Jan. 13, 2025

Nancy and Chris Benoit - Part 1

Nancy and Chris Benoit - Part 1
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Chris Benoit known as the Canadian Crippler or the Rabid Wolverine was a WWE star in the 22nd year of a storied career. He was known to be a wrestler’s wrestler- one of the most technically proficient athletes among the corps of actors and performers. Chris Jericho once said Chris Benoit was the “most intense and believable performer I’ve ever been in the ring with. He could see things that were going to happen before they happened.” Chris won many heavyweight and tag team championships, and he’d made a lot of money doing it. He was doing exactly what he’d wanted to do for his entire life- since he was 3-years-old. His friends and colleagues all knew him to be a respectful, reserved and polite family man. So, it came as quite a shock to everybody when he and his family were found dead under suspicious circumstances, in their sprawling Fayetteville, Georgia home. This is the story of a woman, her child, and to some extent, a man, who were failed by the very institution that should have protected them.The question on everyone’s mind…could the tragedy have been prevented?

Listen to both parts on Patreon now.

Today's snacks: Levain Bakery Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sources:

WEBVTT

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Hi, I'm Tina, and I'm rich. And if there's one

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thing we've learned in over twenty years of marriage.

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It's that some days you'll feel like killing your.

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Wife, and some days you'll feel like killing your husband.

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Welcome to love, Mary Kill.

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Hello, darling husband. How are you today?

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I'm doing great.

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You.

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I've been very enthusiastic.

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I was just going to say Happy Friday, and then

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I realized, wait a minute, it's Thursday, not quite Thursday,

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January ninth. Before we get started, I just wanted to

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tell our friends in California that our hearts are with few,

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our hearts are broken. The images that we're seeing are

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just devastating.

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That's so horrific.

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If you've been displaced or affected by the fires, we're

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thinking of you and we're hoping for the best.

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I know.

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It's just such a horrible time.

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Yeah, it really is.

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People message us a lot if they're going through our

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heart time, telling us that our podcast gives them a

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little bit.

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Of joy or or at least a distraction.

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A distraction, and so if we can provide that for

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you today, that would make us very happy. Yeah, this

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doesn't compare at all to what California is going through.

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But it was I think twelve years ago that we

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went through a tornado in our community and it was

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it was really hard and that you know, only maybe

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a thousand homes were affected or whatever.

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But yeah, it's still it's devastating.

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It's devastating to lose your home and your belonging whole, your.

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Whole world is just turned upside down.

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Yeah, So we're thinking about you and sending you love

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and strength. Today we're going to talk about wrestling. Oh boy,

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are you a big wrestling fan?

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You know, when I was a little kid, I was

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pretty into wrestling without it like our This was before

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all of the big you know, before wrestling was really big. Yeah,

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and it was all local and I was I was

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kind of into like our local stuff when I was

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probably ten years old.

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But then, did you have a favorite?

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I really liked Dick the bruiser and the chic.

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He was like the wasn't he like a super bad guy?

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He was a heel rich he was.

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A heel terrible, terrible person.

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But you're going to break it down a little bit.

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We're gonna go pretty pretty deep.

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And that's good because I've been out of touch with

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the Wrestling World for many years now.

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My siblings and I we also watched wrestling I think

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on Saturday mornings and old Cogan he was even he

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was around back then a little bit.

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Yeah. My only brush with wrestling recently is I watched

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the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling TV show, which was really good.

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Pat, Yeah, you talk about it all I think you

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talked about it like two weeks ago. I think you did. Yeah,

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I can't get enough of those gorgeous ladies.

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I think it was a really good show.

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All right, Well, before we get started, I'm going to

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give you a snack, but I also wanted to give

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a content warning. Today's episode contains domestic violence, discussions of

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drug and steroid abuse, suicide, and the death of a child.

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Please listen with care. It is kind of a tough episode.

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Earlier this week, we got a comment on Spotify. One

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of our international listeners called us out for our unhealthy snacks.

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He's probably a salad, didn't you?

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And I thought it was funny. I really I just

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thought like, and I really do think her intent was like,

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what's up with the unhealthy snacks? Guys? Is that an

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American thing? And I posted it on our Instagram stories

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and you guys, you're so kind and you love us

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so much. We don't deserve you. But so many people

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were like mad about that, and so many people said, well,

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you know what you need to do is you need

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to bring rich a healthy snack.

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So here's your raw broccoli, some.

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Raw Brocxliane the orange.

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I'll take the orange.

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I know I should have. I was supposed to cook

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it and put like cheese sauce on it, but waste it.

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So yeah, all right, well I will have the orange.

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Well, I just want to say that we do eat

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vegetables once in a while. And recording day we only

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record once a week, so we and we had like

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to have fun. We're in here for several hours often

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and we do kind of indulge on recording day.

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Yeah, for sure, it's good to have a good, good

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snack when we record.

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Yeah, but we eat broccoli once in a while. Of

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course I did bring you some cookies though, of course

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I did, and you know because actually I made them yesterday,

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and in a moment of weakness, I said, hey, if

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you pretend on the podcast that you didn't eat these cookies,

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I'll let you have fun.

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I didn't eat those cookies? What are you talking about?

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And you're like, Okay, I have no idea what you mean.

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I made just because I have been feeling great. I

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really just wanted a homemade cookie for myself. So I

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made Levon Bakery double chocolate chip cookies and I we

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will post the recipe in our show notes, and I

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added like half a bag of caramel bits that aren't

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in the recipe.

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Oh, nice touch.

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You want to try one?

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Of course I did.

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So what did you think of the cookie?

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I love the cookie. I think they're amazing, and I

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like the caramel bits. Touch. It's a nice touch.

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Well, we went to Levon Bakery when we were in

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Boston last time and whatever. I can't remember what cookie

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I had, but it had caramel bits in it, and

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I thought that it was a nice touch.

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Yeah, it's a nice touch. And the orange was good too.

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I love those oranges. It's one of these days I

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wouldn't have to send everyone like a picture of our

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pantry of all of the baking chips we have. We

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have hundreds of bags of chocolate chips, so which is

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kind of nice because if I'm ever like, oh, I'll

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just throw in some heath bar or some we always

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have it on hand.

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Yeah, you're a good improviser.

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So what would you rate the cookie?

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Ten out of ten? Easy?

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I'm not sure. If you're the most discerning judge.

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You've just been making things that are really good.

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I would give them eight out of ten. Actually, there's

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some other copycat recipes Lavon Bakery, copycat recipes that I

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think I liked better. But the recipe calls for cake flour.

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I didn't have any cake flower, but you can make

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your own. You just take out like a tablespoon. Do

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you look really bored?

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No?

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Fascinated?

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I know.

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Sometimes I started talking about baking and I'm like, I

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think I'm boring everyone. Anyway, if you ever need to

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make cake flower, you can just take out a tablespoon

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or to a flower. Then you put in corn starch

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and it's just a lighter flower.

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Good to know.

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Chris Benois, known as the Canadian Crippler or the Rabid Wolverine,

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was a WWE star in the twenty second year of

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a storied career. He was known to be a wrestlers wrestler,

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one of the most technically proficient athletes among the core

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of actors and performers. Chris Jericho once said Chris Benoit

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was quote the most intense and believable performer I've ever

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been in the ring with. He could see things that

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were going to happen before they happened. Chris Benoit won

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many heavyweight and tag team championships, and he'd made a

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lot of money doing it. He was doing exactly what

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he'd wanted to do for his entire life since he

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was three years old. Friends and colleagues all knew him

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to be a respectful, reserved, and polite family man. So

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it came as quite as shock to everybody when he

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and his family were found dead under suspicious circumstances in

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their sprawling Fayetteville, Georgia home. This is the story of

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a woman, her child, and to some extent, a man,

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who were failed by the very institution that should have

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protected them. The question on everyone's mind could the tragedy

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have been prevented? On Monday, June twenty fifth, two thousand

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and seven, Holly Shrupford, the next door neighbor of Chris

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and Nancy Benois, opened her door to two Fayette County

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Police officers, Deputy Donna Munday and Lieutenant Larry Alden. They

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quickly explained why they were there. A concerned party had

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called them to request a welfare check on the Benois family.

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Nobody had seen them in days, and Chris, a famous

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w w E wrestler, had missed several shows he'd been

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scheduled to appear in, which was most unlike him. Now

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that Holly thought about it, her recent interactions with the

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family had been under a usual She had received three

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calls from the Benois in rapid succession at nine thirty

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pm on Friday, June twenty second, but she didn't answer

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the phone because of the late hour. On Saturday morning,

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Chris called again to say that Nancy and their son

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Daniel were both suffering from terrible food poisoning. Chris was

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calling to let Holly know that Daniel wouldn't be able

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to attend the horse riding camp that she owned and

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operated that morning. The police had run into a problem

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during their wellness check. Their path under the Benoi home,

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a beautiful new custom built home with a formidable security

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system and multiple surveillance cameras, was blocked by a locked,

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tall iron gate with two foreboding German shepherds. They needed

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to know if Holly knew the gatecode, or if she

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was familiar with the dogs, they were in luck. While

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Holly didn't know the gatecode, the fence was easily scalable

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and the dogs were more friendly. In Holly's presence. She

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watched the dogs Carnee in high Spot, both named after

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wrestling inside jokes. Whenever Chris and Nancy were away, Holly,

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at the request of the police, called Nancy's cell phone.

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When the call went unanswered, Holly started to worry. She

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climbed over the fence and lured the dogs into the

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Benois mud room, where she locked them into their respective kennels.

