Dark Side of the Ring 2x1

1. My Name is Dennis Fagan, I run security for World Wrestling

2. and one of our wrestlers that lives down there is missing.

3. - Okay, what's his name? - Chris Benoit.

4. Chris Benoit was considered by many of us in Business of being one of the greatest workers in Wrestling.

5. He was Nicknamed the Rabid Wolverine, the Canadian Crippler

6. They tried to reach his wife, Nancy. She doesn't answer it. tried to call his house.

7. I plan on ruling the wrestling world.

8. She was in love. More in love than I'd ever seen her.

9. This was during Chris and Nancy wedding.

10. Daniel was the best man, of course.

11. alright, We'll go ahead and send somebody out there to check on it.

12. Well, The wrestling world in shock Today, former champion, Chris Benoit,

13. found dead in his Atlanta home along with his wife and Young son.

14. Police now treating the discovery as double murder-suicide.

15. On June 25, 2007,

16. Chris Benoit's Brutal murder of his wife and son dominated the news cycle,

17. leaving the world searching for answers.

18. Going over it, in my mind like, why did this happen?

19. How did it Happen? Could it have been stopped?

20. Authorities say Benoit strangled his wife and suffocated his son

21. before hanging himself in their home.

22. The term that's being thrown is "roid rage".

23. When you look at Christopher Benoit's brain,

24. it is in fact shocking.

25. For over a decade,

26. those closest to the killings have been left traumatized and Desperate for Closure.

27. For the first time,

28. friends and family have come together to tell the story in their own words.

29. Chris was a gentle giant

30. and I could never have imagined that he could hurt someone.

31. He was probably the greatest wrestler that's ever Lived.

32. and To have that same person murder your family,

33. that's not an easy statement for me to make.

34. That's not the Chris I knew. There's so many details so crazy to Understand.

35. I need to talk about this.

36. If you don't want to hear it, give me shit later

37. and say I'm glorifying a murder, stop listening.

38. Alright.

39. - Alright. You ready? - Let's rock.

40. - Alright, so First Can you tell us who you are? - David Benoit, son of Chris Benoit.

41. This is One of the greatest wrestlers of all time, I believe.

42. Oh, no.

43. That was just his job.

44. but as Soon as he got off the road, he was dad, that was it.

45. No matter what.

46. My grandfather took him to his very first show in Edmonton.

47. And he saw the Dynamite Kid.

48. Against the Dynamite Kid, Also 214, from Liverpool.

49. And he's like, Yup "That's what I want to do."

50. My dad, he looked up to him. That was his idol.

51. He emulated him, his work ethic. Nothing like it.

52. And then he would do his signature flying head butt.

53. He would climb up to the top rope, jump off, spread eagle.

54. Then connect.

55. Busted his ass in the ring every night.

56. Gave it a 120 percent, no matter what.

57. I got my very first Nintendo and I had WCW Mayhem

58. and I played as him.

59. Chris Benoit was on the radar as a pro wrestler since the '80s.

60. I'm Jim Ross. Got into wrestling in 1974.

61. I'm now the Senior Adviser to AEW.

62. I'm Wresrtling Fan, so If you're a wrestling fan, how could you not be a fan of Chris Benoit's Work?

63. He's always Consider as one of the best workers ever, even when he was young.

64. He was just a natural.

65. My name is Chris Jericho. I've been wrestling for longtime almost 30 years.

66. Watching Chris Benoit was one of the reasons why I Really enjoyed Stampede Wrestling

67. and why I started really thinking, maybe I could do this.

68. Benoit is a rookie but he does have the moves.

69. To watch Stampede Wrestling, you could tell the guys were smaller.

70. They were not as tall as the giants that you could find in the WWF.

71. I thought, wow, they're kind of my size.

72. So, in that aspect someone like Chris Benoit was kind of an early influence on me.

73. The most intense

74. and believable performer I've ever been in the ring with.

75. He could see things before they happened.

76. His first job was wrestling and his last job was wrestling.

77. All he ever did was wrestle.

78. The only thing he ever got a paycheck from was wrestling.

79. I was a Huge fan of Chris Benoit, off the get go.

80. He's the ultimate performer.

81. Dean Malenko. I wrestled for ECW, WCW and of course, WWF/WWE.

82. Chris was a very quiet, reserved, you know, very serious guy

83. and kind of like into his own little world at times

84. but when that red light went on and Bell Ring, Chris Benoit was a whole another person.

