The professional wrestling world was left in a state of profound shock and mourning in June 2007, when one of its most celebrated stars committed an act of unimaginable horror. Chris Benoit, a revered figure known to fans as The Rabid Wolverine, murdered his wife Nancy and their seven-year-old son Daniel before taking his own life at their family home in Fayetteville, Georgia.
The Legacy and the Erasure
Chris Benoit was not just another performer; he was a cornerstone of WWE's success during the late 1990s and early 2000s. A world champion who headlined WrestleMania and triumphed at the Royal Rumble, Benoit was widely regarded as one of the greatest technical wrestlers in the history of the sport. His career spanned decades and continents, with championship victories in promotions across the United States, Canada, and Japan, amassing an impressive tally of 30 titles.
In the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, WWE undertook a comprehensive effort to remove Benoit from its official history. His name was systematically deleted from the company website, video games, press releases, and DVD collections. Mentions of his career became exceptionally rare on WWE programming, effectively erasing his once-prominent legacy from the public narrative.
The Theories and the Documentary
For years, the wrestling community and the public grappled with the question of what could drive a man like Benoit to such a horrific act. Two primary theories emerged in the subsequent investigations and discussions. The first, championed by neuroscientist and former wrestler Christopher Nowinski, pointed to Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). This degenerative brain disease, caused by repeated head trauma, is known to cause severe behavioural changes, aggression, and depression, and has been linked to tragedies in other contact sports like American football.
Post-mortem analysis of Benoit's brain at West Virginia University seemed to support this, revealing damage so extensive it was compared to the brain of an 85-year-old Alzheimer's patient. The second theory focused on the anabolic steroids found at Benoit's home, suggesting the murders could have been a result of so-called 'roid rage'.
McMahon's Dismissive Stance
These theories are directly challenged by Vince McMahon, the scandal-ridden former CEO of WWE, in Netflix's 2024 documentary series, Mr McMahon. In a revealing interview, McMahon offers a starkly different and deeply controversial perspective. He outright dismisses any link between steroid use and the tragedy, stating, "There's no correlation between taking steroids and what happened to Chris Benoit, human beings are flawed. Chris went nuts, it happens in every form of life, that's the only thing I can take away from it."
McMahon goes further, explicitly rejecting the CTE explanation put forward by medical experts. He criticises the doctor's assessment, calling it a "ridiculous statement" and referring to the idea that diving off ropes caused damage as a "complete work"—wrestling parlance for a staged performance. "It looks like there's damage and there's not. We know what we're doing, we don't hurt each other," McMahon asserts, a claim that stands in stark contrast to the documented medical evidence.
Echoes of Scepticism and Legal History
McMahon is not alone in his scepticism within the documentary. Iconic wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin is also featured expressing his disbelief in "all that CTE stuff". This collective dismissal occurs against a backdrop of WWE's own troubled history with performance-enhancing drugs. In the early 1990s, McMahon himself faced federal charges for allegedly supplying anabolic steroids to wrestlers, though he was ultimately acquitted.
Despite the theories and the documentary's revelations, WWE maintains its official position. The company insists it has rigorous concussion protocols and drug-testing policies in place and denies any liability for Benoit's actions. McMahon himself, while offering his disturbing theory, still reflects on Benoit's professional persona, noting, "Chris Benoit was thought of as an excellent in-ring performer. And as far as we knew, a great guy." This tragic episode remains one of the darkest and most complex chapters in sports entertainment history, with McMahon's latest comments adding a new layer of controversy to an already painful legacy.