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The police remained outside waiting for the all clear. Holly

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poked around the home, shouting Nancy Daniel. She heard nothing.

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The house was completely still, completely silent. An unpleasant odor

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hung heavily through the house. Holly walked up the stairs

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to seven year old Daniel's bedroom. The room was practically

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a shrine to Daniel's father, covered with posters of Crisp

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and Nois w w E branded action figures and plastic

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replica championship belts. Daniel was laying face down in his bed,

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wearing pajamas. Next to him laid an illustrated children's Bible,

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my first bible. It was clear from the color of

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his face, the unnatural angle of his body, and the

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dried foam coating his lips that little Daniel was dead.

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Holly rushed out of the room, shocked and terrified. She

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scampered down the stairs and searched for Nancy. Afraid of

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what she might find. Holly burst into the home office,

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hoping to find her friend at her desk as usual,

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watching her favorite shows on her computer. But forty three

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year old Nancy was lying on the floor, her body

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wrapped in a towel. Her hands, feet, and neck were

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bound with electrical cables and duct tape. Her face was

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bruised black, the stench of death apparent, as deccomposition was

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already well underway. A bible lay next to Nancy as well.

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Holly was devastated. Two people she knew well and cared about, one,

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a little boy of just seven, were both dead. She

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stumbled towards the door. She knew she should look in

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the basement. She knew there was one more member of

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the Benoi family unaccounted for, but she'd seen enough. She

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knew there were only terrible things to discover down there.

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Holly opened the front door, grateful for the fresh air

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and sunlight. She screamed to the police and hysterics. Daniel

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and Nancy have been murdered. They've killed the family.

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I can't imagine how horrible that would be to discover that.

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Yeah, very sad. It's important we first talk about the

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role that the WWE played in the downfall of Chris

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Benoir and the tragedy that befell his family. That's first

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examine the controversial world of professional wrestling and the WWE

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is a workplace, business, and cultural phenomenon. WWE or World

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Wrestling Entertainment used to be called WWF or World Wrestling

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Federation before they were sued by the World Wildlife Fund

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in the year two thousand. To simplify things, we will

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only refer to the organization as WWE. There's nothing else

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quite like the world of professional wrestling and amalgamation of theater,

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improv sport, carnival acrobatics, and Mortal Kombat style fighting games,

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all wearing the skin of a macho eighties action movie,

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Rippling pecks, scantily clad women, men breaking out in melodramatic

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fits of madness, and screaming at the sky, spandex leather,

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retrograde racial stereotyping, long feathery flowing hair. Although the world

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of pro wrestling is often regarded as a quirky and

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niche form of entertainment, wrestling delights audiences from all walks

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of life, from every socioeconomic status and education level. With

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its unique blend of athleticism and theatrics. Professional wrestling has

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also birthed many enduring icons of American pop culture and

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even politics. Andre the Giant Hulkogan originally called Stirling Golden,

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did Not Know That, Dewayne the Rock, Johnson Rowdy, Roddy Piper,

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John Cena, David Battista, and Jesse Ventura, the thirty eighth

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Governor of Minnesota. What we know is the WWE was

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originally known as Capital Wrestling Corporation or CWC. The CWC,

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owned and operated by Vincent J. McMahon, staged its first

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show in January nineteen fifty three. It has since undergone

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several evolutions, changed names and ownership, and has effectively monopolized

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the world of theatrical wrestling and now controls over roughly

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ninety five percent of all professional wrestling in North America.

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Prior to this monopolization, wrestling operated under the territory system.

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There were many much smaller regional wrestling organizations with their

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own enthusiastic fan bases. I think you were saying, yeah, like.

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Detroit Area Detroit Areas Wrestlers. Yeah.

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Yeah.

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I had no idea that this organization was around since

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nineteen fifty three, though, that's wild well.

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Vincent J. McMahon's son, Vincent Kennedy McMahon, was born in

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August nineteen forty five. He grew up dirt poor in

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a trailer park with his mother and a string of

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abusive stepfathers. He has implied that he was sexually abused

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by his mother. Vince met his father for the first

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time when he was twelve. After getting in trouble for

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stealing cars, Vince was sent to military school in the

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Blue Ridge Mountains. Soon after, he began working for his father.

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He started as an announcer. In nineteen sixty six, Vince,

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twenty one, married Linda, who was only seventeen at the time.

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They've been married ever since. They have two children, Shane

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and Stephanie. Vince strived for one thing to make his

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father proud, but Vince Senior was cold and withheld praise

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from his fledgling son, which made him work even harder.

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In nineteen eighty two, Vince McMahon bought the business from

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his father. He began to systematically demolish the territory system

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and encroach on other territories by stealing their talent.

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Almost sounds like a drug turf war type of.

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Thing, yeah, kind of. Soon, the WWE dominated the world

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of wrestling, in large part due to the rise of

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hul Cogan. You can't talk about the WWE without Hule Cogan,

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and he played a huge part in the rise of

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the WWE in its success, Vince talked about the one

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time his father told him he loved him and he

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was proud of him, and how it was a great day.

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There is a point and my dad told me he

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was proud of me. He saitting on with Vinnie. All

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these friends of mine, they're not really friends of mine.

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All these promoters have worked with all these years in

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their territories. You know what, Fuck them, You're beating all

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of them. I'm proud of you for what you've done.

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Fuck them all. And I thought, Wow, the first time

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my dad ever said anything like dead that he was

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on my side. Of course, he waited until I was

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a success, and maybe he felt that way all along,

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but he never told me.

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That was one of the biggest moments of my life.

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Until you always in a moment of silence for mister Vincent.

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Say.

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The day before he died, it was the oldly time

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that he told me that he loved me. But he

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told me before he died, because that felt so good.

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Well, Vince's voice is a little raspy, isn't it just bananas?

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Though, Yeah, it is bananas.

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I chose that clue because it seems to summarize Vince

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so well in a nutshell, like he's not a good guy,

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but his whole life he just needed the love of

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his father and he didn't get it until his dad

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was essentially out of stuff.

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Like there's like so many like famous, well known people

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whose lives are defined by something like that, you know,

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just something that happened in their past.

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That we're way too loving to our children for them

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to be billionaires.

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That's the takeaway.

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Well, I think billionaires tend to have I guess they

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shouldn't stereotype all billionaires, but you know what I mean, Like.

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Yeah, yeah, there's something to that. I think. In the

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late nineteen eighties, Ted Turner gave the WWE a run

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for its money with his own wrestling promotion WCW or

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World Championship Wrestling. Turner, along with promoter Eric Bischoff, offered

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better pay and flexible schedules. Many big name wrestlers fled

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to Turner's network, including Hull Cogan. Vince McMahon was furious

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he had created Hulk Hogan for eighty three weeks. The

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WCW topped the WWE in the ratings by creating more

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live events, better storylines, and cooler wrestlers in an attempt

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to win back viewers. Vince became the ultimate heel character.

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In wrestling, you have heels and you have baby faces

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or faces, So like Hull Cogan is, he's a face,

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and like Vince was a heel, so kind of like

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a good guy versus a bad guy.

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Okay, I've never heard that terminology before.

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Yeah, it's pretty It's very common in wrestling, and you

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can't be well. Sometimes characters turn like hul Kogan has turned,

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I think, and.

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They have a character arc, just like you might in

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a TV series or a movie or something like that. Yeah,

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Vince became the ultimate heel character. Mister McMahon a caricature

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of himself, and some people would argue that he just

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played himself. Audiences couldn't get enough of this over the

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top character that they loved to bo. McMahon's kids, Shane

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and Stephanie, even became part of the act. Vince allowed

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a crowd to chant slut at Stephanie for a storyline.

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I don't like that he fought his son Shane in

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the ring. Even camera shy Linda played along. Linda once

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appeared to be in a drug state while Trish, Vince's girlfriend,

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quote unquote, pushed her out to the ring in a

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wheelchair as they kissed in front of her. In short,

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Vince did whatever it took to put on a good show.

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He even sacrificed his most intimate relationships and dignity. He

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allowed Donald Trump to shave his head in the ring

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after he lost to him.

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I don't think they had a real match. I think

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that Donald Trump just pushed it.

360
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Out, gotcha. The most important thing to Vince is the

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WWE's bottom line and his legacy. His entire life has

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revolved around the world of wrestling, and he expected the

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same commitment from his performers. In two thousand and one,

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Time Warner merged with AOL. Turner's networks were no longer

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interested in wrestling. The WCW was losing money and could

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no longer keep up with the WWE. Time Warner purchased

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the WCW for a mere two and a half million dollars.

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Vince McMahon finally beat ted Turner. Linda McMahon held a

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behind the scenes business role. She served as president and

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CEO of the WWE from nineteen eighty to two thousand

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and nine. She left to pursue a Senate seat in

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Connecticut in two thousand and nine after she lost. She

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ran again in twenty twelve and lost again. She served

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as head of the Small Business Administration under Donald WI.

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Trump's first term in office, and is set to serve

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as Secretary of Education in his second term. Vince served

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as the public face of the company for the past

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fifty years until recently. In twenty twenty two, he stepped

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back from his role as CEO, but remained on the

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board of directors after it was found that he had

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paid a former employee three million dollars in hush money

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after engaging in an affair. Vince seventy seven resigned completely

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in twenty twenty four from the WWE after additional allegations

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of sexual misconduct, assault, and trafficking. Further investigations found that

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he had paid four women twelve million dollars over a

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sixteen year period. The most serious allegation was from a

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former female wrestler, who he paid seven point five million dollars.

