Chris Benoit

Christopher Michael Benoit (May 21, 1967 – June 24, 2007) was a Canadian professional wrestler. During his 22-year career, he worked for numerous promotions including the World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Entertainment (WWF/WWE), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW).

In a suspected double-murder and suicide, local law enforcement officials concluded based on "evidence found within the (Benoit family) home", that Benoit had murdered his wife in the residence on June 22, 2007, had killed his 7-year-old son on June 23, and on June 24 had committed suicide, reportedly hanging himself using equipment in a weight-training area located in the residency basement. Later research undertaken by the Sports Legacy Institute suggested that depression and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a condition of brain damage, from numerous concussions Benoit had sustained during his professional wrestling career were both likely contributing factors leading to the crimes.

Quotes about

 * When Chris Benoit and CM Punk battle for the vacant ECW World Title at Vengeance: Night of Champions, it will be a clash of both present – and perhaps future – legends in sports-entertainment. The Rabid Wolverine is a former World Champion and perhaps a future WWE Hall of Famer.
 * 24 June 2007


 * Chris Benoit was replaced by Johnny Nitro for the ECW Championship match at Vengeance, as Benoit was not there due to personal issues, stemming from the death of his wife Nancy.
 * 25 June 2007 edit summary made more than twelve hours before police found the bodies


 * Last weekend, I had heard about Chris Benoit no showing Vengeance because of a family emergency, and I had heard rumors about why that was. I was reading rumors and speculation about this matter online, and one of them included that his wife may have passed away, and I did the wrong thing by posting it on wikipedia
 * 29 June 2007 followup


 * He (Benoit) was peaceful and kept to himself. I think it had to be something personal, a domestic problem between him and his wife. She was into devil-worship stuff. It was part of her (wrestling) character, but (she was) somebody who gets so close to their character, someone who gets into their character too much. Sometimes these people believe their own publicity.
 * 5 July 2007 interview with Hulk Hogan