Original subtitles

My name is Dennis Fagan.

I run the security for World Wrestling,

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

[Police] Okay, what's his name? [Dennis] 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 and

the Canadian Crippler.

They tried to reach his wife, Nancy.

[Dennis] She doesn't answer. They 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.

[Police] Alright. We'll go ahead and

send somebody out there to check on it.

Well, the 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.

[Narrator] 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 hanging himself in their home.

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

When you look at Chris 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 a 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 have 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 that are crazy to understand.

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

if you're gonna give me shit about it later,

and say I'm glorifying a murderer,

stop listening now.

♪

[sighs] Alright.

[Off-screen] Alright. You ready?

- Let's rock. - [Off-screen] Alright...

...So, first, can you tell us who you are?

I'm David Benoit, son of Chris Benoit...

Who, is one of the greatest wrestlers of all time,

I believe.

[Announcers shouting & crowd cheering]

That was just his job. But, 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.

[Announcer] Against the Dynamite Kid,

also 214, from Liverpool.

[Crowd] [Cheers] [Announcer] Oh!

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 head butt.

He would climb up to the top rope,

jump off, spread eagle. Then, 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 Benoit was 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 fan of Chris Benoit's work?

He was always considered one of the best workers ever,

even when he was young. He was just a natural.

My name is Chris Jericho.

I've been wrestling for a long time,

almost 30 years.

Watching Chis Benoit was one of the reasons why I really

enjoyed Stampede Wrestling and why I started really thinking,

maybe I can do this.

[Announcer ] Benoit is a rookie, but he does have the moves.

To watch Stampede Wrestling, you could tell that

the guys were smaller guys.

They were not as tall as the giants that

you could find in the WWF.

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

So, in that aspect, someone like Chris Benoit

was kind of an early influence on me.

[Wrestlers] [grunts] [Audience] Oh!

The most intense and believable performer

I've ever been in the ring with.

He could see things that would happen before they happened.

[Audience] Oh!

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

All he ever did was wrestle.

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

[Wrestlers] [grunts]

I was a huge fan of Chris Benoit,

right off the get go. He's the ultimate performer.

Dean Malenko. I wrestled for ACW,

WCW, and of course, -WWF/ -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,

when that red light went on and that bell rang,

Chris Benoit was a whole 'nother person.

Extremely focused. Probably one of the most

focused individuals that I've ever seen

in any sport, for that matter.

Chris took nothing less than being perfect.

♪

[Lionheart] Oh! [Audience] Oh!

[Chris] 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, I bet you nobody noticed anything

'cause a quick kick goes by. You take a bump.

It's not on TV. Who cares?

He cared.

♪

I found him in the back doing Hack squats,

like Hindu squats where you just go up and down:

1, 2... And I go, "What's wrong?"

He's like, "Oh, I messed up that kick and, you know,

I have to do squats now." I'm like, "Why?

Who told you to do squats?" Like, "Are you in trouble?"

Like, "No, I'm just doing them on my own.

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

That was him. It was 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 is considered as one of the

absolute best wrestlers of all time.

I'm Chavo Guerrero Jr., third generation

professional wrestler from the legendary Guerrero family.

When Eddie was about 18, he started really training

for wrestling, started wrestling all over Mexico,

and then transitioned it to Japan and became one of

their top stars, and it was called Black Tiger.

♪

He was this tall Mexican guy

with long hair and cowboy boots,

and pants that were tight. And, I loved his ass,

and I thought and I thought he was the most gorgeous guy.

My name is Vickie 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 gonna lie. Those, those were good times.

[laughs]

[Chris] 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 Hitori

used to call him Mexican Flamingo.

[accent] "Big, big upper body. Small leg."

[Dean] I think Chris and Eddie first met in Japan,

if I'm not mistaken.

[match bell]

[Wrestlers] [grunt]

[Chris] They beat the shit out of each other,

almost like they owed each other a lot of money.

[laughs]

[Audience] Oh!

[Vickie] Eddie would call me and be like,

"Man, 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."

[Dean] I think even in today's world of wrestling

every company out there,

they all go 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.

[Announcer] Lion... heart!

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

Eddie was Black Tiger.

Chris was the Pegasus Kid, Wild Pegasus.

Those two just saw things differently,

and that was part of what made them so ----ing 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 of friends.

♪

These particular earrings are a pair that

my sister wore as 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 going to 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.

Humba-hunda, hoobla-hacha!

Hey! Let me tell you something!