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She accused Vince of firing her after she refused to

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perform oral sex. Stephanie McMahon took over as CEO until

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WWE was sold to the Endeavor Group in twenty twenty four.

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I think at this point the McMahons are not affiliated

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with WWE at all.

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Ok Vince Linda are still together despite all these allegations

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against him.

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00:20:03.799 --> 00:20:05.480
Oh yeah, They're one of those couples that will be

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together forever.

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00:20:06.400 --> 00:20:06.839
Yeah.

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I don't think Vince is doing well health wise.

399
00:20:09.559 --> 00:20:10.519
Okay, how old is he?

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00:20:11.119 --> 00:20:13.839
Seventy seven or seventy eight. He's kind of lived the

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00:20:13.920 --> 00:20:16.599
life of a wrestler, and as you'll come to see

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00:20:16.960 --> 00:20:19.200
wrestlers struggle with their health.

403
00:20:19.480 --> 00:20:21.319
In what way do you mean he's lived the life

404
00:20:21.359 --> 00:20:22.000
of a wrestler.

405
00:20:22.480 --> 00:20:23.799
I mean, I don't want to give too much away,

406
00:20:23.839 --> 00:20:26.319
but he's taken a lot of steroids and he has

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wrestled a fair amount too.

408
00:20:27.720 --> 00:20:31.480
Oh interesting, Yeah, did not realize that Vince revolutionized the

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world of wrestling. He is the WWE, and the WWE

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00:20:35.319 --> 00:20:38.920
is him. To adequately summarize his tenure at the WWE,

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00:20:38.960 --> 00:20:42.079
there would need to be several hundred podcast episodes devoted

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00:20:42.079 --> 00:20:45.200
to him. There were allegations that he was an abusive boss,

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that he encouraged his wrestlers to use steroids, and then

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he kept doctors around to prescribe steroids at will. McMahon

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00:20:51.880 --> 00:20:55.319
was even indicted on steroid related charges in nineteen ninety three,

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though never officially convicted. He has leveraged his money and

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influence to get his wrestle out of criminal charges. Jimmy

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Superfly Snooka killed his girlfriend, for example, and got off

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scott free for decades due to the interference of McMahon.

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He has been accused of human trafficking and sexual abuse.

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He is large, both figuratively and literally. He's a fanatic

422
00:21:15.920 --> 00:21:19.559
Jim Rat and on record as having himself used steroids.

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While Vince McMahon may not be a good guy. It's

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hard to deny the empire that he built. His success

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00:21:25.039 --> 00:21:27.559
came at a steep cost, paid by hundreds of men

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who sacrificed their health and safety, all for the fleeting

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00:21:30.720 --> 00:21:34.240
chance to win a championship belt that hinged on Vince's whims.

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Despite Vince's explosive personality, many wrestlers say they love him

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like a father and would take a bullet for him.

430
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As far as pro wrestling itself goes, the first question

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00:21:43.880 --> 00:21:47.559
everybody always asks is well, it's fake, right, to which

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the answer is mostly it is all performance. The flow

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00:21:51.960 --> 00:21:54.480
and outcome of the fight is known before anybody gets

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in the ring, though the wrestlers may improvise a little bit.

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00:21:57.720 --> 00:22:00.519
These guys are often friends off stage, the same way

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00:22:00.519 --> 00:22:02.759
the cast of a Broadway show may pretend to hate

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00:22:02.759 --> 00:22:05.680
each other during their performance, but then grab drinks with

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00:22:05.720 --> 00:22:09.440
each other afterwards. There's a special word for this constructed fantasy,

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00:22:09.680 --> 00:22:13.119
k fabe. K Fabe is defined as the fiction perpetrated

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00:22:13.119 --> 00:22:15.720
by a con artist, and everyone involved in the con

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00:22:15.759 --> 00:22:18.400
protects this fiction. It was a term that was first

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00:22:18.519 --> 00:22:21.519
used among carnival people. K Fabe is a term used

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00:22:21.519 --> 00:22:25.759
in professional wrestling to refer to the portrayal of staged events, rivalries,

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00:22:26.039 --> 00:22:29.240
and personas as if they are real. It represents the

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00:22:29.279 --> 00:22:32.039
commitment to maintaining the illusion that everything in the wrestling

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00:22:32.119 --> 00:22:35.759
storyline is genuine, both in and out of the ring. Basically,

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it means everyone stays in character. The og wrestlers never

448
00:22:39.279 --> 00:22:42.119
let their masks slip, but in recent years k Fabe

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00:22:42.160 --> 00:22:44.599
has softened a bit, much to the annoyance of the

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00:22:44.599 --> 00:22:48.039
Old Guard. But while their personas may be fiction, the

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screams of pain exaggerated and the crazy acrobatic throws require

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00:22:52.160 --> 00:22:55.920
the participation of both wrestlers. These wrestlers are still destroying

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their bodies in these shows. They hit each other, jump

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on each other, bang their heads, and take metal chairs

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00:23:01.559 --> 00:23:04.440
to the face. They're actually composed of a lighter metal

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00:23:04.440 --> 00:23:06.960
to soften the blow, but it all still hurts and

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00:23:07.000 --> 00:23:10.240
causes long term damage. The wrestlers work together to put

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on a show in the ring. They use each other's

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energy to propel their bodies into the moves. To sell

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a punch to the audience, a wrestler flings their body

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00:23:18.319 --> 00:23:22.279
aggressively across the ring, landing face first. They may hide

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00:23:22.319 --> 00:23:24.720
a razor in a boot or under a cuff and

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00:23:24.799 --> 00:23:28.119
covertly slice their forehead with it in order to draw blood.

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00:23:28.279 --> 00:23:31.359
So often it's not each other these wrestlers end up wounding,

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but rather themselves.

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00:23:33.240 --> 00:23:35.920
So when the wrestlers are doing this moves, they're more

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00:23:36.039 --> 00:23:38.880
likely to hurt themselves than their opponents.

468
00:23:38.960 --> 00:23:41.519
Yeah, yeah, I totally get it, and I've watched enough

469
00:23:41.599 --> 00:23:43.799
videos of wrestling that you can tell. I mean, it

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00:23:43.880 --> 00:23:48.559
is a very physically demanding and punishing activity. Whether it's

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00:23:49.240 --> 00:23:52.960
fake or not, they are definitely potentially hurting each other well.

472
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And the razorblade thing, I don't know if I knew that,

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but they cut themselves and that made me realize why

474
00:23:58.480 --> 00:24:02.640
hul Cogan always wears a bandana over his forehead because

475
00:24:02.680 --> 00:24:05.759
he has so many, you know, scars from using a

476
00:24:05.839 --> 00:24:06.480
razor blade.

477
00:24:06.640 --> 00:24:10.039
No idea k fabe. The constructed fantasy does not stop

478
00:24:10.079 --> 00:24:12.880
when the performers get off stage. The wrestlers used to

479
00:24:12.880 --> 00:24:17.920
be encouraged, even incentivized, to behave antagonistically towards their supposed enemies.

480
00:24:18.200 --> 00:24:21.119
Whenever others were around. They were to play the parts

481
00:24:21.119 --> 00:24:24.279
of their characters at all times. While Hulk Hogan's friends

482
00:24:24.319 --> 00:24:27.119
may know him by his legal name Terry Bolea. If

483
00:24:27.119 --> 00:24:29.319
he was out and about in public, he would have

484
00:24:29.359 --> 00:24:32.359
been expected to answer only to Hulk or mister Hogan.

485
00:24:32.720 --> 00:24:35.720
As this story unfolds, you'll see when it comes to wrestling,

486
00:24:36.039 --> 00:24:40.240
the boundaries between reality and fiction are often porous, and

487
00:24:40.359 --> 00:24:43.000
while k fabe isn't taken as seriously as it used

488
00:24:43.039 --> 00:24:45.839
to be, McMahon effectively killed it when he went before

489
00:24:45.880 --> 00:24:48.640
the New Jersey State Senate and admitted it was all

490
00:24:48.680 --> 00:24:52.319
fake in an effort to escape stricter sports regulation. It

491
00:24:52.400 --> 00:24:55.839
is still a tradition that wrestler's practice. It's still baked

492
00:24:55.880 --> 00:24:59.079
into the sport. Deny what is plain to see. Deny,

493
00:24:59.200 --> 00:25:02.920
for example, that you've ever taken performance enhancing drugs, even

494
00:25:02.920 --> 00:25:06.000
though you maintain a physique that is literally impossible to

495
00:25:06.079 --> 00:25:09.640
obtain naturally. Deny, for example, that you're in pain and

496
00:25:09.680 --> 00:25:12.240
need help, even though you've made a living off of

497
00:25:12.279 --> 00:25:15.680
abusing your body. The lifestyle of a wrestler is grueling.

498
00:25:15.880 --> 00:25:18.480
They travel the world for events and often work seven

499
00:25:18.559 --> 00:25:21.079
days a week fifty two weeks a year, with little

500
00:25:21.079 --> 00:25:23.720
time off to spend time with their families or to

501
00:25:23.759 --> 00:25:26.359
properly heal from their frequent injuries.

502
00:25:26.240 --> 00:25:29.799
And what makes injuries heal faster? Ah, steroids.

