The Darkest Day In Wrestling: How the Chris Benoit murders changed WWE forever

Pro wrestling storylines can often rival most daytime soap operas, but there are times when real-life drama completely overshadows any work of fiction. The tragic news that would emerge on 25 June 2007 was so horrific it shook not only the wrestling industry but the entire world. 

We’re, of course, talking about Chris Benoit. Once regarded as one of WWE’s standout performers, Benoit has essentially been whitewashed from the wrestling archives due to his shocking actions over the course of one weekend in 2007.

The ugly details of what happened started to emerge on the evening of Monday 25 June, 2007, just as WWE were about to begin taping their ‘Raw’ show.

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In a rare, kayfabe-breaking moment, the show started with a statement from Chairman Vince McMahon: “Good evening. Tonight, this arena here in Corpus Christi, TX, was to have been filled to capacity with enthusiastic WWE fans. Tonight's storyline was to have been the alleged demise of my character, Mr McMahon,” he said on the broadcast.

He continued: “However, in reality, WWE Superstar Chris Benoit, his wife Nancy, and their son Daniel, are dead. Their bodies were discovered this afternoon in their new, suburban Atlanta home. The authorities are undergoing an investigation.”

“We here in the WWE can only offer our condolences to the extended family of Chris Benoit, and the only other thing we can do at this moment is, tonight, pay tribute to Chris Benoit,” the statement concluded.    

As WWE’s tribute to Benoit was wrapping up that night, details had started to emerge that Chris, Nancy and Daniel had all died on different days over the weekend and that the police were not looking for any other suspects, working under the belief that Chris Benoit murdered his wife and son before killing himself.

Please be advised, some of the following details may be graphic and upsetting.

On Friday 22 June, Benoit killed his wife Nancy at their home in Georgia (pictured). Evidence found at the scene indicated she had been gagged, restrained and strangled. Sometime the following day, Benoit murdered their son Daniel by strangulation. Evidence shows he had been sedated prior to the event, highlighting the methodical nature of the crimes. A copy of the Bible was left beside each body.

On Sunday morning, Benoit called the WWE offices to explain that he would be absent from a pay-per-view event in Houston that night as his son was vomiting, and that he and Nancy were at the hospital with him. Later that day Benoit ended his own life by hanging.

The shocking event became a leading story all around the globe, but few were rocked more than the WWE and its loyal fans. On Tuesday 26 June 2007, after details of the murder-suicide became available, the company aired a recorded statement by McMahon before its ECW broadcast.

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“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Last night on 'Monday Night Raw', the WWE presented a special tribute show, recognizing the career of Chris Benoit. However, now some 26 hours later, the facts of this horrific tragedy are now apparent. Therefore, other than my comments, there will be no mention of Mr Benoit's name tonight.”

The statement continued: “On the contrary, tonight's show will be dedicated to everyone who has been affected by this terrible incident. This evening marks the first step of the healing process. Tonight, WWE performers will do what they do better than anyone else in the world: entertain you”

McMahon issued an almost identical statement ahead of their ‘Smackdown’ broadcast on Friday 29 June. The WWE would soon distance itself from anything relating to Benoit going forward. 

The WWE website removed all past mentions of Benoit, including all news articles relating to the specific details of the incident, as well as his biography and the video tribute comments from Benoit's peers.

In WWE’s database and subscription service, the ‘WWE Network’ Benoit is not listed by name, even in the matches he performed in. If a match is shown that does include Benoit, a parental advisory warning is shown before a program. Searching for Benoit returns no results.

Even Canadian rock band, Our Lady Peace, who wrote and performed Benoit’s entrance song ‘Whatever’ stopped playing the song live, saying they could not reconcile with the song given the tragic circumstances.

The tragedy has since been by a range of different outlets, perhaps most notably in a documentary for Vice as part of their 2020 series of ‘Dark Side of the Ring’

CM Punk,  who was scheduled to face Benoit at the 'Vengeance: Night of Champions' pay-per-view the night he died, discussed the Benoit murder in a 2011 interview with GQ, saying it was "a pretty... low point in everyone's life. A lot of people don't like to talk about it. It still blows my mind."

Wrestler Chavo Guerrero, one of Benoit’s closest friends and with whom Benoit had been in contact with over the weekend the murders took place, said in 2022 on the CVV podcast that it was something that he was ‘still struggling with to this day’.

It is still unclear why Benoit did what he did, but evidence suggests he was struggling with severe brain damage, attributed to repeated untreated concussions suffered through his work. Tests conducted on Benoit's brain at West Virginia University, showed "Benoit's brain was so severely damaged it resembled the brain of an 85-year-old Alzheimer's patient"

This event, and the findings on Benoit's brain led to lasting changes in the company. Most notably they overhauled many of their safety protocols relating to head injuries, and using weapons such as steel chairs to strike opponents on the head became increasingly rare and were completely banned in 2010.

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