One of WWE's most iconic wrestlers of the early 2000s, Chris Benoit died by suicide in 2007 after he strangled his wife to death and suffocated his young son at his home. Sports Keeda says that Nancy said Chris Benoit was unpredictable when he got mad, and she was afraid he would hurt her or their son, Daniel. In 2000, he joined Vince McMahons World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) after beginning his career in Canada. Click to reveal As his father subsequently told ABC News, Benoits desire to wrestle dates back to his youth. Chris Benoit damaged himself long before he killed his family, and from 1980 to 2010, 11% of wrestlers featured prominently in the WWF/WWE died, 70% before the age of 50. ESPN.com's Elizabeth Merrill looks for answers inside wrestling's world of . Benoit headlined multiple pay-per-views for WWE, including a victory in the World Heavyweight Championship main event match of WrestleMania XX in March 2004. [57] Though the match was originally intended to be a one-on-one match, Shawn Michaels, whose Last Man Standing match against Triple H at the Royal Rumble for the World Heavyweight Championship ended in a draw,[54] thought that he deserved to be in the main event. In 2003, Nancy filed for divorce from Benoit, citing the marriage as "irrevocably broken" and alleging "cruel treatment". Benoit also had a heart so enlarged it probably would have eventually killed him, a common occurrence among athletes who abuse steroids and growth hormones. After this match Benoit returned to the locker room and broke down over the possibility that he might have paralysed someone. 1 What was the cause of Chris Benoit death? This June will mark the 10 year anniversary of the night Chris Benoit killed his wife and 7 year old son before committing suicide a few days later. He eventually lost the title in November 1990 (and in July 1991 in Japan and in November 1991 in Mexico, his mask) back to Liger,[25] forcing him to reinvent himself as Wild Pegasus. I hope my. However, his career came to a tragic end when he committed a double murder-suicide. ABC News says he looked for stories about the prophet Elijah, who once brought a dead boy back to life. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. Is Fletcher Cox Married? [151] Upon investigating, no additional suspects were sought by authorities. [citation needed], In August 1990, he won his first major championship, the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, from Jushin Thunder Liger. Then, Benoit searched for the easiest way a person could break their neck. As a result, Sullivan and Benoit had a contentious backstage relationship at best, and an undying hatred for each other at worst. He was brought in to add a new dynamic for Anderson and Flair's tormenting of Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage in their "Alliance to End Hulkamania", which saw the Horsemen team up with The Dungeon of Doom, but that alliance ended with Dungeon leader and WCW booker, Kevin Sullivan feuding with Pillman. Benoit was devastated at the loss of his best friend and was very emotional during a series of video testimonials, eventually breaking down on camera. Chris Benoit went into the familys home gym after putting Bibles next to the bodies of Nancy and Daniel. Sports Keeda reports that Benoits messages didnt cause Guerrero any concern until he learned that Benoit hadnt shown up at the pay-per-view fight. At the end of 1995, Benoit went back to Japan as a part of the "talent exchange" to wrestle as a representative for New Japan in the Super J-Cup: 2nd Stage, defeating Lionheart in the quarterfinals (he received a bye to the quarterfinals for his work in 1995, similar to the way he advanced in the 1994 edition) and losing to Gedo in the semifinals. He toured Japan until WCW called.[25]. He was booked as a dominant wrestler there, gaining notoriety as the "Crippler" after he put Rocco Rock out. Before his death, Chris Benoit appeared to have had everything. Is Taylor Lewan gay? [153][155], WWE cancelled the scheduled three-hour long live Raw show on June 25 and replaced the broadcast version with a three-hour tribute to his life and career, featuring his past matches, segments from the Hard Knocks: The Chris Benoit Story DVD, and comments from wrestlers and announcers. [156], Toxicology reports released on July 17, 2007, revealed that at their time of death, Nancy had three different drugs in her system: Xanax, hydrocodone, and hydromorphone, all of which were found at the therapeutic rather than toxic levels. [60] Benoit used his rematch clause two weeks later in a steel cage match on SmackDown!, but JBL again won with illegal tactics. Then, it looks like Benoit gave his son Xanax and then suffocated him. Benoit (full name Christopher Michael Benoit) was born in Montreal, Canada on May 21, 1967 and he died on June 24, 2007 in Fayetteville, Georgia. Here is all you want to know, and more! [80][81][82] Benoit won the fourth match to stay alive at Armageddon,[80] but after the match, Booker suffered a legitimate groin injury, and Randy Orton was chosen as a stand-in. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. [10] Benoit headlined multiple pay-per-views for WWE, including a victory in the World Heavyweight Championship main event match of WrestleMania XX in March 2004. He won 22 championships and was frequently praised for his prowess in the ring, especially his technical skill. And Chris Benoit was found in his home gym hanging from a weight machine. In response, Benoit teamed up with his former rival Jericho to defeat Edge and Christian in that night's Tag Team Turmoil match. Bailes and his colleagues concluded that repeated concussions can lead to dementia, which can contribute to severe behavioural problems. WWE executive Stephanie McMahon later indicated that Benoit would have defeated CM Punk for the ECW World Championship had he been present for the event. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. Cables, ladders, chairs the props they were using when they were getting hit in the head. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Then Benoit looked for the simplest way to break someones neck. After Benoit left WCW for the WWF, WCW refused to acknowledge Benoit's victory as an official title reign, and Benoit's title reign was not listed in the title lineage at WCW.com. Chris Benoit, according to District Attorney Ballard and the city sheriff, was killed via suicide by hanging. Performance & security by Cloudflare. This onscreen relationship developed into a real-life affair offscreen. 1997), Nancy Benoit (m. 2000; died 2007) Children - 3 Ring names - Chris Benoit, The Pegasus Kid, Wild Pegasus Billed height - 5 ft 11 in (180 cm) Billed weight - 229 . Kennedy. Chris Benoit murdered his wife and son before committing suicide on June 24, 2007 at the age of 40.Chris Benoit Net Worth. [70][71] Benoit appeared at ECW One Night Stand, defeating Eddie Guerrero. [48], At WrestleMania XIX, the WWE Tag Team Champions, Team Angle (Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin), put their titles on the line against Benoit and his partner Rhyno and Los Guerreros in a triple threat tag team match. Before Chris Benoit's death, he seemed to have it all. During the match, Bret Hart interjected himself, interfering on behalf of Benoit in an attempt to get him to join the New World Order. Benoit defeated Orton twice by disqualification on the December 30 and January 6, 2006 episodes of SmackDown!. Martina Benoitm. [93] Later that week, he won his fifth United States Championship from Mr. [6] The first title Benoit ever won was the Stampede British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Championship on March 18, 1988, against Gama Singh. Chris was found in the basement, with police determining his cause of death being suicide by hanging. This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. Investigators soon found out that Chris Benoit killed Nancy and Daniel on June 22, 2007, and then killed himself. Benoit first came to World Championship Wrestling in June 1992, teaming up with fellow Canadian wrestler Biff Wellington for the NWA World Tag Team Championship tournament; they were defeated by Brian Pillman and Jushin Thunder Liger in the first round at Clash of the Champions XIX. [26][27], At November to Remember, Benoit accidentally broke Sabu's neck within the opening seconds of the match. 