85. Extremely focused.

86. One of the most focused individuals I've ever seen in any sport for that matter.

87. Chris took nothing less than being perfect.

88. I did a Few tours with Benoit over in Japan. And we had a match.

89. I gave him a spin kick and I didn't hit him, nor should you,

90. it's Wrestling you work together to put on a show.

91. He Felt like took it the wrong way. He felt he exposed the business with his ineptitude.

92. Me, Well, I bet nobody noticed anything Because a quick kick goes by.

93. he'd take a bump. It's not on TV. Who cares? He cared.

94. I found him in the back doing Hack squats,

95. Hindu squats where you go up and down, one, two.

96. I go, "What's wrong?" He goes, "I messed up that kick.

97. I have to do squats now."

98. like why? "Who told you to? Are you in trouble?"

99. Like, "No, I'm doing them on my own. I screwed up. I'm doing 500 squats."

100. That was him. He had to purge and punish himself

101. for making this minor mistake that, to him, was everything.

102. And Eddie was like that too.

103. Wrestling fans of Course all know who Eddie Guerrero is.

104. To many in the wrestling world,

105. he is considered as one of the absolute best wrestlers of all time.

106. I'm Chavo Guerrero Jr.,

107. third generation professional wrestler from the legendary Guerrero family.

108. When Eddie was about 18, he started training for wrestling,

109. Started wrestling all over Mexico and then transitioned it to Japan

110. and became one of their top stars and was called Black Tiger.

111. He was a tall Mexican with long hair and cowboy boots and tight pants.

112. And I loved his ass and I thought he was the most gorgeous guy.

113. My name is Vickie Guerrero. I am a former WWE superstar.

114. And I fell in love with Eddie.

115. He loved wrestling. He ate it. He dreamt it.

116. He was always doing promos in the bathroom mirror.

117. He was always showing me, "Can I try this move? Tell me if it hurts."

118. Those were fun days in the bed, I'm not gonna lie. They were good times.

119. Super nice. Very friendly.

120. Would give you the shirt off his back, literally,

121. you could tell sweetness exuded from this guy.

122. A little bit crazy,

123. as any wrestler can be, especially from that generation.

124. Very small though.

125. When we were in Japan, the referee called him Mexican Flamingo.

126. "Big upper body. Small leg."

127. I think Chris and Eddie first met in Japan, if I'm not mistaken.

128. They beat the shit out of each other, almost like they owed each other a lot of money.

129. Eddie would call me and be like, "Man, I can't stand this asshole.

130. He's such a prick. I Can't believe I have to work with him for a week or two."

131. I think even in today's world of wrestling

132. every company out there, they go and watch those matches.

133. Those guys were like way ahead of the time.

134. I Really wanted to be like those guys.

135. like That's why my name was Lion Heart for so long.

136. Lion Heart.

137. 'Cause I wanted to be an animal, like those guys.

138. Eddie was Black Tiger.

139. Chris was the Pegasus Kid, Wild Pegasus.

140. Those two saw things differently

141. and that was part of what made them so fucking great.

142. The more they fought, the more they started respecting each other.

143. They hit it off and they ended up being the best of friends.

144. These particular earrings are a pair my sister wore as Woman on WCW.

145. I decided I'd wear what she thought would look good on camera.

146. My name is Sandra Toffoloni and the only sibling of Nancy Benoit.

147. My sister Nancy just married right out of high school.

148. Her first husband was a wrestling fan

149. and got her going to the matches and she really liked it.

150. There was a moment where, I don't know if it was a promoter or another manager

151. that picked her out of the crowd, you know, she's a beautiful woman.

152. The first time it was a weekend thing.

153. And then it turned into something else.

154. She met Kevin Sullivan in Florida Championship Wrestling.

155. Humba-hunda. Hoobla-hach. Hey. Let me tell you something.

156. He's probably one of the greatest promoters ever in wrestling.

157. Kevin Sullivan, who was this satanic character

158. and he was satanic because he shaved an X into his chest hair

159. and put makeup on.

160. That was the extent of his Satanism, you know, he wore a hood.

161. And they had an instant connection as friends

162. and then shortly after were falling in love.

163. She was already in the process of divorcing her first husband.

164. So, Kevin had this idea to grow this gimmick of the prince of darkness

165. and he has this army of darkness behind him.

