Official Superstars/Divas Comments on Benoit

[LionDen]

Former WCW valet AnnMarie "Midnight" Crooks speaks about Chris Benoit

Performing as a valet under the name Midnight, AnnMarie Crooks worked for one year in World Championship Wrestling at the same time as Chris Benoit. Now a real-estate agent and owner of a “mid-century furnishing and accessories store” in the Fort Lauderdale, Fla. area, Crooks recently sent me an email with her thoughts on the Benoit murder-suicide. Here are her thoughts:

“Professional wrestling does not control my life, so I can say what I want unlike others who fear of losing their jobs.

“I knew Chris for about a year and this is not in the man’s character at all. Most wrestlers I knew were cocky, womanizing, etc. He was a true worker. He was low-key, soft-spoken and just a nice guy.”

“All this media speculation about ’roid rage is crap. How about just plain old ‘Fed up with WWE’ rage? I am not saying he wasn’t using steroids. I don’t know and frankly don’t care. It is insignificant, in my opinion, to what caused Chris to do what he did.

“The media is always so quick to start drawing conclusions before the whole story is known. They don’t know how these wrestlers live for this job, how so many can’t leave because they don’t know how to live outside of the public’s eye or can’t ever move on because they don’t have any other skills. How these promoters own them, manipulate them and control their destinies through storylines that sometimes involve their personal lives off-stage!

“Why do you think old wrestlers like Ric Flair won’t just retire and accept his age and limitations? It’s not for the money! He has more than enough, a successful gym, and other business enterprises. It’s part of the wrestler mentality. I know of what I speak.

“Who knows what was going on behind the scenes with WWE and Chris? I know how quickly [promotions] can change your life, income and destroy dreams. I also know of several other ex-wrestlers who are hooked on drugs, doing anything to make ends meet and just plain unhappy. They couldn’t accept the end of that lifestyle and career. I can’t help but wonder what actions and/or conversations within WWE involving Chris caused this?

“I consider myself lucky for being released long before I sunk to the levels necessary to play the game and hang on to your contract. I thank God and my family for the strength to move on and to have the ambition to find new doorways of opportunities and new business ventures.

“When lesser known wrestlers pass away, we never hear about it; but now it’s just too much. Eddie Guerrero was the beginning of the doors to the lies and secret of this business opening. And now we must add Chris Benoit’s name to what I am sure will be an ever-growing list of wrestlers who die before their time. I am disgusted that yet another wrestler and human being was so overwhelmed with life and issues that he felt he couldn’t control, that he felt this was the only way to a solution.

“I am deeply saddened by this tragedy. WWE’s claim that he just tested clean on his last test … All I can say to that is spare me your media-ready statements.

“I can’t speak for WWE’s drug-testing policies. But I know when I was in WCW, they passed who the hell they wanted to pass and failed who they want to fail. It’s all politics, just like the sport itself.

“I think there is much more behind this story that led him to snap. And from my brief and disgusting stint in the professional wrestling biz, I am sure Vince McMahon knows what caused this to happen. I hope he will find it in his heart to look past the money he makes off these wrestlers and do the right thing. He was so quick to air a special memorial show to Chris – let’s see how quick he is in changing protocol and telling the FACTS and the TRUTH, because its only then will things begin to change.

“Lies beget lies; the truth can change things! This whole thing stinks of a cover-up of the entire truth – to save WWE being connected with this in any way. But it’s like the postal worker who comes back with the loaded gun and kills everyone in the building … Incredible frustration and stress from a job spiraling out of control.

“Every action has a reaction, and though WWE is not to blame for the decisions Chris made, if they were catalysts – stand up and state so!”

[Black Widow]

BULL BUCHANAN COMMENTS ON HIS FRIENDSHIP WITH CHRIS BENOIT AND HOW THE TRAGEDY AFFECTS THE ENTIRE WRESTLING BUSINESS

by Wrestlemag.com
6 July 2007, 12:15 pm EST

by WorldWrestlingInsanity.com

This week, ClubWWI.com was pleased to welcome their newest audio show host…Bull Buchanan.

With his new show, “The Bullpen,” former WWE Tag Team Champion, Former Right To Censor Member, and Japanese wrestling star, Bull Buchanan joined D-Lo Brown, Kevin Kelly, Orlando Jordan, Ivory, and many others in hosting ClubWWI.com audio.

