Monday Night Raw – June 25, 2007: Raw Is Benoit

And nothing else.

Monday Night Raw
Date: June 25, 2007
Location: American Bank Center, Corpus Christi, Texas
Attendance: N/A
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, John Bradshaw Layfield, Michael Cole, Joey Styles, Taz

This is the Chris Benoit Memorial Show. For those of you unfamiliar, Chris Benoit was one of the greatest in ring technicians of all time and won the World Heavyweight Championship in the main event of Wrestlemania XX. In late June of 2007, Chris Benoit apparently had a mental breakdown and murdered his wife and young son before killing himself. That was discovered the night prior to this and all that was known was that Benoit was dead. The details would come in later, making this a big black eye for WWE. It has never been mentioned or aired since. Let’s get to it.

By the way this is mainly a clip/highlight show of Benoit’s best moments, so expect a lot of cut and paste. Also there’s a chance that the material I cut and paste wasn’t aired in its entirety on Raw, but I’m not going to watch the matches over again as the results would be the same.

Also, my thoughts on this show airing and the Benoit tragedy in general will be at the bottom and written after I watch this show.

We open with an In Memory Of graphic.

The arena, somewhere in Corpus Christi, Texas, is empty. Vince, who had been killed off in storyline, is in the ring saying that the storyline tonight would have been the demise of his character but in reality Benoit and his family were found dead. Vince talks about how tonight is a tribute and we’ll see moments from his life. This is a three hour show. I forgot about that but it explains why this tape is so long.

We get a video of his early life and career from the Hard Knocks DVD (expect to hear that a lot in this) set to a song I don’t recognize but it’s about sacrifice. The highlight of this is him winning at Mania 20.

Benoit talks about growing up in Canada and how this was all he ever wanted to do. His friends say this was what he was always going to do. We get clips of him holding up the title back home which is cool. Benoit apparently spent a lot of time alone, to the point where his father was worried about him. That’s very telling when you hear it knowing what we know now.

Our first match is the 04 Rumble. We’re picking things up just after Goldberg came in at #30. Remember that this is copied and pasted and since the match is clipped, I won’t be grading it. Also there might be references to things earlier in the match. See the full review if you’re confused about something.

2004 Royal Rumble

Your final grouping as Goldberg comes in: Benoit, Haas, Nunzio, Angle, Show, Jericho, Gunn, Cena, RVD and Goldberg. That’s a pretty sweet grouping when you think about it. Of the ten in there, you have four former world champions and three that would be champion in the future. That’s not bad at all. Goldberg destroys everyone in sight and throws out Haas. There goes Gunn. Nunzio is out. He sets to Jackhammer Big Show and here’s Brock to screw that up.

He nails Goldberg and then Angle throws him out during the stare down. If either guy was staying at Mania, that could have been EPIC. We’ve got six now. Show gets the Andre treatment which doesn’t work at all. Everyone keeps beating on him and then they realize they screwed up because he’s out cold and weighs 500lbs.

Ok, I get that he’s dead weight, but Angle has freakish strength and RVD holds a world record for a dead lift while doing the splits, yet five grown professional wrestlers can’t get him up? Show just goes insane and puts out Cena and RVD. Jericho shows his intelligence and gets the Walls of Jericho on Show. Show puts him out with one arm to just show off. The final three are Angle, Benoit and Show.

If nothing else they’ve saved the best guys for the ending. Angle hits an Angle Slam on Show which never stops being impressive. Benoit takes one that’s close to it but not quite. Show gets a chokeslam but Angle rolls through it into an ankle lock and Show taps again.

In an awesome looking sequence, Show is in the ankle lock and climbs up the ropes, then he kind of rolls forward over them to pull Angle out, because Angle couldn’t you know, LET GO OF HIS FREAKING LEG or something like that. Benoit rolls through a chokeslam with the most basic counter there is to it and continues his streak of being the only guy in history to consistently work on the right arm of an opponent.

Show taps again. That’s a nice bit of continuity there as all three submission guys manages to get him to tap but it means nothing. I like it though as it shows they’ve at least thought this out a bit. It’s so simply yet it ties the match together and shows that while Jericho and Angle are both great, they’re not as great as Benoit as only he gets rid of Show in the end. That’s a nice little touch and it works so well.

