(Warning: Reference of suicide ahead)
As I have iterated in the past piece related to the sport of Professional Wrestling, that this sport, in reality is part soap opera and part combat sports, although those who held wrestling championship titles treated as equally legitimate as other branches of combat sport like boxing and mixed martial arts. Although mostly scripted, pro wrestling can (and sometimes inevitably) cross over to the real life, even though in the old days the lines between kayfabe and real life is often enforced. It could also lead so some real consequences as a result of constantly putting bodies (and sometimes even lives) on the line for the sake of entertaining the fans (that's why former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) chairman Vince McMahon coined the term "sports entertainment" to emphasize this element). Some names suffered this after constantly performing high-risk moves and taking brutal bumps, especially if the wrestler in question is known for their hardcore antics, like a Mick Foley or New Jack type of guy.
But this one is probably the most tragic and controversial case that's ever come out from this world of highfliers and brutal bruisers. There are many true crime cases that involved one or multiple professional wrestlers, each with their own story to tell. But this one is so controversial in light of the circumstances, one wrestling promotion subsequently omitted and erased his name and accomplishments from the history books. Of course, I'm talking about the tragic life and death of one Chris Benoit. The Montreal, Quebec, Canada native was born Christopher Michael Benoit on the 21st of May 1967, but mostly spent his childhood in Edmonton, Alberta. His fascination with the world of wrestling was evident from the early age, as he already idolized Tom "Dynamite Kid" Billington and wrestling hall of famer Bret "The Hitman" Hart. At the tender age of 12, he began his wrestling training under the tutelage of Bret's father Stu Hart in his famous Hart family Dungeon in Calgary, often hailed as one of the best wrestling schools in the world, as it's run by the Hart Dynasty. As a result, Benoit's style has the reference of both Billington and Hart, he even used the latter's submission move "The Sharpshooter" as one of his finishing maneuvers.
After his stint at the Dungeon, Benoit wrestled in Stu's promotion, Stampede Wrestling. His wrestling style at the time was similar with The Dynamite Kid, as he adopted several moves like the diving headbutt (a move that would cost him later down the road) and the snap suplex. He debuted in a tag team match on the 22nd of November 1985 teaming up with "The Remarkable" Rick Patterson against Butch Moffat and Mike Hammer. He later won the Stampede Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Championship in 1988, and also held 4 International Tag Team and three British Commonwealth titles. After Stampede closed its doors, Benoit went to New Japan Pro Wrestling, and subsequently trained in the "New Japan Dojo" with the young guns to further polished his abilities. In this promotion, he was one of the wrestlers who feuded with another wrestling legend, Jushin "Thunder" Liger, over the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. He also won Best of the Super Juniors tournament twice, as well as the Inaugural Super J-Cup tournament in 1994. Bear in mind, while being contracted with New Japan, he also wrestled in places like Mexico and Europe, he even won the UWA Light Heavyweight Championship.
Sometime during his stint at New Japan, Benoit was also working with World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and worked in several matches, one in particular was a tag team match that put himself and fellow Canadian Biff Wellington against Brian Pillman and Jushin Liger, their first meeting outside of New Japan. It was in this promotion, where he returned in 1995, where he was approached by "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair to be a part of the New Four Horsemen stable alongside himself, Pillman and Arn Anderson. It was also here where Chris met his future wife Nancy, at the time married to WCW booker Kevin Sullivan, which whom he was feuding with. At first, the "affair" started as an on-screen angle involving all three parties, but then evolved into a real-life affair between Nancy and Chris. This angered Sullivan, and this affair was used to leverage their on-screen feud. Aside from Sullivan, he also feuded with several wrestlers like Booker T, and won several titles, including the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.
He also worked for Paul Heyman (then known as Paul E. Dangerously) and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) where he was the main booker, at the time the only promotion in America who allowed weapons and foreign objects in matches, where he received the moniker "The Crippler" from Heyman after putting Rocco Rock out. But this nickname is further solidified after a freak botch involving Sabu where he accidentally broke the hardcore legend's neck during the opening seconds of the match. Sadly, the only title he won was the ECW World Tag Team Championship with Dean Malenko and was forced out of the company when his work visa expired and failed to be renewed in time by Heyman. He returned to ECW in 2007, now part of WWE after being drafted to the brand. He was supposed to compete for the ECW Championship but didn't show up because of a "family emergency" (this will be relevant later), and he was replaced by John Hennigan (At this point known as Johnny Nitro) who won instead.
