The Piledriver Report 6.27.07: Remembering Woman and the Canadian Crippler

Posted by Ronny Sarnecky on 06.27.2007

This week’s “Piledriver Report” takes a look back at the lives of Nancy Sullivan and Chris Benoit. While saddened by the news. The "Piledriver Report" also remember those wrestlers that have left us way too soon.

Are you kidding me? Not again! I can't believe it! How can this happen, AGAIN?! As sad as it may be to say, but a wrestler's death doesn't surprise anybody anymore. When I read that Sheri Martel passed away last week, it was said, but not shocking. This isn't to say that I expected to hear news of Sheri's death. Quite the contrary. Scott Hall and Jake Roberts are on the top of the list of names when thinking of whom will probably die before they become "old men." That being said, when I heard Sheri's name, I didn't exactly stop what I was doing due to the stunner I just received. That's life as a wrestling fan. Death and wrestling go hand in hand with one another. Look at the laundry list of names that have passed away over the years. Rick Rude, Curt Henning, Big Bossman, Davey Boy Smith, Louie Spicolli, Miss Elizabeth, Bam Bam Bigelow, Mike Awesome, Bad New Brown, Earthquake, the Public Enemy, Hercules Hernandez, Kerry Von Erich, Bruiser Brody, and Adrian Adonis have all passed away in the last 20 years. Sure, we said "Oh my God! I can't believe it." However, we have become so numb to hearing about "wrestlers deaths" that after a few days, we go back to business as usual.

There have been only a handful of deaths in the industry that have left me stunned. Brian Pillman, Owen Hart, Chris Candido, Eddie Guerrero, and now the death of the Benoit family. Brian Pillman's death shook the wrestling world, because it was the first time that a wrestler died the day of that he was to take part in a pay per view. I still remember the day. I was watching the pre-show before the "Bad Blood" pay per view, and Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross made the solemn announcement to the fans watching at home. I was left stunned. At that point, I no longer cared about the show, my mind was definitely elsewhere that night. As much as people will remember that night for the very first "Hell in the Cell" match, I will always remember that show as the day that the "Loose Cannon" left us.

If I was stunned after Pillman's death, Owen Hart's death left me comatose. I still can't believe he's gone. Owen reminded me of myself in many ways. He was a regular guy. He didn't fall into the pitfalls that so many in the industry fell into. He saved his money. He was a family first guy. Everybody loved him, and he loved to play practical jokes. Everybody could relate to Owen. He was the one wrestler that you never expected to hear about being found dead of an overdose in his hotel room. Owen died in a tragic accident DURING a pay per view event. Owen's death rocked the industry so hard that the WWF cancelled all of their current storylines/angles on the following night's RAW. The WWF presented their first "tribute" show. Owen not only affected his peers, but his fans alike. I remember writing a tribute column at the time, where I said that I hoped the WWF would rename the King of the Ring into the Owen Hart Memorial King of the Ring. I was not alone in that thought, as many across the World Wide Web had a similar sentiment. It made perfect sense. After all, Owen's star really began to flourish once he took the King of the Ring crown. The anniversary of Owen Hart's passing is the one "wrestling death" that I always take note to remember each year.

Chris Candido's death hit me hard for two reasons. One, he didn't die the typical death of a wrestler. Candido battled his demons during his life, and at one point many feared that he could face an early passing. However, he beat his demons, and was back. The demons did not get the best of him. Instead, he died due to an infection that he suffered from a surgery to repair his broken leg. Surgeries are supposed to make you better, not kill you. Especially not a "low risk" surgery like Candido had. The second reason why Candido's death shook me up was because he was the same age as I was. Hearing about someone your age dying the way Candido did really makes you fear you r own morality knowing that your life can also end in a blink of an eye.

