The live stream schedule for today:
9:00 AM ET - RAW Flashback - 9/12/93 - The Steiner Brothers vs. The Quebecers - WWF Tag Team Championship.
10:00 AM ET - RAW Flashback - 9/19/93 - The Steiner Brothers vs. The Quebecers title rematch under 'Quebec Province Rules'.
11:00 AM ET - Elimination Chamber 2014 - 2/22/14 - The Shield vs. The Wyatt Family; WWE World Heavyweight Championship title on the line in the Elimination Chamber.
2:00 PM ET - Legends of Wrestling - 3/1/08 - Wrestlemania.
3:00 PM ET - Night of Champions 2012 - 9/16/12 - John Cena vs. CM Punk - WWE Championship.
6:00 PM ET - Beyond the Ring - Triple H: Thy Kingdom Come.
8:00 PM ET - Old School - 4/20/85 - Maple Leaf Gardens - Hulk Hogan vs. Paul Orndorff for the WWF Championship; Santana/Steamboat vs. Valentine/Beefcake.
9:00 PM ET - Best of RAW - 1/18/98 - Steve Austin/Mike Tyson confrontation.
11:00 PM ET - Old School - 4/20/85 - Maple Leaf Gardens - Hulk Hogan vs. Paul Orndorff for the WWF Championship; Santana/Steamboat vs. Valentine/Beefcake.
Recommended viewing: Fall Brawl '95. Brian Pillman vs. Johnny B. Badd is an awesome opener, and you even have the rare Ric Flair vs. Arn Anderson match. But of course, we counter that with fails like Cobra, The Renegade and the Dungeon of Doom. But we laugh at those, right?
9:00 AM ET - RAW Flashback - 9/12/93 - The Steiner Brothers vs. The Quebecers - WWF Tag Team Championship.
10:00 AM ET - RAW Flashback - 9/19/93 - The Steiner Brothers vs. The Quebecers title rematch under 'Quebec Province Rules'.
11:00 AM ET - Elimination Chamber 2014 - 2/22/14 - The Shield vs. The Wyatt Family; WWE World Heavyweight Championship title on the line in the Elimination Chamber.
2:00 PM ET - Legends of Wrestling - 3/1/08 - Wrestlemania.
3:00 PM ET - Night of Champions 2012 - 9/16/12 - John Cena vs. CM Punk - WWE Championship.
6:00 PM ET - Beyond the Ring - Triple H: Thy Kingdom Come.
8:00 PM ET - Old School - 4/20/85 - Maple Leaf Gardens - Hulk Hogan vs. Paul Orndorff for the WWF Championship; Santana/Steamboat vs. Valentine/Beefcake.
9:00 PM ET - Best of RAW - 1/18/98 - Steve Austin/Mike Tyson confrontation.
11:00 PM ET - Old School - 4/20/85 - Maple Leaf Gardens - Hulk Hogan vs. Paul Orndorff for the WWF Championship; Santana/Steamboat vs. Valentine/Beefcake.
Recommended viewing: Fall Brawl '95. Brian Pillman vs. Johnny B. Badd is an awesome opener, and you even have the rare Ric Flair vs. Arn Anderson match. But of course, we counter that with fails like Cobra, The Renegade and the Dungeon of Doom. But we laugh at those, right?
WWE hiring this guy will be a corporate nightmare. Sure, the kid would have a completely new name, and there will be no mention of who his dad is on commentary, but when the mainstream media questions why they hired the Son of Sam, it would be hard to justify their willingness to associate with that incident, because then they would have to acknowledge a guy that they have gone through pains to erase. I see them just passing on the guy.
ReplyDeleteWow, had no idea Benoit had another son (other than the one he murdered). Seems a nice lad.
ReplyDeleteHe has a right to his opinion. I believe the Wrestling Observer HOF which is an actual balloted Hall of Fame had a vote on whether to pull Benoit and it failed. A gimmick HoF for a publicly traded company will never let it happen though.
ReplyDeleteSomething could be done with him, it's not like we're always talking about how Bray Wyatt is the son of I.R.S.
