Chris Benoit

Christopher Michael Benoit (May 21, 1967 – June 24, 2007) was a Canadian professional wrestler whose 22-year career spanned multiple major promotions, including WWF/WWE, WCW, ECW, New Japan Pro-Wrestling, and Stampede Wrestling. Trained by Bruce Hart, Stu Hart, and Tatsumi Fujinami, among others, he debuted in 1985 and competed under aliases including The Pegasus Kid, Wild Pegasus, The Canadian Crippler, and The Rabid Wolverine.

During his career, Benoit held 30 championships across his various promotions. He was a two-time world champion, reigning once as WCW World Heavyweight Champion and once as WWE World Heavyweight Champion, with the latter title won in the main event of WrestleMania XX in March 2004. He was the 2004 Royal Rumble winner as the number one entrant, the twelfth WWE Triple Crown Champion, and the seventh WCW Triple Crown Champion. Combat sports journalist Dave Meltzer described him as potentially among the top five all-time greats in professional wrestling history.

Benoit's legacy is defined by the events of June 2007, when he murdered his wife and seven-year-old son before taking his own life on June 24. Subsequent research suggested that advanced chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) resulting from repeated head trauma sustained throughout his career was likely a contributing factor.