166. And Nancy by his side as the Fallen Angel.

167. Welcome to Polynesian pro wrestling. I'm Angel, Your Co-Host

168. and here is my master, Kevin Sullivan.

169. you know Angel, you've done a fine job.

170. The name Fallen Angel came from a Uriah Heep album.

171. And the cover it had this beautiful woman

172. in a leather-ish bikini with feathers and a sword

173. and she looked at that cover and said, "Man, that's the gimmick."

174. She was good at what she did.

175. Probably one of the first that really understood the art of being a valet

176. or a second, so to speak.

177. She's an instrumental part in getting heat, as we like to say.

178. People would stop her. They recognized her,

179. believed she was possessed.

180. She would be getting gas and they'd come over,

181. like, "We're gonna lay hands on you and pray for your soul."

182. And she loved it 'cause she knew,

183. if they hate me, I'm absolutely doing my job.

184. She wasn't a wrestler but she was valuable as a ringside performer.

185. And that's a lost art. Now there's no such thing.

186. Right? Every girl has to be a wrestler.

187. She wasn't that but she Probably knew the business better than most.

188. She did Kevin's makeup, she did her own makeup.

189. She did everything, the hair, the staging, the clothes.

190. Guys would break their tights, Nancy would be there with Threads and needle.

191. We had duffel bags of boa constrictors around the house.

192. In the beginning, how would you describe their dynamic?

193. - Nancy and Kevin's? - Yeah.

194. Oh, man. He worshiped her

195. and she was all in with him. She was in love.

196. And their dynamic was awesome. So they moved to WCW.

197. It was a big step up obviously than what they were doing.

198. WCW. Where the big boys play.

199. Dean Malenko, Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero were the three Amigos.

200. All three of them came to WCW together.

201. What do they call this guy up north, the Canadian Crippler?

202. My goodness. Did you see that?

203. Kevin was a booker at the time,

204. booking productions, booking talent for story lines.

205. Everyone kept talking about this great technical wrestler coming out.

206. I knew he was new to the company

207. and I know that my brother-in-law wanted to book him.

208. I just knew Nancy as the Fallen Angel character.

209. Then getting to WCW, she was Woman.

210. I am Woman

211. so, men, look at it, wish you had it, eat your heart out.

212. Woman was the one character she was attached to 'cause it was like her actual personality.

213. I'm gonna watch your every move, Ric Flair.

214. I'll see you at the Clash, big boy.

215. She's independent. She takes nothing from anyone.

216. And God help you if you get in her way.

217. This one's for you.

218. I know Kevin really liked Chris, really enjoyed working with him.

219. And at that time,

220. Kevin was booking Chris and himself into matches.

221. And Nancy kind of became a part of it.

222. Things were kind of happening a little weird, but nobody really knew what was going on.

223. Kevin Sullivan, it started out as you and I

224. and then you brought Nancy into it.

225. The joke in the business is always that Kevin Sullivan booked his own divorce.

226. It's funny to a point, and then it's kind of not funny at all

227. 'cause I'm certain that it was not meant to happen.

228. Starting in WCW, Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit,

229. who all came in together, they loved it.

230. They were happy and they were getting props

231. 'cause even them being smaller in a sense, they were the workhorses.

232. - You could always count on them. - Benoit takes flight.

233. He is on time with a swan dive.

234. So, Kevin Sullivan, the booker, the story maker,

235. writes a story and has this idea to have Woman,

236. who was Nancy, leave Kevin's side

237. and start going with Kevin's arch-rival who is Chris Benoit.

238. What's it feels like losing the most important thing that you ever had?

239. WCW would film vignettes with Chris and Nancy being intimate.

240. I'll tell you what, it sure feels great getting it.

241. What they didn't plan for is that that really happened,

242. Nancy left Kevin Sullivan to go with Chris Benoit.

243. Kevin was used to her always being there and kind of being his right-hand person

244. and with her focusing on her own career, I think there were strains there.

245. There were a couple of physical altercations in the house, fights that escalated.

246. Nancy would reach out to Chris whenever she had a bad night with Kevin

247. and Chris was her safe haven, he know where she'd go wherever he was at.

248. Chris was going through problems with his wife at the time

249. so two people gravitate towards each other 'cause there were difficulties.

250. so I got a call from my husband

251. telling me Nancy had some problems and could I help her.