In Jericho's book he makes a point mentioning how Daniel suffered too. After it happened Jericho called him, and all the traumatised kid could ask was "does this mean I can't come to the wrestling shows anymore?"
ReplyDeleteWrestling was the kids life, and his father was his idol
But he looks a lot like his dad. Bray and Bo don't really look a whole lot like Rotunda. If he's talented he should be given a shot but I can understand WWE shying away. Yeah WON had a referendum and he stayed in by a very thin margin. Meltzer has said since he voted to remove him.
ReplyDeleteJust Joe from the early 2000's (not as long ago as the above mentions I know). But it was a great idea to have a backstage shit stirrer.
ReplyDeleteYeah but theyd be expecting that!!
ReplyDelete"We are the Quebecers Jacques and Pierre and I am Johnny."
ReplyDeleteI completely get why no national promotion would ever hire him, but public opinion wouldn't be against him, would it?
ReplyDeleteI don't think so.
Scott's "Unless he's the 2nd coming of Flair" is very accurate. I mean, why deal with the PR thing when there are literally hundreds of other young wrestlers who are just as good? Unless TNA gets super desperate (even for them), he probably won't be on TV much, unfortunately for him.
ReplyDeleteTriple H being a racist douchebag to Booker T would totally still work, right? Right?
ReplyDelete"Son of Sam" would be an awesome wrestling name.
ReplyDeleteI don't know. America is pretty forgiving, especially since it wasn't him who did anything heinous. I think wrestling fans would really get behind him.
ReplyDeleteIt would be a pretty easy spin job. "His life long dream was to be a wrestler and redeem the family name. We offered him a contract to give him the opportunity to do that. "
I wouldn't if I'm Vince but the public would get behind him I think
Nah, if he's anything like his dad he'll definitely be able to hang.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure if it would get WWE that much bad press. as Farva already mentioned, it could easily been spun around to be something that looks very positive.
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid I've got some Bad News!
ReplyDeletethe only thing that I would make sure of is to give him a nickname for the fans to chant. because for a lot of people it would still feel uncomfortable chanting "Let's go Benoit!".
ReplyDeleteSo you're saying "the crippler" wouldn't be a great fit either?
ReplyDeleteI started watching kotr 98 last night. Saw the first two matches, gonna finish it off here at work lol. That Austin/ Mero match was awesome and Vader vs Jake Roberts was a very fun match
ReplyDeletein hindsight "rabid wolverine" sounds horrible, too.
ReplyDeleteI don't agree. He didn't do anything wrong. He has a right to stand on his own. I'm sure the Bush twins or Rumsfelds kids could get big jobs. Why not Benoit?
ReplyDelete"The family man" David Benoit!
ReplyDeleteKOTR 1996.
ReplyDeleteSincerely,
*that guy* :)
You're better off not going back because the show pretty much sucks after that except for Austin's promo. I guess the main event's okay, but it's arguably the weakest of Michaels's title defenses that year. Austin and Mero had a couple of great ppv matches that year.
ReplyDeleteI actually marked the hell out for the Ahmed/Goldust and Taker mankind, especially the finishes. I had legit no idea who was gonna win either match, and both felt like a very big deal.
ReplyDeleteThe mainstream won't pay a lick of attention to the wwe. Its rasslin' and only a tiny portion of people care about anything to do with it. There might be some smark outrage but that would be it.
ReplyDeleteJust watched the interview, and, yeah, "awkward" is the perfect way to describe it. David seems to have the IQ of a toaster, and the interviewer spent the whole time kissing his ass.
ReplyDeleteInterviewer: "Total Divas is garbage."
David: "I like the show."
Interviewer: "It is a good show, what I meant was..."
The part where David tries to do basic math was fantastic: "That was ten years ago, so I was... probably ten or twelve at the time." By the way, he also thinks that Brock is beating Taker, refers to WWE as a "joke" and TNA as "a shitty place to work" despite trying to break into the business, and genuinely believes that WWE purposely puts on better shows when he's in the audience. Yeah, that boy should be in MENSA. Creepy, too, with being more concerned with royalties and attending shows than actually acknowledging that SOME people might feel that murdering your family trumps being recognized for putting on good matches.