503
00:25:29.960 --> 00:25:33.079
Okay, much of the world of professional wrestling is fake,

504
00:25:33.200 --> 00:25:35.359
but the aches, pains, and wear and tear on the

505
00:25:35.359 --> 00:25:39.119
wrestler's bodies is very real. Hulk Hogan has endured twenty

506
00:25:39.160 --> 00:25:42.880
three surgeries. And to make matters worse, the WWE does

507
00:25:42.920 --> 00:25:45.759
not provide health insurance to their wrestlers. Wow, they don't

508
00:25:45.799 --> 00:25:48.319
provide health insurance. Nope, that is shocking.

509
00:25:48.680 --> 00:25:52.920
Wrestlers are considered independent contractors and they need to find

510
00:25:52.960 --> 00:25:55.680
their own insurance. Can you imagine how expensive that is?

511
00:25:55.880 --> 00:25:56.000
Oh?

512
00:25:56.119 --> 00:25:59.359
Yeah, wrestlers are paid well, but to find your own

513
00:25:59.400 --> 00:26:00.359
health insurance.

514
00:26:00.519 --> 00:26:03.480
When that's your job as a professional wrestler, beating getting

515
00:26:03.519 --> 00:26:04.359
beat up every day.

516
00:26:04.440 --> 00:26:04.720
Yeah.

517
00:26:04.720 --> 00:26:09.799
And Vince McMahon is worth over three billion dollars, so surely, oh,

518
00:26:09.880 --> 00:26:12.920
he could afford to pay his wrestler's insurance.

519
00:26:13.000 --> 00:26:13.240
Yeah.

520
00:26:13.279 --> 00:26:13.920
Absolutely.

521
00:26:14.559 --> 00:26:17.599
That was a lot of background information about wrestling. Did

522
00:26:17.680 --> 00:26:18.559
you know most of that?

523
00:26:18.799 --> 00:26:18.920
No?

524
00:26:19.000 --> 00:26:20.200
I didn't know a whole lot of that. I mean,

525
00:26:20.240 --> 00:26:24.119
I kind of knew about the wrestling being like performative

526
00:26:24.279 --> 00:26:28.400
and the outcomes of the match being kind of pre predestined,

527
00:26:28.519 --> 00:26:30.759
But I didn't know a lot of the other information,

528
00:26:30.920 --> 00:26:32.240
so I thought it was interesting.

529
00:26:33.079 --> 00:26:35.400
It's all pertinent to the story that we're about to

530
00:26:35.400 --> 00:26:39.039
tell about Chris Benoah, we'll be back after a break.

531
00:26:46.519 --> 00:26:49.680
Christopher Michael Benoa was born on May twenty first, nineteen

532
00:26:49.720 --> 00:26:53.039
sixty seven, in Montreal, Quebec. He was one of two

533
00:26:53.160 --> 00:26:58.279
children born to parents Michael and Margaret Benoit. Raised in Edmonton, Alberta.

534
00:26:58.559 --> 00:27:01.640
Chris was a tiny kid, the last kid you'd expect

535
00:27:01.640 --> 00:27:04.799
to pursue a career in professional wrestling, But in spite

536
00:27:04.799 --> 00:27:07.839
of his size, he was always attracted to athletics and

537
00:27:07.960 --> 00:27:10.480
he excelled at them. Chris was just three years old

538
00:27:10.480 --> 00:27:12.920
when his father introduced him to the world of wrestling

539
00:27:13.240 --> 00:27:15.680
by taking him to see Andre the Giant at the

540
00:27:15.720 --> 00:27:18.799
Montreal Forum. When he was six, Chris was involved in

541
00:27:18.799 --> 00:27:22.359
a major car accident. His head was slammed against the windshield,

542
00:27:22.599 --> 00:27:25.880
which resulted in a three day hospital stay. No permanent

543
00:27:25.960 --> 00:27:29.599
damage was reported. As a young child, he regularly watched

544
00:27:29.599 --> 00:27:34.400
broadcast of Stampede Wrestling, a Canadian pro wrestling company based

545
00:27:34.400 --> 00:27:38.119
out of Calgary. He became single mindedly obsessed with becoming

546
00:27:38.119 --> 00:27:41.440
a professional wrestler. When he was eleven, Chris showed up

547
00:27:41.440 --> 00:27:45.200
to a Stampede wrestling show in Edmonton. Stampede was owned

548
00:27:45.240 --> 00:27:48.920
by the Hart family or the Hart Dynasty. Stuhart, the

549
00:27:48.960 --> 00:27:52.720
patriarch of the family, was himself a former wrestler. He

550
00:27:52.799 --> 00:27:55.480
was also a promoter and a well regarded trainer. His

551
00:27:55.640 --> 00:27:58.480
eight sons were among the many who he trained. Two

552
00:27:58.519 --> 00:28:02.880
of Stu's sons and Owen became major w w E stars.

553
00:28:03.319 --> 00:28:06.039
Chris begged too hard to become part of the show

554
00:28:06.160 --> 00:28:09.680
in any way, no matter how small. Stu acquiesced and

555
00:28:09.839 --> 00:28:12.759
let the determined kid set up and break down the

556
00:28:12.799 --> 00:28:16.240
folding chairs where the audience sat. Chris continued to show up,

557
00:28:16.279 --> 00:28:19.759
and eventually his fanatic devotion to wrestling caught the attention

558
00:28:19.880 --> 00:28:23.079
of the Stampede's higher ups. When he was about thirteen,

559
00:28:23.279 --> 00:28:25.799
Chris attended a Stampede show in which two of his

560
00:28:25.960 --> 00:28:28.759
favorites performed. He sat on the front row looking on

561
00:28:28.920 --> 00:28:32.519
as Brett the Hitman Heart played Face and Tom Billington,

562
00:28:32.759 --> 00:28:36.400
the Dynamite Kid played Heel. Do you remember Heel, which

563
00:28:36.480 --> 00:28:37.279
was the good guy?

564
00:28:37.400 --> 00:28:37.599
Yeah?

565
00:28:37.759 --> 00:28:39.519
I think the Face is the good guy. He is

566
00:28:39.519 --> 00:28:39.960
the bad guy.

567
00:28:40.039 --> 00:28:40.559
Yeah. Well.

568
00:28:40.559 --> 00:28:43.200
He was impressed by the athleticism of both. He found

569
00:28:43.200 --> 00:28:47.400
the performance of the Dynamite Kid especially impressive. Like Chris,

570
00:28:47.440 --> 00:28:51.480
the Dynamite Kid was of smaller stature but incredibly pumped.

571
00:28:52.079 --> 00:28:54.920
Later that night, Chris fanessed his way into the locker

572
00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:57.240
room to meet the hit Man and the Dynamite Kid

573
00:28:57.319 --> 00:28:58.119
face to face.

574
00:28:58.920 --> 00:29:01.519
I remember my dad in my mind, my grandfather brought

575
00:29:01.599 --> 00:29:04.279
me to my very first match, and after that, I

576
00:29:04.400 --> 00:29:07.160
just you know, started you know, pestering them as much

577
00:29:07.160 --> 00:29:09.079
as they can to bring me every weekend. Then as

578
00:29:09.119 --> 00:29:11.640
I got older, started going on my own, and I

579
00:29:11.799 --> 00:29:13.640
met some friends there and started hanging out with them

580
00:29:13.680 --> 00:29:15.839
and kind of, you know, we had a little you

581
00:29:15.839 --> 00:29:18.839
know group that I went every weekend. Eventually, we just

582
00:29:18.839 --> 00:29:21.119
started hanging out, hanging out around the locker room and

583
00:29:21.319 --> 00:29:23.359
trying to get to the building. Early started send up

584
00:29:23.400 --> 00:29:25.599
chairs with the guys that set up the ring, and

585
00:29:25.640 --> 00:29:27.759
eventually they invited us to help us set up the ring,

586
00:29:28.039 --> 00:29:30.640
be set up the ring, and you know, one days

587
00:29:30.640 --> 00:29:31.599
we'll get get in a ring.

588
00:29:31.599 --> 00:29:32.839
You know, it's my first time in the ring.

589
00:29:32.880 --> 00:29:35.759
I'm hitting the ropes and you know, falling backwards like

590
00:29:35.839 --> 00:29:39.839
real you know, camid like, and it just you know,

591
00:29:40.160 --> 00:29:43.240
snowballs from there. Eventually, got introduced to some of the

592
00:29:43.240 --> 00:29:47.759
wrestlers and started talking to them. And the one wrestler though,

593
00:29:47.839 --> 00:29:50.599
but that you know, would never have me introduce to him,

594
00:29:50.680 --> 00:29:52.960
was down to my kid. It was like I was constant,

595
00:29:53.079 --> 00:29:54.599
you know, got to meet him, got to meet him,

596
00:29:54.640 --> 00:29:56.680
got to meet him, and you know, finally I just

597
00:29:56.680 --> 00:29:58.359
had to, you know, go up to the dressmen door

598
00:29:58.400 --> 00:29:59.960
and bang and you know, and he opened the door.

599
00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:02.119
I want to said, you know, when Chris Ben want

600
00:30:02.160 --> 00:30:04.240
to show him my muscles, I'm like, hell, I'm training.

601
00:30:04.759 --> 00:30:05.480
Were you just like you?

602
00:30:05.599 --> 00:30:09.599
Someday Matt Heart said quote. I distinctly remember him shaking

603
00:30:09.599 --> 00:30:12.960
the Dynamite Kid's hand, and Dynamite was really nice to him,

604
00:30:13.000 --> 00:30:16.119
which was strange. He was playing the role of nasty

605
00:30:16.240 --> 00:30:19.000
punk rock kind of heel and he wouldn't normally break

606
00:30:19.079 --> 00:30:21.720
character to be nice to any kids. But he knew

607
00:30:21.759 --> 00:30:24.359
this kid really loved him and he saw something in him.

