World Wrestling Entertainment has been the standard bearer for professional wrestling/sports entertainment since the 80’s. Fans of wrestling have seen various generations of amazing talent and technicians, from Hulk Hogan to Ric Flair, Andre the Giant to the Undertaker, Shawn Michaels to Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart, and so many more legends. But, what many consider wrestling’s greatest era, at least on television, has to be the late 90’s/early 2000’s. Otherwise known as the Attitude Era, you saw a rival company, WCW, battle WWE in ratings, and give us some of the best storylines and matches ever. However, it was also marked with plenty of tragedy. We lost many talent, whether due to accidents (like the death of Owen Hart), or succumbing to years of pain meds from putting their bodies on the line day in and day out (like the passing of Eddie Guerrero). But, probably the most shocking tragedy in sports entertainment history deal with the double murder and suicide of Chris Benoit and his family.
While it’s been a black mark on the sport, a filmmaker (we assume it was Lexi Alexander, as she was attached to the project at one point) has tried to make a Biopic about Benoit, his life, and this tragedy. But the family has said no. Here’s why.
For those of you unaware of what happened, Chris Benoit murdered his wife and son before killing himself, all on the eve of his PPV where he was set to win the World Heavyweight Championship. However, before this terrible incident marred his legacy forever, by his own hand, Benoit was considered one of the greatest in ring technicians ever. This is where the filmmaker and Benoit’s family differ. David, Benoit’s living son, and aspiring pro wrestler, didn’t want the tragedy to be a focal point of the film, titled Crossface. However, after reading the proposed script, and seeing that the end of the film was solely about that time, David and his family put a stop to the whole thing. David explained it in an interview with Chris Van Vliet.
“There was a director, everything bro. We had to step in because they wanted to do the tragedy about how it all went down. So we said no. They needed our permission. She sent us the script and then the end was the whole murder/suicide was gonna be all in it. We said no.”
While it’s understandable that David and his family would want to focus on his career rather than the tragedy, the tragedy cannot be ignored, nor washed away. It is unfortunately a massive part of Benoit’s legacy now, and, quite frankly, the only reason anyone would go see the movie. While he was a fan favorite character, a story just about his career wouldn’t be compelling to a lot of people, especially with this horrific incident known to all. Quite frankly, this movie doesn’t need to be made. There is no need to relive this event, and also no real need to try and glaze over it. Even if you cut out the end of his life and what he did, the second his name comes up, people would only be thinking about that incident. So, it’s probably for the best that David and his family put a stop to the film.
Would you want to see a Benoit film just about his career? Let us know in the comments below!