Cross' Controversy: The Life and Death of Chris Benoit

Hello and welcome to the second edition of my article Cross’ Controversy. As you may well already know from reading my first article, each week I am going to take an in depth look at a controversial wrestling event or wrestler. Again I will say that I had little knowledge on this before hand and used the internet for research so please forgive me for any mistakes.

This week I am writing about Chris Benoit. Benoit’s life was not actually all that controversial; his death however shook the wrestling community. Even if you don’t know the whole story you should know vaguely what happened in the circumstances surrounding his death. Chris Benoit has divided, and continues to divide, the wrestling community.  You either think one way or the other about him. This article is here to help you understand the complete picture of both the life and death of, in my opinion, one of the most technically gifted wrestlers ever to step into a ring, and then decide what you think.

I guess the most fitting place to start would be at the beginning. Chris Benoit began wrestling at an early age when he would drive three hours from his home town of Montreal to Calgary to train in the world famous Hart family “Dungeon”. After many years of strenuous training under the tutelage of Bruce and Stu Hart, Benoit finally made his debut in Stampede Wrestling on the 22nd of November 1985. In total Benoit spent 4 years in Stampede, from 85-89. During his time in Stampede wrestling Benoit held multiple single and tag titles. Stampede wrestling folded in 1989.

Benoit travelled to Japan to join New Japan Pro Wrestling in 1986. He trained in the “dojo” with other young wrestlers in order to improve his abilities for almost a year before he made his debut on 1/2/1987 against Yuki Funaki. Benoit worked in New Japan under the name “Dynamite” Chris Benoit (A tribute to the Dynamite Kid- Tom Billington) for a couple of years before re-debuting as the masked wrestler “Pegasus Kid” on 2/10/1990 at a joint New Japan/All Japan card at the Tokyo Dome. Later that year Benoit would  go on to defeat Jushin Thunder Liger for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title before being beaten by that very same man and losing the belt. Benoit then adopted the name “Wild Pegasus” after losing his mask to Jushin Thunder Liger and being forced to re-invent himself. Benoit won The Best of the Super Juniors tournament twice (1993 & 1995) and also won the Super J Cup in 1994. Around this same period Benoit spent some time in North America for WCW however he was never given any great opportunities in the US.

This would change however when ECW brought in Benoit and his fellow New Japan Juniors, Eddie Guerrero and Dean Malenko. It was here that Benoit gained notoriety as the “Crippler” after he put Rocco Rock out of action and broke Sabu’s neck in a freak accident. Benoit, teaming with Dean Malenko, won the ECW Tag team Championship from Sabu and The Tazmaniac in February 1995 and held them up until April of that year, losing the belts to Public Enemy.  Benoit however was forced to leave ECW due to a failure on Paul Heymans part to renew Benoit’s work visa. In the book version of The Rise and Fall of ECW, Heyman describes how he had planned to use Benoit as the companies most dominant heal and have him hold the ECW World title for a long time.

Benoit joined WCW in late 1995 and, after impressing in the Cruiserweight division, was asked by Ric Flair to join the reformed Four Horsemen alongside Flair, Arn Anderson and Brian Pillman. This lead to a feud with Kevin Sullivan in which Benoit had an on-screen affair with Sullivan’s real life wife and valet Nancy (aka Woman). The feud resulted in Benoit and Nancy having to spend time together in order to make the affair look real which eventually developed into a real life affair. Benoit and Nancy would marry on November 23rd 2000.

Benoit spent five years at WCW but always felt he was being held back by the political aspect in which older more established wrestlers held back the development of younger stars. Never-the-less Benoit managed to win the WCW TV Title, the WCW tag team titles twice and also had a short stint as WCW United States Champion. The highlight of Benoit’s WCW career was wrestling Brett Hart (as a tribute to recently deceased Owen Hart), Hart defeated Benoit by submission and the two received a standing ovation. In January of 2000 Benoit was set on leaving WCW. In a last ditch effort to keep him WCW put the vacant World Heavyweight Championship on him as he defeated Sid Vicious at Souled Out. This act was useless as Benoit still left the company the next day, forfeiting the title.