Show is in that thing for at least thirty seconds too so that has to hurt like nothing else. Show breaks it with a similar counter to what Bradshaw did earlier. Benoit breaks the hour mark. Show, with his handlebar mustache, gets Benoit in a gorilla press but Benoit shifts into a chancery (DDT grip with the arm held also) to pull Show over the ropes and in a cool looking finish gets enough leverage to get him out.

That’s a perfect ending as Benoit didn’t use power or some contrived move. He did what he does best: got a hold on Show and used leverage to get him out. That’s textbook Benoit and it’s the only way he should have won this. The pop is great and for smarks everywhere, this was a perfect moment.

Steve Austin talks about how hard Benoit worked and how every night he left everything in the ring. He mentions that he fought Benoit in Edmonton and how it’s one of his favorite matches. Austin talks about how if everything was falling around Chris he’d hold it together. Again, that’s very telling.

Benoit talks about going to the matches every weekend and making friends and how he started working on the ring crew in Calgary. He always wanted to meet Dynamite Kid who was his idol and he finally just went up to the dressing room door and Dynamite opened it.

Cole and JBL, also in the empty arena as are JR and King, talk about Benoit’s kids and how much a part of their life they were. JBL is having issues holding it together.

Cena says this is the most difficult thing he’s ever had to do and that the first thing they should do is celebrate Benoit’s life. Benoit was someone you could always count on and he had some close bonds with people in the business. Everything was about the fans and he was a good man. This is a rather emotional talk from Cena. Cena says he loves Benoit and he can’t really talk anymore.

Benoit talks about his time in ECW and his feud with 2 Cold Scorpio which was good stuff.

Joey and Taz talk about Benoit coming into ECW and the guys that knew him being very happy about it since Benoit was awesome. He came back to ECW and Joey and Taz were very excited.

Chris Benoit vs. Elijah Burke

This is Benoit’s last televised match. Lashley had been ECW Champion but had to forfeit the title when he was drafted to Raw. There was a mini-tournament set up which would have culminated at Vengeance. This is one of the semi-finals. We’re in Charlotte here and we’re five days from Vengeance. Burke is currently more famous as D’Angelo Dinero. We hit the mat almost immediately which Pope reverses.

Crossface doesn’t work and Burke grabs a rollup for two. Another rollup gets two and Benoit reverses into a Crossface attempt in a nice bit of continuity. Burke locks on a seated abdominal stretch which Benoit reversed into a northern lights suplex for two. Benoit is sent to the floor and Burke doesn’t want the countout for some reason.

Back in and another northern lights gets two. Rolling Germans time which break Burke’s beads. Swan dive eats knees, and people wonder why he was so messed up. I mean Burke pulls his knees up and Benoit’s face hits the knees. STO takes down Benoit for two. Suplex is reversed by knees to the head while upside down (how do you even think of that?) but the Sharpshooter can’t go on. Burke’s double knees in the corner miss and it’s a Sharpshooter for the tap out to send Benoit to the PPV.

Rating: C+. Not bad here as Burke was game but at the same time he was in over his head. Benoit was in ECW to try to mentor the guys there which is a fine idea as he could have given a lot of people the rub whenever they beat him for the title, which was the original plan, beating CM Punk.

Speaking of Punk, he says he won’t get to wrestle Benoit but that he learned a lot from him in their time in the company.

We reair the intro from Vince at the one hour mark.

Jim and Jerry introduce our next match: Benoit vs. Malenko from Hog Wild 1996, which is a nearly 30 minute long match. There’s a long rant about WCW after it which I think fits here as Benoit was one of the guys I’m talking about in it. The match is clipped for commercials which is totally understandable. This is the full review though.

Dean Malenko vs. Chris Benoit

This works. Jimmy Hart is with Malenko. Now there’s an odd combination. Liz is in leather. This WORKS. Even Woman looks good. Dusty says Benoit is coming out with two devilish women and he’s talking about Woman and Liz. Wow I thought you meant the two flies on his head. So Malenko is the hired gun of the Dungeon apparently to get Benoit out of the way in the endless Dungeon vs. Horsemen feud.

I would tell you they start with some technical stuff but I figured that was obvious. That goes away soon and we’re in straight physical stuff here with Benoit being in control less than Malenko. Dusty talks about the women at ringside which makes sense as he says Dean has to watch out for them. Ok, that’s fine. Tony uses this to talk about Konnan who isn’t on the main card tonight.

