All language subtitles for Dark Side Of The Ring S02e01 Benoit Part One

My name is Dennis Fagan. I run the
security for World Wrestling, and one of

wrestlers that lives down there is
missing.

Okay, and what's his name?

Chris Benoit.

Chris Benoit was considered by many of
us in the business as being one of the

greatest workers in wrestling. He was
nicknamed the rabid wolverine, the

Canadian crippler. They tried to reach
his wife, Nancy. She doesn't answer.

tried to call his house. I plan on
ruling the wrestling world.

She was in love, more in love than I'd
ever, ever seen her in my life. This was

during Chris and Nancy's wedding. Daniel
was the best man, of course.

All right, we'll go ahead and send
somebody out there to check on it. While

wrestling world in shock today, former
champion Chris Benoit found dead in his

Atlanta home along with his wife and
young son. Police now treating the

discovery as a double murder -suicide.

On June 25, 2007, Chris Benoit's brutal
murder of his wife and son dominated the

news cycle, leaving the world searching
for answers.

Going over it in my mind, like, why did
this happen? How did it happen? Could it

have been stopped?

Authorities say Benoit strangled his
wife and suffocated his son before

himself in their home.

The term has been being thrown around
everywhere, roid rage.

When you look at Christopher Benoit's
brain, it is in fact shocking.

For over a decade, those closest to the
killings have been left traumatized and

desperate for closure.

For the first time, friends and family
have come together to tell the story in

their own words.

Chris was just this gentle giant, and I
could never have imagined that he could

hurt someone.

He was probably the greatest wrestler
that's ever lived.

And to have that same person who
murdered your family, that's not an easy

statement for me to make.

That's not the Chris that I knew.
There's so many details, it's so crazy

understand. I need to talk about this.
If you don't want to hear it, if you're

going to give me shit about it later and
say I'm glorifying a murderer, stop

listening now.

All right.

All right, you ready?

Let's rock.

All right.

So first, can you tell us who you are?

I'm David Benoit, son of Chris Benoit.

He's one of the greatest wrestlers of
all time, I believe.

That was just his job. As soon as he got

off the road, he was just dad.

That was it, no matter what.

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

And then he saw the Dynamite Kid.

Against the Dynamite Kid, also 214 from
Liverpool.

And then he's like, yep, that's what I
want to do.

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

He emulated him. His work ethic, nothing
like it.

And then he would do his signature
flying headbutt.

He would climb up to the top rope, jump
off Spread Eagle, and connect.

Busted his ass in the ring every single
night. Gave it 120 % no matter what.

I got my very first Nintendo, and I had
WCW Mayhem, and I played as him.

Chris Van Wall is on the radar as a pro
wrestler since, gosh, the 80s.

I'm Jim Ross, got into wrestling in
1974.

I'm now the senior advisor to AEW.

I'm a wrestling fan, so if you're a
wrestling fan, how could you not be a

Chris Benoit's work?

He's always considered one of the best
workers ever, even when he's young. He

was just a natural.

My name is Chris Jericho.

I've been wrestling for a long time,
almost 30 years.

Watching Chris Benoit was one of the
reasons why I really enjoyed Stampede

Wrestling and why I started really
thinking, maybe I can do this.

Benoit's a rookie, but he does have the
moves.

If you watch Stampede Wrestling, you can
tell that the guys were...

The smaller guys, they were not as tall
as the giants that you could find in the

WBF. I thought, wow, they're kind of my
size. So in that aspect, someone like

Chris Bemel was kind of an early
influence on me.

The most intense and believable
performer I've ever been in the ring

with. He could see things that would
happen before they happened.

His first job was wrestling, and his
last job was wrestling. All he ever did

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

I was a huge fan of Chris right off the
get -go.

He's the ultimate performer.

D -Maleka. I wrestled for ECW, WCW, and
of course WWF slash WWE.

Chris was a very quiet, very reserved,
you know, very serious guy, and kind of

like into his own.

Little world at times, but when the red
light went on and that bell rang, Chris

Benoit was a whole other person.

Extremely focused, probably one of the
most focused individuals I've ever seen

in any sport, for that matter.

Chris took nothing less than being
perfect.

I did a few tours with Benoit over in
Japan, and we had a match. I gave him a

spin kick, and I didn't hit him in the
head with it, nor should you. It's

wrestling. You work together to put on a
show. He felt like he took it the wrong

way. He felt that he exposed the
business with his ineptitude. Meanwhile,

you nobody noticed anything because a
quick kick goes by. You take a bump.

not on TV. Who cares?