252. I was working in a psychiatrist's and Chris brought her in to see me

253. and she removed her sunglasses and she had a huge black eye.

254. She told me Kevin had done that to her.

255. And I just told her I'm gonna help you in any way we can.

256. We need to document this.

257. I was hoping to help her get out of that abusive relationship.

258. I just saw it as being in this, it's gonna blow up.

259. Bash at the Beach, in Daytona Beach at the Ocean Center.

260. It was Kevin Sullivan going against Chris.

261. It was a great match I thought 'cause it looked super realistic.

262. And then, at one point,

263. Chris and Kevin started exchanging blows.

264. Chris hit Kevin hard on the side of the head and broke his ear drum.

265. The match ended but the fight continued backstage.

266. And I was called out to go backstage.

267. I started to walk towards Kevin and Chris is like, "No! NO! Don't do that."

268. Kevin's yelling from the end of the hallway, "We're leaving."

269. Chris handed me the phone and it was my sister,

270. she's like, "Sandra, get out. Come home. Come to the condo.

271. Just go with Chris. Do not go with Kevin."

272. And I always do what my sister says. No explanation needed.

273. I went to the condo and my sister came out to talk to me.

274. And she was visibly physically hurt.

275. She explained to me that her injuries were from Kevin

276. and that Chris had helped her and that she was leaving Kevin.

277. I told her she had to.

278. Kevin Sullivan was Approached for Comment on these Allegations. He Denies Any Abuse ever Took Place.

279. Chris was a nice person

280. and all I knew about him was that he helped my sister in a time she needed it.

281. For that he instantly had my thanks and my admiration.

282. And she was in love. More in love than I'd ever seen her in my life.

283. The way they looked at each other, we're like, "oh Yeah It's gonna work."

284. And Nancy and I became best of friends.

285. Chris decided that he wanted to push his career forward a little bit

286. and then she just really wanted to focus on building the house

287. and starting a family.

288. And then all of a sudden, Daniel was born.

289. I had never seen Chris so beyond himself, just excited.

290. This is my favorite page. Because This was During Chris and Nancy's wedding

291. and Daniel was the best man, of course.

292. This is the love that Chris and Nancy always had.

293. And then, here's them feeding Daniel after they got married.

294. and Nancy being the princess she was. And David was there, Chris' oldest.

295. David is the son of Chris Benoit from Chris' first marriage.

296. - Hi, guys. - Nancy She treated me like I was her own.

297. We didn't use the word "step" in our family, you know.

298. We were family. We went and had fun.

299. Went to Chuck E Cheese with Daniel and Nancy

300. and, you know, it was good times.

301. This is my very favorite photo of David and Daniel.

302. That's flipping adorable. I mean, that's what siblings are.

303. You hang on to one another and hope for the best for each other.

304. He would look up to me, you know? I loved him. I protected him.

305. We wanted to be tag team champions, that's what we wanted to do.

306. be the tag team champions of the world together.

307. So in WCW, there was definitely a ceiling that you would reach.

308. The bigger guys were getting all the TV spotlights.

309. If you weren't seven-foot tall and Huge muscles,

310. you don't get the main event.

311. Chris was getting irritated about the situation at WCW at the time,

312. never seeing the main event because we kept getting pushed down.

313. So we decided to take a walk.

314. I cannot believe this.

315. Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko on WWF Raw.

316. They walked out. WWF picked them up and the rest is history.

317. Benoit, on top. Oh, my God.

318. When all three of them got to WWE, then you really saw their strengths.

319. I lie. I cheat. I steal.

320. Their intelligence for the business and their view of the business

321. and seeing, we see this, they saw this.

322. Eddie became one of the best characters of all time

323. as well as being one of the best in-ring champions.

324. And Benoit became just this killer.

325. No nonsense, Clint Eastwood preformer.

326. Like Dirty Harry. "Go ahead. Make my day."

327. Benoit, who's a rabid wolverine. Chris Benoit is heartless.

328. Chris Benoit's been a main eventer for years.

329. It was only a matter that he was too short.

330. Perceived as too short, imagine that.

331. Benoit's a magnificent, extraordinary athlete.

332. I always thought getting Benoit here will create these great match and it did.

333. - It was a no-brainer. - Good boy.