From WCW Benoit, along with several other former WCW wrestlers joined the WWF. It did not take him long to establish himself either as at Wrestlemania 2000 Benoit became Intercontinental Champion, pinning Chris Jericho in a triple threat match which also included Kurt Angle. Benoit then entered into a long feud with Jericho exchanging the Title numerous times before Jericho eventually defeated Benoit in a Ladder match at the Royal Rumble. Between April 2000 and January 2001 Benoit held the IC title three times. Benoit and Jericho would later team up and defeat Triple H and Stone Cold Steve Austin for the WWF Tag Team titles.

Benoit would then suffer a neck injury which required surgery during a match for the WWF World Title against Steve Austin. He was out for a year and would not return until after the Smackdown! Brand had been launched.  He returned to RAW and won the IC title, for the fourth time, shortly after, before taking it with him to Smackdown. Rob Van Dam would then defeat Benoit for the title and return it to RAW.

Benoit, along with his rival and partner Kurt Angle, was crowned the first winner of the WWE Tag Team Titles. After this Benoit had a feud with Eddie Guerrero for the reactivated and renamed WWE United Stated Title. Benoit would then turn his attention to the WWE title, winning a Royal Rumble qualifier in a handicap match against the Full Blooded Italians and John Cena (THAT’S RIGHT PEOPLE! ONCE UPON A TIME JOHN CENA LOST TO CHRIS BENOIT IN A 3 ON 1 HANDICAP MATCH!!!  Nowadays it’s unheard of Cena losing at all, never mind when he is in a three man team against one opponent.) After the match Smackdown GM Paul Heyman, who had a vendetta against Benoit, named him as the No. 1 overall entry in the Royal Rumble. On January 25th 2005 Benoit outlasted 29 other men and claimed a shot at either the WWE title or World Heavyweight Title at Wrestlemania.  Benoit went to Raw and challenged Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship, a match that ended up being a Triple Threat Match due to Shawn Michaels having his title match against Triple H end in a draw.  Benoit would go on to win the gold at WM. Benoit would then team up with Edge and win the Tag titles making him a double champion. Benoit would go on to lose the world title to Randy Orton and the tag titles to La Résistance. Between 2005 and 2006 Chris Benoit won the United States title multiple times including defeating Orlando Jordan in under 25 seconds 3 times. He also had a long feud with Booker T over the title. Benoit and Booker traded the US title for months until Benoit finally ended the feud. He then eventually dropped the title to MVP.

On June 11th, with the reincarnation of ECW as the 3rd brand of the WWE, Benoit joined them in the draft. He then wrestled his last match 8 days later defeating Elijah Burke to determine who would wrestle for the currently vacant ECW World Championship.

And all of that, all 1,356 words that I used to describe Chris Benoit’s long and illustrious career in professional wrestling, ended up being forgotten due to what happened next. One of the most shocking and controversial stories to ever happen to the world of wrestling.

After that match on June 19th Benoit would miss the weekend house shows, telling WWE officials that his wife and son were vomiting blood due to food poisoning. Benoit then failed to show up to the June 24th PPV event Vengeance. (Johnny Nitro wrestled in his place and won the ECW Title), viewers of the event were informed that Benoit was unable to compete due to a “family emergency”. Stephanie McMahon later indicated that the WWE had plans to have Benoit win the title.

On June 25th 2007 police entered the home of Chris Benoit on a “welfare check” after Benoit and his family had missed several appointments leading to concern for their well being. The officers discovered the bodies of Chris Benoit, his wife Nancy and seven year old son Daniel. Upon Investigation it was calculated that sometime on Friday the 22nd of June Nancy Benoit was murdered in an upstairs office of her home, her limbs were bound and her body was wrapped in a towel with a bible left next to the body. Cause of death was asphyxiation. Injuries indicated that Benoit pressed a knee into her back while pulling a cord around her neck.