He cared.

I found him in the back doing hack
squats, like Hindu squats where you just

up and down. One, two.

And I go, what's wrong? He's like, I
messed up that kick and I have to do

now. I'm like, why?

Who told you to do squats? Are you in
trouble? No, I'm just doing them on my

own. I screwed up. I'm doing 500 squats.

That was him. It's like he had to purge
himself and punish himself for making

this minor mistake that to him was
everything.

And Eddie was like that too.

Wrestling fans, of course, all know who
Eddie Guerrero is. To many in the

wrestling world, he's considered as one
of the absolute best wrestlers of all

time.

I'm Chavo Guerrero Jr., third
-generation professional wrestler from

legendary Guerrero family.

When Eddie was about 18, he started
really training for wrestling, started

wrestling all over Mexico, and then
transitioned into Japan and became one

their top stars and was called Black
Tiger.

He was this tall Mexican guy with long
hair and cowboy boots and pants that

tight, and I loved his ass, and I
thought he was the most gorgeous guy.

My name is Vicky Guerrero. I am a former
WWE superstar, and I fell

in love with Eddie.

He loved wrestling. He ate it. He dreamt
it. He was always doing promos in the

bathroom mirror.

He was always showing me, hey, can I try
this move on you and tell me if it

hurts. Those were kind of fun days in
the bed. I mean, I'm not going to lie.

Those were good times.

Super nice, very friendly, would give
you the shirt off his back, like

literally. Like you could just tell the
sweetness just exuded from this guy.

A little bit crazy as any wrestler.

can be, especially from that generation.
Very small, though. When we were in

Japan, the referee, Hattori, used to
call him the Mexican Flamingo.

Big, big upper body, small leg.

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

They would beat the shit out of each
other, almost like they owed each other

lot of money.

Eddie would call me and be like, yeah.

I can't stand this asshole. Like, he's
such a prick, and, you know, I can't

believe I have to work with him for the
next week or two.

I think even in today's world of
wrestling, every company out there, they

back and watch those matches.

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

I really wanted to be like those guys,
you know? Like, that's why my name was

Lionheart for so long.

Because I wanted to be an animal like
those guys.

Eddie was Black Tiger.

Chris was Pegasus Kid, Wild Pegasus.

Those two just saw things differently.

And that was part of what made them so
great.

The more they fought, I think the more
that they started, you know, respecting

each other, they hit it off. And they
ended up just, you know, being the best

friends.

These particular earrings are a pair
that my sister wore as a woman on WCW.

I decided that I would wear what she
thought would look good on camera.

My name is Sandra Toffoloni, and I am
the only sibling of Nancy Benoit.

My sister Nancy just married right out
of high school.

Her first husband was a huge wrestling
fan and got her to go into the matches,

and she really liked it.

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

that picked her out of the crowd.

You know, she's a beautiful woman.

The first time it was just kind of like
a weekend thing, and then it turned into

something else.

She met Kevin Sullivan in Florida
Championship Wrestling.

He's probably one of the greatest
promoters and bookers that's ever worked

wrestling.

Kevin Sullivan, who was the Satanic
character, and he was Satanic because he

shaved an X into his chest hair and put
makeup on, you know.

That was about the extent of his
Satanism, you know. He would wear a

And they had an instant connection as
friends, and then not shortly after that

were falling in love. She was already in
the process of divorcing her first

husband.

To Kevin, he had this...

idea in his head to grow this gimmick of
he's the prince of darkness and he has

this army of darkness behind him and
nancy by his side as the fallen angel

welcome to polynesian pro wrestling i'm
angel your co -host and here's my master

kevin sullivan no angel you've done a
fine job the name fallen angel came from

your riot heap album and the cover of it
had this Beautiful woman in a leather

-ish bikini with feathers and a sword.
And she looked at that cover and said,

man, that's a gimmick.

She was good at what she did. Probably
one of the first that really understood

the art of being a valet or second, so
to speak.

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

People would stop her. They recognized
her. They believed she was possessed.

She'd be getting gas and they would come
over and like, we're just going to lay

hands on you and pray, pray for your
soul.

And she loved it because she knew if
they hate me, I'm absolutely doing my

Because she wasn't a wrestler, but she
was very valuable as a ringside

performer. And that's a lost art. Now
there's no such thing, right? Every girl

in the business has to be a wrestler.

