Showing posts with label Chris Benoit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chris Benoit. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Chris Benoit, Bio

http://www.wwe.com/shows/ecw/superstars/chrisbenoit/bio/

Height: 5 foot 11
Weight: 220 pounds
From: Atlanta (originally from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada)
Signature Move: Crippler Crossface
WWE Debut: Jan. 31, 2000
Trained By: Stu Hart
Career Highlights: World Heavyweight Champion; World Tag Team Champion; Intercontinental Champion; United States Champion; WWE Tag Team Champion; 2004 Royal Rumble Winner; WCW Tag Team Champion, WCW Television Champion; ECW Tag Team Champion

Two things you immediately notice about Chris Benoit: 1) he’s a man of few words, and 2) he’s one of the greatest technical wrestlers alive. Family and friends have always described him as “quiet” and “soft-spoken,” but his fellow WWE Superstars know better; they know that once Benoit steps inside the ring, he turns into the Rabid Wolverine, whose bite is infinitely worse than any bark.

“Wrestling has consumed my life,” he says. “It’s my mistress, my passion. It defines a lot of who I am as a person.”

It’s somehow fitting that this decorated WWE titleholder began defining himself in Edmonton, the Alberta-based “City of Champions,” as a 12-year-old attending his first live wrestling event at the Old Pavilion. He says that from the moment he saw the Dynamite Kid in ring action, “I wanted to be just like him.” When he wasn’t at home lifting the weights his parents gave him one Christmas, he was training on the football field or in the gym of Archbishop O’Leary High School (where his teachers would occasionally have to remind him to come to class). Or he was traveling with friends to wrestling venues throughout Edmonton and Calgary, becoming regular fixtures to the point where they often helped set up the ring and chairs.

Upon graduating high school, Benoit’s wrestling education ranged from months of torturous training in the renown Calgary “Dungeon” of the legendary Stu Hart, to years in New Japan Pro-Wrestling, where he’d meet best friends Dean Malenko (now a WWE producer) and the late Eddie Guerrero. Benoit’s toothless smile grows whenever he remembers meeting Eddie during New Japan’s Super J Cup Tournament Semifinals—and knocking him out with an enzugiri kick to the head. “That was the beginning of our friendship,” he laughs.

Despite his well-earned reputation for “toothless aggression,” the Rabid Wolverine is a paradox of sorts. He confesses to feeling “freaked out” after breaking Sabu’s neck at ECW’s November 2 Remember in 1994, and hearing then-ECW owner Paul Heyman refer to him as “The Crippler.” He recalls celebrating in the ring with “Stone Cold” Steve Austin almost more than his unlikely win at the 2004 Royal Rumble. (“For the first time in my life,” he admits, “I actually drank a whole beer.”) And it’s hard to believe that someone who made Triple H tap out to win the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XX was originally “very nervous” about joining World Wrestling Entertainment four years earlier. “If you were ever going to make a name for yourself in this industry,” he explains, “WWE was the place to be.”

Chris Benoit has certainly made a name for himself here, and continues to do with every match. As for his missing front tooth, the Rabid Wolverine lost it while play-wrestling with his pet Rottweiler; the dog’s head collided with his chin, causing the tooth to pop out. If the Rottweiler was smart, he didn’t seek a rematch.

WRESTLING DEATH. Chris Benoit (1967-05-21, 2007-06-25).

Chris Benoit was found dead Monday in his home in Atlanta.
I will add here the official news from the wwe official site:

Link of Chris Benoit's dead news

Benoit's death part of a double murder-suicide
Written: June 25, 2007

According to lead investigator Lt. Tommy Pope, of the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department, in Fayetteville, Ga., the deaths of WWE Superstar Chris Benoit, wife Nancy and son Daniel were the result of a double murder-suicide, WWE.com has learned.

Benoit failed to appear both at Saturday’s live event in Beaumont, Tx., and WWE’s Vengeance: Night of Champions in Houston Sunday night, after informing WWE of a family emergency. Several curious text messages sent by Benoit early Sunday morning prompted concerned friends to alert Richard Hering, VP of Government Relations for WWE, Inc. Hering, in turn, spoke with Fayette County sheriffs Monday, and requested that they respond to the Benoit residence to check on him and his family.

Authorities representing the Sheriff’s Department initially had a difficult time entering Benoit’s new Fayetteville home Monday afternoon, which had been guarded by two large German Shepherds roaming freely around the property. Once authorities entered the residence, they quickly located the bodies of Benoit, Nancy and Daniel. WWE was notified of the discovery at approximately 4 p.m.

At 10 p.m. Monday night, Lt. Pope held a press conference in conjunction with Scott Ballard, the district attorney for Fayette County. The press conference officially ruled authorities’ findings as a double murder-suicide from within the home.

WAGA, a FOX-owned and operated television station in Atlanta, reported that investigators believe Benoit killed his wife and 7-year-old son over the weekend, then himself on Monday.

The three bodies have been received by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s crime lab, in Decatur, Ga., where autopsies will be performed Tuesday morning. Toxicology reports will not become available for at least two weeks.

WWE.com has further information relating to both the investigation and the cause of death, but the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department has requested that WWE.com not release any additional details at this time.