Chris Benoit
An image from WWE WrestleMania 21, one of the productions that also features Chris Benoit.
Chris Benoit

Chris Benoit

May 21, 1967 — Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Christopher Michael Benoit was a Canadian-American professional wrestler. During his professional wrestling career, Benoit worked for such major promotions as Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and the World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Entertainment (WWF/WWE).

Among other accolades, Benoit is a two-time world champion: a one-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion, and a one-time World Heavyweight Champion in WWE. Benoit is the second of four men in history to achieve both the WWE and WCW Triple Crown Championships.

Chris Benoit murdered his wife and son on June 22, 2007 and was subsequently hanged on June 24, 2007. Since Chris Benoit's suicide, numerous explanations for his actions have been proposed, including brain damage, foul play, steroid abuse, carbon monoxide, burglary and even a possible failing marriage. Benoit last performed for WWE on their ECW brand. In 1995, while Benoit was contracted to the original ECW, he was intended to be booked to win the ECW World Heavyweight Championship but this was thwarted by work visa problems; twelve years later, Benoit was booked by WWE to win the title at the pay-per-view event WWE Vengeance: Night of Champions, which again did not happen due to the family's death that night.

WWE Raw

WWE Raw

1993

WWE SmackDown

WWE SmackDown

1999

WWE WrestleMania 21

WWE WrestleMania 21

2005

WWE WrestleMania XX

WWE WrestleMania XX

2004

WWE WrestleMania 23

WWE WrestleMania 23

2007

WWE Royal Rumble 2007

WWE Royal Rumble 2007

2007

WWE Royal Rumble 2013

WWE Royal Rumble 2013

2013

WWE Armageddon 2000

WWE Armageddon 2000

2000