BENOIT NEWS: Summary and highlights of CBC's documentary examining factors involved in Benoit family tragedy
Feb 7, 2008 - 1:20:28 AM
Thanks to Bill Taylor and Dave Fisher for sending in highlights of CBC's documentary that aired on Wednesday night.
CBC The Fifth Estate
Producer: Bob McKeown
A Fight to the Death - "An investigation into the deaths of Chris Benoit, his wife and son, by reporter Bob McKeown reveals that Benoit also may have been the victim of a physical condition brought on by years of undiagnosed concussions."
ORIGINALLY AIRED: February 6, 2008 on CBC-TV
REPEATING: Friday, February 8 on CBC Newsworld & Sunday, February 10 on CBC-TV
Interviews:
Mike Benoit (Chris's father)
Bret Hart
Jake the Snake Roberts
Irvin Muchnick
Dynamite Kid's ex-wife Michelle
Chris Nowinski
Doctor Julian Bailes
Dr. Bennet Omalu
DOCUMENTARY BEGINS with backgrounder on Stampede Wrestling.
Bret Hart talks about his father Stu, and the toll of long hours traveling in the van.
Jake the Snake Roberts talks about wrestling deaths.
Host Bob McKeown focuses on Dynamite Kid - Benoit's idol.
Bret Hart calls Dynamite "pound for pound" the best in the business, compares him to Wayne Gretzky.
Mike Benoit, Chris's father, talks about Benoit meeting Dynamite and being "enthralled," then dedicating himself to being a wrestler, pumping iron religiously.
Dynamite's ex-wife Michelle talks about Dynamite's fits of violence, domestic abuse, 'roid rage.
McKeown reports about rise of WWF, bringing ruin to small mom & pop regional wrestling organizations like Stampede Wrestling.
Jake the Snake says in the old days it took 15 years to make it to the top, but along came McMahon, and the "power of television" could make you a star "in three weeks."
Bret Hart says they went from the van to stretch limos.
When Dynamite departs for greener pastures in WWF and after his last-ever Stampede Wrestling bout, he hangs his boots around Benoit's neck.
Muchnick talks about McMahon's deliberate transition changing pro wrestling into "sports entertainment."
Muchnick mentions how rival organizations thought this would be the industry death-knell, but were totally mistaken.
Bret Hart says it was in the wrestlers's best interest for their career to take steroids if they wanted to be employed.
Jake says he had no second thoughts about taking steroids, and that he would have done anything to succeed.
McKeown then moves to Benoit's marriage to Nancy, and the birth of his son Daniel.
In 2004 Benoit reaches the pinnacle and wins championship belt.
Mike Benoit reveals Chris admitted to him about his drug abuse - and says he needed to do it to keep his job.
Nancy files for divorce. She tells of Chris's behavior problems.
Mike Benoit admits there was an "alcohol problem in the home."
McKeown then goes into the plethora of wrestlers who die unnaturally young - citing painkiller addictions, steroids, alcohol, heart attacks, and suicides.
McKeown provides laundry list of wrestlers's premature deaths - from Owen's accident, Brian Pillman, Junkyard Dog, and many more.
Dynamite's ex-wife mentions how Dynamite, now out of the business, sat at home and obsessively and pathetically watched his old Tiger Mask matches repeatedly.
McKeown then goes into Benoit's painkiller abuse, and increasing signs of paranoia.
Benoit would tell his chauffeur to take alternate routes, fearing he was being followed. He locked down his home in Atlanta like a fortress, purchased a pair of German shepherd guard-dogs, and placed Daniel in a lockdown school.
McKeown notes the death of best friend Eddie Guerrero shattered Benoit, and how Benoit shortly hereafter became increasingly detached from reality.
Mike Benoit says he is shocked to read Benoit's diary, with dark thoughts written to his dead friend that contain a cocktail of Christianity mixed with anxiety, depression and despair. Mike Benoit also notes his son writes lovingly of Nancy and Daniel in that same diary, says he "adored" Daniel.
After Benoit's death, McMahon distances himself from the memory of Benoit, and erases all traces of him from website, etc.
Mike Benoit says he is shattered at the death, calls it "horrific," the worst week of his life, and wishes Chris had died of a heart attack or car accident, anything but this.
Clips of moralizing Nancy Grace, Bill O'Reilly, and Larry King blaming steroid rage as the cause.
Bret Hart says he is skeptical about steroids being the reason. He says they can make people violent, but that users still know the difference between right and wrong, that steroids don't make people irrationally insane.
Days after Benoit's death, Chris Nowinski calls Mike Benoit, enquiring if the father has Benoit's brain, and requests it. Mike Benoit thinks it's crazy, thinks it's the National Enquirer or something, but agrees to talk.
Nowinski's career is profiled. He talks about his career ending, the violent nightmares, the undiagnosed brain concussions that he used to refer to as "dings" and "bell ringers."
McKeown next interviews Doctor Julian Bailes at the Center for the Study of Retired Athletes at the University of North Carolina, and chairman of the neurosurgery department at West Virginia University; and Dr. Bennet Omalu, forensic pathologist, neuropathologist and epidemiologist at the University of West Virginia.
They talk about wrestlers' brain concussions being remarkably similar to retired NFL players, citing Hall of Fame Pittsburgh Steeler Mike Webster and others former NFLers (Terry Long, Justin Strzelczyk and Andre Waters). Webster committed suicide at age 50.
They point to the discovery of an abnormal brain protein in young wrestlers and NFL players that appear more like the brains of elderly people suffering from dementia.
Bailes and Omalu diagnose Benoit's brain as that of a person in their 80s or 90s. They believe Benoit's brain damage is so extensive that he can't be held responsible for his own actions. They categorically rule out the 'roid rage excuse.
McMahon refuses to be interviewed for the report, so they show a clip of McMahon (possibly on CNN) rejecting the findings of Bailes & Omalu's report.
McKeown mentions chairshots are banned.
They show a CNN clip of Dynamite admitting putting a gun under his wife's chin yet denying it was violent.
Nowinski says he still has debilitating headaches that prevent him from working a full work week, and says they are worsening.
Documentary concludes with Mike Benoit believing pro wrestling will change for the better, and has to change, otherwise wrestling organizations will not be able to cope with all the litigation
CBC-TV has posted an entire section of resources, including interviews and information, related to the Benoit family tragedy, and how the state of Benoit's brain could have triggered the tragic events. - CBC resources.
Prior to the documentary airing, the main focus was published in various Canadian media outlets. The Edmonton Sun reported on Feb. 5 that doctors analyzed Benoit's brain to find the brain of an 85-year-old man with dementia, but the strong conclusion from doctors interviewed for the piece was: "Benoit’s brain was so damaged from repeated concussions that he couldn’t be held responsible for his actions."
Chris Nowinski was quoted in the Canadian Press about the research into concussions and the results from analyzing Benoit's brain. He said, "At this point, the odds are that his (Benoit's) brain damage was the strongest factor in the event." Also on Feb. 5, the National Post's opening paragraph previewing the documentary was as follows: "Repeated concussions from a career in professional wrestling severely damaged Chris Benoit's brain according to a report that will air on CBC television's The Fifth Estate on Wednesday."
Please take a moment to answer our demographic survey: CLICK HERE
