According to doctors, during his posthumous examination, Chris Benoit was deemed to have a normal development with no medical or mental illnesses.
Yet, somehow, unthinkably, he did one of the most heinous acts ever associated with the business of professional wrestling. From the Hart Family Dungeon to his unimaginable final days, this is the story of the man they called “The Crippler.”
Born on a Sunday – How Chris Benoit Got His Start in Wrestling
Michael and Margaret Benoit were blessed with a son, Christopher Michael Benoit, on Sunday, May 21st, 1967, in Montreal, Quebec. They would go on to raise Chris Benoit in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
A posthumous study into Christopher done by Dr. Bennett Omalu revealed he had normal development, no medical or mental illnesses. When Chris was six years old, he was involved in a car accident that saw his head strike the windshield.
He was hospitalized for three days and thought to have a mild traumatic brain injury, but wound up showing no deleterious effects or signs of permanent injury.
Chris Benoit played football for five years, sustaining no known instances of injury. He never missed practices or games. He had no known substance or drug abuse issues. Also, he became interested in wrestling from an early age. As a result, he began a serious weightlifting and exercise regimen.
In an ABC News interview, his father Michael said, “He was pretty much driven from the age of 12, 13 to get in the wrestling industry. Chris lifted weights every day. He was 13 years old, breaking records in high school in our basement.”
It was around that time Chris saw ‘Dynamite Kid’ Thomas Billington perform at the Edmonton Pavilion. He cited that moment in a 2000 interview as one that helped drive him to become a professional wrestler.
“I just idolized him. We had backyard wrestling matches, or I would be in my room, kicking my bed, trying to clone him. I remember how he and Bret [Hart] stood out above everyone else.”
Influence
Benoit wore his influences on his sleeve, making it obvious that he had studied Dynamite Kid’s work. He looked like him, was even billed as “Dynamite Chris” at an early point in his career, and would famously go on to adopt Billington’s diving headbutt and snap suplex as integral parts of his in-ring move set.
He later borrowed from Bret, often using The Hitman’s finishing submission hold, The Sharpshooter. The most notable example of this is when he used it to tap Shawn Michaels out at Backlash 2004 in Edmonton, Alberta.
This came during the rematch of their WrestleMania XX triple threat with Triple H, causing the hometown, a very pro-Benoit crowd, to give him a massive ovation.
Not only had he triumphed over the dastardly Cerebral Assassin again, retaining the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, which he won only the previous month at The Showcase of the Immortals, but he had also seemingly avenged The Montreal Screwjob.
All right there in Edmonton, where his journey into the wrestling world began. His family even watched, smiling from the crowd, including his wife Nancy and his son Daniel.
Understanding The Man
It’s very hard to write about Chris Benoit, even harder to try and understand him. He’s a man split in two. There’s everything before, his whole life, and then there’s three days and the befuddling after. The family and friends left with unanswerable questions.
Everything before seems to point to such a family man. He was certainly flawed but good at heart and man could he wrestle. One of the best ever.
When asked if he worried about the dangerous lifestyle of a wrestler, especially after the deaths of Owen Hart and Brian Pillman, he simply responded with, “Whatever is going to happen is going to happen.”
A once harmless quote illustrates acceptance of his dangerous career, now an unbelievably ominous reminder of the end.
Chris Benoit was a lot of things in his life, but no matter how talented he was inside the ring, all of that will always be overshadowed by his final days.
This is an excerpt from an article on the ProWrestlingStories website, with thanks to the author Joseph Finnegan.
You can continue reading the full article right here.
You must be logged in to post a comment.