Benoit's exit from WCW became WWE (then World Wrestling Federation/WWF) gain, as he joined the promotion during the end of the Attitude Era. along with his friends Eddie Guerrero, Perry Saturn and Malenko, also WCW alumni, he formed and debuted the heel stable known as The Radicalz. Benoit's first championship was the Intercontinental Championship which he won in a two-fall triple threat match at Wrestlemania 2000 pitted him against Chris Jericho and Kurt Angle, with both the latter's Intercontinental and European titles at stake. In this two-fall event, Benoit and Jericho pinned each other, the first one with Benoit winning, and the second one where Jericho won. This is a rare occurrence where a defending champion lost their championship twice in a multi-man match without conceding a single pinfall. Honestly, I hate being Kurt Angle at that time. But this is not the only Wrestlemania he participated and won a championship. At Wrestlemania XX in Madison Square Garden, New York, he won big by securing the World Heavyweight Championship (Former WCW World Heavyweight Championship) by submitting Triple H with his patented submission move the Crippler Crossface. Other titles he won was the WWE Tag Team Title (4 times total) with Angle, Jericho and Egde, and the WWE United States Championship (3 times).
Back to the ECW incident, Benoit was supposed to work in a match where he would have been won the ECW Championship by defeating CM Punk as indicated by WWE executive Stephanie McMahon but was a no-show due to a "family emergency". Chavo Guerrerro, the Late Eddie Guerrero's nephew tried to call Benoit through his phone and his American residence in Fayetteville, Georgia, but didn't respond. At this point, Chris already in deep sadness after losing Eddie, who was his best friend in 2005 due to a cardiac arrest that cut his wrestling career agonizingly short. Due to this no-show, WWE requested a welfare check on Benoit and his family, where on the 25th of June 2007, Chris, along with Nancy and his 7-year-old son Daniel was found dead in his own home. The day after the deaths, WWE put together a tribute show on one episode of Monday Night Raw focusing on Benoit's accomplishments, and doing so, also overshadows another angle involving Vince himself under the character of Mr. McMahon, who in kayfabe died in a limousine explosion. But after the circumstances became clear, WWE swiftly disavowed him by deleting all of his archived matches, refused to acknowledge his name and title reigns, and censored any references about Benoit. To this day, the name Chris Benoit became some sort of a taboo, and he is also denied a spot at the WWE Hall of Famer.
During the three-day period, it was revealed that Nancy and Daniel were killed on the first two days, with Chris took his own on the third day. Toxicology report indicated that Nancy had xanax, hydrocodone, and hydromorphone which were found at the therapeutic levels, Daniel's results had xanax, which indicated a sedation attempt before the killing by suffocation, and Chris was found to have xanax, hydrocodone, and elevated testosterone levels, indicating an extensive steroid use. But further investigations found no connection between Benoit's body and the double murder-suicide. There are some theories on why Benoit did it in the first place, it might be because of his grief of losing Eddie Guerrero that led into a long depression, or some "roid rage" claims, but the most plausible theory was when Chris' brain was examined by neurosurgeon at West Virginia University with the blessings of Chris' father Michael Benoit, who found an extensive brain damage resembling an 85-year-old Alzheimer patient. He was also reported to have an advance form of dementia, but most importantly, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which is a neurodegenerative disease linked to multiple traumas to the head. This theory is supported by the fact that Benoit himself primarily used the diving headbutt, which is a move involving him jumping off the top rope using his head to finish off opponents, and also many bumps he took during his career, often involving chairshots to the head, which has been banned since.
Chris Benoit was a pro wrestler who has achieved everything imaginable in the wrestling industry. His work as an in-ring performer regarded as one if not the best the world has ever seen. Hell, some wrestling legends regarded him as one of the best that ever laced a pair of boots, but what he did during the last moments of his life that destroyed everything for him. In another life, he might have been a member of the WWE Hall of Famer and regarded as one of the legends of the Squared Circle, but after this tragic murder-suicide, his name is erased forever, buried deep inside the pro wrestling lore, never to be discovered again. The tragic occurrence of the Benoit family serves as a harrowing reminder that professional wrestling, no matter how heavily scripted they are, still presents a real physical and mental consequences bore by the wrestlers we come to know and love. There is a reason the phrase "don't try this at home" was put up during any wrestling program, is to prevent any occurrences like this from happening again.
