For anyone who watches WWE wrestling, Chris Benoit and his family are all dead.

[e-LAN-go]

I realise most people scoff at wrestling in general but for the fans its entertainment and enjoy it a lot.

I'd like people to appreciate that wrestlers do put their bodies on their line which seems to result in their average short life expectancy.

I'm not going to pretend to know about Benoit's personal/home life but from what I've read about him he seemed to be a stand up person that's why most wrestling fans find this whole incident incredibly bizarre.

I don't understand why people still claim it was roid rage when it seems like he planned it carefully over a few days and comparing him to Hitler and Stalin is ridiculous.

There's no concrete evidence so far to definitely confirm whether Benoit was using drugs at the time although anabolic steroids were found, now it's being claimed it was used to treat his son for a birth defect and the WWE's own drug testing policy didn't seem to reveal anything out of the ordinary either.

For non wrestling and casual fans it's probably hard to grasp why Benoit would be considered a legend but I reckon most fans who followed his career will think of him as one because of his dedication and enthusiasm for wrestling.

Lastly I'd like to wait for the final results of the investigation to come out to end all the speculation before reserving final judgement.

[finlay666]

And I think you will find it is called Sports entertainment, not sport

The man was a legend, he put his life into the businesses he worked for.

I would like to see the toxicology results though

[Knoxville]

thats rather an ambiguous statement don't you think?

Charles Manson was an eloquent and impassioned speaker, people flocked to listen to him, long before the Mass Marketing boat left the dock - LEGEND!

Hitler was an artist, a respected man in Germany, who took a broken and defeated country to the pinnacle of world power - LEGEND!

Joseph Stalin ---- ok, i think you get the picture.

Manson was also an accomplished folk writer/singer and in the eyes of many he is still a legendary figure, thats why his face is on t-shirts and yours isn't.

Hitler was an amazing politician, absoloutly incredible, his rise to power was nothing short of genius at times, go read up on it, tell me I'm wrong.

Stalin...well thats pushing the boat into Mugabe territory isn't it really, he did however play quite the role in defeating the Nazi's, so I imagine to all the troops on the ground in 1945 Mr Stalin was indeed proclaimed a legend.

My point is, regardless of what some people have done/choosen to do with their lives they will be percieved as legends to a group of people somewhere, it's all about opinion.

Did he organise charity events to feed kids in Africa and other third world countries? Did he save children from burning buildings or help abolish slavery? Did he invent a new planet saving fuel, allowing us to protect our environment and cut down on gaseous emmissions?

No, I doubt he did, but neither did Winston Churchill, Frank Sinatra, Cassius Clay, Bob Dylan, Bill Hicks, Hunter S. Thompson....

The list goes on and on, you don't have to make a huge difference in the world to be percieved as a legend, you just have to make a difference to someone's life, give them memories they'll cherish and a story they'll one day tell the kids, and if you can do that with enough people through whatever medium you've chosen then you've earned the title in my opinion.

Did Chris Benoit earn that right? Only someone with a knowledge of his career stretching beyond his wikipedia entry could tell you, I couldn't, when I watched wrestling as a kid though Hulk Hogan was most definatly worthy of wearing that title in my eyes.

Oh and everyone who's posted wrestlings not real, yeah, its not, we all know its scripted....then again so are films and television, and we don't mock people that watch those forms of entertainment quite so viciously do we?

On one of the many other forums I'm a member of (all of which are having similar discussions at this point) someone posted this video as a response to the "it's not real!" posts........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYPWI7D1WSA

Scripted or not, thats gotta be painful and to be fair anyone that does that to entertain people (lycra clad or not) earned a modicum of my respect after I saw that video.

[YorkieBen]

There's no concrete evidence so far to definitely confirm whether Benoit was using drugs at the time although anabolic steroids were found, now it's being claimed it was used to treat his son for a birth defect and the WWE's own drug testing policy didn't seem to reveal anything out of the ordinary either.

Benoit was a blatent steroid user - speaking to people I train with who used to be bodybuilders they have often stated it is a) blatently obvious who uses and who doesn't and b) the difference between using and not using is ridiculous. The fact that wrestlers like Benoit put on several wrestling matches a week along with all the travelling, plus having to put in alot of weights to keep it on makes steroid use an almost certainty (steroids enable you train more often as it reduces recovery time) - especially as Benoit was a small guy with huge muscles and was ripped - not a natural combination

Plus passing steroids tests isnt actually that hard unless its totally random. Plus there are other harmful substances that are nearly impossible to detect e.g. growth hormones

[starbuck]

I've watched wrestling on and off for years and watched benoit since he came into the WWE from WCW. I would never say he was my favourite wrestler but was always someone I enjoyed watching.