608
00:30:24.519 --> 00:30:26.839
Dynamite was a hard guy, it was tough to get

609
00:30:26.839 --> 00:30:31.079
his respect, and he always respected Chris. This moment changed

610
00:30:31.119 --> 00:30:34.079
the rest of Chris's life. He decided at that moment

611
00:30:34.119 --> 00:30:37.240
he was going to emulate the Dynamite Kid. Quote. I

612
00:30:37.319 --> 00:30:39.880
looked up to him so much, Chris would later tell

613
00:30:39.920 --> 00:30:43.599
a reporter he was my Superman, my Batman, my spider Man,

614
00:30:44.000 --> 00:30:48.039
my comic book superhero. His style was so aggressive and believable,

615
00:30:48.400 --> 00:30:52.519
so technically sound. Everything he did looked so snug. There

616
00:30:52.559 --> 00:30:56.279
was no wasted movement. Soon after this meeting, Chris pestered

617
00:30:56.279 --> 00:31:00.039
his father into buying him weightlifting gear. He embarked on

618
00:31:00.119 --> 00:31:04.880
a rigorous and incredibly disciplined routine, especially considering his young age.

619
00:31:05.079 --> 00:31:07.720
He hit the weights hard, desperately, trying to grow as

620
00:31:07.799 --> 00:31:10.440
much muscle as he could as fast as he could.

621
00:31:10.640 --> 00:31:14.160
He began taking steroids for the first time, and soon

622
00:31:14.279 --> 00:31:17.559
broke his high school's weightlifting records. While it's never a

623
00:31:17.559 --> 00:31:20.839
good idea to take steroids, it's particularly harmful to take

624
00:31:20.880 --> 00:31:24.759
them during one's formative years. Steroids not only accelerate growth

625
00:31:24.759 --> 00:31:28.799
on the maturation process, but cause growth plates to fuse prematurely,

626
00:31:29.319 --> 00:31:33.559
stunting size and limiting one's growth potential. Chris played football

627
00:31:33.599 --> 00:31:35.799
for five years in his youth, a sport that lent

628
00:31:35.880 --> 00:31:38.680
itself well to him, as he was rapidly ballooning in

629
00:31:38.759 --> 00:31:42.640
size and strength. His position was offensive end. He already

630
00:31:42.680 --> 00:31:44.960
knew by this point that he wanted to pursue wrestling

631
00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:47.839
as a career, so this felt like a good gateway,

632
00:31:47.880 --> 00:31:50.599
teaching him to take a bump or two and keep moving.

633
00:31:51.119 --> 00:31:53.319
Although he now looked the part, Chris was certainly not

634
00:31:53.400 --> 00:31:57.160
a stereotypical jock. Everybody knew him to be soft spoken

635
00:31:57.279 --> 00:32:01.119
and exceptionally well mannered. In nineteen eighty five, at age eighteen,

636
00:32:01.279 --> 00:32:04.480
Benoi made his first trip to the basement of Stuhart's

637
00:32:04.519 --> 00:32:08.440
Calgary mansion, better known as the Heart Dungeon. This was

638
00:32:08.480 --> 00:32:12.000
the school, or more aptly, the Crucible, where Stu forged

639
00:32:12.039 --> 00:32:15.519
pro wrestlers out of mere mortals. Football players trained there

640
00:32:15.559 --> 00:32:18.200
as well. If you thought somebody was worth the trouble

641
00:32:18.519 --> 00:32:21.960
of his training, he'd pound his craft into them. Established

642
00:32:21.960 --> 00:32:24.759
in nineteen forty eight, the Dungeon was not just a

643
00:32:24.759 --> 00:32:29.240
cute nickname. It was an accurate description. Unlike most pro wrestlers,

644
00:32:29.279 --> 00:32:33.000
Stuhart had been an actual wrestler. In nineteen forty he

645
00:32:33.119 --> 00:32:36.119
was set to represent Canada and the Olympics before they

646
00:32:36.119 --> 00:32:39.079
were canceled due to World War Two. During the war,

647
00:32:39.160 --> 00:32:42.720
Stu wrestled for the Royal Canadian Army as a trainer.

648
00:32:42.920 --> 00:32:45.960
He knew how to dole out pain. Years later, Chris

649
00:32:46.000 --> 00:32:49.599
described his time in the Dungeon quote, it was barbaric.

650
00:32:49.880 --> 00:32:52.519
I'm glad when I came in. Stu wasn't in his prime,

651
00:32:52.759 --> 00:32:56.000
but he could still take you down and make you scream.

652
00:32:56.160 --> 00:33:00.240
Stu would often put his students through hell, crazy, painful twisting,

653
00:33:00.279 --> 00:33:04.599
suffocating holds day after day, and Chris kept showing up.

654
00:33:04.960 --> 00:33:07.960
Still living at Edmonton, he took the three hour Greyhound

655
00:33:08.000 --> 00:33:10.400
bus trip each Friday after school to stay with the

656
00:33:10.400 --> 00:33:13.000
Hearts for the weekend. They thought of him as family.

657
00:33:13.279 --> 00:33:15.640
Chris wanted to be a wrestler badly, and he would

658
00:33:15.720 --> 00:33:17.880
do anything if it meant getting better at it.

659
00:33:18.119 --> 00:33:20.119
Yes, it's a good way to weed out people who

660
00:33:20.160 --> 00:33:22.440
really aren't serious enough that those are.

661
00:33:22.319 --> 00:33:26.400
Really dedicated from such a young age, definitely. Chris officially

662
00:33:26.400 --> 00:33:29.640
started his wrestling career in nineteen eighty five. Wrestling was

663
00:33:29.680 --> 00:33:32.240
not only his first job, but his last two. He

664
00:33:32.359 --> 00:33:36.039
never earned a paycheck doing anything other than wrestling. He

665
00:33:36.119 --> 00:33:39.400
performed in Stampede Wrestling, in the same promotion he'd seen

666
00:33:39.440 --> 00:33:42.359
the Dynamite Kid in all those years ago. In fact,

667
00:33:42.440 --> 00:33:45.319
Chris would often find himself compared to the Dynamite Kid

668
00:33:45.640 --> 00:33:49.079
he had the same impeccable form, not wasting any movement,

669
00:33:49.519 --> 00:33:53.240
He also possessed the same reckless disregard for his own safety.

670
00:33:53.640 --> 00:33:56.920
He would often launch himself headfirst onto the floor of

671
00:33:56.960 --> 00:33:59.960
the ring. Benoir often played face or the good guy

672
00:34:00.119 --> 00:34:02.960
the match, but he stretched that good guy persona every

673
00:34:03.000 --> 00:34:07.079
time he executed a crazy, hardest nails slam. Chris was

674
00:34:07.119 --> 00:34:10.360
known for his diving head butt. Depending on the match,

675
00:34:10.400 --> 00:34:13.199
Benoi would climb to the top of the ring steel

676
00:34:13.280 --> 00:34:16.800
cage or sometimes the top of a ten foot ladder

677
00:34:17.079 --> 00:34:20.360
and soar through the air until he landed on his opponent.

678
00:34:21.079 --> 00:34:24.199
He was incredibly powerful, and his moves looked like they

679
00:34:24.320 --> 00:34:29.000
genuinely inflicted pain upon his opponents. However, any wrestler will

680
00:34:29.000 --> 00:34:31.480
tell you those moves often take a bigger toll on

681
00:34:31.519 --> 00:34:36.400
the performer than on their opponent. Chris's actual height remains unclear.

682
00:34:36.719 --> 00:34:39.880
The WWE would eventually bill him as five foot eleven,

683
00:34:40.239 --> 00:34:42.840
but they are notorious for lying about that sort of thing,

684
00:34:42.960 --> 00:34:45.599
and he may have been closer to five foot eight.

685
00:34:46.239 --> 00:34:48.679
His weight fluctuated between two hundred and twenty and two

686
00:34:48.800 --> 00:34:51.559
hundred and thirty five pounds of pure muscle. If you

687
00:34:51.599 --> 00:34:53.719
look at pictures of Chris, you'll see he was built

688
00:34:53.760 --> 00:34:56.599
like a brick wall. His traps were so big it

689
00:34:56.679 --> 00:34:59.079
didn't look like he even had a neck. He was

690
00:34:59.119 --> 00:35:02.000
known for his worth dy and being a perfectionist in

691
00:35:02.039 --> 00:35:02.440
the ring.

692
00:35:02.639 --> 00:35:05.239
Yeah, just from seeing I've seen pictures of him before,

693
00:35:05.440 --> 00:35:06.960
so I'm a little bit familiar with him. But his

694
00:35:07.440 --> 00:35:09.639
neck is the thing that really strikes me is he

695
00:35:09.719 --> 00:35:11.199
just has a very wide neck.

696
00:35:11.360 --> 00:35:13.400
This is going to sound dumb, but it looks so uncomfortable.

697
00:35:13.559 --> 00:35:15.280
Yeah, it looks like you wouldn't really be able to

698
00:35:15.280 --> 00:35:16.320
move your head very right.

699
00:35:16.400 --> 00:35:20.199
It's like so thick, and I think sometimes your muscles

700
00:35:20.360 --> 00:35:22.800
it's hard to hold all those muscles up. Yeah, I

701
00:35:22.800 --> 00:35:24.599
think he was. I think he was in quite a

702
00:35:24.599 --> 00:35:25.079
bit of pain.

