TMZ is reporting that WWE wrestler Chris Benoit is suspected of killing his wife and 7-year old son before committing suicide. Benoit and his family were found dead in their Atlanta home on Monday afternoon, the same day he was supposed to appear in a "memorial" episode for Vince McMahon's WWE character. TMZ reports that Atlanta police suspect Benoit strangled his wife on Saturday and then smothered his son in bed the next day. Benoit was apparently text messaging friends as he watched Vengeance, a WWE Pay-Per-View program, on Sunday.I do not watch wrestling, but everything I read says he was very popular among fans. His signature move was the "Crippler Crossface". WWE quickly changed up its programming last night so it did not focus on the "death" of McMahon's character. McMahon made a brief statement to fans about the tragedy, saying Benoit was "one of the greatest WWE superstars of all time."
*UPDATE: Atlanta PD says Benoit killed his wife on Friday, his son on Saturday, and hanged himself (possibly) on Sunday. Sick.















Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-26-2007 @ 1:38PM
Andrew said...
I have to say WWE did a good job of respecting Benoit's memory. They immediately dropped the McMahon death angle, and put on a classy show in memory of the great Chris Benoit.
I am still holding out hope that he didn't murder his family, but right now that's what the evidence is pointing to...
I just can't believe it....
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6-26-2007 @ 1:40PM
Mimi said...
Eewww - that is really sad. BTW - I'm not a huge wrestsling fan but I thought it was the "Canadian Crippler"???
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6-26-2007 @ 1:59PM
BStu said...
No, "Crippler Crossface" was the move. It comes from his nickname "The Crippler" and since he's Canadian, I'm sure he's been called the "Canadian Crippler".
Benoit really was a fan favorite as well as a guy genuinely loved and respected within the industry. He was a tremendous asset as a performer and made anyone working with him look 100 times better. As a fan, I've been just shocked since I heard the news of his death and all the more shocked at the details. Obviously, he was a troubled man and its quite possible that he was so internal about it that no one really knew. I hope something positive can come from this as we learn more about the details around this tragedy. I'm sure in his industry there is a stigma attached to getting help for psychological troubles and I hope this can shock people into taking action. Something, anything so that nothing like this happens again. I can't imagine what his friends are going through. To lose a friend is unbelievably hard and professional wrestlers have lost more than their fair share. To lose a friend in such a horrific manner that clouds your memories of them is unbelievably difficult. I don't envy them trying to make sense of all of this and trying to find a way to honor the memory of their friend while also honor his wife and son and trying to learn something from this tragedy.
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6-26-2007 @ 3:43PM
Matt said...
Benoit was an amazing wrestler, but this is it. His legacy is completely tarnished because of this. Honestly, I'm completely washing my hands of him, and I was a big Benoit fan. I know I'm not the only one, either.
Makes you wonder how the hell someone could snap like that. He had so much to live for. He was at the top of his game. He had a family. The Internet Wrestling Community worshiped the ground he walked on. He was golden, and he completely melted down. Unbelievable.
What a joke this is.
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6-26-2007 @ 4:00PM
Jim said...
Can you say "'roid rage?"
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6-26-2007 @ 4:53PM
BStu said...
What he did was horrific. No would claim otherwise. But he was obviously a psychologically troubled man given the circumstances around the murder and suicide. This is obviously part of Chris Benoit's legacy, but it shouldn't be all of his legacy. We need to find out more about this, if we even can. His industry needs to learn from this, too. If Steroids played a part, then this should absolutely shock the complacency of his industry about steroids. This should show everyone that they don't just harm the user, that they can warp your mind and that his fellow wrestlers need to honor his memory by once and for all taking steroids out of the industry. And WWE needs to show the support and leadership to make this happen. Likewise, they need to encourage more awareness of psychological difficulties that are an epidemic in professional wrestling and they need to encourage wrestlers to seek help and not be afraid of any stigma attached to seeking help. Furthermore, they need to lead as peers on domestic violence and make sure every wrestler knows that this is unacceptable. I think the circumstances suggest that there was more going on here than a man beating his wife. Clearly there were psychological issues. But that doesn't mean that this might not have been stopped with greater education among wrestlers about domestic abuse. Frankly, that's a problem hardly unique to pro-wrestling and its one a lot of arenas need to show more leadership on, including pro-athletes and other entertainers. But especially in wrestling with the physical and psychological strain they are under, it is all the important to enforce appropriate behavior and its wrestlers who need to take the lead on that among their peers.