She wasn't that, but she probably knew
the business better than most.

She did Kevin's makeup. She did her own
makeup.

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

Guys would break their tights. Nancy
would be there with thread and needle.

We had duffel bags full of boa
constrictors all around the house.

In the beginning, how would you describe
their dynamic, like what they saw in

each other, do you think?

Nancy and Kevin's? Yeah. Oh, man.

You know, he worshipped her, and she was
all in with him.

She was in love, and their dynamic was
awesome.

So they moved to WCW.

It was a big step up, obviously, from
what they were doing.

WCW, where the big boys play.

Dean Malenko, Crispin Waugh, and Eddie
Guerrero were the three amigos.

All three of them came to WCW together.

What did they call this guy up north,
the Canadian Crippler?

Did you see that? Kevin was a booker at
the time, booking productions, booking

talent for storylines.

Everyone kept talking about this really
great technical wrestler that was coming

out. I knew he was new to the company,
and I know that my brother -in -law

wanted to book him.

I just knew Nancy is the fallen angel
character.

Then getting to WCW, she was woman.

I am woman.

So men, look at it.

Wish you had it.

And eat your heart out. Woman was the
one character she was attached to

it was most like her actual personality.

I'm going to watch your every move, Ric
Flair.

I'll see you at the class, big boy.

She's independent. She takes nothing
from anyone.

And got to help you if you get in her
way.

This one's for you.

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

And at that time, Kevin was booking
Chris and himself into matches, and

kind of became a part of it. Things were
kind of happening a little weird, but

nobody really knew what was going on.
Kevin Sullivan, it started out as you

I, and then you brought Nancy into it.
The joke in the business is always that

Kevin Sullivan booked his own divorce.

It's funny to a point, and then it's
kind of not funny at all, because I'm

certain that it was not meant to happen.

Starting in WCW, Dean Malenko, Eddie
Guerrero, Chris Benoit, who all came in

together, they loved it. They were happy
when they were, you know, getting some

props because even them being smaller in
a sense, they were the workhorses. You

could always count on them.

Benoit takes flight.

He is on tour with a swan dive.

So Kevin Sullivan, the booker, the story
maker, writes the story and has this

idea to have...

Woman, who is Nancy, leave Kevin's side
and start going with Kevin's arch rival,

who is Chris Benoit. What's it feel like
losing the most important thing that

you ever had?

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

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

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

Nancy left Kevin Sullivan to go with
Chris Benoit.

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

person. And with her focusing on her own
career, I think there were strains

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

escalated. Nancy would reach out to
Chris whenever she would have a bad

with Kevin. And Chris was her safe
haven, you know, where she would go

he was at.

Chris was going through problems with
his wife at the time, so two people kind

of gravitating toward each other because
they're, you know, having difficulties.

So I got a call from my husband telling
me that Nancy had some problems and

could I help her.

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

she came in and removed her sunglasses
and she had a huge black eye.

She told me Kevin had done that to her,
and I just told her that I'm going to

help you in any way we can. We need to
document this.

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

I just thought it was going to blow up.

Bash at the Beach was in Daytona Beach
at the Ocean Center.

It was Kevin Sullivan going against
Chris.

It was a great match.

I thought it looked super realistic.

And then at one point, Chris and Kevin
really started exchanging blows.

Chris hit Kevin really hard on the side
of the head, and it broke his eardrum.

The match ended, but the fight continued
backstage.

And I was called out to go backstage.

I started to watch towards Kevin.

And Chris is like, no, no, don't do
that.

And Kevin's yelling from the other end
of the hallway, come on, come on, come

with me, come with me, we're leaving.

Chris handed me the phone, and it was my
sister on the other end. She's like,

Sandra, get out of there.

Come home. Come to the condo.

Just go with Chris.

Do not go with Kevin.

And I always do what my sister says, so
that's what I did. No explanation

needed.

I went to the condo, and my sister came
out to talk to me, and she was visibly,

physically hurt.

She explained to me that her injuries
were from Kevin and that Chris had

her and that she was leaving Kevin.

I told her she had to.

Chris was a nice person and all I knew
about him was that he helped my sister

a time that she really needed it. So for
that, he instantly had my thanks and my

admiration.

And she was...

More in love than I'd ever, ever seen
her in my life.

The way they looked at each other, we're
like, oh, yeah, it's going to work.

