language to express how deeply sad I am

about this, and how much I wish this never happened,

and I had been watching Chris Benoit defend the ECW

World Title for the first time last night, instead of

writing the most heart wrenching, painful column I

have ever written.

 

My deepest heartfelt condolences to the family and

friends of the Benoit family, and anyone that was

affected by this horrible tragedy. My profound

sympathy to the victims in this, Nancy and Daniel

Benoit. May you both rest in peace, and find your

eternal reward.

 

Goodbye Chris. Thanks for the memories, and for all

the classic wrestling matches. I may never be able to

forgive you for your unspeakable actions, but I will

certainly never forget you for what you brought to the

wrestling business, and the joy you brought into my

life. Unfortunately, that joy ended on Monday June

25, 2007. A date that will remain etched in mine, and

every other wrestling fans memory forever. Things

will never be the same again.

 

You can send feedback to: [email protected]

 

Dan Wahlers

I'm sure Dan is a nice guy to those who know him well, but he is an awful, awful writer. Awful.

[Tim Evans]

Anyone that writes on that Observer site that's not Meltzer is horrible.

[Bix]

Well, Marvez is good, but he doesn't really count.

[Loss]

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".

[Mad Dog]

The guy who does the Raw recaps is standable more often than not.