Benoit takes over and just beats Dean up a lot. NOW we hit the technical stuff and the pinfall reversals that you knew were coming. DANG these guys are crisp out there.  Seriously did you expect anything else? Benoit does the short arm scissors lift that Davey Boy Smith was so famous for doing to Shawn Michaels, showing that it’s more of a leverage thing than power.

Tony says these two are the wrestlers of the new century for WCW. That’s just amazing to hear knowing what’s coming. Tony tries really hard to not insult bikers, which makes him all the more insulting. Heenan talks about how awesome the midcard is and my mind continues to be blown over how WCW managed to screw everything up with the talent they had. Malenko gets a jumping tombstone as I’m trying to figure out who is face and who is heel here.

That was the issue with the NWO: EVERYONE became at least half face. That’s fine in some cases, but for others it just didn’t work at all as there are some people that you just don’t want to cheer. It’s fine if you have people that are never associated with the NWO angle, but EVERYONE was. That can’t work and it didn’t at all. Dang these two are physical. Heenan plugs the TV shows which you likely needed to watch in order to see this show. Brilliant indeed Bobby.

Benoit hooks the Liontamer before it’s called that. Benoit busts out a dive over the ropes as the fans are DEAD. That’s in no way the problem of the wrestlers either as this has been a great match. This is the problem with having non-fans, who we now go to a wide shot of, being in attendance as they’ll cheer Hogan. I’d bet on it. Dusty talks about how tired they are and points out that he’s talking about the guys in the ring. Dang where would I be without the Dream?

Benoit hits a nice powerbomb which he should have used more often. We hit a minute to go, which means this match had a 22 minute time limit. And there’s the draw. Actually scratch that as we’re getting a 5 minute overtime. SWEET. The fans boo the heck out of this. Yeah screw this incredible match that has two guys busting their asses for YOUR entertainment at a show you’re not even paying to see. I guess because they’re not 6’8 and don’t weigh 300lbs they’re not worth watching.

One person shouts to get this nonsense out of the ring. I didn’t know fans like that could get in the ring in the first place. Also, don’t call yourself nonsense. It’s not nice. Benoit is clearly pissed off at the fans and I can’t blame him a bit. Benoit hooks the Cloverleaf on Malenko to be evil. Benoit goes for the knee and Dean is in trouble. Fans continue to be dead for this. We have a minute to go and Benoit is dominating. Dean gets a rollup at 3 seconds left for two. WE GET ANOTHER OVERTIME BABY!

We’ve gotten 25 minutes of Benoit vs. Malenko….and you can’t hear Dusty over the fans booing. I’ll spare the rant for the rating. Benoit hits his finisher, the Dragon Suplex (Full Nelson into a suplex) for two as the Crossface didn’t exist yet for him. Malenko gets the Cloverleaf but as Benoit is almost in the ropes he shifts into an STF. And then Woman goes for Malenko and Benoit hooks a rollup to end it. Very good match.

Rating: A-. This was great stuff but the ending hurt it a lot. These two had mad chemistry together and this was no exception. Giving them nearly half an hour is fine as they looked like they had been out there for about 5 minutes at the end. It’s no wonder that they were such sought after guys by WWF. However, there was one reason why this match was hurt, which brings me to this.

This match sums up WCW’s demise in a nutshell. Everything they wound up doing wrong to just die is summed up right here. To begin with, they’re making NO gate money for this show. The fans can come and go as they please. In other words, with five thousand people here at say 20 dollars a person, that’s 100,000 dollars they’re just not getting, and that’s being conservative with it.

We’ll also ignore any potential money from parking, concessions and likely merchandise as there is no indication of anyone wearing anything other than leather out there that I can see. The reason we’re in Sturgis, South Dakota of all places and having a wrestling show at a biker rally you ask? The only answer I can find anywhere is that Eric Bischoff likes motorcycles. Seriously, THAT’S why we’re here.

If that’s not enough reason, as soon as Bischoff was out of power, this show was canceled. They came here FOUR STRAIGHT YEARS. But wait, remember that there was a line in there about these two being the wrestlers of the century for WCW. Well since these four PPVs were around the end of the century, one could assume that they would have moved closer and closer to the main events right?

Let’s see. Benoit’s position on the card over these four shows: 4th out of 8, 3rd out of 9, Off the card, 5th out of 9. Malenko: 4th out of 8, 3rd out of 9, 7th out of 9 (as a referee and not a wrestler), 3rd of 9. On the other hand, let’s compare these guys to Hulk Hogan and Kevin Nash. Nash: Next to last, next to last, next to last, main event. Hogan: Main event all four years. But remember that Hogan and Nash were DRAWS BABY!

