Chris & Nancy: The True Story of the Benoit Murder-Suicide and Pro Wrestling's Cocktail of Death [Paperback]

Irvin Muchnick (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2009

Exploring the steroid-fueled world of professional wrestling, this riveting chronicle lays bare the devastating events that led to the 2007 murder-suicide of Chris Benoit, his wife Nancy, and their seven-year-old son, Daniel. Benoit's performance-enhancing drug addiction—massive amounts of doctor-prescribed human growth hormone were found in Benoit’s home—and subsequent suicide proved to be the tipping point for the professional wrestling world, resulting in unprecedented scrutiny of the sport’s subpar health and safety standards. Using public records, dozen of interviews with those inside and outside of wrestling, and investigative results, this authoritative analysis provides an uncompromising look at the price athletes pay in this rough-and-tumble world.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Irvin Muchnick is hell-bent on discovering the essence of the cover-ups. [H]e provides more details and more insights that ultimately increase frustrations, but at the same time, must be examined if you choose, like myself, to claim to be an informed fan of an industry that had its blissful ignorance torn to shreds."  —Wrestling Observer

"Incredible retelling of the tragic story . . . Highly recommended."  —Georgia Wrestling Online

"The tragic events surrounding the Benoit murder-suicide calls out for greater scrutiny, and Muchnick painstakingly obliges."  —Alternative Weekly Network

"A great read for anyone who cares about wrestling or is interested in true crime."  —Bookgasm.com

"An extremely well written account . . . the best book published on the subject to date. Trust me when I say there is a lot to be learned in reading this book."  —PW Mania

About the Author

Irvin Muchnick is the author of Wrestling Babylon and the coauthor of Benoit. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Penthouse, and the Village Voice. He is the nephew of legendary wrestling promoter Sam Muchnick. He lives in Berkeley, California.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: ECW Press (November 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1550229028
• ISBN-13: 978-1550229028
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #333,967 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Irvin Muchnick is author of CHRIS & NANCY: The True Story of the Benoit Murder-Suicide and Pro Wrestling's Cocktail of Death (2009) and WRESTLING BABYLON: Piledriving Tales of Drugs, Sex, Death, and Scandal (2007). He is a widely published magazine journalist and has appeared on forums as diverse as Fox News' "O'Reilly Factor," National Public Radio's "Fresh Air with Terry Gross," and ESPN's "Up Close." Muchnick is lead respondent in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case for freelance writers' rights, Reed Elsevier v. Muchnick.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally, the whole story about the Benoit tragedy!, November 12, 2009

By 

Anthony "Anthony" (Hackensack, NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chris & Nancy: The True Story of the Benoit Murder-Suicide and Pro Wrestling's Cocktail of Death (Paperback)

I'll readily admit that I don't follow professional wrestling at all...but this book is a tremendous effort by Irv Muchnick. He pulled out all of the stops in his investigative efforts, from filing Freedom of Information Act requests, to interviewing many of the key players who were involved in the Benoit investigation. He's left no stone unturned, as he reveals all of the text messages, public statements, and official documents to back up his words. He proves, beyond a shadow of a doubt that the WWE was well aware of the fact that this was a grisly double murder/suicide, even as they went to air with their Benoit Tribute episode - and that's not all! The book reads like any good true crime novel, but has the added elements of the author speaking to you in first person at times, describing the various walls he hit, and the attempts at a cover up, that he experienced during the investigative process.

Whether you're a fan of professional wrestling, true crime, or just a good story, this book doesn't let you down.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Difficult to read but well worth the effort., May 29, 2010

By 

Marc "BookMarc Blogpants" (Maryland, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chris & Nancy: The True Story of the Benoit Murder-Suicide and Pro Wrestling's Cocktail of Death (Paperback)

I remember tuning into Monday Night Raw, WWE's flagship show, on June 25th 2007 to find it was a tribute show to WWE superstar Chris Benoit who had been found dead earlier that day along with his wife and young son. My blood turned cold and my skin broke out in goosebumps. I couldn't believe what I was seeing and quickly logged onto the internet to validate that this was real and not some twisted storyline (up until their recent change to a more PG rated product there was very little off limits in terms of WWE storylines including such topics as necrophilia, gay rape, wrestlers being covered in excrement and, ironically, the week previous to June 25th's episode the murder of WWE chairman Vince McMahon). Unfortunately, this was no storyline.

