Former WWE champion Chris Benoit killed his wife, Nancy, and their 7-year-old son, Daniel, in 2007, before killing himself.
Not only are you right to hate him for that, you’re supposed to do so publicly.
A tweet from Impact Wrestling women’s champion Jordynn Grace ignited a new round of public flogging of Benoit, a decorated pro wrestler in his time, but whose name has been all but erased from the history books, for obvious reasons.
One thing that has been missing from the recent wailing and gnashing of teeth over Benoit is any understanding of his medical and mental state at the time of the double murder-suicide.
Originally thought to be triggered by steroid abuse, it was later revealed that Benoit had suffered from CTE as the result of multiple head injuries resulting from his dangerous in-ring style.
Benoit’s finisher, famously, was an off-the-top-rope diving headbutt; he was among many in his day and age to take unprotected steel-chair headshots.
Forensic neuropathologist Bennet Omalu, an early pioneer in the study of CTE, said after a study of Benoit’s brain that it had resembled that of an 85-year-old with Alzheimer’s.
Research into CTE is still in the early stages, unfortunately, but what we know is that a number of athletes in contact sports – football, boxing, MMA, wrestling – have been found, post-mortem, to have CTE, and that CTE seems to have dramatic impacts on mental and behavioral health, linked to a wide range of symptoms, including memory loss, depression, aggressive behavior and suicidal thoughts.
Benoit is far from being the only high-profile athlete to be affected by CTE. NFL stars Junior Seau, Andre Waters and Dave Duerson were all found to have CTE after their deaths by suicide; the list also includes former NFL linebacker Jovan Belcher, who killed his girlfriend and then himself in 2012; former New England Patriots star tight end Aaron Hernandez, who was convicted of murder before hanging himself in jail; and former NFL cornerback Phillip Adams, who shot and killed six people in 2021 before taking his own life.
None of this is to excuse the actions of Benoit, Hernandez, Adams, Belcher and others with CTE who have harmed others, and themselves.
But it shouldn’t take much to recognize that what these people did at the end of their lives shouldn’t define them.
The CTE literally made them different people.
I’m not suggesting that we do any Chris Benoit memorial tournaments anytime soon, but piling on a guy who did awful things when he himself was a victim doesn’t do anybody any good.
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