Courtesy of Alan J. Wojcik http://alanwojcik.com
There are several dates in recent professional history that are unforgettable like January 23, 1984 (Birth of Hulkamania), November 9, 1997 (The Montreal Screwjob) and now June 25, 2007. That was the day the world learned of the murder-suicide in an Atlanta, GA suburb which took the lives of Nancy and Daniel Benoit which turned former World champion Chris Benoit from a hero to millions into the villain of the whole world. Since that day wrestling and mainstream media, wrestling fans and even members of the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) have struggled trying to find out what happened in the Benoit’s home and what caused what was seemingly a normal family man to murder the two people he apparently loved most in this world and then hang himself. ECW Press asked four writers from their roster; Steve Johnson & Greg Oliver (Wrestling HOF Series), Heath McCoy (History of Stampede Wrestling) and Irvin Muchnick (Wrestling Babylon) to contribute essays on the tragedy. The work is entitled Benoit: Wrestling with the Horror that Destroyed a Family & Crippled a Sport (160pp, $14.95 US, 16.95 CDN).