Alex Marvez's weekly look at professional wrestling

By ALEX MARVEZ
Scripps Howard News Service

Apparently, Nancy Benoit may have known her tumultuous marriage to a World Wrestling Entertainment superstar was ultimately doomed.
But neither she nor those close to her could have envisioned it concluding like this, with Chris Benoit murdering his wife and seven-year-old son Daniel last weekend in their Atlanta-area home before committing suicide.
"Nancy had for a long time believed this relationship would end violently and in a bad, bad way," said a former co-worker and Benoit family friend speaking on the condition of anonymity. "She always said the two of them were doomed to hurt each other. But she never imagined Daniel would get in the crosshairs."
Instead, Daniel Benoit was found asphyxiated in a bedroom that Fayette (Ga.) County District Attorney Scott Ballard described on CNN as covered by wrestling posters of his father. Law enforcement authorities told ABC they believe Daniel, who WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt said was believed to be suffering from an autistic-like condition called Fragile X, was placed in a lethal chokehold by his father hours after Nancy Benoit was bound with tape and strangled with a cord.
Benoit hung himself with a cable from his basement weight room long after the carnage was complete.
In 2003, Nancy Benoit received a restraining order against her husband after filing for divorce following three years of marriage. She claimed Chris Benoit had threatened to strike her and "cause extensive damage to (their) home and personal belongings."
The restraining order was lifted at Nancy Benoit's request later that year. In March 2004, the family celebrated in the ring together after Chris won the WWE world title in the main event of Wrestlemania XX.
Ann Marie Crooks, who was one of Benoit's co-workers in World Championship Wrestling in 1999, said she is struggling to comprehend what triggered Benoit's actions.
"I knew Chris for about a year and this is not in the man's character at all," said Crooks, a valet who worked under the name "Midnight." "Most wrestlers I knew were cocky, womanizing, etc. He was a true worker. He was low-key, soft-spoken and just a nice guy."
As more details emerged, what was initially unimaginable to others who knew him _ including several WWE performers who initially thought the Benoits had died of a gas leak after hearing the news _ instead tragically ruined the legacy of what was arguably the best pound-for-pound grappler in wrestling history.
Benoit, 40, was among the industry's top in-ring workers for most of his 22-year career. Benoit compensated for having limited interview skills through his intensity and ability to excel in virtually any grappling style ranging from high-flying to brawling.
Now, don't expect to ever see Benoit highlights again on WWE television.
To its credit, WWE stopped all tributes to Benoit on its telecasts and web site after details of his actions surfaced. WWE owner Vince McMahon _ yes, he is alive after being tastelessly "blown up" two weeks earlier in a storyline that was now mercifully dropped _ referred to the Benoit situation at the beginning of Tuesday night's ECW episode by saying his name wouldn't be mentioned again so the "healing process" can begin.
Of course, that process will involve WWE trying to whether a media storm focused on the ongoing rash of young deaths in wrestling and whether the use of anabolic steroids played any part in Benoit's deranged mental make-up. While WWE is claiming Benoit passed a company-sponsored drug test in April, steroids were found in his house and he was a customer of a Florida company under federal indictment for steroid and human growth hormone distribution.
When interviewing Benoit in February 2003 after he had returned from major neck surgery, I asked how long he wanted to wrestle. Benoit said he was taking things "day by day" before reflecting upon others in the industry that had died prematurely.
"I remember my grandparents when they were 70 and sentimental and emotional," Benoit said. "They had gone through their lives and lost friends and family that were part of the older generation. I never quite understood it until now.
"I'm 35 and have so many good friends that are gone. (Referee) Brian Hildebrand, (wrestlers) Rick Rude, Louie Spiccoli ... I sit here and really think about it and it's bothersome."
But nowhere near as bothersome as what destruction the "Canadian Crippler" has left behind.

The Philadelphia-based Ring of Honor promotion, which features some of the industry's top young wrestlers, will make its pay-per-view debut Sunday on Dish Network with replays throughout the month. ROH will be debuting on other pay-per-view outlets later in July. For more information, visit www.rohwrestling.com

http://www.rohwrestling.com/ .

More wrestling news can be found at www.wrestlingobserver.com. Questions can be sent to Alex Marvez c/o the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 200 E. Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale, Fla. 33301, or e-mailed to amarvez

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