Yeah the fans are going to pay to see them….except at this show because WCW didn’t get any ticket money here but pay no attention to that. Keep in mind that the fans will boo these two but cheer Hogan. Why do I have an image of Hogan talking to the higher ups and saying well they cheered me and booed those guys. What more proof do you need that I should be on top of the card?

The problem is these fans are all drunken bikers that likely never even watch the show. Yeah, coming from a stupid biker rally really looks cutting edge doesn’t it? I’m sure this got away completely from the wrestling fans are hicks theory. It was an amazing match, but it’s a microcosm of the things that killed the biggest wrestling company in the world.

Malenko talks about meeting Benoit in Japan along with Eddie and the three of them traveled everywhere together over the years and were all great friends. It’s striking that Malenko, the only one to retire, is the only one still alive. Malenko talks about how Benoit was very private and he would just leave in the middle of talking. These interviews are making Benoit out to be a good bit odd. Dean taught Benoit the Crossface apparently. He talks about how Benoit will be missed everywhere and lists off all the places that he wrestled in, which is impressive.

We get a video of Benoit which is more or less just saying he’s been through a lot and is awesome.

JBL talks about how he and Benoit were close friends and he always wanted to have that big match with Benoit, which he did for the US Title at Wrestlemania. However, we’re going to see the rematch in a cage from Smackdown.

US Title: Chris Benoit vs. John Bradshaw Layfield

Joined in progress here and it seems they’ve been going at it for awhile. This would seem to be just after Mania. JBL locks on a sleeper as you can win by pin, submission or escape. Apparently we’re in Green Bay. Jillian (HOT) is JBL’s consultant or something here. Benoit gets a suplex to fight out of it and they’re both down. Sorry for the random details but I usually have other chances to set the stage like that.

Big clothesline misses by JBL and it’s time for Rolling Germans. Bradshaw blocks the third and a big boot takes Benoit’s head off. This is in JBL’s fat period and you can really tell how different and slimmer he looked after his comeback. JBL tries to escape but Benoit gets a German off the top and they’re both out. It’s hard to see all these shots to the back of his head like this. Jillian slams the head on JBL’s head by mistake and Benoit grabs the Crossface but the referee misses the tap. A low blow lets JBL get out. No rating due to this being just parts of it but the parts we saw looked like your typical TV cage match.

Stephanie says that Benoit was passionate. She talks about his family for the most part and he was a big fan of the marriage with Stephanie and HHH for some reason. Stephanie talks about his kids and how great a father Benoit was. At least she didn’t compare it to her dad’s trial again.

Chavo is in tears and talks about how close they were and how Benoit was part of the Guerrero Family. Benoit was the first person Chavo called after finding Eddie dead. Chavo had spent a lot of time with Benoit the previous week and Chavo missed his flight. Benoit kept calling and checking on him. He talks about how great Benoit was and how their kids were friends.

After another recap of the situation, we get our next match which is from Japan and has alternate commentary here from Cole and Taz.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Pegasus Kid

Here it’s acknowledged that Pegasus Kid is Benoit. This is clipped to like 4 minutes left out of 15 so check out the Hard Knocks DVD for the full thing which is awesome. Benoit gets a superplex but misses the Swan Dive to put him down. Liger Kick gets two and a modified Liger Bomb gets the same. Swanton Bomb by Liger gets two.

Benoit rolls through a rana for two and tries a tilt-a-whirl which is reversed as well. Benoit takes him down with a clothesline though and we’re back where this clip started. Tombstone and a guillotine legdrop end this. This was just the ending of the match and it wouldn’t be fair to grade it of course.

Regal says Benoit was dedicated and the hardest worker in wrestling. Praise from Regal means a lot, or at least it would to me.

Hour three brings Vince again. Just a replay of the same stuff.

Benoit talks about his first match which was just a tag that meant nothing. His friends talk about the similarities to Dynamite Kid which really are freaky.

Next up is Benoit vs. Jericho from the 01 Rumble in a ladder match which is joined in progress. Since it’s one of my favorites though, here’s the whole review.

