Over the past couple of years, WWE and their universe praised and acknowledged Roman Reigns for his reign over Universal Heavyweight Championship and for his win over many legends and superstars like John Cena, Brock Lesnar, Edge, and many others. But there was a Canadian wrestler, who was tough enough to defeat them all. Christopher Michael Benoit A.K.A Chris Benoit is a Canadian Wrestler. The WWE universe knows him as The Best Damned Technical Wrestler in the World, The Canadian Crippler, Toothless Aggression, and many more for his skill, ability, and submission moves. He is a mystery wrestler for decades not for his wrestling abilities but for the doubt that he was a killer or a victim, of his tragic death.
During his 22 years, he worked for many Wrestling promotion companies. Including World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Entertainment, WCW, ECW, and NJPW. Wrestling industry experts consider him as the all-time top 10 best wrestler ever to step foot inside the ring. Chris Benoit held 22 championships in his 22 careers within famous pro-wrestling companies. He held 22 championships in WWF/WWE, WCW, ECW, and NJPW.
Chris Benoit was 2 time World Champion, one-time WCW World Champion, and one-time WWE World Heavyweight Champion. He could be the three-time champion because he was booked to win World Heavyweight Championship on the night of his death. Benoit was the twelfth WWE Triple Crown Champion and the seventh WCW Triple Crown Champion. He was the second of four men in history to achieve both the WWE and WCW Triple Crown Championships. He was also the 2004 Royal Rumble winner, joining Shawn Michaels and Edge as one of three men to win a Royal Rumble as the number one entrant.
Benoit headlined multiple pay-per-views for WWE, including a victory in the World Heavyweight Championship main event match of WrestleMania 20 in 2004. On June 25, 2007, Police entered Benoit’s home because his one concern told them to do. He missed the show without telling anyone. That night was not ordinary because he was booked to win the World Heavyweight Championship in WWE. The Officers found the body of Chris Benoit, his wife Nancy, and 7 years old Daniel. It seemed like Benoit had committed the murders in 3 days period. He committed suicide by hanging himself on his lat pulldown machine.
WWE canceled the Raw show on June 25 and replaced the broadcast version with a three-hour tribute. A tribute to his life and career, featuring his past matches, and segments from the Hard Knocks. Benoit was reported of having used a very heavy dose of Steroids as a result of him becoming aggressive and doing what he don’t want to do. After this tragic mystery, WWE banned and remove all the matches and even doesn’t allow their employees to name him on their shows. during a recent Q&A session in Australia, a fan asked John Cena why WWE doesn’t acknowledge Benoit, and he said,
Very difficult question, and I’ll answer it like this. Oftentimes, we get caught up in a person’s ability and performance, and this transcends WWE, this is a problem in sports. It is also a problem in entertainment. People will do bad things. But if they are good at what they do, sometimes those things are overlooked. I don’t believe in that. I believe you should take ownership of your actions. All of them. Not just ones that are performed in front of an audience. I think our company’s stance on the entire situation set a precedent for athletics and a precedent for entertaining taking ownership for your actions.”
John Cena
The answer to the following question by John Cena is a bitter truth of any entertainment company of any sport. If a Wrestler or any sportsperson performs in front of an audience they should take all of the ownership of their actions. Benoit’s only surviving son said,
“My dream is to bring my family name back into this business. I will do everything to achieve this goal.”
The Chris Benoit double murder-suicide is one of the most unfortunate tragedies in pro wrestling history. The incident had a bad impact on the industry.