334. But also Chris was always very much a great father.

335. Very much about his family. His kids were high on his list.

336. When Daniel got a little older, Chris would bring him to the ring.

337. and of Course Any time Chris brought the kids around, we'd all play with them.

338. It really pained him when he had to miss certain things.

339. I remember one point I said something like, "I've got to be home for Halloween."

340. He's like, "I wish I could go home. I gotta work.

341. And I missed Father's Day too," like I was like, "Get those days off."

342. And it was almost like he didn't want to ask for days off

343. 'cause, you know, he was sacrificing for his art, I guess you would say.

344. There's a similarity between Chris and Eddie

345. in that both of them sacrificed a lot for their art.

346. Chris and Eddie Basically gave their life for pro wrestling.

347. For Eddie, wrestling was everything. God was first.

348. And then family and wrestling were a close second.

349. you know Sometimes we'd be in the locker room and Eddie's naked in the locker room

350. reading scripture to other wrestlers and telling them about God.

351. Chris wasn't religious at all

352. and Eddie was the one that started introducing him about God.

353. And Chris was very receptive and he always listened to Eddie

354. and Eddie had even given him a Bible one Christmas.

355. And Chris always had that on him and that meant a lot to Eddie.

356. To always be a witness to Chris

357. and to help him try and find his higher power.

358. Chris was very quiet, very reserved

359. and it took a while for him to trust somebody.

360. Eddie would be his go-to guy, he'd talk about certain things

361. whether it be marriage problems or family or professional problems.

362. They always confided in each other, that's what their friendship was.

363. and I know Chris didn't have that with a lot of people.

364. Chris, he was blowing up. He was getting bigger as a wrestler.

365. And to have Nancy behind him, he was really happy.

366. She was the driving force and motivation,

367. sort of taking care of everything else that wasn't related to wrestling.

368. She wanted him to be happy and successful

369. and to be with his best friend.

370. Eddie was injured a lot.

371. He had a lot of pain,

372. a lot of injuries he couldn't get operations for.

373. Eddie Guerrero is legal. Drops, flies. It could be over.

374. And as a wrestler, you never say that you need time off

375. because as soon as you're off TV for four, six months,

376. someone else gonna come and replace you

377. and that was something in Eddie's mind, you know, is I can't stop now.

378. - hey I think Eddie Guerrero is Seriously hurt. - Everything he did was wrestling.

379. Even to the point where I know he was in a lot of pain

380. but he still wanted to wrestle, that's what he does, that's what he did, that's who he was.

381. and there's also a lot of... Let's be honest, we're all adults, we all did the same shit.

382. There's a lot of drinking, a lot of drugs.

383. But the more Eddie was trying to hide his injuries with drugs and alcohol

384. and it was just getting to a downward spiral.

385. you know I saw Chris several diffrent times and make sure Eddie was tucked in bed okay,

386. and put on his side so he wouldn't throw up on himself.

387. But then Eddie started getting DUIs, crashing his car

388. and, you know, having overdose problems.

389. There was three ODs Eddie did in our house.

390. The first two, I called the ambulance.

391. They released him the next afternoon. They just sent him home.

392. The third time, I let him lay there.

393. I actually left and took the girls to school

394. and told God, "If you're gonna take him, just take him now"

395. because it was a bad place in my life.

396. A lot of wrestlers were dying from substance abuse issues

397. and in the back of your mind, always you're like, man is Eddie gonna be one of those?

398. Is he gonna be a statistic?

399. Eddie showed up to work high where he was in bad shape

400. and I think that when they saw Eddie couldn't perform,

401. that's when they said, "We're gonna let you go."

402. He called me and said, "Well, I got fired." I finally was like, thank God.

403. I mean, because now the worst that could be imagined is happening.

404. They sent him to rehab, lost everything

405. and had to go from the depths of hell and work his way up the system again.

406. Little by little, he started changing his life to get clean.

407. After that, his wife, his family, his life came back.

408. And that's where Eddie got rehired from WWE and things were great.

409. He was in the best shape.

410. WrestleMania XX, fans knew the history of Eddie and Chris

411. so the night in New York, it's the right time for both of these guys.

412. Me and Nancy were watching from the sky box.

413. We were jittery and nervous and excited and stressed too

414. because we didn't know if they were gonna win or what the outcome was.

415. Just tap, wait a minute.

416. One, two, three.

417. - When Eddie won, it was pure joy. - Benoit going up to the top.