And Nancy and I became master friends.

Chris decided that he wanted to push his
career forward a little bit, and then

she just really, really, really wanted
to focus on building the house and

starting a family.

And then all of a sudden, Daniel was
born.

I have never seen Chris so...

beyond himself, just excited.

This is my favorite page because this
was during Chris and Nancy's wedding,

Daniel was the best man, of course.

This is the love that Chris and Nancy
always had.

And then here's them feeding Daniel
after they got married, and Nancy being

princess that she was.

And David was there, too, Chris's
oldest.

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

Nancy, she treated me like I was her own
kid.

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

We were family. We went and had fun,
went to Chuck E. Cheese with Daniel and

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

This is my very favorite photo of David
and Daniel.

It's flippin' adorable.

I mean, that's what siblings are.

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

He'd look up to me, you know?

I loved him.

I protected him.

We wanted to be tag team champions.

That's what we wanted to do, be the tag
team champions of the world together.

So in WCW, there was definitely a
ceiling.

that you would reach.

The bigger guys were getting all the TV
spotlights.

If you weren't like seven foot tall and
huge muscles, you know, you didn't get

the main event.

Chris was getting a little irritated
about the situation with happening at

at the time and never seeing herself in
the main event spot because we kept

getting pushed down.

So we decided to take a walk.

I cannot believe this.

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

They walked out, WWF picked them up in
one second, and the rest is history.

But all three of them got to WWE, then
you really saw the strengths.

Their intelligence for the business and
their view of the business and seeing,

like, we see this, they saw this.

Eddie became one of the best characters
of all time as well as being one of the

best in -ring champions.

And Benoit became just this killer, you
know, no -nonsense Clint Eastwood

performer. It was like Dirty Harry.

Go ahead, make my day. Benoit, he's a
rabid wolverine.

Chris Benoit's been a main eventer for
years.

It wasn't a matter that he was too
short.

Perceived as too short.

Imagine that.

Benoit's a magnificent, extraordinary
athlete.

I always thought, man, getting Benoit
here, it's going to create these great

matchups. And it did.

It was a no -brainer.

But also, Chris was always very much a
great father, you know, very much about

his family.

His kids were always high up on his
list.

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

And of course, any time when Chris
brought the kids around, we'd all play

him.

It really pained him when he had to miss
certain things. I remember at one

point... I said something along the
lines of, like, I got to be home on

Halloween. He's like, oh, man, I wish I
could go home for Halloween, but I got

to work.

And I miss Father's Day, too. I'm like,
as we do, we'll just get those days off.

And it's almost like he didn't want to
ask for days off because, you know,

sacrificing for his art, I guess you
would say.

And there's a similarity between Chris
and Eddie in that both of them

a lot for their art.

Chris and Eddie basically gave their
life for pro wrestling.

For Eddie, wrestling was everything. God
was first, and then family and

wrestling were a close second.

You know, sometimes we'd be in the
locker room, and Eddie's naked in the

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

Chris wasn't religious at all.

And Eddie was the one that started
introducing him about God.

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

even given him a Bible one Christmas.

And Chris always had that on him, and
that was something that meant a lot to

Eddie, to always be a witness to Chris,
you know, and to help him try and find

his higher power.

Chris was very quiet, very reserved, and
it took a while for him to trust

somebody. Eddie would be his go -to guy.
He'd go and talk to him about certain

things, whether it be marriage problems
or family or professional problems.

They'd always confide in each other, and
that's what their friendship was. And I

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

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

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

She was the driving force and
motivation, sort of taking care of.

everything else that wasn't related to
wrestling.

She wanted him to be happy and to be
successful and to be with his best

Eddie was injured a lot. He had a lot of
pain and a lot of injuries that he

couldn't get operations for.

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

As soon as you're off TV for four or six
months, you know, someone else is going

to come and replace you. And that was
something that was always in Eddie's

You know, I was like, I can't stop now.

Everything he did was wrestling, even to
the point where I know he was in a lot

of pain, but he still wanted to wrestle.
That's what he does. That's what he

did. That's who he was.

And there was also a lot of, I mean,
let's be honest, we're adults. We all

the same shit. There's a lot of
drinking. There's a lot of drugs.

But the more that Eddie was trying to
hide his injuries with the drugs and the

alcohol, it was just getting to a
downward spiral.

You know, I thought Chris several
different times to make sure that Eddie

tucked in bed okay, you know, and put on
his side so he wouldn't throw up on

himself.