703
00:35:25.280 --> 00:35:29.280
Actually, pro wrestlers are a wild, unpredictable bunch. Drug and

704
00:35:29.320 --> 00:35:32.880
alcohol abuse is common. Tempers flare easily, and they're not

705
00:35:32.960 --> 00:35:37.039
shy about physically settling scores if they feel disrespected. Chris

706
00:35:37.119 --> 00:35:40.599
was level headed by comparison. He worked hard, stayed quiet,

707
00:35:40.639 --> 00:35:43.280
and did his best not to anger anybody. When he

708
00:35:43.320 --> 00:35:45.480
worked with somebody who had been in the business longer

709
00:35:45.519 --> 00:35:48.880
than he had, Chris always respectfully followed their lead. He

710
00:35:48.920 --> 00:35:52.360
didn't partake in recreational drugs or alcohol, at least not

711
00:35:52.480 --> 00:35:57.000
early in his career. His only real vice steroids, sometimes legal,

712
00:35:57.159 --> 00:35:59.960
sometimes not. At one point during his four year run

713
00:36:00.119 --> 00:36:03.360
in Stampede, Benoa paired up with Shane Bauer, who took

714
00:36:03.360 --> 00:36:07.400
the stage name Biff Wellington. Benoa and Wellington became so

715
00:36:07.559 --> 00:36:10.920
infamous for their absurd steroid consumption that they earned the

716
00:36:11.000 --> 00:36:15.679
nickname the Megadoses. In December of nineteen eighty nine, Stampede

717
00:36:15.679 --> 00:36:19.800
officially closed down due to conflicts between promoters and broadcasters.

718
00:36:20.119 --> 00:36:22.440
There have been several failed attempts through the years to

719
00:36:22.519 --> 00:36:27.039
resurrect Stampede Wrestling, but its history remained significant, especially among

720
00:36:27.079 --> 00:36:30.880
Canadian wrestlers. Benoa moved to Japan once again, following in

721
00:36:30.920 --> 00:36:33.960
the footsteps of the Dynamite Kid. Ten years earlier, the

722
00:36:34.039 --> 00:36:37.440
Dynamite Kid had toured with New Japan Pro Wrestling. It

723
00:36:37.480 --> 00:36:40.320
was in Japan that the Kid had first cemented his legend,

724
00:36:40.559 --> 00:36:44.079
having gone toe to toe with Setoru Sayama, the premier

725
00:36:44.159 --> 00:36:47.000
star of New Japan Pro Wrestling, who wrestled under the

726
00:36:47.079 --> 00:36:49.960
name Tiger Mask. He was called this because, as you

727
00:36:50.039 --> 00:36:52.360
may expect, he wore a tiger mask I would never

728
00:36:52.400 --> 00:36:56.679
have guessed. While wrestling in Japan, Chris met Eddie Guerrero,

729
00:36:56.760 --> 00:37:00.239
who became his best friend. Eddie was black Tiger. A

730
00:37:00.280 --> 00:37:03.039
friend recalled that they quote used to beat the shit

731
00:37:03.079 --> 00:37:05.480
out of each other, almost like they owed each other money.

732
00:37:06.360 --> 00:37:09.760
Chris was quiet, serious and reserved. Eddie was one of

733
00:37:09.800 --> 00:37:12.920
the few people that Chris let in. Eddie said, quote,

734
00:37:13.079 --> 00:37:15.559
I liked Chris from the moment we first shook hands.

735
00:37:15.760 --> 00:37:18.079
He was totally cool, one of the nicest guys I've

736
00:37:18.119 --> 00:37:20.320
ever met. But when the time came to get into

737
00:37:20.360 --> 00:37:22.639
the ring with him, I was nervous as shit, even

738
00:37:22.679 --> 00:37:25.639
a bit intimidated. I'd seen him work, I knew how

739
00:37:25.679 --> 00:37:29.280
good he was. New Japan pro wrestling was brutal, but

740
00:37:29.440 --> 00:37:33.440
an important part in Benoi's education. To participate, one had

741
00:37:33.440 --> 00:37:36.559
to first relearn the art of wrestling within the strict

742
00:37:36.800 --> 00:37:40.679
hierarchical dojo system. Jay White, a wrestler from New Zealand,

743
00:37:40.760 --> 00:37:43.679
said about his time in the dojo, quote, the training

744
00:37:43.760 --> 00:37:46.440
is horrible, especially at the start, is just such a

745
00:37:46.480 --> 00:37:50.039
shock compared to anything you've done before. Five hundred squats

746
00:37:50.039 --> 00:37:54.039
every morning, sometimes a thousand, same the normal squats that is,

747
00:37:54.360 --> 00:37:56.679
and then you'll have jumping squats on top of that,

748
00:37:56.960 --> 00:37:59.719
hundreds of press ups, just grinding you into the ground

749
00:37:59.760 --> 00:38:03.440
on After the intense workout, trainees were expected to do

750
00:38:03.559 --> 00:38:07.360
menial labor for the wrestlers with more seniority, doing their laundry,

751
00:38:07.400 --> 00:38:11.320
cleaning their dishes, mopping the floors. Chris recalled a terrifying

752
00:38:11.400 --> 00:38:14.320
hazing ritual in which multiple wrestlers would jab him in

753
00:38:14.360 --> 00:38:17.079
the ears again and again until he started to bleed.

754
00:38:17.519 --> 00:38:19.679
It was a gauntlet, to be sure, but if you

755
00:38:19.719 --> 00:38:23.079
could withstand this treatment, you could withstand just about anything,

756
00:38:23.440 --> 00:38:26.960
including a career in professional wrestling. Chris spent around a

757
00:38:27.039 --> 00:38:29.920
year refining his pain tolerance in the dojo before it

758
00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:33.440
was decided that he was ready to compete professionally. He

759
00:38:33.519 --> 00:38:36.760
was first billed as Dynamite Chris, then later took the

760
00:38:36.800 --> 00:38:40.519
stage name Pegasus Kid. This on stage persona would see

761
00:38:40.599 --> 00:38:43.519
him wear a bright blue luchador mask with a silver

762
00:38:43.599 --> 00:38:47.159
Pegasus emblazoned on the forehead. He hated the mask initially,

763
00:38:47.199 --> 00:38:50.159
but grew to understand the importance it played in honing

764
00:38:50.159 --> 00:38:53.119
his character. Chris excelled once he was led into the

765
00:38:53.199 --> 00:38:56.800
ring and won the International Wrestling Grand Prix in nineteen ninety.

766
00:38:57.119 --> 00:38:59.719
He would go on to tour through Mexico, Austria, and

767
00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:03.559
Germany in the early nineties. Germany was an especially important

768
00:39:03.559 --> 00:39:06.360
place for Chris's development. It was here he is thought

769
00:39:06.360 --> 00:39:08.760
to have picked up one of his signature moves, the

770
00:39:08.800 --> 00:39:14.760
belly to back wastelock suplex, informally known as the Germans suplex. Basically,

771
00:39:14.800 --> 00:39:17.840
the wrestler grabs his opponent from behind, lifts them and

772
00:39:17.920 --> 00:39:21.639
falls backwards, slamming their opponent into the ground head first.

773
00:39:21.800 --> 00:39:23.400
Let's try that later, Okay.

774
00:39:23.880 --> 00:39:26.599
Who's going to be the Who's gonna be which party?

775
00:39:26.639 --> 00:39:28.119
I'm going to be the aggressor?

776
00:39:28.480 --> 00:39:32.559
Okay. Germany is also where Chris met his first wife, Martina.

777
00:39:32.880 --> 00:39:36.719
Martina and Chris relocated to Canada. They had two children together,

778
00:39:36.760 --> 00:39:39.360
a son named David in nineteen ninety three and a

779
00:39:39.440 --> 00:39:43.079
daughter named Megan in nineteen ninety seven. Upon moving back

780
00:39:43.159 --> 00:39:47.840
to North America, Chris participated in ECW Extreme Champion Wrestling

781
00:39:48.239 --> 00:39:51.760
based in Philadelphia. This was not regular pro wrestling, but

782
00:39:52.159 --> 00:39:55.960
hardcore pro wrestling. There are a few differences between standard

783
00:39:55.960 --> 00:39:59.519
pro wrestling and hardcore. In hardcore, there's a much larger

784
00:39:59.559 --> 00:40:03.440
emphasis on shock value and crazy stunts. Props are used

785
00:40:03.480 --> 00:40:07.679
a lot more in hardcore staple guns, barbed wire, broken glass,

786
00:40:07.800 --> 00:40:12.840
fire hikes, and occasionally even explosives. While neither wrestlers actually

787
00:40:12.840 --> 00:40:16.239
trying to seriously wound the other. The introduction of potentially

788
00:40:16.320 --> 00:40:20.440
lethal props made hardcore significantly more dangerous than your average

789
00:40:20.480 --> 00:40:24.760
wrestling match. That sounds terrifying, does It was in Philadelphia

790
00:40:24.800 --> 00:40:27.840
where Benoit thought Terry Brunk, who went by the innring

791
00:40:27.920 --> 00:40:31.639
moniker Sabu. During their fight, Sabu landed the wrong way

792
00:40:31.679 --> 00:40:34.599
and broke his neck. Oh he was rushed to the hospital.

