On June 22, 2007 former WWE World Heavyweight champion Chris Benoit murdered his wife, Nancy Benoit, and his 10-year-old son Daniel before hanging himself and committing suicide. Since then, “The Crippler” has been essentially blacklisted from WWE history, with the exception of a few of his matches being available on the WWE Network. The tragedy marked one of the darkest days in the history of professional wrestling.
Former WWE referee Marty Elias recently held a Q&A to talk about his time in the business, and was asked how the roster was alerted of the tragic news after the events had transpired. Here’s what he had to say:
“For me personally, being there, and being in that whole backstage thing, it wasn’t real. It wasn’t real,” Elias explained. “When everybody found out, it was the meeting with Vince and Stephanie. They pulled everybody together, and that’s when they made the announcement.”
“I mean it was so surreal. Everybody were scratching their heads, and I remember people dispersing, and going off and crying. People just literally being in shock and awe. When they found out that it was a murder/suicide… everything just kind of stood still,” Elias continued. “We had another talent meeting, and we were advised that we weren’t gonna do anything for Chris.”
“It was just a whole different vibe. I’ve been backstage at WWE so many times, but that particular instance, during that whole time, was a whole different vibe.”
H/T The UK Daily Star for the transcriptionsÂ