This is a tragedy and it does tarnish the memory of an amazing entertainer. His friends must be struggling to make sense of all this. The best thing they can do to respect who he was as a friend is to try to learn something from this and act as a community to prevent anything like it from every happening again.
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6-26-2007 @ 4:59PM
RedStarRevolution said...
I was so absolutely shocked to hear this news last night. When Eddie Guererro died last year, it was an accident, a heart attack, horribly tragic and sad, but nonetheless, accident.
This is just so out of that stratosphere it's unbelievable. I have loved Chris for a long time, and honestly I can remember watching him masterfully apply his craft as much as 15 years ago. To see him go out in this way, doing what he did, sickens me to my core.
He was always such a blue-collar, working class, all in all 'good guy', one of those guys you just want to see succeed because he worked so hard and loved it so much. So to hear of something as vile as this, I almost don't know what to do with it.
I want to remember Chris Benoit the wrestler as just what he was, one of the greatest of all time, but I just can't make it mesh with the kind of man he clearly was outside of the ring, and how someone I had loved for so long in that ring, could murder his own wife and son, especially the way he did it.
I know it sounds dumb, but I almost feel like I lost a family member, because Chris Benoit has always been there, week in and week out, giving it his all.
I still don't know how I feel about all of this, other than I am completely and utterly stunned, saddened and heartbroken.
However everything went down, RIP Benoit family...you will be sorely missed...
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6-27-2007 @ 12:32AM
Gary said...
I being a huge wrestling fan have been watching Benoit since his beginning in Calgary on Stampede wrestling. To hear how he killed his wife then his son then himself was horrific. WWE made a statement that he passed his drug test in April so the argument of "Roid Rage" is debunked. I can only guess that Nancy(his wife) was going to leave him and something in him snapped. These wrestlers are on the road more than they're home. Sometimes the only thing that keeps some of these guys going is knowing they have a loving wife and family to go home to.
Thank god his two other children from a previous relationship weren't there or this could have been much worse. A tragedy either way. I could have felt sympathy for Benoit if he only took his own life but to kill your wife and child is cowardly.
I guess a person can have millions of fans, millions of dollars but it means shit if your losing the ones you love.
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6-27-2007 @ 4:06AM
Phish said...
very very sad day indeed, for all the fans. how can anyone call themselves fans of this guy now!?
he's a muderer and a coward. and thats what his legacy will be.
RIP wife and child, burn in hell chris, u monster!
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6-27-2007 @ 4:36AM
Norman Sitali said...
I was shocked out of my skin when I heard of this Wrestler's rather bizzare demise.In my country, Zambia,though John Cena is the biggest "thing " ,Benoit also had a place in many a fan's heart.It is even sadder that he had to take other people along.
It is difficult to understand why such incidences occur, however, this serves to open up to the rest of us the fact that ,behind the veneer of pomp and glamour , lay the ugly mystery that drove this man to do what he did.
The lesson that we can all learn is that when we feel weighed down by whatever, TALK TO SOMEONE ABOUT IT!
It does'nt have to be a shrink.TALK TO SOMEBODY,NOW!
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6-27-2007 @ 11:56AM
jarrad said...
Chris Benoit "The Rabid Wolverine" was a great wrestler. He was one of my favorites. I was a big fan and cannot belive this has happened. He was a very popular wrestler, but now he wont have any more fans. How can a guy that murdered his family have fans. Im officially not a fan. Yes this sucks but wats already happened has happened and theres no way for change.He is a psycho. A crazed and angry man. He should've talked to someone about his problems, then now he would still be alive with his family and would be able to have a good life. R.I.P Benoit Family.
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6-27-2007 @ 9:14PM
Benoit fan no more said...
RE: 7. I was so absolutely shocked to hear this news last night. When Eddie Guererro died last year, it was an accident, a heart attack, horribly tragic and sad, but nonetheless, accident.
FYI: Guererro's death was preventable. He died from complications of an enlarged heart brought on by long-term steroid abuse.
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6-27-2007 @ 11:55PM
stummies said...
Oh my God... I don't want to believe it. I was such a big Chris Benoit fan, and I just really don't want to believe that it's true.
When I heard about the murder of him and his family, I was horrified at the tragedy. But this.. this is making me sick to my stomach to think that I was a fan of someone who could do this, to his own family no less.
What a sick and twisted man.
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