793
00:40:34.840 --> 00:40:38.320
Chris was freaked out, terrified he might have permanently paralyzed

794
00:40:38.320 --> 00:40:40.719
a man. He cried in the locker room after the

795
00:40:40.719 --> 00:40:44.599
show was finished. Paul Hayman, the man in charge of ECW,

796
00:40:44.679 --> 00:40:48.800
didn't share Chris's concerns. He called and said, according to Chris,

797
00:40:48.880 --> 00:40:51.280
quote it's great. You're going to be called the Crippler.

798
00:40:51.599 --> 00:40:53.719
This is awesome. We're going to make so much money.

799
00:40:53.800 --> 00:40:58.559
Unquote that is horrible. The nickname stuck for the rest

800
00:40:58.559 --> 00:41:01.320
of his days. His most famin misbuilled title would be

801
00:41:01.440 --> 00:41:05.599
the Canadian Crippler. Unfortunately, this incorporation of real trauma into

802
00:41:05.639 --> 00:41:08.360
the show is par for the course in professional wrestling.

803
00:41:08.719 --> 00:41:12.199
Soon after, Chris signed with World Championship Wrestling. He was

804
00:41:12.239 --> 00:41:15.440
smaller than the larger than life main event wrestlers. Because

805
00:41:15.480 --> 00:41:18.719
of his smaller stature, Chris was in the cruiserweight division.

806
00:41:19.119 --> 00:41:21.960
He'd never be a main event wrestler in the WCW,

807
00:41:22.000 --> 00:41:25.719
which frustrated him. He left the WCW in two thousand

808
00:41:25.760 --> 00:41:29.480
for the WWE, where he saw more opportunity and never

809
00:41:29.519 --> 00:41:33.400
looked back. This is where another crucial character enters the picture.

810
00:41:34.000 --> 00:41:38.559
Nancy Elizabeth Tofaloni was born on May seventeenth, nineteen sixty four,

811
00:41:39.039 --> 00:41:43.760
almost exactly three years before Chris, in Boston, Massachusetts, to

812
00:41:43.840 --> 00:41:48.480
parents Paul and Marine Tofaloni, which has one sister, Sandro Tofaloni,

813
00:41:48.519 --> 00:41:51.800
who has frequently spoken out since her sister's deaths to

814
00:41:51.920 --> 00:41:54.440
ensure that she will be remembered as more than just

815
00:41:54.480 --> 00:41:57.679
a victim. Nancy grew up in Florida, where she attended

816
00:41:57.760 --> 00:42:01.679
DeLand High School. Before she'd even graduated, Nancy married her

817
00:42:01.760 --> 00:42:05.519
high school boyfriend, Jim DAWs. She took his last name.

818
00:42:05.920 --> 00:42:08.880
She worked as a secretary at State Farm Insurance upon

819
00:42:08.960 --> 00:42:12.719
receiving her diploma. Jim and Nancy were both bands of

820
00:42:12.760 --> 00:42:16.480
pro wrestling, and frequently drove to Orlando or Tampa on

821
00:42:16.519 --> 00:42:19.519
the weekends to attend shows put on by a Florida

822
00:42:19.519 --> 00:42:23.719
bas promotion called Championship Wrestling. Nancy picked up a side

823
00:42:23.760 --> 00:42:27.559
hustle selling programs at Championship Wrestling shows. She caught the

824
00:42:27.599 --> 00:42:31.280
eye of a photographer named Bill Atten, who regularly worked

825
00:42:31.280 --> 00:42:35.159
for Florida's wrestling leagues. He recommended Nancy for modeling work,

826
00:42:35.199 --> 00:42:38.960
and she began appearing in wrestling magazines in nineteen eighty three.

827
00:42:39.199 --> 00:42:43.360
These were low budget, pulpy publications filled with hazy, overly

828
00:42:43.400 --> 00:42:46.760
sexualized shots intended to part men with a bit more

829
00:42:46.800 --> 00:42:50.039
of their hard earned cash. During one modeling shoot, Nancy

830
00:42:50.079 --> 00:42:53.960
met Kevin Sullivan, a wrestler fifteen years her senior who

831
00:42:54.079 --> 00:42:58.199
used the inn ring name the Prince of Darkness, capitalizing

832
00:42:58.239 --> 00:43:01.039
on the Satanic panic, which was on the rise in

833
00:43:01.159 --> 00:43:04.159
American culture at the time. He dressed in a black,

834
00:43:04.159 --> 00:43:08.159
hooded robe and drew vaguely occult looking symbols on his

835
00:43:08.440 --> 00:43:12.079
forehead and shaved them into his chest, hair, and matches.

836
00:43:12.159 --> 00:43:14.960
He would make a big show of summoning dark spirits

837
00:43:15.000 --> 00:43:18.159
to assist him in combat. Kevin wanted Nancy to be

838
00:43:18.199 --> 00:43:21.000
a part of his entourage, which he called the Army

839
00:43:21.039 --> 00:43:25.639
of Darkness. Nancy, a genuine wrestling obsessive like Crisp and Wi,

840
00:43:26.199 --> 00:43:29.119
was happy to join the gang. Nancy didn't wrestle, but

841
00:43:29.199 --> 00:43:33.320
she became a ringside performer called Fallen Angel. Welcome to

842
00:43:33.360 --> 00:43:34.480
Polynesian Pro Wrestling.

843
00:43:34.559 --> 00:43:37.639
I'm Angel, your co host, and here's my master, Kevin Fullavian.

844
00:43:37.880 --> 00:43:40.320
You know, Angel, you've done a bying job.

845
00:43:42.400 --> 00:43:44.880
Nancy could be found at the feet of Kevin Sullivan

846
00:43:44.920 --> 00:43:48.519
in chains, clad in a bikini and studded leather fetish

847
00:43:48.599 --> 00:43:52.920
gear while he operatically shouted scary sounding gibberish. She would

848
00:43:52.920 --> 00:43:55.960
look up at him, seemingly in awe. They entered into

849
00:43:56.039 --> 00:44:00.320
a k fab relationship, pretending to be romantic. Partners were

850
00:44:00.320 --> 00:44:03.840
so convinced by Nancy's Fallen Angel persona when people saw

851
00:44:03.840 --> 00:44:06.079
her in public, they would tell her they were praying

852
00:44:06.199 --> 00:44:10.280
for her. Soon, their crafted personas bled into their real lives.

853
00:44:10.559 --> 00:44:13.000
They fell in love both in and out of the ring.

854
00:44:13.400 --> 00:44:17.239
Nancy quickly divorced her high school sweetheart Jim, while Kevin

855
00:44:17.280 --> 00:44:20.559
divorced his wife Nancy and Kevin were married in nineteen

856
00:44:20.599 --> 00:44:24.679
eighty five. Nancy helped Kevin refine his persona. She styled

857
00:44:24.719 --> 00:44:27.920
his hair, applied his makeup, helped him with staging, picked

858
00:44:27.920 --> 00:44:32.000
his outfits, and helped develop his in ring storylines. Kevin

859
00:44:32.039 --> 00:44:36.840
worshiped her. After w c W bought Florida's Championship Wrestling,

860
00:44:37.039 --> 00:44:40.519
Kevin got a promotion of sorts in the acquisition. He

861
00:44:40.599 --> 00:44:43.199
still wrestled, but he also took on a more substantial

862
00:44:43.239 --> 00:44:47.199
role behind the scenes as a booker writing storylines. Kevin

863
00:44:47.280 --> 00:44:49.360
used his new power to give Nancy a more prominent

864
00:44:49.360 --> 00:44:53.039
position in the show. Dropping the fallen angel gimmick, Nancy

865
00:44:53.079 --> 00:44:57.880
instead took on the simple moniker woman, I am.

866
00:44:57.880 --> 00:45:03.840
Woman, men look at it, wish you had it, and

867
00:45:03.960 --> 00:45:04.880
eats your heart.

868
00:45:06.119 --> 00:45:09.920
Nancy. Nancy wasn't a wrestler, but instead a manager, which

869
00:45:09.960 --> 00:45:13.519
is basically wrestling code for a supporting character who would

870
00:45:13.599 --> 00:45:16.519
participate in the drama and the story, but not much

871
00:45:16.519 --> 00:45:20.079
of the fighting. Sassy and sultry woman marched out to

872
00:45:20.280 --> 00:45:47.800
her strut by Bob Seeger gives Great Detroit's own Bob

873
00:45:48.920 --> 00:45:54.320
Bob speaker Really Yeah, crazy Wow. Nancy occasionally popped up

874
00:45:54.360 --> 00:45:57.840
in storylines over the next decade. By nineteen ninety five,

875
00:45:57.920 --> 00:46:01.239
Nancy and Kevin were having relationship problem and a move

876
00:46:01.280 --> 00:46:04.960
both shrewd and reckless. Kevin wrote a new storyline which

877
00:46:05.039 --> 00:46:08.800
wove these real life relationship troubles into the on stage

878
00:46:08.880 --> 00:46:13.280
k fabe. Kevin's next scripted feud was with crisp and Wa.

879
00:46:13.800 --> 00:46:16.639
As part of the ongoing feud, Kevin devised a plan

880
00:46:16.920 --> 00:46:20.920
where Nancy would pretend to leave him for Chris. While

881
00:46:20.920 --> 00:46:24.159
their real relationship drama may have made for more convincing

882
00:46:24.199 --> 00:46:29.000
performances in the ring, this decision backfired big time. But

883
00:46:29.079 --> 00:46:30.480
you can see the writing on the way, I can

884
00:46:30.480 --> 00:46:32.639
see where this is going. Chris and Nancy would film

885
00:46:32.639 --> 00:46:35.360
the occasional scout where they fold around for the camera

886
00:46:35.480 --> 00:46:37.039
or shared a romantic dinner.

