We all have those moments in life where we will never forget where we were when a certain event happened. This is certainly the case with the Chris Benoit tragedy.
I was driving home from work. It was a normal Monday at the Wynne Progress/East Arkansas News-Leader in Wynne, AR. We completed another edition of our weekly East Arkansas News-Leader publication and began initial work on the Wynne Progress.
I left the office around 5 p.m. and began my one-hour drive home to Jonesboro, AR.
On the way, I decided to give Brian Tramel a call to discuss some wrestling tidbits. It’s a call I will never forget.
Tramel answered with his usual “hello” and I gave him my typical line of “Do you want to know what is wrong with the wrestling business today?”
Usually Tramel will at least chuckle or give me grief by saying, “What do you want?” in a humorous tone. There was no humor in his voice on this occasion.
I started the conversation in a good mood which caused Tramel to comment, “You haven’t seen the website have you?”
“No,” I replied. “What’s up?”
He informed me that Chris Benoit and his family were found dead earlier that afternoon. I was floored.
How could this be? What happened?
Then, as the week went by, details of the alleged double murder-suicide came to light. Something went wrong with Chris Benoit. There are all sorts of speculation as to what it was, but I won’t go back into those details. In my opinion, this is just an extreme tragedy all the way around.
My first glimpse of Benoit came in 1993 during his brief tenure with World Championship Wrestling. He teamed with one of my all-time favorites and future friend “Beautiful” Bobby Eaton. The pair had a short feud with the Cole Twins and Tex Slazenger and Shanghi Pierce, who later became the Godwinns in the World Wrestling Federation.
I wouldn’t see Benoit again until early 1995 and his stint in Extreme Championship Wrestling. I followed Benoit from there through his run in WCW from 1995-2000 and eventually WWE stint from 2000 until his death.
Benoit’s biggest career moment came on March 14, 2004 at WrestleMania XX in New York City’s famed Madison Square Garden. He defeated Triple H and Shawn Michaels in a triple threat match to win the WWE World Title. I watched this pay-per-view along with Eaton and his youngest son. We went to a PPV party at a restaurant in Nashville, TN, to view the event after returning from a Saturday evening booking in Portsmouth, OH, the night before.
I did get to meet Benoit once. He was on the card, facing Kurt Angle on a Memphis Championship Wrestling show at Oman Arena in Jackson, TN, in April 2001. I watched as Benoit gave advice to one of the developmental stars who was injured in his match.
Sadly, Benoit will be remembered as “the wrestler who killed his wife and kid.” He should be remembered as one of the greatest to ever compete and certainly tops of his generation. That will not be the case now.
I can never condone what you did Chris, but I do thank you for your contributions to professional wrestling. You were one of the few who tried to keep “wrestling” alive in an era where many want a complete shift to “sports entertainment.”
In our crazy fantasy world of pro wrestling, I wish this were all some stupid storyline we could complain about. Unfortunately, this ordeal is real and is one that I don’t think we can ever truly understand.
I wish we could turn back the clock and maybe find out what led Chris to his terrible decision. Maybe we could have changed his mind. God bless the families of Chris, Nancy and Daniel. You are in all of our thoughts and prayers.
