This is incredibly difficult. This is worse than any of us could have imagined and it just breaks my heart. We lost three people, we lost Chris Benoit, his wife, Nancy and their son, Daniel, only seven years old. The circumstances look worse and it doesn’t feel right. Everything I’m reading, it’s not checking in with my heart. Everyone who has ever worked or known Chris all say the same things: he was respectful, he was loyal, he was private, he worked hard and expected hard work in return, and he was a family man.
Chris gave the wrestling business his life, he gave us his body on the line day in and day out, with intensity that became his trademark. He was one of my favorites, he was one of my family’s favorites. My father really related to Chris, my father has been a life-long wrestling fan and not many truly impressed him, he really respected Chris Benoit. I found out as I walking in my door after watching the movie on Daniel Pearl, my parents telling me they were trying to call me and that Chris Benoit was dead. I thought they were joking, since we all knew that Vince’s angle was supposed to take place, that I’ve made abundantly clear I didn’t care about. Sadly, they weren’t, and I felt myself tremble, looking at my phone at the missed calls and text messages. When they told me it was Nancy and their son, I felt like this was like losing Eddy and Owen again times three. I called a friend who knew Chris very well in WCW, trying to find out what he knew. I kept calling anyone who called me back and as we all just go in circles as we always do, “I can’t believe he’s gone,” “was he murdered?”, “did he find Nancy and his son dead and couldn’t handle it and killed himself?” and “I can’t believe this is happening.”
When I think of Chris Benoit matches, I think of so many great feuds. His matches with Booker T, his matches with Regal, his work as a Four Horsemen, from the WCW days. In the WWE, his work with Eddy Guerrero, Triple H, Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle and as recently as MVP. Please purchase his DVD collection, if you haven’t, it really captures all the hard work of Benoit’s career and that’s who I want to remember as who Chris was.
A twenty-two year career of hard-work, dedication and respect, a forty-year old life no longer with us. A fourty-three year old woman named Nancy Daus Benoit, who also understood the business with her unforgettable look as Woman, as well as managing the careers of the Steiner Brothers and Kevin Sullivan, among others, is no longer with us. Finally, a seven-year old little boy, Daniel Benoit, who looked so much like Chris, is no longer with us.
The details coming in look grim, I’m more saddened as we learn more. All I know is in this life, you are defined by who you are, character is the last impression you leave when you go. Please live your life like it’s your last, be thankful for the people you care about and live a life you can be proud of. We lost three people today in this wrestling business, our hearts are all breaking, what we know and don’t know or understand. I pray for all that knew him better than any of us, for their souls to have peace and that we can value each other away from storylines, characters and dedication.