I'm also pretty sure that he started masturbating during the interview. Seriously, he puts lotion on his hands, lifts his shirt up, and slides his hand down his stomach.
Fascinating train-wreck, thank you for sharing.
I guess it was a good moment, but Goldust '96 matches were death to sit through. And of course he had three of them with UT, who alternated between plodding matches with Goldust and slugfests with Mankind for almost all of that year.
ReplyDeleteMeltzer gave the DBS vs HBK match from this show ****1/2
ReplyDeleteAnd theres a Foley vs undertaker match. I dunno man, this show looks good to me.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's the Beware of Dog match I'm thinking of then. But pretty much every ppv title defense Shawn had up to Survivor Series was near five stars. Both of his matches with Bulldog were definitely excellent, but his other matches were unbelievable.
ReplyDelete"Like, the Freebirds blinding JYD would never go over now."
ReplyDeleteOh man, totally disagree. If the WWE worked it right & the Wyatt Family blinded Cena -- i.e., no public appearances for Cena for a few weeks -- that would make the Cena marks gooo crazy.
People care if it allows people to show outrage at something that they otherwise wouldn't care about.
ReplyDeleteActually, if there is a chance to tear the business down and create drama, the mainstream media will pick at it. That's why I don't watch the news from ANY outlet. They would rather tear something apart to create drama and ratings.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, anybody who demonizes this kid for the sins of the father is just looking to be a jerk. If he's talented and can go in the ring, he should get a shot. VKM probably owes him at least that much (and, you know, those royalties... that's just a dick move).
ReplyDeleteShould he go by his real name? Good lord, no. Obviously WWE had no problems ignoring someone's lineage (unless they're of Polynesian heritage, apparently), so changing the kid's name and recreating him shouldn't be an issue.
Would there really be outrage tho? Spinning as a kid who did no wrong amd the victim of circumstances outside of his control who is chasing his life long dream amd trying to redeem his family name.
ReplyDeleteAs long as he's comfortable answering questions on his dad and can do it in a politically correct way, it could work
Chokehold of some sort as a finisher or GTFO
ReplyDeleteMaybe to the youngest fans in the audience, but injury angles generally don't work anymore.
ReplyDeleteWell there will always be keels out there but I think the overwhelming majority would get behind him if they spun it correctly. I'm not sure I'd do it if I was Vince, just because I wouldn't want all that rehashed, but if tna or ROH wanted to sign him I think it'd be supported
ReplyDelete"This match is for the letter 'T'."
ReplyDeleteMaybe some sort of "hanging" neckbreaker?
ReplyDeleteI disagree TOTALLY......Example: The Idol v. Lawler cage match finish with Tommy Rich coming from under the ring is TAILOR-MADE for a Hell in the Cell Matchup
ReplyDeleteI love those two matches from Fall Brawl 95, but the rest of the card is awful.
ReplyDeleteOne angle that I always loved was the friendship between Sting and Lex Luger, with Sting as the face and Luger as the heel. Sting tried to help Luger be a better person, Luger would invariably succumb to his heelish ways, and yet Sting would never give up on trying to help his friend.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting, and truly unique. Trips and Shawn is somewhat similar, with face Shawn disliking the way heel Trips does business (but still being friends with him), but Shawn is retired and Trips is part-time. It'd be hard to do something like that with two active full-time guys.
Maybe instead of trying to do that with two established guys, they could do it with a new tag-team? Two friends or brothers debut, one is honest while the other cheats, but they continue to work together? I dunno, something like that.
It would be hard to do.....with all the human rights groups, Al Sharpton, GLAAD, etc. Not to mention the anti-bullying police (not to mention the "Be a star" campaign)....it just has bad idea written all over it.