It's unfortunate that in my tenure as a wrestling fan that a whole bunch of my favorite wrestlers have died while still young including such greats as David Smith aka 'The British Bulldog', Curt Hennig aka 'Mr Perfect' and more recently Eddie Guerrero. What's even more unfortunate is that the passing of these lives occurred without much scrutiny from the media in general. All that changed with the Benoit tragedy.

If you're not familiar with Chris Benoit, or somehow missed the media explosion following the murder-suicide, he was regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of his era. He was a former WWE champion and looked upon as being a role model to fans and younger wrestlers learning their craft. Outside the squared circle he was known as a very humble and reserved man who always found time to pose for pictures, and sign autographs, for his fans. 'Chris & Nancy' looks at the reasons as to why Benoit snapped and committed such atrocities and the subsequent investigation into the murder-suicide along with the role the WWE played in distancing themselves from the scandal.

I found this a very difficult book to read due to the fact I was a big Chris Benoit fan and knowing what he done to his wife and child sickens me to my stomach. However, such crimes are not committed on a whim and I wanted to know more about the timeline of events and what might have led to such a tragedy. This book was the perfect source for such information.

The book itself is split into fourteen chapters each dealing with a particular topic related to the events that unfolded on that fateful weekend in June. Each chapter relays the officially stated facts pertaining to the particular topic it is dealing with and Muchnick's investigation into those facts. It soon becomes apparent that those "facts" are sometimes nothing of the sort and he exposes such things as inconsistencies in the police reports, information that was overlooked and a possible WWE cover up of the timeline to limit damage to their public image.

The investigation by Mr Muchnick is very much a thorough one although I felt some information would have been better left out of the book. For instance, Chris Benoit was rumored to be having an affair with a current WWE diva. Even though it might appear that this was true, and may have led to further instability in Benoit's already unstable marriage, there wasn't enough evidence to support this theory as concrete fact. Yes, the diva's phone number might well have appeared on Benoit's cell records but that doesn't necessarily mean they were having an affair. Although intriguing I also felt that the chapter on the Wikipedia hacker was more filler than it was anything substantial in relation to the investigation.

As for the rest of the book it was very well thought out and evidence was presented, as required, in relation to the case that Muchnick built throughout the text. Ultimately, the reader is left with many unanswered questions that we will never know the answers to due to the case being closed and many people involved refusing to speak further about the incident. One of those bigger unanswered questions, in my opinion, was why WWE wrestler Dave Taylor was at the scene of the crime but later denied being there at all? However, Muchnick does make it clear that multiple explanations are the likely cause of Benoit snapping including prolonged use of performance enhancing drugs (which WWE knew about but chose to look the other way), depression and trauma inflicted upon the brain. The biggest unanswered question though is how Mr McMahon sleeps comfortably of a night knowing the role that his company has played in the deaths of many its performers as well as Chris Benoit and his family?

I recommend this book if you are interested in finding out more about what took place, the attitude of the WWE to what happened and the reasons as to why the murder-suicide occurred as you will find 'Chris & Nancy' be the definitive source on the subject matter.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books I've ever read on wrestling, December 15, 2009

By 

Bobby O'Connor - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chris & Nancy: The True Story of the Benoit Murder-Suicide and Pro Wrestling's Cocktail of Death (Paperback)

I grew up in the early 1980's when wrestling hit its peak in terms of popularity and entertainment value. What drew me in during that era of Hogan, Snuka, and the Junkyard Dog was the sheer fun of it all. Sure, there was an element of danger to it, but there was still a bit of wholesomeness with even the scariest of the bad guys like King Kong Bundy, perhaps due to the cartoonish quality the characters had. By the 1990's, wrestling (and more specifically the WWF--later WWE--had sucked all the fun out of everything and made it all about money. Wrestlers were taking steroids like never before, pushing themselves more and more over the line. It was no longer family entertainment. Instead, it became something sick and twisted. No story better exemplifies this than the cautionary tale of the Benoits.

Since I was also a bookworm growing up, I eagerly sought out and consumed any book I could find on wrestling. Most of them were terrible, with bad writing and shoddy structures. Not so with this book. Not only is the story compelling, but Muchnick writes it like a true writer with a firm command of language and knowledge of his subject. By far the best book I've ever read on wrestling, and I'd recommend it to anyone who's interested in wrestling, crime stories, or just good writing.