What was Chris Benoit's net worth?
Chris Benoit was a Canadian professional wrestler who had a net worth of $500 thousand at the time of his death. Chris Benoit was best known for his 22-year career as a pro-wrestler with the nicknames Wild Pegasus, the Canadian Crippler, and The Rabid Wolverine – before he murdered his wife and their youngest and then took his own life in June of 2007. Some medical experts believe the extensive head trauma Benoit suffered during his career may have contributed to his drastic actions. Standing at 5'11 and weighing 229 pounds, Benoit had been trained by Bruce Hart, Stu Hart, Mike Hammer, Tokyo Joe, Tatsumi Fujinami, and New Japan Pro-Wrestling.
He wrestled for 22 years in the World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Entertainment, World Championship Wrestling, Extreme Championships Wrestling, New Japan Pro Wrestling, and Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre. Benoit held the World Heavyweight Championships in the WWE and the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. He was scheduled to win his third world championships on the night of his death. He became the 12th WWE Triple Crown Champion and the sixth WCW Triple Crown Champion and held a total of 22 titles. He won the 2004 Royal Rumble winner as the #1 entrant and headlined many pay-per-views for the WWE. Benoit won the main event of WrestleMania XX in 2004. He held the WWE Intercontinental Championship four times and the WWE United States Championship three times. Benoit held the WWE Tag Team Championship with Edge twice, Chris Jericho, and Kurt Angle.
Early Years
Chris Michael Benoit was born on May 21, 1967, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, the son of Michael and Margaret Benoit. Benoit idolized professional wrestlers as a child and enjoyed attending local wrestling events. During his teenage years, he began training under Canadian wrestling legend Stewart Edward Hart in the basement of the Hart mansion, which was popularly known as "The Dungeon."
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Professional Wrestling
Chris Benoit began his career as "Dynamite Chris Benoit" in a tag team match on November 22, 1985, at a promotion for Stampede Wrestling, which Stewart Hart had established. The first title he claimed was the Stampede British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Championship against Canadian wrestler Gama Singh on March 18, 1988.
Benoit went on to train in the dojo of New Japan Pro-Wrestling. In 1989, he began using the professional name The Pegasus Kid. The following year, he took the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship title from Jushin Liger.
In the summer of 1992, Benoit teamed up with Canadian wrestler Biff Wellington to be defeated at the NWA World Tag Team Championship. In January of the following year, he defeated American wrestler Brad Armstrong at Clash of the Champions VVII before losing the match at Superbrawl III the following month.
Benoit returned to Japan to win the Best of the Super Juniors tournament in 1993 and 1995 and the Super J-Cup tournament in 1994. That same year, he began working with Extreme Championship Wrestling, where he was billed as The Crippler, which would later be altered to The Canadian Crippler. During that fall's November to Remember live wrestling event, Benoit accidentally broke the neck of his opponent – American wrestler Sabu.
Benoit won his first American title – the ECW World Tag Team Championship – in 1995. That same year, he signed with World Championship Wrestling and was booked as a member of the reformed Four Horseman, a professional wrestling stable. Benoit then began having violent feuds with the booker for the WCW, Kevin Sullivan. Sullivan accused Benoit of having an affair with his wife, Nancy Baus Sullivan – a professional American model, wrestler, and wrestling manager. She and Sullivan later divorced, and she became engaged to Benoit in 1997.
In 1999, Benoit teamed up with Dean Malenko to win the WCW World Tag Team Championship. He then won the United States Heavyweight Championship before leaving the WCW in January 2000. He went on to join the World Wrestling Federation, where he became part of the stable known as The Radicalz.
Benoit won his first WWF title at Wrestlemania 2000. He then won matches at the pay-per-view specials Backlash, Judgment Day, and SummerSlam. Between April 2000 and January 2001, he won the Intercontinental Championship three times.
Chris Benoit Wins the Triple Threat World Title Match (Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage)
Benoit and American-Canadian wrestler Chris Jericho defeated Stone Cold Steve Austin to win the WWF Tag Team Championship in 2001. On July 29, 2002, he defeated American wrestler Rob Van Dam to win his fourth Intercontinental Championship. Benoit lost matches against Eddie Guerrero and Brock Lesnar the following year while defeating Matthew "A-Train" Bloom. On January 25, 2004, he won the Royal Rumble and later the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania. That April, he became a double champion when he and Canadian wrestler Edge won the World Tag Team Championship. Benoit lost the World Heavyweight title to American wrestler Randy Orton at SummerSlam that August.
On June 12, 2005, Benoit defeated Guerrero at the ECW One Night Stand. Five months later, Guerrero was found dead in his hotel room with a toothbrush in his hand – having suffered acute heart failure due to cardiovascular disease. During the next Smackdown! event, Benoit and the other wrestlers present assembled in the ring and pointed up at the sky in honor of their fallen comrade.
In 2007, Benoit won the Survivor Series event and Armageddon and Backlash while being defeated at Judgment Day. During that June's Saturday Night's Main Event, he teamed up with American wrestler Batista to win the tag team match. Later that month, he was scheduled to wrestle at the seventh annual Vengeance: Night of Champions event. When he didn't show up, he was replaced by American wrestler Johnny Nitro. Soon, the world would learn that Benoit had killed himself, his wife, and his child in a double murder-suicide.
Personal Life
Chris Benoit married his first wife, Martina, in 1988. They divorced in 1997 after having two children; David and Megan. He married Nancy Sullivan on November 23, 2000. They welcomed a son named Daniel Christopher Benoit on February 25 of that year. In May 2003, Nancy petitioned for a divorce, alleging that she had been cruelly treated, and had a restraining order put into effect. That August, she canceled the divorce petition and the restraining order.
Murder & Suicide
At 2:30 p.m. on June 25, 2007, Chris Benoit, his wife, and son were found dead at their Georgia home – the result of a double murder-suicide. Nancy had died as a result of asphyxiation, and she had bruises on her back and stomach, evidence her attacker had kneeled on her back while wrapping a cord around her neck. Daniel had also died as a result of asphyxiation. Although his body showed no outward signs of being restrained, he had internal injuries to his throat. Toxicology results showed that Daniel had Xanax in his system, suggesting that he had been drugged before being murdered. Benoit had followed the murders of his wife and son by asphyxiating himself using the exercise equipment in his basement. After the crime became public, WWE canceled its airing of "Raw" and instead aired a three-hour tribute to Benoit.
Tests were conducted on the brain of Benoit by West Virginia University's head of surgery, Julian Bailes. He determined that Benoit had suffered so much brain damage over the course of his wrestling career that his brain looked like that of an 85-year-old suffering from Alzheimer's Disease. It's been suggested that chronic traumatic encephalopathy – a disease linked to repeated head trauma – may have caused Benoit to commit murder and suicide.
Georgia House
In November 2001, Chris paid $119,900 for a home in Fayetteville, Georgia. This home was listed in August 2008 for $898,000. It ultimately sold for $575,000 in August 2009.
