Chris Benoit
Christopher Michael Benoit was a Canadian professional wrestler. He worked for various pro-wrestling promotions during his 22-year career, but became notorious for murdering his wife and son. Bearing the nicknames The (Canadian) Crippler alongside The Rabid Wolverine throughout his career, Benoit held 30 championships between
World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Entertainment (WWF/WWE), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Extreme Championship Wrestling, New Japan Pro-Wrestling, and Stampede Wrestling (Canada). He was a two-time world champion, Benoit having reigned as a one-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion and a one-time World Heavyweight Champion in WWE; he was booked to win a third world championship at a WWE event on the night of his death. Benoit was the twelfth WWE Triple Crown Champion and the seventh WCW Triple Crown Champion, and the second of four men in history to achieve both the WWE and the WCW Triple Crown Championships. He was also the 2004 Royal Rumble winner, joining Shawn Michaels and preceding Edge as one of the three men to win a Royal Rumble as the number one entrant. Benoit headlined multiple pay-per-views for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) including a victory in the World Heavyweight Championship main event match of WrestleMania XX in March 2004. In a three-day double-murder and suicide, Benoit murdered his wife in their residence on June 22, 2007, and his 7-year-old son the next day, before committing suicide on June 24. Subsequent research undertaken by the Sports Legacy Institute suggested that depression and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a condition of brain damage, from concussions that Benoit had sustained during his pro-wrestling career were likely contributing factors of the crimes. Due to his murders, Benoit's legacy in the professional wrestling industry is heavily debated. Benoit has been renowned by many for his exceptional technical wrestling ability. Prominent combat sports journalist Dave Meltzer considers Benoit "one of the top 10, maybe even [in] the top five, all-time greats" in professional wrestling history. Benoit was inducted into the Stampede Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1995 and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame in 2003. His WON induction was put to a re-vote for WON readers in 2008 to determine if Benoit should remain a member of the WON Hall of Fame. Ultimately, the threshold percentage of votes required to remove Benoit from it was not met.
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