ReplyDeleteI also think the "Midnight Rider" angle would go over well - can you imagine a certain wrestler losing a loser-leave-town/WWE match, and coming back under a mask.....with a giant beard leading "YES!" chants (What? Nooooo! I'm not Daniel Bryan!)
ReplyDeleteYeah, I remember that...really sad.
ReplyDeleteI say there's 0.000001 percent he gets a look from McMahon
ReplyDeleteLess
ReplyDeleteJapan may take a chance on him.
ReplyDeleteIf TNA were smart (trying to say that with a straight face is difficult) but he is EXACTLY what they need for Gut Check. His story would be compelling.
ReplyDeleteAs bad as TNA booking is, they would probably have him use a flying headbutt or a sleeperhold as a finisher....and hed be hung over the top rope during a horrrribly overbooked match against Magnus
ReplyDelete.....you forgot crying at the drop of a hat, and spending all your money
ReplyDeleteHe looks like a cross between his dad and Harry Potter. If he wanted to get into this business he'd have to wear a mask...
ReplyDelete...and keep him away from Vince Russo. I can only imagine the angle HE would have him do,
It's professional wrestling. He'll get hired by somebody whether it's a good idea or not. In fact, given the notoriety of his name, he'll likely get a shot whether he's talented or not. Also see: Von Erich, Lacey.
ReplyDeleteLet's not kid ourselves about the true nature of the pseudo sport we all enjoy.
If he looked like Lacey Von Erich....perhaps
ReplyDeleteDead body hanging from a pole match
ReplyDeleteDon't you think that Flair seems to be living in the past because that's all anyone asks him about? No interviewer is going to ask him about his favorite restaurants or his plans for weekend.
ReplyDeleteI would be like blaming Willie Mays for talking about his baseball career in every interview he gives. Give it up Willie, that was over 40 years ago!
Oh come ON..
ReplyDeleteHe should be "Zombie" Chris Benoit (complete with a WOMAN'S head in a bag.)
Zombie shows are popular...right?
...ooh, can his catchphrase be, "Is Benoit gonna have to choke a bitch?"
ReplyDeleteYou're probably right, but this is also an unprecedented scenario. No one else evokes such an awful thing just by their last name.
ReplyDelete"The Strangler" would be better.
ReplyDelete"He's going to the top rope, looking for the headbutt... look at the hang time!"
ReplyDeleteHe absolutely has the right, and it's probably unfair, but look at it from the perspective of a promoter: unless he's a legit talent, you could find 100 other guys just as useful as him who don't evoke, by association, the worst thing to happen in mainstream wrestling history.
ReplyDeleteParallax, are you out there? I need your e-mail again!
ReplyDeleteHoly crap... that press conference was a trainwreck at the end.
ReplyDeleteDixie Carter would be even worse. She'd cut a promo where she would brag about giving him enough rope to hang himself
ReplyDeleteWell.....Dixie IS the booker so it would be hard to book an angle where he steals the booker's wife
ReplyDeleteNot always: see Von Erich , Ross and Marshall.
ReplyDeleteIn Puerto Rico, they made the murder of Bruiser Brody into an angle TWICE, complete with the guy who murdered him (Invader #1) being marketed as a babyface.
ReplyDeleteSo I honestly wouldn't be surprised if some sleazy indy promoter brought him in as "the son of the infamous Chris Benoit!" or if said promoter increased his ticket sales because of morbid curiosity seekers. In our Honey Boo world, trash sells.
I could see Sami Zayn pulling this, either as Generico or (my preference) a play on a manager, say Dutch Mantell, calling Sami a 'yellow dog' perhaps. I hope that of all people Jerry Lawler can sell this on commentary.
ReplyDeleteIf ECW was still around they'd have a lot of fun with it.
ReplyDeleteOh, there would absolutely be some trashy indy chump that would do that angle. I'm just saying it's an unprecedented scenario. You brought up maybe the closest one, but that was a grown man killing another grown man. You could argue that what Gonzalez did was even worse given the premeditated, planned nature compared to Benoit having the brain of an 85-year old Alzheimer's patient, but not that many people are going to take the time to look at it that way.
ReplyDelete