But then Eddie started getting DUIs and
crashing his car and, you know, having

overdose problems.

There were three ODs that Eddie did in
our house. The first two, I called the

ambulance. And all they did was release
him the next afternoon.

They just sent him home.

The third time, I just let him lay
there.

I actually left and took the girls to
school and just told God, if you're

to take him, just take him now because
it was a bad place in my life.

A lot of Russ's were dying from
substance abuse issues. And in the back

mind, always you're like, man, is Eddie
going to be one of those? Is he going to

be a statistic?

Eddie showed up to work high one day
where he was in bad shape. And I think

when they saw that and Eddie couldn't
perform, that's when he said, we're

to go ahead and let you go. He called me
and said, well, I got fired.

I finally was like, well, thank God. I
mean, because now the worst that could

ever be imagined.

is happening.

They sent him to rehab, lost everything,
and had to go from the depths of hell

and work his way up the system again.

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

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

And that's where Eddie got rehired from
WWE, and things were great. He was in

the best shape.

WrestleMania 20, the fans knew the
history of Eddie and Chris.

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

Me and Nancy were watching from the
skybox.

We were jittery and we were nervous and
we were excited and we were stressed too

because we didn't know, you know, if
they were going to win or what the

was.

When Eddie won, it was pure joy.

See my dad in the ring?

He was my hero.

I remember it like yesterday, man.

Jumped up after he won the belt.

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

And, of course, you see the confetti
and, you know, all the fans just on

feet.

And then I got to see Eddie Guerrero go
out there.

Best friend.

What a moment.

I'll never forget that.

And that's why that's one of the best
moments in not just wrestling history, I

think TV history.

It was the happy storybook ending of
WrestleMania.

You know, thank God the office finally
saw those guys for what they were.

It was my favorite time, my favorite
match.

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

I have never, ever seen a closer
relationship or friendship between

two wrestlers as I did between Chris and
Eddie. It was an actual, real, no

bullshit, out of the ring, caring
relationship.

So there's a super show in Minneapolis.

We got a flight to Minneapolis. It was a
few hours, so Eddie's sitting there

talking to me, and then he kind of just,
he kind of passes out, sleeps. And I'm

like, well, I didn't know that this had
been happening to Eddie. He started

talking to people and passed out in the
middle of the sentence.

So we get off the plane in Minneapolis,
check into our hotel that we always go

to, and we had seen Chris in the lobby
also.

Say, I'll see you down in the morning.
Okay.

It's 7 o 'clock, and we're going to go
work out. You know, three of us

This is the way it was.

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

Next morning, I get a call about 5 .30.

It's the front desk.

Something's wrong with your uncle.

What do you mean something's wrong with
my uncle? So I get a knock on my door.

Security guard.

He's taking me into Eddie's room. I go,
what's going on?

He goes, well, your uncle didn't.

He didn't answer his wake -up call. So
we came to his room and knocked.

No answer. With the latch on, that means
someone's in here.

So they cut the latch off.

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

He's in his underwear.

His toothbrush was in his hand.

I grab him. I kind of try to shake him,
and he's moving, and I hear him

gurgling.

And I'm like, Eddie, Eddie, wiping his
face and he's like,

he's still there, man. And we're trying
and then all of a sudden

he's in my arms and he's not there
anymore.

He passed in my arms, like literally.

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

Then I get a call from Chris. And Chris
goes, hey, man, I'm downstairs. Where

are you?

Hey, man, are you sitting down? He goes,
yeah. And I go, Eddie passed away this

morning. And all you hear is from a guy
with no emotion whatsoever.

You hear.

A whale.

Just this whale from deep down, like a
heartbreak.

If you've ever heard one, this was
heartbreaking.

Then Vince called me.

And he said, he goes, Vicki.

And he's just crying.

I'm just like, I go, is it true? And
he's passed away.

He said, I'm sorry.

Chris went over there and kind of knelt
down and just steady on the forehead. I

went over there and kind of like the
same thing. It was hard. I mean, here's

buddy that you've been with for eight,
ten years, every day pretty much.

And there wasn't really any sign that
obviously he had relapsed. He didn't

relapse. The verdict was heart disease
at 38.

I remember the day that my sister called
me hysterical. I couldn't even

understand her. You take some breaths
and you tell me what's going on. She

couldn't even get the words out. She
told me I just burst into tears.

