Erased! The Tragic Story of Chris Benoit

The wrestling world was in shock. How could we possibly lose Chris Benoit so soon after losing Eddie? It seemed like a bad dream. Benoit’s fans and workmates were devastated, but nobody saw what was coming next. Most people assumed that Chris Benoit was a shoe in to headline the following year’s WWE Hall of Fame Class, just like Eddie Guerrero did the year after his death, but everything changed in a 24 hour period. The Benoit family deaths were originally reported as a homicide, and in typical WWE fashion they jumped the gun and planned a tribute show for that same night. The problem was, all the details of the Benoit family’s death hadn’t been made public yet. When the full details emerged the next day, the deaths had been changed to a murder/suicide. Benoit was being accused of killing his wife and son before taking his own life by hanging himself. That led to WWE immediately severing all ties to Chris Benoit. One night he’s a fallen hero, who Vince McMahon himself is shedding tears for. The next night the man never existed. There’s been many speculations as to why WWE decide to cut all ties with Benoit. Some people say it was because of the embarrassment Vince McMahon felt after holding a tribute show for an accused murderer. Some point to Linda McMahon‘s senate campaigns, and the companies desire to minimize all bad press. Others say the presence of steroids in the Benoit home would not have been a good thing for WWE, so they decided to stay ahead of the curve and erase Benoit. Chris Benoit‘s death is still a huge question mark til this day. Nobody will ever know exactly what happened that night or why Benoit did why he did. Benoit, like many other pro wrestlers, abused prescription pain killers, and some point to them as a contributing factor in the killings. Benoit also had severe brain damage from years of delivering his famous “Diving Headbutt” finisher. His brain was examined after his death, and was said to be in similar condition to that of an 80 year old Alzheimer patient. That led many to speculate that Chris Benoit was suffering from Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) at the time of his death, and that all those factors combined with Benoit’s depression over the death of his dear friend Eddie, were enough to make him snap and murder his family before taking his own life.