There is a legal battle brewing over the estate of Chris Benoit, who had not wasted his money and was worth several million dollars. Cary Ichter, attorney for Michael Benoit, Chris’ father, argues that Nancy Benoit did not have a living will and so her claim to the estate automatically passes to her son. However, as Daniel is also dead, it would pass on again to his next of kin, his half-brother and half-sister David and Megan, who both live in Edmonton with their mother and Benoit’s first wife Martina. Ichter previously represented the group of ‘ethnic minority’ wrestlers, headed by Sonny Onoo, that sued WCW for racial discrimination and settled for a large, undisclosed out-of-court settlement. Meanwhile, Richard Decker, attorney for Nancy’s family, the Toffolonis, shall be challenging the reports that show Nancy died before Daniel. If Nancy outlived her son then the estate would go to her parents and sister, Sandra Sanchez. As Benoit murdered Nancy and Daniel, he would have no claim to the estate.
Here are some details about Konnan’s condition, coming from a Wrestling Observer story that was written prior to the report that he was “turning the corner.” Konnan had left his Tijuana hospital for one in San Diego. He has been put into isolation with plenty anti-rejection medicine to try and save the new kidney he received, with doctors giving him a 90% chance of success. If he loses the donated kidney then he will in all likelihood be on dialysis for the rest of his life. However, the drugs he has to take can have some serious side-effects, such as greatly increasing the chance of birth defects on children he may father. He and his wife had recently been talking of starting a family.
There are of course a lot of internal talks in TNA about starting a drug testing program. The final call will be up to Dixie Carter but now that Congress is in contact with them, they recognise that something has to be put in place.
Spike TV is moving UFC from their Thursday night slot on the 20th September. The current contract for Impact expires on the 30th, so TNA’s first show under a new deal would be the 4th October. They are expected to get the extra hour vacated by UFC, with tapings held every second Monday or Tuesday.
Jeff Jarrett went to a Linkin Park gig in Tampa with the Bollea family to celebrate Hulk Hogan’s 54th birthday recently. Some things are just so weird they inspire unwellness.
The next ROH PPV tapings take place on the 15th September in Chicago and the 6th October in Edison, New Jersey. The Chicago tapings should see the start of a big angle about something called Project 161. They teased it during recent live shows, with the lights going out and a voice repeating “Project 161” over the intercom, while the website is up here.
Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter, 20 August 2007 (click here for subscription information)
