In 2015, most proper pro wrestling fans know enough about the last days of Chris Benoit to write their own version of this story: how, in a single horrifying weekend, one of the most admired and respected veterans of the squared circle bizarrely and out of nowhere ended the lives of his wife and young son, before ending his own. Pro wrestlers have been in trouble with the law before, but Benoit was practically a choirboy compared to most. Pro wrestlers have had problems with drink and drugs: Benoit was a saint compared to most. Friends and colleagues alike couldnt understand it. How could a devoted family man like Chris Benoit do that? Many theories have been proposed in the last eight years. He was being prescribed testosterone for medical reasons, and had been a serious steroid abuser for years. Was this a case of roid rage? There were other rumours that Benoit and his wife Nancy had been experiencing marital troubles again, having come close to divorce some years previously. Was this a fight that got out of hand? Most troubling, tests performed on Benoits brain post-autopsy indicated that he was suffering from severe CTE: chronic traumatic encephalopathy, caused by repeated, probably undiagnosed concussions over many years (appropriate for a man whod told friends that hed suffered more concussions than he could count). Thats the degenerative disease of the brain that caused what used to be called punch drunk syndrome, a progressive condition similar to dementia that meant his brain allegedly resembled the brain of an 85-year-old Alzheimers patient, according to doctors at the Sports Legacy Institute in Boston. The brain damage was horrifying clumps of battered, dead brain cells were found in all four lobes of Benoits brain, as well as deep in the brainstem. When the doctors admitted that this formed the best and most likely explanation for Benoits sudden, inexplicable actions, WWE dismissed it as speculation. However, they've banned unprotected chair shots to the head and instituted concussion testing since then. A coincidence, of course. Today, Chris Benoits name is missing from the companys history books, and the incredible career of the man worthy of a first-ballot Hall Of Fame selection will be buried deep in non-partisan records. WWE will never acknowledge his contribution to their success: meanwhile, a man, a woman and a young boy have been forever lost to the people that loved them. Its just so desperately sad
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