Daniel Benoit was killed sometime in the next two days, most likely the 24th however the exact time of death is unknown. Reports determined that the boy was sedated with a drug called Xanax and also died of asphyxiation. A bible was also left by his body. It was alleged that Daniel suffered from Fragile X syndrome which caused domestic problems in the Benoit household. It was also suggested that the needle marks in Daniels arms where due to having been given growth hormones because the Benoit family were concerned that he was undersized due to Fragile X. Chris Jericho, a long time friend of Benoit stated upon his own research of the syndrome “the symptoms fit Daniel to a tee all across the board.” Jericho also suggested that Benoit could have kept his son’s syndrome a secret. However many people involved with Daniel, including people with access to medical and educational files, say they found no mention of any pre existing mental or physical ailments. Whether the boy did or did not suffer from the syndrome has never been established.

After killing his wife and son Benoit proceeded to hang himself using a part of a weight machine. He left a bible by his own body like he did with his victims.

Since the event a number of possible motives have emerged. Former wrestler Christopher Nowinski claimed that Benoit may have been suffering from repeated, untreated concussions ultimately leading to an unstable mental state. Tests were conducted which revealed that Benoit’s brain was so damaged it resembled the brain of an 85 year old Alzheimer’s patient.

Steroids were also found in the home leading some people in the media to hypothesize that a steroid induced rage may have been the cause of Benoit’s actions as a number of doctors have linked steroid use to uncontrollable anger along with other psychological issues.

Since Benoit’s death the WWE has heavily distanced themselves from his now infamous legacy. Benoit along with his finisher were removed from Smackdown Vs Raw 2008 and Benoit has not appeared on any newly released WWE DVD’s even being edited out of run ins during matches.

So what do you guys think? How will you remember Chris Benoit? I could go into great detail on my own opinion but I’m really really tired and have a killer headache. So until next time, I’ve been Chris “The Dragon” Cross.

Comments

1. Comment #1

   It is a 2 sided coin; on 1 hand, he WAS a tremendous wrestler. On the oer, what he did was unthinkable. I honestly hope that he wasn't in his right mind when that terrible tragedy took place. RIP Benoit Family

   Posted by Ryu Dokita on Friday, September 03, 2010

2. Comment #2

   Awesome article dude! Chris Benoit was a good wrestler and work hard for his profession. Its sad that it had to end right then, in that way. RIP

   Posted by Sami "Hardcore" Callihan on Thursday, September 02, 2010

3. Comment #3

   Long will live the dreams of chris beniot, one of the favourite wrestler of the wwe fans.

   Posted by mohan on Thursday, September 02, 2010

4. Comment #4

   It's a terrible tragedy but I do not think his legacy should be forgetton. He was a fantastic wrestler. RIP.

   Posted by Spriorite on Thursday, September 02, 2010

5. Comment #5

   Who can say really? I mean his legacy tarnished as it was is a great shame, not as great as the loss of life of course. All I can say is that he was a great wrestler, RIP Chris. You were a real superstar to me

   Posted by zero on Friday, September 03, 2010

6. Comment #6

   I have no doubt that Nowinski was right, and that brain damage was the root cause of this tragedy. I feel for Benoit's family, his victims, and his fans - Chris was a tremendous wrestler, one of the best. I also feel for Chris, because I have no doubt that he must have suffered to have put him in that state. Just sad all around.
   
   That Kansas City match with Bret Hart might have been the best wrestling match I've ever seen.

   Posted by Zodd on Saturday, September 04, 2010

7. Comment #7

   its sad how the wwe doesnt even mention him on there website everything about him was removed

   Posted by No_CrossOver on Sunday, September 05, 2010

8. Comment #8

   I Still Don't Beleive He Did It. I Say It Was Murder Then Benoit Discovered And Commited Suicide

   Posted by Atem Shane on Friday, September 10, 2010

9. Comment #9

   you do realize its way over 3 hours between montreal and calgary right - in fact im pretty sure you can't even fly between the two in three hours
   
   i stopped reading at that point

   Posted by youfailgeography on Friday, September 10, 2010

10. Comment #10

    RIP, Not Chris

    Posted by the hugh man on Thursday, September 16, 2010

11. Comment #11

    May his soul rest in peace amen.benoth was a great fighter.in the case of the mental case he has always behave like That.he take risk that are not lively even his finishing is not normal.were as using his head as his tools i think he deserve his death.

    Posted by ifeanyi ambrose on Sunday, July 17, 2011

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