Dark Side Of The Ring - Benoit Part One FULL RECAP
Well, this should be an interesting one.
I should preface this by describing my fandom of Chris Benoit, the wrestler. I’ve been a wrestling fan my entire life and always leaned towards the more technical side while still enjoying the sideshow spectacle that the sport entails. My favourite wrestler growing up was Bret “The Hitman” Hart and I hated Hulk Hogan, even as a child. When I first discovered Chris Benoit it was in WCW, but that led me to look into his history in ECW, Stampede Wrestling and his work in Japan. I was instantly a fan, as I recognized this may quite possibly be the best wrestler on the planet.
Chris Benoit was one of my absolute favourite wrestlers, and I still consider him to be one of the greatest to ever lace up a pair of boots to this day. I write this simply because I wanted to give a little insight into how I look at this episode, which I have no qualms about admitting almost brought me to tears on more than one occasion. I have also spent countless hours listening to podcasts and reading books about the final weekend of the Benoit families lives, trying to make sense of it all. But looking past that, let’s look at the first part of the Chris Benoit story from the second season of Dark Side Of The Ring.
First off, more so than the tragedy itself, this first episode focuses on two things. The relationship between Nancy and Chris Benoit, and somehow, more importantly, the relationship between Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero.
Interview subjects include ‘Le Champion’ Chris Jericho, Jim Ross, Chavo Guerrero Jr., Dean Malenko, Vickie Guerrero and Sandra Toffoloni, the sister of Nancy Benoit, as well as David Benoit, Chris’s son from a previous marriage.
The documentary briefly covers the early career of Benoit and how he came to meet Eddie Guerrero, working as Black Tiger in Japan.
Lots of discussion regarding the early love and relationship between Kevin Sullivan and Nancy and her evolution from the ‘Fallen Angel’ into ‘Woman’ in WCW.
Malenko discusses how Kevin Sullivan enjoyed working with Benoit and then it turned into the joke of “Sullivan booked his own divorce”
Chavo spends some time discussing how Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko and Eddie Guerrero came into WCW together and Benoit moved into the story of Nancy leaving Sullivan for Benoit.
Fun factoid: Local (to me) wrestler and Cruiserweight Classic competitor Tyson Dux actually played Chris Benoit in the shadowy scenes and was honoured to do so as he grew up idolizing Benoit.
A brief appearance from Julie Malenko (Dean’s wife) reveals that during the turmoil that Nancy revealed a black eye from an altercation with Kevin Sullivan.
They briefly discuss the Bash At The Beach 1997 match which Kevin and Chris turned into a shoot, resulting in Kevin suffering a broken eardrum and the fight continuing backstage afterwards.
Vickie shows pictures from the wedding of Nancy and Chris sharing the love they had, and revealing that little Daniel was the best man at the wedding.
David Benoit discusses his relationship with Nancy and his stepbrother Daniel.
The rest of Benoit’s WCW career is glossed over in favour of moving to the WWF arrival of The Radicalz (Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko and Perry Saturn)
Many of the subjects discuss Chris’s relationship with his family and his children, and how great of a father he was, but would sacrifice time with his family for the love of professional wrestling.
Some discussion goes down regarding Eddie’s faith in God and how he pushed that onto Benoit in an effort to find a “Higher Power” (and not Vince McMahon)
Discussion happens regarding Eddie’s injuries (with footage of his broken elbow from his SmackDown debut) and his self-pushing to continue with the support of drugs and alcohol.
Chavo and Vickie discuss Eddie’s DUI’s and drug problems, revealing that several times Chris would put him to bed, keeping him on his side so he wouldn’t throw upon himself.
Vickie reveals that at one point, she let Eddie overdose and didn’t call an ambulance, stating that if God was going to take him that now was the time.
The group briefly reveals how Eddie fought back and came back from being released from WWE and got into the best shape of his career to return.
WrestleMania XX is covered with Vickie revealing she was with Nancy as Eddie and Chris embraced in the ring at the end of the show.
David Benoit reveals that the triple threat main event between Chris, Triple H and Shawn Michaels was his favourite match, and he wished that both Chris and Eddie had retired after that night.
Chavo reveals that Eddie had been passing out mid-sentence in conversations with people randomly.
Chavo covers the morning that they would find Eddie dead, revealing, in tears, that Eddie actually passed away in his arms.
When he informed Chris of Eddie’s passing, he states that “a guy with no emotion whatsoever, you hear, a wail. Just this wail from deep down, a heartbreak”
Vickie states that Vince calls her crying, simply saying “I’m sorry” to her asking if the rumours of Eddie’s passing are true.
Chavo once again clarifies that there was no relapse for Eddie, that it was heart failure.
Clips are shown from the Eddie Guerrero tribute show on RAW, highlighting Benoit’s testimonial and his emotional reaction to Eddie’s passing.
Jericho states that at Eddie’s funeral Benoit hugged him and cried so much into his shoulder that it soaked through his suit jacket right down to his shirt.
Jericho believes that Chris should have taken time off, but stuck to the grind because he didn’t know how else to handle it.
Vickie reveals that after Eddie’s death, Nancy stepped up and helped get Vickie back on track with taking care of her family, staying with her for a month.
Vickie discusses how Chris would lay in Eddie’s spot in the bed holding his pillow crying, and he would spend time in Eddie’s gym crying, stating “I’m lost without Eddie here”
Chris almost immediately became more distant backstage and seemed different almost from the moment Eddie passed away.
Sandra and Vickie discuss changes in Chris’s behaviour and how he would be mad at the world and would close off to everyone else.
A journal was gifted to Chris so he could write to Eddie, to make it feel like Eddie was with him in spirit.
Sandra reveals Nancy wanted Chris to come off the road for the last year of his life as he needed to get away from things that reminded him of Eddie.
Jericho discusses how every arena Benoit would go to he would tie it to Eddie in some way.
Chavo discusses the Saturday when he received a call from Chris saying he wouldn’t be at the house show, and told him that “Chavo, I love you”
Chavo discusses the infamous texts about the dogs and how he received them from both Chris and Nancy’s phone.
He reveals that Scott Armstrong (WWE referee), who was set to travel with Chavo and Benoit, received the same texts.
Chavo, Vickie and Dean discuss the meeting where Vince revealed to the crew that Chris, Nancy and Daniel had all passed away.
At this point the episode ends, leaving us wanting more, and soon we will have the second episode diving deeper into that final weekend.
Eddie as Black Cat and Chris as Wild Pegasus from Japan