And I thought about the kids and Vicki
really, you know, just a flash in my

head. And then my next thought was, oh,
my God, Chris.

Eddie Guerrero has passed away.

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

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

But all I could remember was Chris.

He was just crying.

Now I know that I love you.

I miss you.

One by one, they took different talent.
They wanted to talk about Eddie. Eddie's

passing, Eddie's life.

And Chris did it.

Probably really difficult to do.

Because I had a hard time getting
through it.

I want to thank you from my heart and
tell you that I love you and I'll never

forget you.

And that we'll see each other again.

I love you, Eddie.

I believe it was very hard for him, you
know.

I even cried after for him.

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

When I saw Benoit, he, man, he came and
gave me a hug, but it was like the most

desperate, saddest, I'm hanging on for
dear life hug that you could ever get.

Sobbing, deep, hitching sobs and leaving
literally a patch of wetness on the

shoulder of my suit that soaked through
to the shirt, went through the jacket

and shirt of tears.

I'd never seen Chris show emotion
before.

You know, of course it affected all of
us, but I just think it affected Chris

just like so much more.

It affected Chris like a spouse or
something.

When Eddie passed away, not only did it
end Chris and Eddie's relationship, in a

lot of ways it kind of ended mine with
him too.

I think he just became more and more of
a hermit and didn't want to see people

that he knew.

I remember seeing him at Eddie's
funeral, and the WWE guys had to leave

after the funeral to fly to Europe.

You have Chris who has this horrible
damage done to him where he's crying,

sobbing, the lowest point of his life,
and as soon as the funeral's done, he

goes on a plane and flies to Europe to
wrestle.

I didn't get that.

You know, I thought if there's ever a
time to take some time off.

or to give someone some time off. I
think Chris needed to be away from stuff

a while, but I think he just continued
on because he didn't know what else to

do. He didn't handle it well.

Let me just say it like that.

I was in bed, like, for the first week
after we buried Eddie, and Nancy was the

first one at the house, and she helped
me with everything. I mean, she was the

one who was making sure that the kids
were fed.

Finally, she just walked in my room and
she's like, enough.

She goes, enough.

Get up and shower.

Get up because you have two girls that
still love you and they need you.

And I didn't want to do anything.

And she threw me in the shower.

She got the girls dressed.

And she goes, we're going to lunch.

She was my angel in so many ways.

She just immediately went into planning
mode. I'm going to help with this, and

I'm going to do that. I mean, that was
her knee -jerk reaction to grief and

heartache. But Chris locked down.

And Nancy stayed with me for a month
after Eddie passed away, and Chris would

come in when they were off, and I would
find Chris on Eddie's side of his bed,

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

Eddie had a beautiful gym upstairs, and
I would go upstairs, and the girls would

come down, and they would say, Mom,
Chris is crying again.

And I would go to the gym, and Chris
would just be sitting on the bench just

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

To see him just crying in my arms, it
was very emotional.

He was this big, strong man who was
tough and quiet and strong.

He broke my heart.

You know, but then you see Chris, you
know, around the other wrestlers or in a

meeting and he had his face on.

So professional, like you wouldn't even
think that anything was bothering him.

But Chris was getting more and more
distant where he was not being seen as

backstage, you know, where I couldn't
find him. Like Nancy would call me and

like, how's Chris doing today? And I
said, well, I haven't seen him.

She talked to me about it several times.
She was like, there's something going

on and I don't know what it is.

You got to tell me if you notice
something.

And I was like, yeah, there's something
up.

He just seemed different. He was talking
more about other wrestlers that had had

children kidnapped and fans that went
sideways and were violent.

He used to take different cars and
different ways to the gym that we had

going to for years.

It was super random.

He just didn't want to be places and be
seen.

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

Nancy started getting really worried.
She's like, I'm really worried for

This is really affecting him in so many
ways.

He was just sad all the time and
depressed.

He was impatient.

There was a lot of fighting going on for
reasons that she didn't understand why

he would be upset.

And she would just be like, life is just
really hard right now. Like, Chris is

just irritable and he doesn't want to
talk to me.

He's mad all the time. You know, he was
just mad at life in general.

There were a few months where he
completely closed off, not really even

to Nancy, not really talking to anyone.

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

I think that after we got him that
journal is when he started opening up a

little bit more.

Because writing to him, he started
feeling like maybe Eddie was with him in

spirit or in heart by just being able to
talk to him every day.

