Article on WWE & Benoit in The Guardian

Firewalkwithme

I just read this article on the Guardians website. It's not the best researched piece of work I've ever read but it's one of those articles that give you an idea of how an 'outsider' views pro wrestling. There a couple of interesting interviews in it with Regal, Kane, Morrison and Chris Nowinski.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,,2222976,00.html

Vince135792003

It's an entertaining read. I don't agree with his concluding paragraph though

Benoit was well respected among his peer group, and technically skilful, but he never drew the cheers of a Rey Mysterio or the gasps of a Kane. The audience didn't quite know how they were supposed to respond to him. I wonder if he took his dangerous, brain-damaging blows to the back of the head to compensate for this. Maybe that was his way of trying to remain in everyone's favour.

chopperbyrne

The only decent bits of that were at the end. The stuff about concussions.

Other than that, it was very poor journalism.

Firewalkwithme

I agree with both of the above - I guess I posted this because I thought it's interesting to see how poorly informed some journalists are on virtually any topic they choose to write on which is outside their field of expertise.

He did a terrible job of explaining the sequence of events around Benoits death for example.

Fozzy

Decent article, better than most which give a view bordering on negative, a few factual errors though. It makes it sound as if WWE aired the tribute show for Benoit after the news that he had killed his family broke. That obviously wasn't the case. It says that WWE.com took down every mention of Benoit the next day, but it was really after the better part of two weeks later

The part about backstage at a WWE event being so secretive is odd. Any story I've ever seen before always says how accomodating WWE are backstage, with wrestlers just wandering around and always willing to sign autographs or whatever. The lockerrooms are off limits though and there's reasons for that. Like Raven said once, he doesn't want some kid coming into the lockerroom when he's walking around naked

I have to say that I don't see any basis for the last point in the article. The fans loved Benoit, not as much as Cena or Rey, but definitely more than most other wrestlers. The audience always knew how to respond to him, and they responded more than they have to Kane in years. Saying that Benoit had to resort to getting hit hard with chairs for real to remain in favour is just plain wrong

I laughed at this line though: "A wrestler dumped by WWE will invariably end up on the skids in some lesser, backstreet wrestling club." AKA TNA

Mr.Nice Guy

An alright article although his lack of knowledge hurts its credibility somewhat. As pointed out the fans did know how to respond to Benoit. He was a babyface for about five years straight which is almost unheard of these days. That wouldn't have happened if people weren't reacting to him properly.

The bit about Benoit getting hit by a chair to the back of the head, I'm pretty sure I know the incident Nowinski is referring to. It was done by Triple H and you can actually hear Triple H ask Benoit if he's alright following the chairshot. I could be wrong but I think it was the Iron man match on Raw where Eugene came down and helped Benoit retain his title despite Evolution's interference.

rossie1977

Vince135792003 wrote: »

It's an entertaining read. I don't agree with his concluding paragraph though

the american audiences remained very indifferent to benoit even when he won the title, i was at raw in New Jersey the night after he won the title and the reception he received was low-key to say the least

kane used to get huge pops around the same time, he returned to raw at another show i was at after summerslam 2002 in MSG and the roof was nearly lifted off the arena i remember.

Firewalkwithme

rossie1977 wrote: »

the american audiences remained very indifferent to benoit even when he won the title, i was at raw in New Jersey the night after he won the title and the reception he received was low-key to say the least

kane used to get huge pops around the same time, he returned to raw at another show i was at after summerslam 2002 in MSG and the roof was nearly lifted off the arena i remember.

I was in MSG when Benoit won the title and the atmosphere was unreal. You are right though in the sense that the morning after the night before was a bit of an anti-climax.