He's probably one of the greatest promoters and

bookers that's ever worked in wrestling.

[Chavo] Kevin Sullivan, who was this 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, and he wore a hood.

And, they had an instant connection as friends,

and then, shortly after that were falling in love.

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

♪

So, 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.

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

The name Fallen Angel came from a Uriah Heep album.

And the coverof 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 the gimmick."

[Dean] She was good at what she did.

Probably one of the first that really understood the

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

She's an instrumental part in getting heat,

as we like to say.

[Sandra] People would stop her. They recognized her.

They believed she was possessed.

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

"We're just gonna lay hands on you and pray,

pray for your soul."

And she loved it 'cause she knew,

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

[Chris] 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.

[Sandra] 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 duffle bags full of boa constrictors

all around the house.

[Off-screen] In the beginning, how would you describe

their dynamic, like, what they saw in each other, even?

[Sandra] Nancy and Kevin's? [Off-screen] 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, so...

than what they were doing.

WCW... Where the big boys play.

[Audience] [cheering]

[Chavo] Dean Malenko, Chris Benoit,

and Eddie Guerrero were the three amigos.

All three of them came to WCW together.

[Announcer] What do they call this guy up north,

the Canadian Crippler?

Oh! My goodness! Did you see that?

[Sandra] Kevin was a booker at the time,

booking productions, booking talent for story lines.

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.

[Chavo] I just knew Nancy as 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 'cause

it was most like her actual personality.

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

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

[Sandra] She's independent.

She takes nothing from anyone.

And, god help you if you get in her way.

- Ow! - This one's for you!

[Dean] 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, Nancy 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 and I...

And then you brought Nancy into it.

[Sandra] The joke in the business is always that

Kevin Sullivan booked his own divorce.

It's funny, to a point,

but then it's kind of not funny at all 'cause

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

♪

[Chavo] Starting in WCW, Dean Malenko,

Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit,

who all came in together, they loved it.

They were happy and they were, you know,

getting some props 'cause even them being smaller,

in a sense, they were the work horses.

You could always count on them.

Benoit takes flight!

He is on time with a swan dive!

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

writes a story and has this idea to have Woman,

who was Nancy, leave Kevin's side and start

going with Kevin's arch rival who was Chris Benoit.

What's it feels 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 getting it.

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

Nancy left Kevin Sullivan to go with Chris Benoit.

[Sandra] 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 night with Kevin, and Chris was her safe haven,

you know, where she would go, wherever he was at.

[Dean] Chris was going through some problems with his wife

at the time so, two people kind of gravitating towards

each other 'cause they were, you know, having difficulties.

[Julie] So, I got a call from my husband

telling me that Nancy has

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, you know,

I'm gonna 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 saw it as being in this...

it's gonna blow up.

♪

[Sandra] Bash at the Beach was in

Daytona Beach at the Ocean Centre.

It was Kevin Sullivan going against Chris.

It was a great match, I thought,

'cause it looked super realistic.

And then, at one point, Chris and Kevin were really--

started exchanging blows.

Chris hit Kevin really hard on the side of the head and,

it broke his ear drum.

[Audience] [cheering]

[match bell]

The match ended, but the fight continued backstage.

And I was called out to go backstage.

I started to walk 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. 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 helped 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 in a time that she really needed it so,

for that, he instantly had my thanks and my admiration.

And she was in love.

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

The way that they looked at each other,

we're like, "Oh, yeah, it's gonna work."

And, Nancy and I became best of 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 had never seen Chris so beyond himself, just excited.

♪

This is my favourite page because this was during

Chris and Nancy's wedding and,

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 the princess that she was.

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

[Chavo] David is the son of Chris Benoit,

from Chris' first marriage.

[Chris Benoit] Hi, guys.

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

We didn't use the word "step" in our,

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 favourite photo of David and Daniel.

That's flipping adorable.

I mean, that's what siblings are.

You hang on to one another and

hope for the best for each other.

He would 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.

♪

[Chavo] So, in WCW, there was definitely

a ceiling that you would reach.

[Vickie] The bigger guys were getting all the TV spotlights.

If you weren't like 7-foot tall and huge muscles,

you know, you didn't get the...

the main event.

[Dean] Chris was getting a little irritated about the

situation happening at WCW at the time,

and never seeing ourself for the main event spot because

we kept getting pushed down.

So, we decided to take a walk.

[Announcer] I cannot believe this!

Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit,

and Dean Malenko on WWF Raw.

