Benoit update

[RetroIC Gaming 196]

ABC News is confirming that tests conducted by Julian Bailes of the Sports Legacy Institute show that Chris Benoit’s brain was severely damaged at the time he murdered his wife and son before taking his own life. According to the tests his brain resembled that of an 85-year-old Alzheimer's patient. Bailes said that the damage was the result of lifetime chronic concussions and head trauma.

 

Chris Benoit was famous for his flying headbutt, which is a lot of stress on the brain each time the maneuver is pulled off. While nothing can justify his actions, this at least helps the coping process

 

the ABC news website

[Guest The Great Ahmar]

Jerry Lawler needs to go on Tv and scream "Head Trauma! He had Head Trauma!"

[Joey Asbo 45]

Someone needs to find and incarserate Dynamite Kid quick!

[Guest 619rkoCROSSFACE]

i thought everyone knew it would be somethng like this all along

i certainly expected something to do with him not being sane

[Guest DarkMatchJobber]

Loads of wrestlers have taken severe punishment to their head through their career and most of them never became a murderer so why use it as an excuse?

[Paul 584]

Loads of wrestlers have taken severe punishment to their head through their career and most of them never became a murderer so why use it as an excuse?

 

 

Because severe head punishment doesnt have to mean severe brain injury or trauma. Or did you want something more than the obvious answer?

[Guest The Great Ahmar]

Loads of wrestlers have taken severe punishment to their head through their career and most of them never became a murderer so why use it as an excuse?

 

For 20 odd years doing German's, diving headbutts, regular headbutt's, getting dumped on is head, chair shots, flying to the outside and often landing on his head every single night? That will give you some damage. Benoit has even been quoted saying he's had more concussions than he'd like to remember. And concussions are linked to brain damage.

 

Also Chris Nowinski who organised this whole thing, links this case to past NFL stars where they've had head issues and have harmed themselves plus others. I don't think Steriods help his mind either.

 

Also if you were to look at every murder's brain or past history I think you'd find a lot of them have serious brain issue's. While it's not an excuse, it's in a way of an explanation as to why it happened. Hopefully this might be some closure for Chris's and Nancy's and let them RIP

[Guest DarkMatchJobber]

For 20 odd years doing German's, diving headbutts, regular headbutt's, getting dumped on is head, chair shots, flying to the outside and often landing on his head every single night? That will give you some damage. Benoit has even been quoted saying he's had more concussions than he'd like to remember. And concussions are linked to brain damage.

 

Also Chris Nowinski who organised this whole thing, links this case to past NFL stars where they've had head issues and have harmed themselves plus others. I don't think Steriods help his mind either.

 

Also if you were to look at every murder's brain or past history I think you'd find a lot of them have serious brain issue's. While it's not an excuse, it's in a way of an explanation as to why it happened. Hopefully this might be some closure for Chris's and Nancy's and let them RIP

 

That's the key word and I have to thank you for saying it,that's what is needed because otherwise this forum will become morbid.

[Guest The Beltster]

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3560015&page=1

 

he family of Chris Benoit has been searching for answers since late June, when the professional wrestler killed his wife, 7-year-old son and then himself.

 

At the crime scene, police found anabolic steroids prompting many to suspect that "roid rage" had accounted for Benoit's behavior, which his family found out of character for the 40-year-old.

 

His family now believes that new test results on Benoit's brain explain his vicious actions.

 

The tests, conducted by Julian Bailes of the Sports Legacy Institute, show that Benoit's brain was so severely damaged it resembled the brain of an 85-year-old Alzheimer's patient.

 

Bailes and his research team took samples from Benoit's brain postmortem and compared these microscopic brain scans to those of a healthy brain.

 

They found that Benoit's brain showed an advanced form of dementia that appears on the brain scan as brown clumps or tangles. These brown spots are actually dead brain cells, killed off as a result of head trauma, said Bailes.

 

In Benoit's case, the damage was found in every section of the brain — all four lobes and deep into the brain stem.

 

"It was extensive throughout Chris' brain," Bailes said. "This is something you should never see in a 40-year-old."

 

The damage is proof, Bailes said, that Benoit suffered multiple, probably chronic, concussions over the course of many years.

 

Benoit, in fact, told friends he had suffered "more concussions than he could count."

 

Benoit's brain showed the same kind of damage Bailes and his team found in four retired NFL players who also suffered multiple concussions and later sank into deep depressions and harmed themselves or others.

 

Perhaps most disturbing, a person doesn't need to have sustained dozens of concussions to see problems later in life.

 

"Our research shows that three concussions may be the threshold for lasting damage," Bailes said.

 

This kind of brain damage isn't new to athletes, but doctors and researchers are starting to understand it better. As far back as the 1920s, career boxers were diagnosed with "punch drunk syndrome," which is now known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

 

Bailes said that while he can't be certain that the brain damage caused Benoit's actions, he believes it is the leading cause.

 

"We think these changes are not due to steroids," Bailes said. "That has never really been studied, but it's never been in the medical literature or any research that shows steroids do this to the brain. These changes [in the brain] were found in the 1920s before steroids were even invented."

 

For Michael Benoit and the family, these test results provide a small amount of comfort.

 

"Bascially, once the findings came out and I had the opportunity to talk to the doctors, we certainly had an understanding of what could have contributed to the tragedy that took place that day," Michael said.

 

The message Michael would like Benoit's surviving children to take away is that "their dad loved [them] dearly and what happened wasn't his fault."

 

Bailes and his research team say that this damage was the result of a lifetime of chronic concussions and head trauma suffered while Benoit was in the wrestling ring.