However, not since Owen Hart has a wrestler's death, not only caught me off guard, but also saddened me as much as the day Eddie Guerrero was found dead in his hotel room. I couldn't believe what I was reading. As more and more details came out, I couldn't help picturing Eddie's final moments in the bathroom dropping to the floor. Seeing in my mind, security opening the door with Chavo by their side only to find Eddie's body already gone from this world. It's an image that I still see whenever I think of that day. Like Candido, Eddie had his demons, and also beat them. He rehabbed his marriage and himself when he was able to beat the demons that tried to control him. He even was crowned the WWE World Champion. When the pressure of holding the title started to get to him, Eddie didn't succumb to the pressure by using certain forms of medication that would help him get through. Instead, he was man enough to admit that the pressure was too great, and he relinquished the belt. At the time of Eddie's death he was ready for the challenge of holding the WWE World title once again. He was supposed to win the WWE World title for the second occasion the week he passed away. However, that wasn't meant to be. Instead, for the first time since Owen's death, we received not one, but two tribute shows. I'll always remember Eddie, not for his wrestling ability, but for his personality. "Latino Heat" allowed Eddie to display a charm and charisma that made you smile. There may have been bigger workers. There may have been better workers, but there was just one Eddie. Everybody like Eddie Guerrero. Just like everybody loved Owen. Like Owen Hart, everyone will remember Eddie Guerrero, even years after he is gone. It's been almost two years since Eddie has left us. Somehow, it feels like it was jus yesterday.

When I left work today, I couldn't wait to get home. RAW was going to be a 3-hour "tribute" to the murder of the Mr.McMahon character. While I think it's a really dumb storyline, I was interested in seeing if the WWE could pull the angle out of the crapper. When I got home, I went on the "Wrestling Observer" website to see if they had any dirt on what "surprises" may pop up tonight. I never expected to see the words "Benoit family found dead." I was shocked. I thought that now I know what the family emergency was that made Chris Benoit miss last night's pay per view. I expected to read something along the lines of Benoit's parents or relatives passed away. However, when I clicked on the link and read, "The WWE just told its talent and released on its web site that Chris Benoit was found dead by Atlanta police. Benoit, wife Nancy a.k.a. Woman and son Daniel were all found dead. We have no other details at this moment. It is believed that Chris Benoit's two other children were in Canada. All plans for Raw tonight have been scrapped and they will do a show on the life of Benoit." words can not describe the shock that came across my body at that moment.

I can't believe Benoit is gone, and not just him but his son and his wife Nancy. The first thought that crossed my mind was "did they get murdered? Was there a gas leak in their house?" Then, I realized that it really doesn't matter. While I'm curious for the details, but it will not changed the fact that a man, his wife, and their small child are dead. While I never knew them, or even met any of them, Chris and Nancy have been in my life for almost the last twenty years.

I remember watching WCW when Rick and Scott Steiner were teaming up with each other in the early days of their tag team career. There was this Rick Steiner fan at ringside named Robin Green. She had long braided pigtails, and had a nerdy Talia Shire as Adrian in the original "Rocky" type quality about herself. Eventually, the dorky Steiner brother went out on a date Robin. I remember watching their "date" on WCW Saturday Night on TBS. There was a segment where Rick went to pick up Robin at her apartment. When Robin opened the door, gone was the nerdy girl in pigtails. What Rick faced was so much more. Standing in front of Steiner was this hot sexpot in a black bousteau and tight black leather pants with matching high heels. She was all woman, and that became Nancy Sullivan's new ring name "Woman." She went on to manage the tag team DOOM (Ron Simmons and Butch Reed), and later NWA World Champion Ric Flair.

After leaving WCW, the next time I saw Nancy Sullivan on TV was when I started watching ECW on the Madison Square Garden cable network. At the time, she was managing the Sandman. She was awesome as his manager. One of the funniest moments in ECW that involved her was when Steve Austin arrived into town. The Sandman was set to defend the ECW title against Mikey Whipwreck in a ladder match. Before the match, Austin came to the ring to challenge the winner for a shot at the title. While cutting his promo on the top of the ladder, with Woman yelling at him, Austin delivered the line (after insinuating that she was "loose"), "it's not my fault you married a midget." I thought it was the funniest thing in the world. At the time, people in wrestling didn't bring up things that were going on in their real life. When Austin mentioned that, I started laughing at the "dig" against Kevin Sullivan. I thought it was so cool.

When she returned to WCW, I never really saw her. At the time WCW was all about Hulk Hogan, and I wasn't interested. I was loyal to the WWF and ECW. The next time I would really notice "Woman" would be in 2004.

Chris Benoit. What can I say about Chris Benoit? My first impression of Chris Benoit was by seeing one the most famous bumps in the history of Extreme Championship Wrestling. It was the clip of when Chris Benoit was wrestling Sabu, and after a bad bump, Sabu broke his neck. It was one of the most gruesome shots ever aired on a wrestling program. At the time, I really didn't know much about him.

