CHRIS BENOIT If you are a 90s kid, you know this name.
In the 1990s, Benoit was considered one of the well-known names in the World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation. Favorite of many, the youngsters would look take him as their inspiration. Little did anyone know that by the turn of the century, his name would turn into a dark history! The whole world couldn’t come to terms with the tragic fact of his horrifying murder-suicide.
VICE TV’s Dark Side of the Ring has kicked off its second season. This time, it talks about the devastating tragedy that happened with Benoit. The series has everything about the rise and fall of the WWE champion and what made him murder his family and kill himself in three days. The episodes of the series also have some information and commentary from the deceased’s fellow wrestlers.
Here’s everything to know about Chris Benoit and his tragic death.
Who Was Chris Benoit?
Benoit was born in Canada in 1967. From an early age, he aspired to become a wrestler. His passion for wrestling soon pushed him to train under some big names in the industry, including Bret Hart. He kickstarted his career and earned 22 major wrestling titles.
Over the course of 15 years, Benoit became one of the most well-known wrestlers with a massive fan following. He was a part of two organizations – WCW and World Wrestling Foundation.
Benoit’s Personal Life
Talking about his personal life, the wrestler married twice and had two children, David and Megan, with his first wife, Martina. The couple parted ways, and Benoit started living with Nancy Sullivan. Both were gifted with a son, Daniel, after which they tied the knot.
While Benoit was achieving accolades on his professional front, things went sour in his personal life. Within the three years of their marriage, Nancy filed for divorce. She alleged that she was treated cruelly by her husband. She also claimed that something was not well with his mental health as he would break and throw furniture around. However, later she dropped the legal suit and the restraining order that she filed in the matter.
Benoit was Mentally Disturbed
A few medical reports confirmed that the wrestler’s brain was disturbed. However, he never admitted this fact. According to these tests, his brain was so severely damaged that it resembled the brain of an 85-year-old Alzheimer’s patient. The team of neurosurgeons also conducted other tests that revealed that Benoit’s brain tissues had severe chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and damage to four lobes.
Maybe this was the reason behind everything that happened in his house between June 22 and 24, 2007!
The Tragic Day
On June 22, 2007, Benoit killed his wife in an upstairs bedroom. He wrapped her body in a towel and bound her limbs. He also left a copy of the Holy Bible near her dead body. The injuries indicated that Benoit had pressed her knee into her back while pulling on a cord around her neck leading to strangulation.
The night passed, and no one except him knew what happened and why!
The next day, on June 23, 2007, Benoit’s son, Daniel died of asphyxia. According to autopsy reports, he was lying sedated in his bed. Like Nancy, Benoit put a copy of the Holy Bible near his son’s dead body.
The reports suggested that his son had internal injuries near his throat area. It was revealed that Daniel suffered from Fragile X syndrome, which indicated domestic problems within their family.
It was 24th June when Benoit decided to kill himself. He committed suicide by hanging. He used a weight machine cord to hang himself by creating a noose from the end of the cord of a lat-pull-down machine and removed the bar. When he released the weight, it caused strangulation. He killed himself after making two final searches on his computer.
- A passage from the Bible where a son is resurrected.
- The fastest and the least painful way to break your neck.
The two murder-suicide cases shook the whole world.
Many Theories About The Case
As soon as the news of the murder and suicide spread, the whole world, including media channels started digging into the reasons behind such a gruesome incident. Here are a few theories that many people coined out.
The Consumption of Alcohol
Hardcore Holly released his autobiography and mentioned that alcohol played a role in the tragedy that Benoit and his family met. Holly did a lot of traveling with Benoit. He mentioned that the wrestler always drank more when he had domestic issues with his wife.
The Side Effects of Steroids
The police also found many half-drunk wine bottles at the crime scene.
Many people rely on this theory about this incident. Benoit had been on steroids throughout his career. After his best friend, Eddie Guerrero’s death in 2005, the industry got strict with its drug testing.
Before their deaths, police discovered texts between Benoit and his wife where the wife complained about tolerating Benoit’s roid rage (steroid abuse). In one of the tests, it was found that Benoit had nearly ten times the amount of testosterone in his body compared to the average man.
Brain Trauma
Benoit’s brain was dysfunctional and showed severe chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) to all four lobes. The reports speculated that such harm to his brain could be because of the concussions and unprotected chair shots.
Eddie Guerrero’s Death
According to the documentary, Eddie’s death could be one of the reasons that made Benoit end his life. Eddie Guerrero was Benoit’s best friend and road partner. When Eddie passed away suddenly, his friend was devastated. He and Chavo, Eddie’s nephew, had planned to meet him the next day.
Some Bizzare Facts About Chris Benoit’s Death
- One of the most shocking turns in this event was when Wikipedia foreshadowed the incident 12 hours before the police raided the Benoit household. The mystery remains unfolded. How did someone already know that Nancy was dead before the police discovered the family’s bodies?
- When police tracked the IP address of the wiki user, they found that the editing was done by a local teenager who lived in the same city where WWE headquarters were established. This coincidence is regarded as one of the vital conspiracy theories.
- Because of his close-knit terms with Eddie, Chris Benoit was equally on cordial terms with his nephew, Chavo. In an interview with the Dark Side of the Ring, Chavo disclosed that he got some strange texts from Benoit on the day of his suicide. One of these texts was, “The dogs are in the enclosed pool area, and the back door is open”
