Benoit: Wrestling with the Horror that Destroyed a Family and Crippled a Sport
Scary but True
Cost: £9.99 UK/ $14.95 US/ $16.95 CANADA
Pages: 160
Publishers: ECW Press
Web link: ecwpress.com

The Chris Benoit murder-suicide shocked everyone associated with wrestling. The ramifications of what happened in the Atlanta home are still being felt to this day. The ‘Benoit’ book is the latest to examine the horrific case in depth nearly one year on.

Taking the unusual form of a collection of essays, it examines different aspects of the man fans and wrestlers alike all seemed to know as a class act both in and out of the ring. The book looks thin considering the complexity and overwhelming affect the case has had on the wrestling industry, but it is a must for anyone wanting to learn more about the dark events of June 25, 2007.

What is most impressive about the texts, written by credible authors Greg Oliver, Heath McCoy, Steven Johnson and Irvin Muchnick, is that they offer wrestling fans both new and old something different.

While Oliver and McCoy examine Benoit’s career background, which long time followers will be aware of, Johnson looks at the mass media coverage of the murder suicide with figures and statistics. Surely not even the most ardent fan would know that searches for Benoit on Lycos ‘skyrocketed 3,638 per cent in the first forty-eight hours after the murders became known’. This particular chapter of the book is not merely a compilation of numbers either; it looks at the reasons behind the media’s coverage of the case and questions its integrity. The book is very readable from any wrestling fan’s perspective.

Impressively, the essays look at the case from all angles, considering everybody affected by it. “We loved to watch her strut”, a chapter by Oliver, offers a look at Nancy Benoit’s career background, from her time in Florida’s Championship Wrestling to her and son Daniel’s now eerie steps in the ring along to celebrate with Chris as he held aloft the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 20. Granted, her background is less substantial than that of Benoit’s, who is granted several chapters, but it’s good to see the book has examined the story from a multitude of viewpoints.

To its credit, the texts are not simply written from the opinion of the authors alone. The book references everyone from Chris Jericho to Gary Juster who was in charge of business affairs when Chris Benoit signed to compete for WCW.

It includes comments from Chris Benoit himself but perhaps most creepily, it features a spine chilling email sent to Oliver a few weeks after Eddie Guerrero’s death. Benoit wrote letters to Guerrero to cope with his passing.

The comments from these personalities increase the credibility of the book tenfold.The book also includes Chris Benoit’s title history.

I truly recommend this book to any wrestling fan. Though it may make for a very dim read where both the future and current state of professional wrestling is concerned, it offers a fascinating insight in to the murder suicide and can be very revealing at times.