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On June 24, 2007 WWE Superstar Chris Benoit did not show up for a scheduled PPV event. Strange text messages sent to some of his fellow wrestlers including the nephew of his former best friend raised the alarm that something was amiss.

Authorities entered the Fayetteville, GA home of Benoit and his wife Nancy and son Daniel to discover a grisly scene. All three individuals lay dead.

Monday June 25, 2007 the WWE, instead of airing its usual RAW broadcast, aired a tribute to Benoit with some of his most memorable matches and tearful comments and remembrances from his fellow wrestlers and friends.

However, over the course of the next few days as further details emerged, the man loved by friends and fans alike became known as a monster. And the WWE began to erase all mention of Chris Benoit as if he did not exist and did not entertain millions of fans for years.

Benoit was one of only 2 men to enter the Royal Rumble as the #1 entrant and win the event, guaranteeing him a Main Event match at Wrestlemania, where he won the World Championship belt for the first time in his life. However, search the archives of the WWE and you will not find that match or any mention of it.

Chris Benoit will never be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame even though his in ring accomplishments and contributions deserve it. In the days following the discovery, all Benoit merchandise was pulled from the WWE Shop Zone site.

Re-releases of his best friend Eddie Guerrero’s life story DVD had Benoit removed from the footage. It was as if in the collective minds of the WWE, Benoit ceased to exist.

The initial investigation suggested that Benoit in a fit of “roid rage” killed his wife, then his son, laying Bible’s next to their bodies. Benoit eventually hanged himself. However, further reports from the medical examiner state that while a heightened level of testosterone was found in Benoit’s blood, it may have been a result from being treated for “testicular insufficiency” and would not have resulted in “roid rage”.

Link Here…

Many people, me included, had a hard time picturing the wrestler committing such atrocious acts. This was a man seen by millions after winning his first WWE Championship embracing and crying in the ring with his wife and son, and best friend Eddie Guerrero (who in 2005 died from heart failure as a result of past drug abuse even though he had been clean and sober for 4 years). How could such a seemingly loving and dedicated family man commit such heinous crimes?

That question was asked by fellow wrestlers and fans alike. It was also asked by the family of Chris Benoit and his wife Nancy.

There are other theories out there as well. Some feel that text messages sent to Chavo Guerrero and William Regal from the phones of Chris and Nancy Benoit were not sent by Chris but by a third party killer. They state the coroner’s report listed the time of death for Chris as late Saturday, however the texts were mostly sent early Sunday morning.

Others state that the lack of a suicide note is disturbing. Former LA Police Detective Mark Fuhrman has stated that an absence of a suicide note would immediately be a red flag for him that it may not have been a suicide. A former prosecutor has said the same thing, and that such a quick rush to judgment by the police and investigators is also disturbing and leaves many questions.

Here is a link that goes over some of the conspiracy theories for your own viewing. I fully believe in reviewing the information and making your own decision based on the information available.

Despite the conspiracy theories, it is widely accepted that Benoit took the life of his wife, then his son, then his own over the course of a weekend. No one will ever really know why. No matter how the acts were committed, the world lost a great technical wrestler and entertainer and a family lost their loved ones before they should have been.

However, there was one theory that was investigated but not fully reported that may shed some light on the situation. There is solid scientific proof to back up this theory, not just speculation and questionable detective work.

Former WWE wrestler Chris Nowinski was a Harvard educated man. He shone on the football field and in the ring until a series of concussions prompted his early retirement from the WWE.

After leaving the WWE, he has spearheaded the cause of concussions in sports and the devastating effects they can have on the brain. As part of his research, Nowinski has brought about changes in the NFL and it still working for more changes to protect the players. As result of his advocacy work, he founded the Sports Legacy Institute with Dr. Robert Cantu. Nowinski also wrote the intriguing and compelling book: “Head Games: Football’s Concussion Crisis”.

When he heard about the Benoit murder/suicide, he was struck at how the situation was similar to other former NFL players who had committed suicide after erratic behavior..

• Former Pittsburgh Steeler Terry Long died in June 2005 after drinking antifreeze. He was only 45.
• Ex-Pittsburgh lineman Justin Strzelczyk at age 36 drove into oncoming traffic and struck a tanker truck causing it to explode and losing his life.
• Former Eagle Andre Waters dies from self-inflicted wounds to the head from a shotgun blast. He was 44.