Bull’s debut show lasted for nearly an hour and covered a huge amount of subjects. Many listeners will be surprised to hear how well Buchanan knows the history of the business and how knowledgeable he is about the business as a whole. Everything from TNA to WWE to Japan and back were discussed between Buchanan and James Guttman. While a number of topics were covered, the first point talked about was the Benoit tragedy. As someone who was friends with Chris, Bull spoke openly about the horrible news and how it affects him personally and the wrestling industry as a whole:

“It was a crazy week. Still just doesn’t seem like it really happened. I really believe this is probably one of the worst things that’s ever happened in our business. Without a doubt, you know, the tragedy for the family and everything, but from a business standpoint, this is one of the worst things that’s ever happened to this business. That being said, you know, I don’t pretend to know what pushed Chris to what apparently has happened. I guess we’re all still kinda…I know, for one, I still want to flip on the news and find out that it was all a mistake - that it was anything other than what it appears to be. Like I said, I don’t pretend to know what may have pushed him to that point. I certainly don’t - as any sane minded person - I certainly don’t condone it or defend it. What I will say is that Chris Benoit was a friend of mine. We knew each other for a while. Our families knew each other. My wife and Nancy talked. Not recently, but in the past…. From a business standpoint, if my son ever decided that he wanted to be in this business and I could point to one person to show him how to conduct himself in a professional manner, it would be Chris Benoit. There’s no doubt in my mind and I don’t think you will find anybody that will argue with you that Chris Benoit was one of the most professional men in this business. Like I said, I’d really rather stay away from the last three or four days of his life because I don’t know - and I don’t think anyone knows - what happened. But previously to that, Chris Benoit was a stand up a guy. He was someone I was proud… I’m still proud to call my friend.”

Aside from this, Bull Buchanan and James Guttman also discussed how this tragedy affects TNA, how it affects the Indy scene, Japanese Wrestling, Sports Entertainment vs. Old School Wrestling, SMW, ECW, Bob Armstrong, Becoming John Cena’s Homey, Rap Music, Big Bossman, and so much more.

Remember, Bull Buchanan is just one of many stars who can be heard on ClubWWI.com. Other stars you can hear from on the Club include Eric Bischoff, Kevin Nash, Jerry Lawler, Diamond Dallas Page, Christian Cage, Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, Bobby Heenan, Sid Vicious, John Heidenreich, and over 70 others

[Black Widow]

Mick Foley Comments On Benoit Tragedy

Feel-Good Foley
Post-Benoit, L.I.’s Hardcore Champ Shows Soft Side Just When We Need It

Mick Foley wishes he could just talk about Santa Fe de la Laguna, and a little girl named Rosa Maria.

It's not that the Long Island pro wrestling icon is necessarily trying to skirt the issue that everybody wants to ask about. Some of the critiques he's given World Wrestling Entertainment in the past would burn a golf ball-sized hole in your ear, so he's not adhering to marching orders.

It's just that when finally reached on the phone to talk about the bizarre double murder-suicide involving fellow grappler Chris Benoit, he has a different story to tell. It involves hope and smiles and humor, all the things we need to hear about when tragedies overcome us.

You see, at around the same time that things were going on at Benoit's home that don't need repeating, a different scene was unfolding in Santa Fe de la Laguna, in the western Mexico state of Michoacán. Foley was mugging for the camera with Rosa Maria, a young girl he sponsors through Christian Children's Fund.

"I joked with her that not many children have a sponsor with their own action figure," says Foley.

The previous year, Foley had traveled there on a CCF study mission and found an early childhood education/community center that had run out of funding-and Rosa Maria, who connected with him. Since 2004, he had tried to improve upon a standard relationship with the charity that dates back to 1992.

"I guess I was just a typical sponsor, probably a worse-than-average sponsor. My checks were often late, and I didn't write [the children] all that often," he admits.

But nobody missed one of his latest checks, which prompted his return for the grand reopening.

"They put up a plaque with names on it in order of the size of contribution, and the first two were the Dalai Lama and me. Not bad company to be in," Foley says with a discernable hint of pride in his voice.

Foley has, in essence, become pro wrestling's Angelina Jolie. The "King of the Death Match," who over the years has used more barbed wire than a Texas rancher to maim opponents, is heading to Sierra Leone in September to learn more about the plight of child soldiers.

How do two guys, Benoit and Foley, who have lived rather similar existences, turn out so differently?

"Everybody's looking for easy answers," Foley maintains, "and there are no easy answers."

That got me thinking about Benoit. Steroids? It does appear that he was an abuser. But if steroids caused this kind of godlessness, wouldn't we have had to deal with similar tragedies from athletes in assorted sports who have shot everything but Drano into their bodies for decades?

Concussions? Foley's head has been bounced around as much as anybody, and he is a New York Times best-selling author who earlier this year spoke at MIT.

A stressful schedule? The travel and family detachment a pro wrestler faces is grueling. But a friend made a good point to me the other day. While the Benoit situation was unfolding, the other big story was former officer Bobby Cutts Jr. allegedly killing his pregnant girlfriend. Not one member of the media has tried to link his work with the Dayton Police Department to his reported action, even though law enforcement is a pretty stressful career.