To say the situation is f*&^ed up is a major understatement. Because of this, he will always be remembered(if it is proved and turns out to be true) as the wrestler who murdered his family and then killed himself. They will not remember him for doing what he did in his career and in the eyes of people who like wrestling, he was a legend.

Whether you are a fan of wrestling or not and whatever the autopsies and investigations reveal, the point is that 3 people have lost their lives(albeit 2 involuntarily) and that is always a sad thing. We will never know what drove a supposedly calm and together person into doing what he did. His name will never be associated with wrestling again and go down in history as the double murderer.

There is never any excuse for what happened, but I think there is more substance to someone than 1 act, however bad and unforgivable it is. As said before, hitler and charles manson etc had great qualities to them and did great things, but they will always be remembered for the 1(or more) totally unforgivable acts they committed.

For myself, I will always remember Chris Benoit as a great wrestler, I will also remember him as someone who had something happen so badly inside him that he possibly thought this was the only option. There is nothing but sadness in this tragedy. I also feel enourmous empathy towards Chris' other 2 kids who will have to live with what their father supposedly did for the rest of their lives and will also have to put up with people talking behind their backs about their father - Can you imagine anything worse than having the image of someone you loved and respected so much totally destroyed, and in public too.

[e-LAN-go]

Benoit was a blatent steroid user - speaking to people I train with who used to be bodybuilders they have often stated it is a) blatently obvious who uses and who doesn't and b) the difference between using and not using is ridiculous. The fact that wrestlers like Benoit put on several wrestling matches a week along with all the travelling, plus having to put in alot of weights to keep it on makes steroid use an almost certainty (steroids enable you train more often as it reduces recovery time) - especially as Benoit was a small guy with huge muscles and was ripped - not a natural combination

Plus passing steroids tests isnt actually that hard unless its totally random. Plus there are other harmful substances that are nearly impossible to detect e.g. growth hormones

I'm not against that possibility as I always thought the musculature of his arms were some what odd.

The main reason I doubt he was using steroids recently was because when Eddie Guerrero died due to the longterm effects of drugs/alcohol abuse even though he was sober at the time it created a considerable amount of negative PR for WWE so it was in their best interests to have strict drug testing for their wrestlers to avoid premature deaths.

Also their drug testing policy appeared to be working because apparently one or two of their wrestlers were caught in recent months and were sent to rehabilitation.

But like finlay666 said earlier I'm keen to know what the toxicology results are.

[Stewart]

hitler and charles manson etc had great qualities to them and did great things, but they will always be remembered for the 1(or more) totally unforgivable acts they committed.

Roid rage...

[starbuck]

Roid rage...

Granted, I don't know muchabout steroids or their effects but if the events unfolded over 3 days(apparently wife on fri, son on sat and himself on sunday/monday) if it is drawn out over this period, how can it be rage of any kind, wouldn't the murders have all happened at the same time?

[bigblue]

I think the term "legend" is used far too loosely nowadays. Obviously it's up to individual interpretation but to me a legend is someone who leaves a legendary story behind that's talked about for decades. If not for what's happened I don't suppose many people would be talking about Benoit in 5 years let alone 50.

Despite how many people he entertained, and how much he gave to his field, if what's been reported is true I don't see how anyone can remember him as anything other than a murderer. Damn right he's not remembered for what he did in the ring.

I thought PS3 fans were rabid, but from what I've seen in various places today, wrestling fans are more, um, loyal. He was an entertainer ? Sure, but I'd hardly call him a legendary entertainer by anyone's standards. He give his all to his job, fair play. But how does that make him any different to the rest of us ? He probably "entertained" a fair few folk, but your average Premiership footballer "entertains" a couple of million people a year, still doesn't make them legends.

If not for this, what would his legend have been ? Half decent "sporting entertainer". And...?

And wrestling fans who are sympathising because he COULD have been somewhat messed up, by steroids or other problems, where do they draw the line ? Pretty much anyone who commits a crime has something up with them in some way, some short circuit somewhere, or else they'd think better of it. If some "entertainer" with 'roid rage decided to attack someone close to you, would you shrug it off and say it's a pity he's tarnished his reputation but he's still a legend ?

[zulander]

i wonder how long it will be till they make a film about it, a year maybe 2?

[MadduckUK]

will have to be sooner than that, no-ones going to remember in a year

[zulander]

a lot of the wwe fans in america and canada will remeber for a long time to come, he was big name in pro wrestling like it or not. They get somewhere between 50-70 thousand people at major live events and more via ppv around the world

[iamtheoneneo]

whilst i dont watch wrestling anymore (far to old) i remember in my youth chris beniot he was a great wrestler - but the circumstances of this death have left a sour taste in my mouth tbh.