418. Oh, no. He hit it.

419. Seeing my dad in the ring, he was my hero.

420. - I remember it like yesterday, man. - Benoit wrapping him.

421. I jumped up after he won the belt.

422. Nancy and I were crying, the girls were excited.

423. You see the confetti and all the fans just on their feet.

424. And then I got to see Eddie Guerrero go out there, best friend.

425. What a moment. I'll never forget that.

426. and that's why that's one of the best moments in..,

427. not just in wrestling history, I think TV history.

428. It was the happy, storybook ending of WrestleMania.

429. Thank God, the office finally saw those guys for what they were.

430. It was my favorite time, my favorite match.

431. I wish those two just retired after, to be honest with you.

432. I have never ever seen a closer relationship

433. or friendship between two wrestlers

434. as I did between Chris and Eddie.

435. It was an actual real, no bullshit, out of the ring, caring relationship.

436. so There's a super show in Minneapolis. We got a flight to Minneapolis.

437. It's a few hours, so Eddie's talking to me

438. and then he kind of passes out, sleeps.

439. I didn't know this had been happening to Eddie.

440. He started talking to people and pass out mid sentence.

441. So we get off in Minneapolis, check into our hotel that we always go to

442. and we'd seen Chris in the lobby, saying, "See you in the morning."

443. Okay. Seven o'clock and we're gonna go work out.

444. It's set, the three of us Togather, it's just the way it was.

445. Eddie goes to his room. I go to my room.

446. Next morning, I get a call at 5:30. It's the front desk.

447. "Something's wrong with your uncle." "What do you mean something wrong with my uncle?"

448. Get a knock, security guard's taking me to Eddie's room.

449. I go, "What's going on?"

450. He goes, "Your uncle didn't answer his wake up call, so we knocked.

451. No answer, with the latch on, someone's in here."

452. so They cut the latch off.

453. I walk in and I look in the bathroom. I see Eddie face down.

454. He's in his underwear, his toothbrush was in his hand.

455. I grab him, kinda I try to shake him and he's moving I hear him gurgling, like...

456. And I'm like, "Eddie. Eddie."

457. Wiping his face and he's like...

458. he's still there, man, and he's trying

459. and then all of a sudden, he's in my arms

460. and he's not there anymore.

461. He passed in my arms, like, literally.

462. Hold on.

463. I haven't been to this moment in a long time.

464. Then I get a call from Chris, "I'm downstairs. Where are you?"

465. I go, "You sitting down?" He goes, "Yeah."

466. And I go, "Eddie passed this morning" and all you hear is a...

467. From a guy with no emotion, you hear a wail.

468. Just this wail from deep down, like a heartbreak.

469. If you've ever heard one, this was a heart breaking.

470. And Vince called me and he said, "Vickie" and he's just crying

471. and I'm just like, I go, "Is it true, Eddie's passed away?"

472. He said, "I'm sorry."

473. Chris went over, knelt down, kissed Eddie on the forehead.

474. I went over and, kind of like the same thing. It was hard.

475. Here's your buddy you've been with for 10 years, every day.

476. And there wasn't any sign that obviously he had relapsed?

477. He didn't relapse. The verdict was heart disease at 38.

478. I remember the day my sister called hysterical. I couldn't even understand her.

479. "Take some breaths, tell me what's going on"

480. she even couldn't get the word out.

481. When she told me, I burst into tears.

482. And I thought about the kids and Vickie really,

483. you know, just a flash in my head

484. and then my next thought was, oh, my God, Chris.

485. Eddie Guerrero has passed away.

486. The tribute the WWE did couldn't have been any better.

487. Yeah, the whole stage was filled with everyone from backstage.

488. But all I can remember was Chris. He was just crying.

489. I want you to know that I love you and I miss you.

490. One by one, they took diffrent talent they wanted to talk about Eddie,

491. Eddie's passing his life.

492. And Chris did it, which it's probably really difficult to do.

493. Chris had a hard time to get throught.

494. I want to thank you from my Heart and tell you I love you

495. and I'll never forget you and that we'll see each other again.

496. I love you, Eddie.

497. I believe it was very hard for him, I even cried after, for him.

498. Funerals are never good but Eddie's funeral was very hard.

499. When I saw Benoit, man, he came and gave me a hug

500. but it was like the most desperate, saddest,

501. I'm hanging on for dear life hug that you could ever get.

502. Sobbing deep, hitching sobs

503. and leaving literally a patch of wetness on the shoulder of my suit

504. that soaked through to the shirt.