"There are all kinds of people who want to ridicule Roger Clemens because of his work schedule. So there's no way to satisfy everybody," Foley says. "If somebody's burnt out [in WWE], they ask for time off. That's what Chris had done in the past, and what I've done in the past. There's no question that working on the road full-time with WWE is a difficult lifestyle. But to try to even insinuate that a rough job can result in a double murder-suicide is really a stretch for me. The only person responsible at all is Chris. I think to try to hold his employer or his job as responsible at all for his actions is wrong."

That said, the death of Eddie Guerrero in 2005 brought along WWE's Talent Wellness Program to test for substance abuse, and suspensions have been doled out since. This latest tragedy will likely lead to an even more stringent policy, but as baseball has shown, there's no single wave of a wand that is going to instantly solve a systemic issue.

Why is it, though, that when the problems in baseball are discussed, all the talking heads are trying to save the sport, but when wrestling has an issue, commentators dismiss the profession as Satanic and hope it meets an early grave?

"It's been that way for a long time," Foley says of the naysayers. "You can ask any Make-A-Wish chapter, literally, ask any one, about their feelings about WWE and they'll give you a completely different story because they know that most of the guys are more than willing to help out and really see it as an honor to be able to put smiles on faces that don't get to smile too often. When people get to know the wrestlers a little bit, they are almost always impressed with how down to earth and generous with their time they can be."

That's why Foley says he doesn't find his charity work as much of a paradox as others do, considering that his career has been spent making people feel good. In the middle of the Benoit tragedy, he's waiting for a call so he may return to WWE for a short time and "lighten the mood."

After what the wrestling establishment has been through, some of Foley's antics-Mr. Socko and Duke Love come to mind-would be a welcome diversion.

Until then, he'll focus on his philanthropy and his family. Wife Colette and his four kids are doing great, having just filmed a pilot for an A&E reality show in their home. Before our call ends, he says with glee that younger sons Little Mickey and Hughie are all healed up-he chronicled in The Hardcore Diaries, his latest book, how the pair was in the hospital with viruses. But he uses that as a motivation for people to give, noting, "The same virus that put my kids in the hospital for two days can end a life in a lot of countries around the world."

Pretty deep stuff from a guy who used to pull out his hair on TV to get our attention. Hopefully, WWE will bring Foley off the bench soon. After talking with him about Rosa Maria, I know I certainly felt a little better.


- longislandpress.com

[bad_meetz_evil]

The Long Island Press recently interviewed Mick Foley, when the Benoit Family Tragedy was brought up, Foley said: "Everybody's looking for easy answers," Foley maintains, "and there are no easy answers."

"If somebody's burnt out [in WWE], they ask for time off. That's what Chris had done in the past, and what I've done in the past. There's no question that working on the road full-time with WWE is a difficult lifestyle. But to try to even insinuate that a rough job can result in a double murder-suicide is really a stretch for me. The only person responsible at all is Chris. I think to try to hold his employer or his job as responsible at all for his actions is wrong."

To read the full article, click here

[Black Widow]

BENOIT TRAGEDY - WILLIAM REGAL COMMENTS ON HIS OWN DRUG PROBLEMS, BENOIT TRAGEDY

by Phil Lowe
8 July 2007, 7:46 am EST

Today’s edition of the Daily Star Sunday here in the UK has quotes from William Regal on drugs in wrestling and the Chris Benoit tragedy.

Regal, whose quotes are pretty much the only part of a truly awful tabloid article that “reveals” steroids were found in the Benoit house when the bodies of Chris, Nancy and Daniel Benoit were found, told the publication, “Chris and me were the grumpy old men, making out the younger wrestlers didn’t have enough respect for the business. We used to police the dressing rooms together, making sure they didn’t leave any trash in the dressing rooms and stuff like that.

“But you’d only ever be friends with Chris on his terms.

“The only way I can rationalise is to say that Chris lost the plot. I know, I’ve done it myself, had blackouts and all kinds of stuff.

“I can only think the poor lad has snapped, killed Nancy and thought that his son, who had problems, would have to grow up without parents and he thought it was a mercy killing.

“I am hoping someone can tell me that so I can put it to bed. I’m going to remember Chris for everything except the last two days of his life.”

You can read the article in full here.

[Black Widow]

My Opinions and Beliefs - Matt Hardy

After taking in everything that has been going on and said about the WWE the last couple of weeks, I am ready to air my feelings and comments. I'm going to speak as candid and as honestly as I can. I've been told it's ok to say what I want, and that's exactly what I'm gonna do.