Nowinski reached out to Benoit’s father Mike four days after the news of the murder/suicide and asked if he and his foundation could examine Benoit’s brain.

The results were staggering and go a long way towards providing an explanation for the events that seem so unexplainable.

One of Chris Benoit’s finishing moves was called the “Flying Head Butt”. Benoit would leap off the top rope and fly towards his opponent who was typically lying on the mat and head butt them as they lay there. Benoit was also never afraid to take a chair shot to the head. While most wrestlers would put up a hand or arm at the last minute to take the brunt of the shot, Benoit was not one of those. As a result, he suffered many concussions during his professional and amateur wrestling career.

As reported by doctor’s an examination of Benoit’s brain showed that it had Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy or CTE. In other words, his brain looked like the brain of an 80-90 year old person suffering from dementia. As Doctor Omalu, one of the doctors who examined Benoit’s brain put it, “You don’t find that in a normal brain. Chris’ brain showed large amounts of these abnormal proteins affecting specific regions of his brain, affecting regions of his brain that affected mood.”

Read the article linked below. It has an interview with the doctor’s that performed the studies on Benoit’s brain as well as the athlete’s listed above and goes into great detail.

Fight to the Death

Please also see the two clips from a Nightline special in which the doctor’s, Benoit’s father, and Nowinski were interviewed. It is quite compelling.

I had been following the work of Nowinski and his Sports Legacy Institute for a while and was very interested when I first learned he was examining the brain of Benoit. To me, who enjoyed watching Benoit in the ring, and learning the science behind it, Nowinski’s conclusions made perfect sense and helped bring an answer to the unthinkable question of “Why?” Why would a man who LOVED his family as he did do such a thing? Was Chris and Nancy’s marriage perfect? No. There were reports of abuse. But by all accounts, from those who knew him and his wife best, they were a loving family, dedicated to their son and his special needs.

I had the pleasure of watching Chris Benoit wrestle many times. I have photos of him in mid air performing his “Flying Head Butt and photos of him putting his opponents in the “Cross Face Crippler”. I’ve been ringside for some amazing matches with him and Shawn Michaels where I could literally reach out and touch both men.

I was also lucky enough to make friends with someone high up in the WWE organization. This person will forever go unnamed to respect their privacy. However, I was given a T-shirt once by them at one of the many events I attended (one of many I was lucky enough to have set aside for me). It was a Benoit shirt. I will still wear it.

I do not like, or condone the way his life ended. I do not condone the acts he is accused and assumed of doing. However, I will forever respect the man who gave his heart, soul, and body to the ring to entertain fans around the world for decades…who in the end may have given so much that it caused him to suffer from depression and dementia and cost not only his life and career but those of his wife and young son.

Below are a few links that show the respect Benoit had of his peers. These were from the RAW tribute show that was aired the day Chris, Nancy, and Daniel were discovered dead.

I also invite you to do a search on the Internet. Look on You Tube and you will find many tributes to Benoit from fans who still appreciate what he gave us in the ring. Look for the interviews with fellow wrestlers on Larry King Live. Some of these wrestlers grew up training and working with Benoit for YEARS. They knew him best.

If there is one thing that can come from this tragedy let it be this…concussions are a serious problem in the world of sports. We have seen more of our favorite NFL stars suffer from them. Proper steps need to be taken to protect our players from the devastating effects they can have on the brain when there are repeated injuries.

Also, the WWE, following the death of Benoit for the first time ever got REALLY serious about drug use. They made a half attempt after the death of Eddie Guerrero, but did not follow through. They finally got serious about enforcing random drug testing. Many superstars have been suspended and let go completely for failing drug tests. One such wrestler Eddie Fatu aka Umaga was released after two failed drug tests and his refusal to enter any of the addiction rehab programs paid for by the WWE. On December 4, 2009 Eddie Fatu became another in an all too growing list of wrestlers who lost their life prematurely due to current or past drug abuse.

There are still strides to be made in the world of wrestling and the WWE in particular when it comes to drug abuse and concussions. But the death of such superstars as Eddie Guerrero, Eddie Fatu and Chris Benoit are bringing about much needed change and reform.

May Chris Benoit, his wife Nancy and son Daniel Rest in Peace, and may we the fans, always remember the joy Benoit brought us in the ring, even as the WWE strives to make us forget about one of the most talented wrestlers ever to enter the ring. __________________

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