505. Went through the jacket, the shirt, of tears.

506. I had never seen Chris show emotion before.

507. Of course, it affected all of us

508. but I just think it affected Chris just, like, so much more.

509. It affected Chris like a spouse or something.

510. When Eddie passed away, not only did it end Chris and Eddie's relationship,

511. in a lot of ways, it ended mine with him.

512. I think He just became more and more of a hermit

513. and didn't want to see people that he knew.

514. I remember seeing him at Eddie's funeral

515. and the WWE guys had to leave after the funeral to fly to Europe.

516. You have Chris, who has this horrible damage done,

517. where he's crying, sobbing, the lowest point of his life

518. and as soon as the funeral's done, he goes to the plane and flies to Europe to wrestle.

519. I didn't get that.

520. you know I thought if there's ever time to take some time off or to give someone time off.

521. I think Chris needed to be away from stuff for a while.

522. But I think he continued on 'cause he didn't know what to do.

523. He didn't handle it well. Let me just say it like that.

524. I was in bed for the first week after we buried Eddie

525. and Nancy was the first one at the house.

526. And she helped me with everything.

527. I mean, she was the one making sure the kids were fed.

528. Finally, she walked in my room and is like, "Enough."

529. She goes, "Enough. Get up and shower.

530. Get up, you have two girls that love you and need you."

531. And I didn't want to do anything and she threw me in the shower,

532. she got the girls dressed and she goes, "We're going to lunch."

533. She was my angel in so many ways.

534. She just immediately went into planning mode.

535. I'm gonna help with this and I'll do that

536. I mean she just that was her knee jerk reaction to grief and heart ache.

537. But Chris locked down.

538. Nancy stayed with me for a month after Eddie passed away

539. and Chris would come in when they were off

540. and I would find Chris on Eddie's side of his bed

541. and Chris would be laying there crying, holding Eddie's pillow.

542. Eddie had a beautiful gym upstairs

543. and I would go upstairs and the girls would come down

544. and they would say, "Mom, Chris is crying again."

545. I would go to the gym and Chris would just be on the bench, crying.

546. He goes,"I'm lost without Eddie being here."

547. To see him just crying in my arms is very emotional.

548. here's big, strong man who is tough and quiet and strong.

549. He broke my heart.

550. you know but then you see Chris around the other wrestlers or in a meeting, he had his face on.

551. So professional, you wouldn't think anything was bothering him.

552. But Chris was getting more distant

553. where he was not being seen as much backstage.

554. I couldn't find him. Nancy'd call and be like, "How's Chris doing today?"

555. - And I'd say, "I haven't seen him." - She talked to me about it several times.

556. She was like, "Something's going on, I don't know what it is.

557. you gotta Tell me if you notice something." I was like, "There's something up."

558. He just seemed different.

559. He was talking more about other wrestlers that had children kidnapped.

560. and fans that went sideways and were violent.

561. He used to take different cars

562. and different ways to the gym that we had been going to for years.

563. It was super random. He just didn't want to be places and be seen.

564. There was a level of paranoia we had never, ever seen before.

565. Nancy started getting really worried.

566. She's like, "I'm really worried for Chris. This is really affecting him so many ways."

567. He just was sad all the time and depressed. He was impatient.

568. There was a lot of fighting going on for reasons, she didn't understand why he would be upset.

569. She would just be like, "Life is just really hard right now.

570. Like, Chris is just irritable and he doesn't want to talk to me.

571. He's mad all the time." He was just mad at life in general.

572. There were a few months where he closed off,

573. not even talking to Nancy, not really talking to anyone.

574. So we got Chris a journal so that he could write to Eddie.

575. After we got him that journal is when he started opening up more

576. 'cause writing to him, he started feeling, like,

577. maybe Eddie was with him in spirit and heart,

578. by just being able to talk to him every day.

579. Was there any point Nancy wanted Chris to step away from wrestling at all?

580. That last year.

581. She didn't think it was healthy, physically or mentally,

582. for him to be on the road

583. and doing so much work in the places he and his best friend used to be

584. and do things together.

585. I remember talking and he was like, "Every building I go to all I can do is think of Eddie.

586. We're in Kansas City. Last time I was here, Eddie was here.

587. and now We're in New Mexico. Last time I was here, Eddie was here."