The first thing I want to mention is how disappointed I am with a majority of the media's coverage of the recent events. There was a terrible tragedy that happened and now the media wants to points the finger of responsibility at our industry. So many people are looking for someone else to take the blame--in a constant attempt to garner ratings on the "hot" story. If it turns out what is currently speculated is what actually happened to Chris Benoit and his family, only one person was ultimately responsible--that being Chris himself. I would suggest it was because Chris Benoit had a mental dysfunction, some sort of mental illness or disease. Any form of life, in any occupation, can eventually reach a point where they became mentally ill because they let their personal and professional issues overtake their sanity. Whatever walk of life you come from, you have to be able to know within yourself when you need help. If you continue to go without help or change when you desperately need it, you'll eventually snap. It's happened to postal workers, factory workers, school kids, people from all walks of life--this time it just happened to be a professional wrestler.

Some of the media have made ridiculous statements and created so many absurd scenarios. Such things as Chris Benoit was demoted by going from "The Four Horsemen to Raw"--and that Nancy Benoit and Sherri Martel passed away on the same day, and were their deaths somehow tied together? Within the WWE we exaggerate stories and have over the top characters--but we admit we're entertainment. It's so irresponsible for some of the media to state such sensationalized stories and give incorrect information--they claim to be reporting factual events to the public.

It's also very odd that so many older wrestlers that haven't been in our locker room in years, some decades--seem to think they're informed of the current habits of today's talent. If they're legitimately trying to make a difference, I can respect and applaud that. But if their motive is to get that fifteen minutes of fame and get their name circulating again, that's not very cool. Regardless of their motivation, they don't know the activities of our generation, the newer generation. The talent has changed. Our generation is so much more responsible and cognizant of their lifestyles and health compared to the generations before. Does that mean everyone's perfect? Absolutely not. But the talent is so much more disciplined and responsible than the talent from years past. The demographic that the media always speaks about "dying young" is yesterday's generation, not today's. Those numbers will dwindle down in the years to come--I guarantee it.

The current WWE roster is the best behaved and most responsible locker room that I've ever been in over the nine years I've been with the WWE. And the drug-testing system that we have is totally legitimate. If it wasn't, I wouldn't state that publicly. Considering the physicality of what we all do, there will always be times where injured wrestlers will be prescribed medications to legitimately deal with pain and injuries. And I don't mean the exaggerated overdoses that Dr. Astin was apparently prescribing.

I just recently read an article debating if "personal choice" existed in wrestling--of course it does. I think it all comes down to being disciplined and responsible. Vince McMahon gives everyone he hires an opportunity--it's up to you with what you do with it and how you handle yourself. I'm not a huge guy. I'm not the most talented guy to ever walk through the WWE doors. But I was and I still am given an opportunity to bust my ass and work hard and succeed. And I have. And I didn't have to look like a bodybuilder to do so. I'm not a steroid user. Never will be. But that hasn't stopped me from making a great living within the WWE for almost nine years. Over the course of the last six months, I've been on the most successful run of my entire career. And I'm not a drug user--with the exception of a occasional beer or cocktail. If I have an early flight or an early wake up, I go to bed early. I'm responsible. If I have a minor injury, I make it my priority to take care of it and treat it. I'm responsible. Back in the day, during the generations before us, wrestlers were so consumed with living the "rock star" lifestyle that they sacrificed sleeping and recuperation time to party. The "rock star" lifestyle often consisted of doing recreational drugs to party and then using drugs to go to sleep and then wake up. But our generation is not doing that like yesterday's generation. In fact, the majority of the guys within the WWE today frown on that behavior. Being a professional wrestler is a challenging and tough career--but it ultimately our "personal choices" that depend on how each wrestler lives their life.

The WWE is so often scrutinized for so many negative things--what about all the great things that the WWE does? What about all the great things performers like myself do? How come that's not weighed in when people are making blanket comments about the WWE? I pride myself on being a role model. I can't tell you how much it means to me to have the power to brighten people's lives. Whether it's a Make-A-Wish child, an injured soldier, or just a random Matt Hardy fan--I have been blessed with the ability to make people smile, to be able to give them a memorable moment. I fortunately have the power to make people feel good. I also have the power to influence people. And I take that power very seriously and responsibly. I conscientiously live my life in a way where others could model themselves after me. I don't do drugs, I always attempt to do the right thing, to be a good person, and to lead by example. I often visit military hospitals, children's hospitals, and schools to speak to kids about the importance of education. So do many of the other WWE superstars. And don't forget the WWE's donations to charities, Smackdown your Vote, the Get Real program, or the annual Tribute to the Troops trip that happens every year. Myself and the WWE do alot of wonderful things that are often forgotten or overlooked because we're "wrestling." I try to make a difference, give back, and change the world every day of my life--and being a "wrestler" is what allows me to often succeed.

I want to thanks all of the "wrestling" fans that have stuck with me through thick and thin. I also want to thank all of the fans that have stuck with the wrestling industry for the right reasons. There's at least one thing that Matt Hardy and the wrestling business have in common--neither of us "Will Not Die!"

Quote of the day - "I don't shine if you don't shine" - The Killers, Read My Mind

Matt


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