They walked out.

WWF picked them up in one second and

the rest is history.

[Announcer] Benoit, on top!

[indistinct shouts] Oh my god!

[Chris] When all three of them got to WWE,

then you really saw their strengths.

[Eddie] I lie! I cheat! I steal!

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."

[Announcer] Benoit, who's a rabid wolverine.

I'm telling you; Chris Benoit is heartless.

[Jim] Chris Benoit's been a main eventer for years.

It was only a matter that he was too short.

Perceived as too short, imagine that.

[Announcer] Benoit's a magnificent,

extraordinary athlete.

[Jim] I always thought, man, getting Benoit here

is gonna create these great match ups, and it did.

It was a no-brainer.

- Yay! - Good boy.

[Chris] 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.

[Chavo] 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 with them.

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

I remember at one point, I said something

along the lines of, "I've got to be home on Halloween."

He's like, "Man, I wish I could go home for Halloween.

I've gotta work. And I missed Father's Day too," like...

I was like, "Dude, well, just get those days off."

And, it was almost like he...

didn't want to ask for days off 'cause, you know,

he was sacrificing for his art, I guess you would say.

And, there's a similarity between Chris and Eddie

in that both of them sacrificed 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.

[laughs]

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

Eddie's naked in the locker room reading scripture to,

to other wrestlers and telling them about God.

[Vickie] 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.

[Dean] Chris was very quiet, very reserved,

and it took a while for him to trust somebody.

[Chavo] 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;

that's what their friendship was,

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

[Sandra] 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 friend.

[Vickie] Eddie was injured a lot.

He had a lot of pain, a lot of injuries that,

you know, he couldn't get operations for.

[Announcer] Eddie Guerrero is legal...

Drops, flies... It could be over!

[Vickie] And, as a wrestler, you never say that you need

time off because as soon as you're off TV for 4, 6 months,

you know, someone else is gonna come and replace you,

and that was something that was always in Eddie's mind,

you know, is, I can't stop now.

[Announcer] I think Eddie Guerrero is seriously hurt.

[Chris] 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 all adults here,

we all did the same shit. There was a lot of drinking;

There was a lot of drugs;

[Vickie] But, the more that Eddie was trying to hide

his injuries with the drugs and the alcohol,

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

♪

[Chavo] You know, I saw Chris several different times

make sure that Eddie was 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.

♪

[Vickie] There was three ODs 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, I just let him lay there.

I actually left and took the girls to school,

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

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

♪

A lot of wrestlers were dying from

substance abuse issues and,

in the back of your mind, always,

you're like, man, is Eddie gonna be one of those...?

Is he gonna be a statistic?

[Vickie] Eddie showed up to work high one day,

where he was in bad shape and

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

that's when they said,

"We're gonna 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.

[Chris] They sent him to rehab, lost everything,

and had to go from the depths of hell and

work his way up the system again.

[Vickie] Little by little, he started

changing his life to get clean.

[Chavo] 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 XX, 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 sky box.

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 gonna win or what the outcome was.

[Announcer] Just tap-- Wait a minute!

[indistinct shouts]

1, 2, 3! [cheering]

When Eddie won, it was pure joy.

[Announcer] Benoit going up to the top.

Oh, no! He hit it!

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

[Announcer] [indistinct shouts]

[Audience] [cheering]

I remember it like yesterday, man.

[Announcer] Benoit!

[David] I jumped up after he won the belt.

[match bell]

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 their feet.

[David] And then I got to see Eddie Guerrero go out there,

best friend.

What a moment. I'll never forget that.

♪

[Chavo] 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.

[Dean] You know, thank god, the office finally

saw those guys for what they were.

♪

[David] It was my favourite time, my favourite match.

I wish those two just retired right after that,

to be honest with you.

♪

[fans cheering]

♪

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.

[Chavo] So, there's a super show in Minneapolis.

We got a flight to Minneapolis. It's 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

pass out in the middle of a 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,

saying, "I'll see you down in the morning."

"Okay."

7 o'clock and we're gonna go work out.

It's set, you know, the three of us together,

it's just 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,

and he's taking me to 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, like [mimics gurgling]

And I'm like, "Eddie! Eddie!"

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

He's, he's still there, man, and he's trying,

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

he's not there anymore.

♪

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

Hold on.

♪

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?"

I go, "Hey, man, are you sitting down?"