588. I think All of those things were kind of signs that something really serious was going on with him.

589. He was so grief stricken on a monumental level

590. that she thought staying in the company and the business

591. was going to eventually harm his well-being.

592. It's Saturday night. We're gonna go into Laredo, Texas.

593. We're doing the Texas loop.

594. I get to Laredo and, Chris, myself

595. and Scott Armstrong are gonna ride together.

596. And then I get a call from Chris and he goes, "I'm not gonna make it."

597. I go, "What's wrong?"

598. He goes, "Oh, Daniel and Nancy have food poisoning

599. and I'm trying to take care of them."

600. And I'm like, "Oh, man. You good? You alright?"

601. And he's like, "Yeah, I'm okay, I'm okay."

602. I said, "Tomorrow we're in Houston for Pay Per View." He goes, "okay, okay, Great."

603. I said, "Okay, man." And he goes, "Chavo, Chavo."

604. And I go, "Yeah?" And he goes, "I love you."

605. And I'm like, "Okay, brother. I love you too, man." That was weird.

606. And I go, "Are you okay?"

607. He was like, "Yeah, I'm okay, man. I'm just really tired."

608. I said, "okay man okay well, Call me if you got a problem."Okay. I will."

609. So then that's it.

610. about 5:30 in the morning, I get a text and it was from Chris' phone

611. and it said, "The dogs are in the enclosed pool area

612. and the back door is open."

613. So I'm half asleep and I see this and I'm like, what the heck is that?

614. All of a sudden, 30 seconds later, I get a text from Nancy's phone

615. and it says the same thing.

616. I was like, what? That's weird.

617. I get another text right afterwards, tells me his address. What is that?

618. So I disregard it, I'm picking Chris up in three hours at the airport.

619. so then I meet Scott downstairs and we get breakfast, I talk to him.

620. I'm like, "Did you get a weird text from Chris?" And he goes, "I did."

621. I said, "What did it say?" And he said the exact same thing.

622. We drive to Corpus Christi for the next show. Still No word from Chris.

623. so The head of talent, Johnny Ace, asked me, "hey chavo have You heard from Chris?"

624. And I said, "No. But, look," and take out my phone and show him,

625. "These are the texts I got from Chris yesterday."

626. Johnny, in his raspy voice, is like, "Why didn't you show us?"

627. And I'm like,"look man We were covering for Chris.

628. We didn't know where he was, you didn't know where he was."

629. The office started to get concerned

630. 'cause it was like, one, two, three in the afternoon.

631. So Vince McMahon sent a wellness check to his house.

632. My Name is Dennis Fagan, I run security for World Wrestling

633. and one of our wrestlers that lives down there is missing.

634. We need a welfare check done.

635. - And what's his name? - Chris Benoit. Spelled B-E-N-O-I-T.

636. Okay, and he's a wrestler?

637. So Vince McMahon calls a meeting at the ring.

638. Dean Malenko's sitting next to me. I just had this really bad feeling.

639. Dean's like, "Something's wrong. Something is not right."

640. that's when Vince McMahon stands up in the ring

641. and says, "We just got word

642. that Chris Benoit, Nancy and Daniel have all passed away."

643. And the gasps, of course, around the ring.

644. I remember Vickie 'cause she just let out this scream.

645. I freaked out and I started crying and Dean kind of stood up

646. and he grabbed my hand, he took me off to the back.

647. Vince is backstage and I walk up to Vince and I say, "What happened?"

648. And I'm a little frantic.

649. He says, "They're gone." I said, "What do you mean?" He hugs me super tight.

650. And my head's on his shoulder, crying to Vince, like, "No, no, no."

651. Like, "What happened? I don't understand."

652. Nobody understood, no one knew the details yet.

653. I didn't know what was going on but I heard enough to know something's not right.

654. If you would have lined up 100 people against the wall

655. and said, "Name one that's gonna kill his family."

656. How can this be? How could he have done this? He fooled us all.

657. Next Time

658. I went from just being a regular welfare check. okay We got something more serious here.

659. I came out the theater,

660. and I turn my phone on had 22 missed calls from my parents.

661. The cop told me that they passed away over the weekend.

662. You didn't want to believe it.

663. Can't believe it. can't be True. But it was.

664. The act of what he did is unthinkable, unforgivable.