I just don't get why Kane gets the pops that he does. To me he is incredibly boring.

rossie1977

the atmosphere was incredible that night when benoit won the title but was that more for trips actually losing the title i wonder, an awful lot of people around me left just before and straight after benoit winning the title, not waiting for the celebration

the kane thing i don't get either, my friends are huge kane marks for some reason i suppose the wwe did market jacobs well at the start of the kane gimmick, now its just lame, he is a fat, bald jobber

Firewalkwithme

rossie1977 wrote: »

the atmosphere was incredible that night when benoit won the title but was that more for trips actually losing the title i wonder,

Yeah, come to think of it there would have been the Triple Hater factor there but there really was a lot of love that night for Benoit.

rossie1977 wrote: »

the kane thing i don't get either, my friends are huge kane marks for some reason i suppose the wwe did market jacobs well at the start of the kane gimmick, now its just lame, he is a fat, bald jobber

QFT!

Terry

Cartoon_Head wrote: »

Yeah, come to think of it there would have been the Triple Hater factor there but there really was a lot of love that night for Benoit.



QFT!

A big fat jobber or a name who is putting young wrestlers over?

I'd like to think he is the latter.

Cactus Col

Terry wrote: »

A big fat jobber or a name who is putting young wrestlers over?

I'd like to think he is the latter.

I agree.

Kane's a good bigman. But he has the same problems that Undertaker does, he gets booked a lot against lesser big men. People like Kahli. It's hard to look good against bad opponents.

I actually thought the article was quite good. I read a couple of Jon Ronson's books ("adventures with extremists", and "the men who talk to goats"), and part of his schtick is similar to Louis Therouxs, where he goes in to situations with minimal knowledge, and tells of his reactions as an outsider. (if that makes sense). As the article went on it seemed he got into wrestling and became something of a fan.

Fozzy

Cactus Col wrote: »

As the article went on it seemed he got into wrestling and became something of a fan.

It seemed like he became a fan of big guys though. As harsh as it may sound, they're the sort of fan that aren't needed these days

Cactus Col

But isn't that all anyone is when they first get into wrestling. He also gives some love to mysterio

Fozzy

Cactus Col wrote: »

But isn't that all anyone is when they first get into wrestling. He also gives some love to mysterio

I dunno, is it? I wasn't when I first got into it so I can only speak for myself

Vince135792003

Fozzy wrote: »

I dunno, is it? I wasn't when I first got into it so I can only speak for myself

I think a big part of young kids getting into wrestling is the super hero element to it which the WWE have obviously target for the last 20 odd years.

Cactus Col

Fozzy wrote: »

I dunno, is it? I wasn't when I first got into it so I can only speak for myself

maybe not. But like vince says there, the superhero element certainly brings kids in, it's what got me into it as a kid, with Hulk Hogan, Warrior, and Undertaker doing the rounds. I stopped watching it as the nineties went on, and only got back into around the late nineties, early 2000, when smackdown made for great hangover tv on a saturday morning.

Personally I do like the big men still, I like the spectacle of two giants facing off against each other. But these days I also appreciate the work other wrestlers can do.

There is something to what he said about Chris Benoit not connecting with the fans as easily as Kane or Rey Mysterio. I think for more casual fans that was certainly true. When Benoit first came into WWE I had a hard time with him in the main event amongst people like The Rock, and Stone Cold.

When he finally won the title though I was certainly a fan.

Bubs101

What I find strange abouut Kane is he got the best pushes out of anyone outside the business in 2006. His own movie and a part in Smallville. Don't see why though

flahavaj

Bubs101 wrote: »

What I find strange abouut Kane is he got the best pushes out of anyone outside the business in 2006. His own movie and a part in Smallville. Don't see why though

Well the guy has been a loyal employee for many years now, who's done everything asked of him (and he's been asked to partake in some pretty ridiculous **** over the years, see Vick, Katy) without complaint and never caused a hint of backstage trouble. He deserves these little pats on the back.

Bubs101

Yeah but a movie and I didn't think that the WWE could force a worker on Smallville, they must have chosen him.

I really don't see how they could have released a Knae movie before a Taker one. At least that charachter would make a good film. He could defeat Satan in an Inferno match