Intercontinental Title: Chris Benoit vs. Chris Jericho

I’ve always loved the prove me wrong line that Benoit had. It was perfect for him as it was short and sweet and correct. That’s all you need a lot of the time. Jericho has a bad shoulder here too to offer some psychology to the match. It helps here as your arms can help you climb a ladder so if nothing else it fits the flow of the match here which can often be the most important part of the match.

They bring the ladder in and somehow we get even more physical than we already were in this match. This was some of Jericho’s best in ring stuff around this time as he was clearly having a blast. See, the difference between WCW and WWF is that here, Benoit and Jericho are likely going to steal the show. They did it in WCW as well but there they would likely just do the same thing again until they jobbed to a 42 year old that didn’t need a push at all.

Here, Benoit would be a workhorse that got all kinds of praise and big matches while in less than a year Jericho would be world champion. Ah here we go. It’s ladder and other weapons time. After some stiff as heck shots in the ring, Jericho goes to the floor and grabs a chair. Benoit launches a suicide dive at him but goes straight into the chair in a great looking spot. And see, Jericho SELLS THE SHOULDER. How hard is that for people to learn?

This turns into a game of top this as they come up with more and more ridiculous ways to hurt each other with the ladder. One of them is Benoit being tied into the ladder on the second rope and Jericho hooking a side Russian legsweep on him, bringing the ladder down with them. There’s stuff in here straight out of a Wile E. Coyote cartoon.

Benoit gives Jericho a belly to back suplex over the top rope. That’s cool looking if nothing else. Climbing back in, we have a fight up on the top of the ladder, which leads to the spot of the match. Jericho knocks Benoit backwards, and puts THE WALLS OF JERICHO on him on top of the ladder. To say this looks both incredible and painful is a total understatement. That just got this match a much higher grade.

Benoit goes off the ladder but has the energy to kick it over to save the title. This is great stuff here. Back on the mat, Jericho gets caught in the crossface and taps, but obviously this means nothing. There’s at least some psychology here as Benoit already has Jericho’s shoulder hurt so he works on it. That’s at least smart. Since there’s nothing else to do, Benoit is picked up and just thrown into the ladder.

Why not? Sometimes the best solution is just to beat the other person up with the ladder. It’s working here if nothing else. In yet another great visual, we go to the top for a suplex but Jericho is shoved off. Benoit goes for the swan dive, and the whole crowd just rises to their feet to watch in amazement at what they’re seeing. That’s how you know you’re doing a great job: the crowd responds to you.

We finally get one of the first dead spots of the match which is perfectly acceptable in this case as they’re half dead. This lasts all of four seconds though as Jericho comes back in with a chair and just wears out Benoit with it while he’s standing on the ladder. Benoit gets pushed off and bounces off the ropes, then the apron and then the floor, which is enough for Jericho to get the belt. DANG that was painful looking. The highlight package of this match doesn’t do it justice.

Rating: A. This was a freaking brutal fight. They beat the living crap out of each other here and are going to be hard to top. For some reason this match isn’t really remembered, and that was the case even before Benoit was deleted from history. These guys went at it like no other and beat the living tar out of each other. Go find a copy of this as it’s definitely worth it. Great brawling match with tons of brutal spots.

Jerry, not in front of the screen but next to Ross in the arena, talks about how Benoit did this for the love of the business and not the money.

Edge talks about how there were three people in the business he could talk to when he was having problems and two of them are now gone. He talks about watching Stampede from Calgary and he say Benoit and knew he would be awesome. That’s very true. You can tell this is hard for him here. Benoit was loved by a lot of people and it’s hard to find someone to say anything bad about him. They had a match about two weeks ago and it was fun to get hit that hard. When Edge had neck surgery he called Benoit to ask for advice.

He keeps talking and they have to clip part of it as he’s talking about Daniel (Benoit’s son). Edge has to stop for a second as this is a hard thing to speak about which is understandable. It’s always interesting to see people that you might not expect to get this upset over something like this. Edge breaks down in tears and they cut it off.

Back in the arena JBL talks about Benoit throwing people out of the locker room due to a lack of respect. One of those people: The Miz.

We get a video of Benoit talking about what the fans mean to him which transitions into (I think) a Finger 11 song. These are always awesome and this is no exception.

HHH talks about how Benoit was all about respect. He doesn’t talk about how he held Benoit back in 03 but maybe that’s implied. We get a story of an unnamed young wrestler that disrespected Shawn Michaels and Benoit made him do 1000 squats and then 500 more the next day (agony on your knees/legs).

