Results: The blurry concepts of fiction and reality for wrestler Chris Benoit

In the late 90s wrestler, booker and wrestling script writer Kevin Sullivan conceived an angle where his wife and manager Nancy would leave him for Chris Benoit. Sullivan insisted that the two should travel together, share hotel rooms and hold hands in public to preserve kayfabe (the storylines in wrestling) and make the affair look real. Nancy did have an affair with Benoit, divorced Sullivan and married Chris in 2000. Did you know that is how Chris Benoit and his second wife got together?

The matches Chris Benoit was in during his 22 years of wrestling were scripted and the moves choreographed, but his many concussions and other injuries were very real. As I mentioned in the opening paragraph, countless head bumps lead to an advanced form of dementia, similar to that of some retired NFL players who had suffered multiple concussions, sank into depression, and harmed themselves or others. Have you ever known a person suffering from dementia who became angry easily and potentially violent?

On November 13, 2005, Eddie Guerrero, one of Benoit's closest friends and a fellow wrestler, died of a heart attack at age 38. Benoit was very upset about Guerrero's death. It was discovered after Benoit's death that he had been addressing entries in his diary to his deceased friend. The entries revealed Benoit's worsening depression, bizarre dark thoughts and increasing paranoia in the years and months leading up to the murders. He hid his deteriorating mental state from living friends and family. Have you ever known someone who wrote letters to a deceased person?

In the final stage of his life, Benoit was becoming more paranoid and believed he and his family were being stalked. Believing he was being followed, Benoit would take different routes to the gym and home from the airport. He looked into private schools and increased security measures for his son. His family was in danger, but not from some person stalking them from outside the home. In 2003, Nancy filed for divorce from Benoit, citing the marriage as "irrevocably broken" and alleging "cruel treatment"; she claimed that he would break and throw furniture around. She later dropped the suit, as well as the restraining order filed against her husband. Many in the wrestling community thought Benoit was a dedicated and loving family man. Have you ever known a victim of domestic abuse whose abuser was viewed by people outside the home as a good spouse or parent?

It is often the case with high profile crimes that false information is promulgated by the media. Perhaps the most pervasive fiction of Chris Benoit's life is that his horrible final acts were the result of an otherwise mentally stable and healthy person abusing steroids. It is a scientific fact that he had a severe mental disease not attributable to steroids. There were other contributing factors and the full reason he murdered his wife and son will never be known. Did you think Benoit murdered his family and committed suicide due to "roid rage"?