He goes, "Yeah." And I go,

"Eddie passed away this morning,"

and all you hear is a -

from a guy with no emotion whatsoever -

you hear a wail.

♪

Just this wail from deep down, like a heartbreak.

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

♪

Then Vince called me,

and he said, he goes, "Vickie..."

And he's just crying, and I'm just like,

I go, "Is it true, Eddie's passed away?"

He said, "I'm sorry."

♪

[Dean] Chris went over there and kind of knelt down and

kissed Eddie on the forehead. I went over there and,

you know, kind of like the same thing.

It was hard. I mean...

I mean, here's your buddy you've been with for

8, 10 years, every day pretty much.

♪

[off-screen] And there wasn't really any sign that,

obviously, he had relapsed?

He didn't relapse.

The verdict was heart disease, at 38.

[Sandra] I remember the day that my sister called me,

hysterical. I couldn't even understand her.

"You need to take some breaths and you need to

tell me what's going on," 'cause she couldn't even

get the words out.

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

And I thought about the kids, and Vickie really,

you know, just a flash in my head, and then...

my next thought was, oh my god, Chris.

[cheers & claps]

Eddie Guerrero has passed away.

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

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

But, all I can remember was Chris.

He was just crying.

I want you to know that I love you and 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, which was probably really difficult to do.

Chris 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.

♪

[David] 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, the shirt, of tears.

♪

[Chavo] I had 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 right 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 is ever time to,

to take some time off or to give someone some time off,

I think Chris needed to...

be away from stuff for a while.

But, I think he just continued on

'cause he didn't know what else to do.

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

♪

[Vickie] 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, like,

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, 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 gonna help with this, and I'm gonna do that," and--

I mean, she just, that was her knee jerk reaction

to grief and heart ache.

But Chris... locked down.

♪

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 is very emotional.

Here's this big, strong man who is 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 much backstage.

You know, where I couldn't find him. Like, Nancy would

call me and be like, "How's Chris doing today?"

And I'd say, "Well, I haven't seen him."

[Sandra] 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 gotta 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 been 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 Chris.

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.

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 talking 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 'cause writing to him,

he started feeling like maybe Eddie was with him

in spirit and heart, by just being able to

talk to him every day.

[off-screen] Was there any point when Nancy wanted Chris to

maybe step away from wrestling at all?

That last year.

She didn't think that it was healthy,

physically or mentally, for him to be on the road and

doing so much work in the same places that he and

his best friend used to be, and do things together.

[Chris] I remember talking to him and he was 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."

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 staying in, in the company and staying in

the business was going to eventually harm his wellbeing.

♪

It's Saturday night.

We're gonna go into Laredo, Texas.

We're doing the Texas loop.

I get to Laredo and, Chris, myself,

and Scott Armstrong are gonna ride together.

And then, I get a call from Chris and he goes,

"Oh, man. I'm not gonna 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 alright?"

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

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

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

Hm... That was weird. And I go, "Are you okay?"

He was like, "Yeah, I'm okay, man.

Just, you know, just... I'm just really tired."

I said, "Okay, man, okay. Well, you know,

call me if you got any problem.' "Okay. I will. I will."

So, then, that's it.

About 5:30 in the morning, I get a text and it was from

Chris' phone and it 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, what 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, what? That's weird.

I get another text right afterwards,

he tells me his address. What is that?

So, I disregard it, thinking I'm picking Chris up

in three hours at the airport.

So then, yeah, I meet Scott downstairs and

we go get breakfast and we-- I talk to him. I go, "Hey, man.

Did you get a weird text from Chris?"

And 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, you heard from Chris?"

And I said, "No." I said, "But, look, Johnny,"

and I bring out my phone and I show him,

"These are the 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, for Chris.

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

[Vickie] The office is starting to get concerned 'cause 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

our wrestlers that lives down there is missing.

We need a welfare check done.

[9-1-1] And what's his name?

[Dennis] Ah, Chris Benoit. It's spelled B-E-N-O-I-T.

[9-1-1] Okay, and he's a... a wrestler?

So, Vince McMahon calls a meeting at the ring.

[Vickie] 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 in 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.

[Dean] I remember Vickie 'cause she just

let out this hurling scream.

I freaked out and I started crying and,

Dean kind of stood up and...

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

So then, Vince is backstage and I walk up to Vince and

I say, "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, 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 heard enough to know that something's not right.

If you would have lined up 100 people against the wall

and said, "Name one that's gonna 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 check.

Okay, we got something more serious here.

And 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.

♪