Was there any point when Nancy wanted
Chris to maybe step away from wrestling

all? That last year.

She didn't think that it was healthy
physically or mentally for him to be on

road and doing so much work in the same
places that he and his best friend used

to be and do things together.

I remember talking to him and he's like,
every building I go to.

All I can do is think of Eddie. Okay,
we're in Kansas City. Last time I was

here, Eddie was here. And now we're in
New Mexico. Last time I was here, Eddie

was here. And I think all of those
things were kind of signs that something

really serious was going on with him.

He was so grief -stricken on a
monumental level that she thought that

the company and staying in the business
was going to eventually harm his well

-being.

It's Saturday night. We're going to go
into Laredo, Texas.

We're doing the Texas Loop.

I get to Laredo, and Chris, myself, and
Scott Armstrong are going to ride

together.

And then later, I get a call from Chris,
and he goes, oh, man, I'm not going to

make it.

I go, what's wrong?

He goes, oh, Daniel and Nancy have food
poisoning, and I'm just trying to take

care of them.

And I'm like, oh, man, are you good? You
all right?

And he's like, yeah, I'm all right.

I'm okay, I'm okay.

I said, well, tomorrow we're in Houston
for the pay -per -view.

So he goes, okay, okay, great.

I said, okay, man. And he goes, chavo.

Chavo.

I go, yeah?

And he goes, I love you.

And I'm like, okay, brother, I love you
too, man.

Hmm.

That was weird.

And I go, are you okay?

He's like, yeah, I'm okay, man. Just,
you know, just, I'm just really tired.

I said, okay, man. Okay, well, you can
call me if you need to get any problem.

Okay, well, I will.

So then...

That's it.

About 5 .30 in the morning, I get a
text, and it was from Chris's phone. And

said, the dogs are in the enclosed pool
area, and the back door is open.

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

All of a sudden, 30 seconds later, I get
another text from Nancy's phone, and it

says the exact same thing.

I was like, that's weird.

I get another text right afterwards. It
tells me his physical address.

What is that?

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

So then I meet Scott downstairs. We go
get breakfast, and I talk to him. I go,

hey, did you get a weird text from
Chris? He goes, yeah, I did.

I said, what did it say?

And he said the exact same thing.

We drive to Corpus Christi for the next
show.

Still no word from Chris.

So the head of talent relations, Johnny
Ace, asked me, hey, Chavo, have you

heard from Chris? And I said, no.

I said, but look, Johnny, and I break
out my phone and I show him. These are

texts that I got from Chris yesterday.

And Johnny, in his raspy voice, is like,
Chavo, why didn't you show us these

yesterday? And I'm like, look, man, we
were covering for Chris.

We didn't know where he was. You didn't
know where he was.

The office is starting to get concerned
because it was getting to be like 1, 2,

3 o 'clock in the afternoon.

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

My name is Dennis Fagan. I run the
security for World Wrestling, and one of

wrestlers that lives down there is
missing. We need a welfare check done.

And what's his name?

Chris Benoit. It's spelled B -E -N -O -I
-T.

Okay, and he's a wrestler?

So this man calls a meeting at the ring.

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

Dean's like, there's something wrong.

Something is not right.

That's when Vince McMahon stands up at
the ring and says, we just got word that

Chris Benoit, Nancy, and Daniel have all
passed away.

And the gasps, of course, around the
ring.

I remember Vicky just let out this
hurling scream.

I freaked out and I started crying and
Dean kind of stood up and he grabbed my

hand and he took me off to the back.

So then Vince is backstage and I walk up
to Vince and I said, what happened?

What happened? And I'm a little frantic.

And he says, they're gone. I said, what
do you mean they're gone? And he hugs me

super tight.

And my head's on his shoulder, like
crying to Vince. Like, no, no, no. Like,

what happened? I don't understand.

I don't understand.

Nobody understood because no one knew
the details yet.

I didn't know what was going on.

But I'd heard enough to know that
something's not right.

If you would have lined up 100 people
against the wall, I said, name one

going to kill his family.

How can this be?

Like, how could he have done this? He
fooled us all.

I went from just being a regular welfare
chick.

Okay, we've got something more serious
here.

I came out of the theater and I turned
my phone on and I had like 22 missed

calls from my parents.

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

You didn't want to believe it. Can't
believe it. Can't be true.

But it was.

The act of what he did is unthinkable,
unforgivable.