 

Benoit's father, Michael Benoit, is speaking out in order to warn other athletes, both professional and student.

 

Dementia Caused by Multiple Concussions, Doctor Says

 

After hearing the news that his son had murdered his 7-year-old son, Daniel, and wife Nancy and then killed himself, Michael Benoit struggled to understand how it could have happened.

 

Michael says Benoit was a "kind and gentle" man who volunteered with the Make-A-Wish Foundation and visited U.S. troops overseas in Iraq.

 

"First we needed an understanding. The person that did this is not the man we know and love," Michael said today on "Good Morning America."

 

After the suicide and murders, Michael was contacted by a former wrestler, who suggested he investigate whether years of trauma to Benoit's brain could have contributed to his actions.

 

"I was grasping for anything," Michael told ABC News' Bob Woodruff. "The world was very black. I mean, we didn't even know how to deal with this."

 

So Michael turned over part of his son's brain to Bailes, the head of neurosurgery at West Virginia University and former Pittsburgh Steelers team physician.

 

Bailes and his research team had also analyzed the brains of former NFL players such as Andre Waters and Terry Long, who both committed suicide. Bailes and his colleagues theorize that repeated concussions can lead to dementia, which can contribute to severe behavioral problems.

 

"There is a constant theme in the failure of their personal lives, their business lives, depression and then ultimately suicide," Bailes said.

Alot of interesting information there.

[RetroIC Gaming 196]

So, anyone else think Orton will stop doing that kick to the head after this?

[Guest Parksta]

Please forgive me here, I understand if anything "goes wrong" such as landing with a punch etc, then obviously that can effect the brain etc, but as for a diving headbutt, I thought the idea was that he didn't make actual contact? Sorry if I'm wrong here, could someone correct me if needs be please!

 

I also know that it's just not a headbutt that could cause this, as mentioned above, German Suplexes could probably do it alone!

[Guest Kanenite]

This is the kind of news i'd have liked to have heard months back. I know people suspected it could've been brain damage but now it's in writing it helps to comfort what happened more. I don't think it'll change much now but maybe questioning a Benoit HOF induction isn't completely dead, i'd still like to see his Wrestling career acknowledged.

[Paul 584]

Please forgive me here, I understand if anything "goes wrong" such as landing with a punch etc, then obviously that can effect the brain etc, but as for a diving headbutt, I thought the idea was that he didn't make actual contact?

 

 

Imagin he has a 99% rate of hitting it perfectly under ideal conditions, now lets remember hes normally tired by that time, the other person could move at the last moment, or he could have slipped as he jumped. He probably actually made contact around 50-60% of the time.

[Guest Al Stevens]

Imagin he has a 99% rate of hitting it perfectly under ideal conditions, now lets remember hes normally tired by that time, the other person could move at the last moment, or he could have slipped as he jumped. He probably actually made contact around 50-60% of the time.

 

Also some of the times he has done it the top of cages, ladders and even to belts so that would also add some damage

[Guest the HiTman]

Please forgive me here, I understand if anything "goes wrong" such as landing with a punch etc, then obviously that can effect the brain etc, but as for a diving headbutt, I thought the idea was that he didn't make actual contact? Sorry if I'm wrong here, could someone correct me if needs be please!

 

Please remember that these media people wont usually understand that the idea is to comletely miss the headbutt. We have read counless mainstream articles that practically proves that most of them do not really understand wrestling. Or that they will write in such a way that will appeal to the masses, so stating a move that would cause potential concussion if it was "real" is the easiest way for them to report it.

 

That said, however....

 

Imagine he has a 99% rate of hitting it perfectly under ideal conditions, now lets remember hes normally tired by that time, the other person could move at the last moment, or he could have slipped as he jumped. He probably actually made contact around 50-60% of the time.

 

Yeah, i remember on one occasion back in 01 where he landed the flying headbutt right on to an elbow...

[Guest Nemesis Enforcer]

This won't change much really, the fact he did kill his family then himself will never be overshadowed no matter what evidence comes out to explain it, of course what this will probably mean is a ban on pretty much every top rope move within WWE if its linked havily on his diving headbutts etc

[Guest John Hancock]

So that choke holds AND top rope moves Benoit's ruined for us now? Oh, and pillow fights.

[Guest The Beltster]

Foley took much more of a pounding to his head than Benoit, and he hasnt murdered anybody. Lets stop making excuses for the guy, he obviously had to have it in him to kill in the first place.

 

I know alot of depressed people, and they dont go around murdering their families.

[Guest John Hancock]

It was probably a combination of being a bit wierd to start, then getting smacked in the head.

 

Brain damage to someone like Foley might have totally different results to brain damage to Chris Benoit. benoit seems to have been a pretty intence person as it was, so brain damage can't have helped that, whilst Foley (if he even has any brain damage) would probably be affected totally differently due to having a totally different personality.

 

The whole things a bit of a side note anyway. As someone said earlier, Dynamite Kid managed to not kill his family. You can't blame these things on one particular event. You'd litterally have to do studies on every second of Benoit's life to fully piece together what makes people like him do things like that.

[Paul 584]

Foley took much more of a pounding to his head than Benoit.

 

I wouldnt agree, Foley took a fair few shots dont get me wrong, but Benoit did a lot more hard hitting stuff in Japan than you would think, add to that the constant use of the headbutt and he has taken far more damage over a longer timescale than Foley.

 

Besides, Benoit isnt Foley remember! The damage will be different on different people, like not everyone hit by a car doing 60mph will die. Its one of those things.

 

Edit: Mr Hancock said it better.