Lawler and Ross talk about the respect that everyone had for Benoit.

As expected, the final thing we’re going to see is the main event of Wrestlemania 20 with Benoit vs. HHH vs. HBK for the title. This is rewritten from my original reviews and is a bit more detailed.

Raw World Title: Chris Benoit vs. HHH vs. Shawn Michaels

Surprisingly normal entrance for HHH here although he’s wearing white boots. We even get a weapons check which you never see anymore. Everyone goes after everyone to start us off here with Shawn avoiding a Crossface. HHH to the floor and the others slug it out. He comes back in when he thinks it’s best as we’re in a slow build here.

DX explodes for a bit and the fans think someone screwed Bret. Leaping knee gets two. Some nice tandem stuff lets Shawn hit a moonsault off the top to the floor to take everyone out. HHH and Shawn go back to the ring now with Benoit out on the floor. Facebuster to Shawn but he can’t hit the Pedigree as Chris saves. Shawn’s shoulder goes into the post and Benoit hits a snap suplex on HHH.

With Benoit in the Tree of Woe HHH throws Shawn into him in a cool spot. Shawn nips up so Benoit knocks him to the floor. Benoit hits Rolling Germans on the Game Shawn stops the headbutt and HHH takes him down with a DDT. Superplex by HHH gets two on Benoit. Make that three twos. The fans like Benoit here. Pedigree is reversed into a bad Crossface which Shawn breaks up.

Rolling Germans by Shawn are booed and reversed into a set by Benoit. Headbutt to Shawn gets two. Forearm and nipup by Shawn but there’s no one else in the ring. HHH comes in and gets beaten on for a bit. Elbow hits and the Band is Tuned Up. The kick connects but Benoit saves. Shawn vs. Benoit now with Shawn being launched into the post to bust him open. Terrible Crossface to Shawn and HHH grabs his arm before he can tap.

Benoit and HHH hit the floor for some brawling while Shawn is down. HHH sends him into the steps and preps the announce table. Just the Smackdown one though, not the Spanish one. Benoit, ever the traditionalist, puts HHH on the Spanish one. German is blocked as it the Pedigree. Shawn pops up and DX suplexes/drops Benoit through the SD table in a cool visual.

Back in the ring now it’s Shawn vs. HHH. They slug it out with neither guy taking over. HHH is sent to the floor and a cameraman is taken out. Ross wants an EMT for Benoit. HHH gets posted (without spam) and is busted as well. Pedigree out of NOWHERE is the counter to some punches. Somehow Benoit makes the save and the crowd pops like a cherry.

Benoit chops away but HHH grabs a Pedigree attempt which is reversed into a long Sharpshooter in an eruption. Shawn kicks Chris’ head off though which somehow only gets two. Ross’ voice is almost gone here. Loud Benoit chant starts up as Shawn Tunes Up the Band. Benoit backdrops him to the floor and walks into another Pedigree attempt. Benoit counters that into a Crossface with HHH in agony. HHH rolls backwards but Benoit hangs on and HHH taps, giving Benoit the World Title in the main event of Wrestlemania.

Rating: A+. Great match, everything clicked, absolute classic. There’s nothing else I can say here.

Eddie comes out to celebrate with Benoit in a classic Wrestlemania moment.

Overall Rating: A. This was an incredible tribute show with just about everything you could ask for in it. They covered almost every time in his career and finished it off perfectly with the epic title win in New York. They left out the bad parts like his time in WCW at the end which was just atrocious as the company wasted him. If you can find this (good luck) check it out as it’s great to see him before what happened came out.

As for my thoughts on the whole thing, more or less I think the same thing everyone else does: there are two ways to look at Benoit. There’s Benoit the person and Benoit the performer. Benoit wasn’t someone that was crazy and evil his entire life. He was a person that went crazy and did evil things at the end of his life. As a performer, he’s one of the best ever and could wrestle with anyone, making him very fun to watch. Great wrestler, the man himself I’ll leave open for debate as there isn’t a right answer to that I don’t think.

As for airing the show, I have no problem with it. There’s no way you can ask someone to go out there and have a match if they’re all shaken up which is understandable here as this was shocking. I don’t blame WWE for doing this before the details came in because who would believe that was the reality of it just 24 hours later? The show did its job and there is no reason this shouldn’t have aired, period.
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