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The much-awaited two-part episode from Dark Side of The Ring on Chris Benoit's death and the aftermath was finally shown to the world, and it was a gripping documentary that captured the feelings of everyone involved.
While the suicide-murder of Chris, Nancy Benoit, and Daniel Benoit will forever be remembered as a tragic moment in wrestling history, it's the people who knew them that suffered the pain and loss. The documentary featured interviews with Chris Jericho, Jim Ross, Chavo Guerrero, Vickie Guerrero, David Benoit, Nancy's sister, and Dean Malenko.
With that said, certain revelations came to light that is disturbing in some respects. Considering that this came from the people that knew him best, it's certainly worth mentioning in this list.
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Here are six new things we learned about Chris Benoit from the Dark Side of the Ring.
#6 Chris Benoit would punish himself for mistakes he made inside the ring
In a lot of ways, Chris Benoit was the definition of a professional wrestler. The Canadian Crippler took his art seriously as he considered himself an artist when he was in the middle of the ring. Chris Jericho recalls that during a non-televised match, he failed to take a spinning heel-kick from Jericho properly, and this annoyed Benoit.
Jericho said that Benoit had felt that 'he exposed the business'. Even though it was not on TV, Jericho said that while he didn't care, Benoit had the opposite reaction. Jericho said:
"I found him in the back doing half squats like Hindu squats."
Jericho asked him why he was doing these squats and Benoit replied that he was doing 500 squats because he 'scr*wed' up.
"That was him. He had to purge himself and punish himself for making this minor mistake. "
#5 Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit didn't like each other (at first)
Most wrestling fans are aware of the friendship that Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit had with each other. They both came to WWE at the same time and both held World Titles on the same night at WrestleMania 20. It was a dream come true for real-life best friends.
The thing was that it didn't start that way. According to the documentary, the two met while working together in Japan. Chris Jericho said that they would beat the '$hit out of each other.'
While they were both fantastic performers who worked with each other, Eddie didn't care for Benoit at first. According to Vickie Guerrero, he would call and complain to her on the phone She said:
"Eddie would call me and be like, 'I can't stand this a$$hole. He's such a p#ick."
Vickie believes that the more they worked with each other, the more they respected each other, and this would lead them to becoming the best of friends in the years to come.
#4 Chris Benoit was utterly destroyed by the death of Eddie Guerrero
Eddie Guerrero will go down in WWE history as one of the most charismatic performers of his generation. His death came as a shock to many of the people around him. None were more devastated than Chris Benoit himself.
In the documentary, Chavo Guerrero said that he was the one who found Eddie on the floor in his hotel room and heartbreakingly revealed that Eddie died in his arms. When Benoit found out, it was an earth-shattering moment that unsettled Benoit and he possibly never really recovered.
When Eddie died, Vickie Guerrero said that Nancy Benoit was the one who came to help her with the running of the house as she was still in mourning over the death of her husband. This led Nancy to stay over with Vickie for a month.
Chris Benoit would then visit them, and Vickie says that she would find Chris on Eddie's side of the bed. Vickie said:
"He would just be there crying holding Eddie's pillow."
Vickie reveals that Chris was crying at times when he would visit as he truly missed Eddie.
#3 Chavo Guerrero got mysterious texts from Chris Benoit and Nancy Benoit's phones
Before Chris Benoit was to appear at the PPV that Sunday, he made a call to Chavo Guerrero saying that Nancy Benoit and Daniel Benoit were suffering from food poisoning and that he had to take care of them. He was supposed to ride with Chavo the day before for the PPV. He told Chavo that he would be there for the PPV and told Chavo that he 'loved him.'
Chavo said that later that night, he got a text from Chris's phone, and it said, "The dogs are in the enclosed pool area, and the back door is open." Chavo was half-asleep and didn't understand the message. Chavo recalls that he got a text from Nancy's phone 30 seconds later, and it was the same message.
Chavo found these messages to be strange. He got another text afterwards with an address, and he disregarded as he was going to pick up Chris at the airport. Chris never showed up as WWE officials didn't get any word from him.
Of course, the murders had already taken place during that time, and Chris and his family were no more.
#2 Chris Benoit was physically abusive with Nancy Benoit
The documentary did a great job of trying to interview people about Chris Benoit from every angle in the events leading up to the tragedy and the aftermath of it. They also interviewed Sarah, Nancy Benoit's sister.
Several people were saying that there were issues between Chris and Nancy. There were times where Chris was violent where in one instance, according to Vickie Guerrero, Chris busted the windshield of the car.
Sarah tells of another story where Nancy called her, and it was suggested that Chris had hurt her physically. She doesn't know whether it was deliberate or not, but it did happen. Later, Nancy Benoit had gotten a restraining order against him, and Sarah went to stay at the house with her.
Chris, who was at a hotel, tried calling Nancy who wouldn't take his calls. He called Sarah to speak on his behalf to her sister and that he wanted to talk to her personally. He came over the next day, and they were back together. Sarah recalls:
"I look back on that moment and probably shouldn't have gotten involved, why did I take his call and that would have been the end of it. Almost everyday, I think about that."
#1 Nancy Benoit wanted Chris Benoit to quit wrestling
While the horrific events detailing the murder and its aftermath are well depicted in the documentary, could it have been avoided? The filmmakers pose the question if Nancy Benoit wanted her husband to quit wrestling, and she said that she did that last year. It more had to do with the fact that Chris Benoit was still grieving over the loss of Eddie Guerrero.
Nancy felt that it was detrimental for Chris to be the same places that he and Eddie used to work. Chris Jericho seemed to confirm the same as he recalls Benoit telling him that everywhere they went would remind him of Eddie. Sarah (Nancy's sister) said that her sister felt that Chris Benoit staying in the business would eventually harm his well-being.
Sadly, Nancy Benoit was proven to be right. With that said, wrestling fans will always be left in a quandary on how to separate the performer and the man who committed an unforgivable act. It's something that many in the wrestling community will ponder in the years to come.