44K 2.8M views 3 years ago For the past 3 months, I became interested in Chris Benoit's tragic death. Despite this, he continued to wrestle until the King of the Ring, where he was pinned in a triple threat match versus Austin and Jericho. Police concluded Benoit killed his wife, then murdered his son some time later before . All three were dead. Benoit Reportedly Used His In-Ring Finishing Move On His Son Seven-year-old Daniel Benoit's official cause of death was asphyxiation. At WrestleMania, JBL won the match with an illegal cradle to win the title. [150] The officers discovered the bodies of Benoit, his wife Nancy, and their 7-year-old son Daniel at around 2:30p.m. Special, and the December 9 episode of SmackDown! In a statement to ABC News, the wrestling organization insisted that Someone with the brain of an 85-year-old with dementia would be unable to keep a traveling work schedule, drive himself to arenas, and perform intricate maneuvers in the ring much less commit a methodical murder-suicide over a 48 hour period.. [97] Benoit would wrestle MVP one last time at Saturday Night's Main Event XXXIV on May 28, (aired June 2), in a winning effort in a tag-team match where Benoit partnered with Batista and MVP partnered with then-World Heavyweight Champion Edge. Chris Benoit, a professional wrestler, had Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) due to the accumulation of multiple head injuries he experienced over his career in contact sports. [152] It was determined that Benoit had committed the murders. Benoit and Nancy were forced to spend time together to make the affair look real, (hold hands in public, share hotel rooms, etc.).[29]. [101] It would be revealed in the following days that Benoit had murdered his wife Nancy and son Daniel before committing suicide. Kevin Mazur/WireImage Chris Benoit's death has profoundly impacted his legacy as a professional wrestler. Chris Benoit and his wife Nancy Benoit, approximately 11 years before Chris killed her and their son, then took his own life. [25] This feud significantly elevated both men's careers as singles competitors, and both remained at the top of the midcard afterward. Former WWE rival Kurt Angle said in a 2017 interview that "he has to got to be in the top three of all time. His debut match was a tag team match on November 22, 1985, in Calgary, Alberta, where he teamed with "The Remarkable" Rick Patterson against Butch Moffat and Mike Hammer, which Benoit's team won the match after Benoit pinned Moffat with a sunset flip. He lost in the final match to Eddie Guerrero at Vengeance. The feud continued after Benoit stole Angle's cherished Olympic Gold Medal. He worked for various pro-wrestling promotions during his 22-year career including most notably the World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Entertainment (WWF/WWE), World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) in the USA, New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) in Japan and Stampede Wrestling in Canada. Benoit quickly won his first title in the WWF just over a month later at WrestleMania 2000, pinning Chris Jericho in a triple threat match to win Kurt Angle's Intercontinental Championship. Then, before Chris Benoit killed himself, he looked up some things online. Benoit had written: The dogs are in the enclosed pool area, and the back door is open, and texted Guerrero his address. Cloudflare Ray ID: 7a1519c18c79c42a The next night on Raw Is War, Benoit and Jericho defeated WWF Tag Team Champions Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H for their title. Along the way, Benoit became a highly regarded wrestler. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". Investigators soon found out that Chris Benoit killed Nancy and Daniel on June 22 . Chris won at SummerSlam in twenty-five seconds. Daily, Chris lifted weights. Benoit said numerous times that he originally hated the mask, but it eventually became a part of him. Benoit was one of WWEs stars, with 22 championships under his belt and a bevy of loyal fans. He took part in a tribute show for Guerrero and was emotional when talking about his friend. On. During the first WWF draft, he was the third wrestler picked by Vince McMahon to be part of the new SmackDown! Benoit simultaneously entered into a long-running feud with Jericho for the Intercontinental title, with the two meeting at Backlash, Judgment Day and SummerSlam; Benoit winning all three matches. It prompted questions about WWEs drug testing policy, Benoits steroid use, and how his long wrestling career might have impacted his brain. If anyone should be honored, the publication suggests, its his murdered wife Nancy, who had a wrestling career of her own for 13 years. In-ring, Benoit emulated both Billington and Bret Hart,[21][23] cultivating a high-risk style and physical appearance more reminiscent of the former[21] (years later, he adopted Hart's trademark "Sharpshooter" hold as a finishing move). But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. Chris Benoit was once considered one of the best wrestlers in the industry. Canadian professional wrestler (19672007), Extreme Championship Wrestling (19941995), The Revolution and World Heavyweight Champion (19992000), World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (20002007), The Radicalz and teaming with Chris Jericho (20002001), Championship pursuits and reigns (20022003). When Pillman abruptly left the company for the WWF, Benoit was placed into his ongoing feud with Sullivan. Biography - A Short WikiDaniel Benoit is the son of professional wrestler Chris Benoit. How did Chris Benoit die? Prominent combat sports journalist Dave Meltzer considers Benoit "one of the top 10, maybe even [in] the top five, all-time greats" in pro-wrestling history. Also, Explore His Age and Mother. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. Xzibits Net Worth: His Earnings, Biography, Lavish Lifestyle, Assets, and Personal Details! [157] Prior to the murder-suicide, Benoit had illegally been given medications not in compliance with WWE's Talent Wellness Program in February 2006, including nandrolone, an anabolic steroid, and anastrozole, a breast cancer medication which is used by bodybuilders for its powerful antiestrogenic effects. Questions swirled in the aftermath of Chris Benoits death and the murder of his wife and son. 4 What happened to Dark Side of the ring Chris Benoit? Benoit and Dean Malenko won the ECW World Tag Team Championship - Benoit's first American title - from Sabu and The Tazmaniac in February 1995 at Return of the Funker. Daniel was found to have Xanax in his system, which led the chief medical examiner to believe that he was sedated before he was murdered. According to Sports Keeda, Nancy claimed that Chris Benoit could get unpredictable when he lost his temper, and she worried hed hurt her or their son, Daniel. When he failed to show up for the pay-per-view, viewers were informed that he was unable to compete due to a "family emergency" and he was replaced in the title match by Johnny Nitro, who won the match and became ECW World Champion. Or, discover the disturbing story of Juana Barraza, the pro-wrestler who made a habit out of murdering old ladies. [78] The same week on SmackDown! However, Benoit exploited a "loophole" in the rules and moved to the Raw brand the following night to announce he would instead challenge World Heavyweight Champion Triple H at WrestleMania. The Revolution was a heel stable of younger wrestlers who felt slighted (both kayfabe and legitimate) by WCW management, believing they never gave them the chance to be stars, pushing older, more established wrestlers instead, despite their then-current questionable worthiness of their pushes. Eddie Guerrero The professional wrestler known as the Canadian Crippler was world-famous and beloved by his fans. [73] Benoit then won three consecutive matches against Jordan in less than a minute. Although Benoit lost the match, he received a standing ovation for his efforts. They received a rematch at Survivor Series in a triple threat elimination match against Edge and Mysterio and Los Guerreros, but failed to win the titles after being the first team eliminated. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. Chris Benoit, one of the most renowned WWE wrestlers of the early 2000s, committed suicide in 2007 after killing his wife and young kid at his house. Chris was found in the basement, with police determining his cause of death being suicide by hanging. A month later at Vengeance, Benoit retained the title against Triple H.[63], On August 15, 2004, Benoit was defeated by Randy Orton for the World Heavyweight Championship at SummerSlam. When it was time for Benoit to sign the contract putting himself in the main event, Michaels superkicked him and signed his name on the contract,[54] which eventually resulted in a Triple Threat match between Michaels, Benoit, and the champion, Triple H.[58], On March 14, 2004, at WrestleMania XX, Benoit won the World Heavyweight Championship by forcing Triple H to tap out to his signature submission move, the Crippler Crossface, in a highly acclaimed match. Bearing the nicknames The (Canadian) Crippler alongside The Rabid Wolverine throughout his career, Benoit held 30 championships between WWF/WWE, WCW, NJPW, ECW and Stampede. Since Lashley was drafted to Raw, he had vacated the title.[100]. Your IP: [34] Benoit spent the next few weeks in Japan before heading to the WWF, who acknowledged his WCW World Heavyweight Championship win and presented him as a former world champion. 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