Benoit Chris - Benoit: wrestling with the horror that destroyed a family and crippled a sport: essays

BENOIT

Wrestling with the Horror that Destroyed a Family and Crippled a Sport

ESSAYS BY STEVEN JOHNSON, HEATH McCOY, IRYIN MUCHNICK AND CREG OLIVER

Copyright Steven Johnson, Heath McCoy, Irvin Muchnick and Greg Oliver, 2007

Published by ECW PRESS
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LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION

Johnson, Steven, 1957
Benoit: wrestling with the horror that destroyed a family and crippled a sport/
Steven Johnson [et al.].

ISBN 978-1-55022-812-0
1. Benoit, Chris, 19672007. 2. Wrestling. 3. WrestlersCanadaBiography.
4. MurderGeorgiaFayetteville. 5. SuicideGeorgiaFayetteville.
gv1196.b45b45 2007 796.812092 c2007-904878-1

Editor: Michael Holmes
Cover Design: David Gee
Text Design: Melissa Kaita
Production and Typesetting: Rachel Brooks
Printing: Thomson-Shore

With the publication of Benoit: Wrestling with the Horror that Destroyed a Family and Crippled a Sport ecw press acknowledges the generous financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP) for our publishing activities.

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PRINTED AND BOUND IN THE UNITED STATES

Steven Johnson wishes to thank Rich Tate of GeorgiaWrestlingHistory.com, which hosts archival material related to the Benoit case. On a personal note, his wife Cynthia supports and encourages his work.

Heath McCoy would like to thank the following for sharing their insights on Chris Benoit, before and after the tragedy: Bret, Ross and Keith Hart, Bob Leonard, David Meltzer, Bad News Allen, Gama Singh, Milad Elzein, Gerry Morrow, Mike Shaw, Ben Bassarab, Nattie Neidhart, Bill Adomski, Vicki ONeill, and Kathy Stockland. Another important source was the interview he conducted with Benoit in April 2004. His work is dedicated to his wife Tamara and their beautiful daughter Bronwyn, who was born just before this book went to press.

Greg Oliver would like to especially thank Dave Hillhouse for his contribution from 2 Cold Scorpio, Chris Schramm and Marty Goldstein for making sure Nancy wasnt forgotten in all this, and J Michael Kenyon for the historical aspect of murderers in wrestling. As well, his wife Meredith and son Quinn deserve praise for allowing dad to hide in his cave to get this done.

Greg Oliver

Greg Oliver

Heath McCoy

Steven Johnson

Irvin Muchnick

Greg Oliver

Chris Benoit was a man in search of an identity when he arrived in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) in 1994.

Hed had his international successes, particularly in Japan, and had stuck a tentative toe into the North American waters on occasion, but he had never established any sort of a beachhead.

ECW was a wild place, with wrestlers using baseball bats wrapped in barbed wire and tables set alight with lighter fluid. But strangely, the rabid fan base of the Philadelphia-based promotion appreciated the finer arts of professional wrestling as well.

Benoit, with his crisply executed, technically sound maneuvers, fit in perfectly. The passion he had for his craft was obvious. Equally clear was his lack of confidence on the microphone, the missing direction in his career. Pro Wrestling Illustrated had even noted Benoits dry image in a 1994 scouting report: Lack of glitziness hurts him in the eyes of some U.S. promoters.

He would find both confidence and direction thanks to an unfortunate accident.

It was November 5, 1994, the big November to Remember show, and he was taking on one of the most wild high fliers on ECWs roster of misfits and castoff s, The Homicidal, Genocidal, Suicidal Sabu. Like Benoit, Sabu had a burning desire for pro wrestling. Born Terry Brunk, his uncle was Ed Farhat, better known for the terror he struck as The Sheik, a headliner from the 1950s to the 1970s.

What should have been a routine, though fierce, battle ended in near tragedy when Sabu fell awkwardly, landing on top of his head. He suffered a bruised spine and nerve damage.

Benoit cried in the dressing room, worried for his friend. He left Philadelphia that night, not knowing that Sabus neck was all but broken. He followed up once he returned to Edmonton, calling ECW boss Paul Heyman, who was over the moon with excitement.

Its great, youre going to be called The Crippler. This is awesome, were going to make so much money, Benoit recalled Heyman telling him excitedly. All the while he just wanted to know the status of his friend. Benoit still grappled with the potentially lethal mistake years later. Things do happen, accidents do happen. I think the people that I work with know me, and the people that know me personally know Id never take advantage of a situation or someone in the ring like that, he said. They know that it was a mistake. Things happen. Its a physical, contact sport, and injuries are going to happen. Still, he would admit to liking The Crippler nickname: It grew on me and Im proud of it.

The accident led to the persona of The Cripplerand it wasnt really that far off from Benoits real personality. He was a no-nonsense guy who took his craft seriously. You messed with him, there could be serious repercussions. He wasnt one for distractions either and had an excellent ability to focus. When I have a goal, I try to have tunnel vision to that goal, he once said.

The ECW run of Chris The Crippler Benoit lasted less than a year, ending in mid-1995. After a June World Wrestling Federation (WWF) tryout, where he lost to Sparky Plugg, Owen Hart, and Adam Bomb, Benoit was basically done with ECW, frustrated with the irregular paychecks and the difficulties in getting Heyman to act and complete the working visa he needed as a Canadian to live and work in the United States. Then in August, Eric Bischoff and World Championship Wrestling (WCW) went on a bit of a signing spree, taking Benoit, Dean Malenko, and Eddie Guerrero from ECW to damage the competing, upstart company. Benoit was also bound by loyalty to New Japan Pro Wrestling, which had a working relationship with WCW.

Unlike his brief, previous stint in WCW in 1993, Benoit would be a featured performer for many years. A multi-time champion and a member of the prestigious Four Horsemen faction, he was given the companys world title (just days before departing for the better-known WWF in January 2000). In short, he accomplished a target that he laid out in 1997: My main goal is to establish myself in North America, and I really havent had that opportunity because Ive been over in Japan for the last eight years.