I remember it was around this time when I first started reading the "Wrestling Observer Newsletter." At WrestleMania XI, Owen Hart and a mystery partner were scheduled to take on Billy and Bart Gunn for the WWF Tag Team Championships. It was rumored that Owen's partner was going to be Chris Benoit. I was so excited. I had second row at that WrestleMania. I was telling my friend that weekend all about Chris Benoit, and what a great worker he was. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be. That year, Yokozuna was Owen's partner, and Benoit was soon to be headed to World Championship Wrestling.

I'm kind of embarrassed to say that due to my anti-WCW slant, I never really watched much of Monday Nitro, and never ordered their pay per views. Looking back on things, it was definitely my loss. I missed out on classic Benoit matches against Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero, Booker T, Bret Hart, and the list goes on and on. That's not to say that I didn't know Benoit was one of the best workers in the world. I just couldn't watch the federation that was my company's main rival.

Once again, thanks to the "Observer Newsletter," I heard about Benoit, Dean Malenko, Perry Saturn, Eddie Guerrero, and Shane Douglas wanting to leave WCW. I thought this news was huge. If they could get their releases and head to the WWF, then Vince would get three of the top workers that WCW had on its roster. At the time, the WWF was very top heavy. They gave fans great main event matches. However, their mid-cards were filled with average, at best, workers. WCW on the other hand, had a thin core at the top, but the best mid-card talent in the country, if not the world. To have wrestlers like Austin, The Rock, Mick Foley, the Undertaker, and Triple H fighting on top, and wrestlers like Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, and now the WCW Five on the undercard, the WWF could present one of the most loaded rosters in wrestling. Plus, at the time, the WWF wasn't loaded with politics. That was WCW's game. Benoit, Guerrero, and company would get a legitimate shot at moving up to the main event spots on the card.

WCW allowed Benoit, Malenko, Guerrero, and Perry Saturn to be released from their contracts. The day they showed up as ringside "fans" on RAW, the WWF provided us with one of the few remaining "holy shit" moments of the Monday Night Wars era. I was so excited. The two breakout stars of the group were Eddie and Benoit. I remember their first WrestleMania. Chris Benoit's match against Chris Jericho and Kurt Angle was one of my favorite matches at WrestleMania 2000. Chris Benoit left the ring that night with the Intercontinental title.

When I think of Benoit's early WWF career, I think of his wars with Chris Jericho and Kurt Angle. His matches with Kurt Angle were some of the best matches in the history of the WWF. The fans, which were groomed on "sports entertainment" loved their matches more than anything on the show. I remember one of the matches, I believe it was at the Royal Rumble, although it could have been at WrestleMania X-7. The early part of the match featured nothing but amateur mat wrestling. Instead of chanting "boring," the fans erupted in thunderous applause. From that moment, you knew Triple H may have been the best "sports entertainer" in the business. However, Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit were the two best WRESTLERS in the industry.

The biggest accomplishment in Chris Benoit's career came on March 14th, 2004 at WrestleMania XX. I remember that show like it was yesterday. The match he had against Shawn Michaels and Triple H wasn't just the greatest Triple Threat match in WWF/E history, it was the greatest main event match in WrestleMania history. Watching that event, the WWE gave the fans the biggest feel good moment in wrestling history. Two wrestling lifers, Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero, who were always overlooked because of their size, left the 20th WrestleMania holding the two biggest titles in the " wrestling land of the giants." It was a great night. It proved that if you work hard and do things the right way, you will be rewarded.

This year, there were rumors that Chris Benoit was being moved to RAW. After the draft, a few weeks ago, Chris Benoit was moved, not to RAW, but to ECW. While Michael Hayes never saw Benoit as a main eventer on SmackDown! because of his poor mic skills, the road agents loved him. Personally, if this is true, then Michael Hayes should be stripped of his power. When all of the SmackDown! wrestlers were getting injured this year, I thought that the WWE should have put the title on Benoit. He was the one legitimate star that the fans would view as a worthy World Champion.

After the draft, I read that the WWE considered Chris Benoit a "lifer." They felt that he would be with the company long after his career was over. However, they didn't consider him for a road agent position, but as a coach. That is why he was moved to ECW. The WWE wants ECW to be a training ground for workers who aren't quite ready for prime time, but soon will be. Benoit, they felt, was the perfect man to groom these wrestlers.

This weekend, Benoit was scheduled to face CM Punk for the ECW title. It was a match that I couldn't wait to see. It was the reason why I bought the pay per view. While I am not a fan of the new ECW, having Chris Benoit in ECW made me do something that I haven't done in months. That was to actually WATCH the show. When they announced that Benoit wasn't there due to personal reasons, I never could have imagined that this is what his "personal reason" turned out to be.

Tonight, the WWE presented their latest "tribute" show. I know this is only their third show like this, and their second in less then two years. While watching the show, all I could think was that we have seen these shows way too many times. I was very pleased to see the WWE handle this stunning news with class and dignity, something that the company has been lacking recently. Seeing Vince McMahon all choked up showed us both a human side to the man that everybody loves to rip apart, and it also showed how much this hurt him. While I loved the Owen and Eddie tributes, I thought the WWE finally got it right. It's also unfortunate that they've had to run shows like this to learn how to perfect it. The image of Vince McMahon and the announcing crews sitting in an empty arena left a lump in my throat. For all of the faults of Vince McMahon, he should be commended for canceling tonight's show. When someone loses a person close to them, the last thing they want to do is go to work. Tonight, they didn't have to. John Bradshaw Layfield telling the audience that he doesn't want to be here tonight working just magnified the fact that Vince made the right call.

I thought airing past Benoit matches was a nice way for the fans to remember Chris Benoit. Listening to the wrestlers talk about Benoit gave us an insight to a Benoit that many outside of the ring has never seen. I feel so bad for Chavo Guerrero. He lost Eddie less then 2 years ago. Now, he loses Benoit. I also felt really sorry for Edge, who you can tell really loved and respected Chris Benoit. I feel bad for everyone in the WWE. They lost someone they love and care about, and they will never be the same.

The last sight of the evening, we were left seeing Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero. Both stood together and embraced on their biggest night of their careers at WrestleMania XX. They were best friends in a business filled with acquaintances. Now both men are taken away from us way too soon. In a strange twist, both Eddie Guerrero passed away right before they were supposed to win a World Championship. As the screen slowly faded to black, I looked down at my watch for the time. The watch I was wearing is my silver WrestleMania XX commemorative watch. Where the timepiece once was just a watch used to tell time, for me it is now a permanent reminder of two warriors that left us way too soon.

Whenever a wrestler dies tragically, besides honoring that wrestler with my memories, I also can't help but recall all of those others who have left us way too soon. For all of those people, we still miss you. We always will. Chris and Nancy, I will never forget all of the memories, and all of the hours of enjoyment that you provided to me over these last twenty years. I can't believe it's over. Thanks to DVDs and WWE 24/7, I'll be able to relive all of the excitement that you created for me. Thanks for the reminder of why I sit through the bad storylines and horrible angle, just to see the beauty of a Chris Benoit classic. Good bye for now. Thanks again, and say hi to Eddie, Brian, and Owen for me.

After I wrote this article, I read the following updates on the Wrestling Observer website regarding the Benoit deaths:

"According to a report on WAGA-TV, investigators believe Chris Benoit killed his wife and son at some point over the weekend, and then killed himself earlier today. They reported first hearing from a concerned neighbor and that the three bodies were found in separate rooms. Detective Bo Turner told the station the case was being investigated as a murder-suicide, but it could not be confirmed until the evidence was examined by a crime lab. Sources in the Fayette County Police Department are now working under the theory that Chris Benoit killed Nancy on Saturday, son Daniel on Sunday, and then killed himself earlier today. Benoit was found dead in his weight room. Nancy was found dead in the living room. Daniel was found dead in his bedroom, according to an unnamed source in the department. Lt. Tommy Pope told ABC News "the instruments of death were located on the scene," but didn't specify what those were or where they were found. Pope said the department was not actively searching for any suspects outside the house."

I'm even more shocked then before. I really don't know what to say. This can't be true. Why would he kill his wife AND his son? I wish there was a way for us to know the truth with 100% accuracy, without anyone's assumption from evidence they found. I can't understand why anyone would do something like this. I don't know what to think or believe. The Chris Benoit that the wrestlers talked about tonight sounds nothing like this murderer/suicidal person as described in the report. Man, I hope this report is wrong. It has to be. Doesn't it?