887
00:46:37.440 --> 00:46:42.119
What's it feel like losing the most important thing that

888
00:46:42.199 --> 00:46:46.920
you ever had? I'll tell you what. It sure feels great.

889
00:46:47.000 --> 00:46:49.760
Game so dramatic.

890
00:46:50.239 --> 00:46:53.480
To keep up KA appearances, they shared a hotel room

891
00:46:53.519 --> 00:46:57.519
while traveling At home, Nancy and Kevin's fights intensified. Kevin

892
00:46:57.559 --> 00:47:00.519
became physically abusive to Nancy, and she began to lean

893
00:47:00.599 --> 00:47:04.639
heavily on Chris for safety and comfort. Soon, history repeated

894
00:47:04.639 --> 00:47:07.880
itself and Nancy fell for her cave partner once again,

895
00:47:08.000 --> 00:47:12.159
and Nancy and Chris began an actual affair. You shocked,

896
00:47:12.239 --> 00:47:15.800
I'm shocked. Real life animosities spilled into the wrestling ring.

897
00:47:16.159 --> 00:47:19.079
Chris and Kevin had to carry on their professional relationship,

898
00:47:19.159 --> 00:47:21.360
fighting each other in the ring with all of their

899
00:47:21.480 --> 00:47:26.239
actual marital drama incorporated into their stage storyline. Their fights

900
00:47:26.280 --> 00:47:29.280
no longer longer had to be faked. Chris delivered one

901
00:47:29.320 --> 00:47:32.599
fearce hit to Kevin that busted his ear drama. Furious,

902
00:47:32.679 --> 00:47:36.599
Kevin continued to fight backstage that night, Nancy left Kevin

903
00:47:36.679 --> 00:47:39.480
for good. As you might imagine, that made for an

904
00:47:39.480 --> 00:47:43.719
awkward and emotionally confusing working environment. The Sullivans divorced in

905
00:47:43.800 --> 00:47:47.400
nineteen ninety seven, as did Chris and Martina Benoit. The

906
00:47:47.519 --> 00:47:50.519
joke around the office was that Kevin had quote booked

907
00:47:50.519 --> 00:47:54.360
his own divorce. Despite the drama, Nancy's sister, Sandra said

908
00:47:54.360 --> 00:47:56.840
that she had never seen her so happy and in

909
00:47:56.920 --> 00:47:58.280
love as she was with Chris.

910
00:47:58.800 --> 00:48:01.840
Chris and Nancy had a child, child, Daniel Christopher Benoit,

911
00:48:02.039 --> 00:48:05.280
on February twenty fifth, two thousand. They were married later

912
00:48:05.320 --> 00:48:08.199
that same year. On November twenty third, nine month old

913
00:48:08.280 --> 00:48:10.800
Daniel was the best man at their wedding. The couple

914
00:48:10.880 --> 00:48:13.679
moved to a home in Peachtree City, Georgia, forty five

915
00:48:13.719 --> 00:48:16.760
minutes outside of Atlanta. Nancy bowed out of the world

916
00:48:16.760 --> 00:48:20.199
of wrestling to focus on parenting Daniel. Chris's older children,

917
00:48:20.320 --> 00:48:23.119
David and Megan, remained in Canada with their mother, but

918
00:48:23.280 --> 00:48:27.039
visited Georgia when schedules allowed. David said that Nancy treated

919
00:48:27.119 --> 00:48:29.440
him like her own son. There was no step in

920
00:48:29.480 --> 00:48:32.400
their family. Daniel looked up to his older brother. They

921
00:48:32.400 --> 00:48:35.480
wanted to become tag team Champions of the World. Chris

922
00:48:35.559 --> 00:48:39.760
moved from WCW to the WWE in two thousand and one.

923
00:48:39.920 --> 00:48:43.559
During a tables, Ladders and Chairs match, where wrestlers perform

924
00:48:43.679 --> 00:48:46.960
inside of a ring packed full of tables, ladders, and chairs.

925
00:48:47.159 --> 00:48:50.159
That sounds safe, Yeah, that doesn't sound great, which they

926
00:48:50.199 --> 00:48:52.360
then climb on top of and hit each other with,

927
00:48:52.639 --> 00:48:56.280
Chris sustained a neck injury. After sixteen years of wrestling,

928
00:48:56.320 --> 00:48:59.480
his body was starting to deteriorate. Doctors told him that

929
00:48:59.519 --> 00:49:01.760
he had broke and two discs in his neck. He

930
00:49:01.840 --> 00:49:04.119
missed the rest of the year while recovering from neck

931
00:49:04.159 --> 00:49:07.960
fusion surgery. In two thousand and four, during WrestleMania twenty

932
00:49:08.000 --> 00:49:11.159
at Madison Square Garden, Benoi reached the pinnacle of his

933
00:49:11.280 --> 00:49:15.280
hard fought career using his signature move, the crippler crossface.

934
00:49:15.679 --> 00:49:18.599
In the move, Chris mounted his opponent and yanked his

935
00:49:18.679 --> 00:49:21.480
neck backwards, stretching his neck in such a way that

936
00:49:21.559 --> 00:49:25.000
cut off blood circulation, forcing the opponent to tap out.

937
00:49:25.079 --> 00:49:26.199
We're going to try that later too.

938
00:49:26.840 --> 00:49:30.480
Chris. Chris beat wrestler Triple H, son in law of

939
00:49:30.559 --> 00:49:34.239
Vince McMahon, to become the World heavyweight Champion. It was

940
00:49:34.280 --> 00:49:37.039
an unforgettable moment when Chris held the new belt over

941
00:49:37.079 --> 00:49:39.800
his head in victory. When Chris turned to face the

942
00:49:39.880 --> 00:49:43.119
roaring crowd, his best friend Eddie Guerrero surprised him and

943
00:49:43.280 --> 00:49:46.199
entered the ring. Eddie had defended his title that night.

944
00:49:46.480 --> 00:49:50.159
The two men, sometimes called vanilla midgets for their modest size,

945
00:49:50.440 --> 00:49:53.239
never thought they would reach this level of success, let

946
00:49:53.280 --> 00:49:56.760
alone achieve it together. They had a long emotional embrace,

947
00:49:56.920 --> 00:50:00.000
sobbing in each other's arms. The moment became even more

948
00:50:00.079 --> 00:50:03.880
poignant eighteen months later, after Eddie's untimely death. People have

949
00:50:03.960 --> 00:50:06.519
called it one of the greatest moments in wrestling history.

950
00:50:07.039 --> 00:50:10.079
David Benoi, Chris's oldest son, said he wished they had

951
00:50:10.079 --> 00:50:15.079
both retired after that night, But what a.

952
00:50:15.280 --> 00:50:27.639
Good boooooo brute that so I'm proud of not a

953
00:50:27.880 --> 00:50:29.599
square card that's here.

954
00:50:29.760 --> 00:50:36.280
Loved him, Preston Wall hate your honesty, that's tolmidated by

955
00:50:36.400 --> 00:50:51.679
learning the world my titn't wrestle media twenty.

956
00:50:47.679 --> 00:50:52.639
Been lost so many times. You have that somethus year after.

957
00:50:52.440 --> 00:50:56.360
Your ear mile not a mile after.

958
00:50:57.199 --> 00:51:02.320
But the Bob never game, Bob game, their law has

959
00:51:02.440 --> 00:51:09.400
got a good lays Let the history. Finally, finally, my god,

960
00:51:09.719 --> 00:51:15.400
finally christophin Wah has become by anyweight champion.

961
00:51:15.760 --> 00:51:16.960
I'm this world.

962
00:51:19.960 --> 00:51:22.320
But look there, look it because.

963
00:51:22.000 --> 00:51:22.559
In the ring.

964
00:51:24.480 --> 00:51:26.719
Eddie Guerrero, the w W champion.

965
00:51:29.599 --> 00:51:31.880
Well, let's not forget the history of these two men.

966
00:51:33.719 --> 00:51:38.159
Eddie Guarreral with our heart go in grace on his

967
00:51:38.440 --> 00:51:40.519
friend Chris bin Wald.

968
00:51:41.840 --> 00:51:44.360
He's been a travel the world.

969
00:51:44.000 --> 00:51:48.119
Over so many times, and they're no sitting tears of

970
00:51:48.519 --> 00:51:53.280
joy the cross chrispin Walk can't say.

971
00:51:54.320 --> 00:51:57.440
H one by heavyweight championship on the.

972
00:51:57.400 --> 00:52:06.440
World in Madison spirit, Nancy Holding Daniel in her arms

973
00:52:06.519 --> 00:52:09.320
entered the ring next to congratulate her husband. So I

974
00:52:09.360 --> 00:52:12.360
don't want to throw cold water on this accomplishment, but

975
00:52:12.599 --> 00:52:14.679
I mean, this is sort of preordained right that he

976
00:52:14.760 --> 00:52:16.920
was going to win. So why is this such a

977
00:52:17.079 --> 00:52:18.719
pinnacle for his career?

978
00:52:18.920 --> 00:52:21.760
Because he wasn't like a Whole Cogan or a John

979
00:52:21.880 --> 00:52:24.000
Cena or someone like that. He was just kind of,

980
00:52:24.159 --> 00:52:26.639
you know, he was a smaller guy, and he really

981
00:52:26.679 --> 00:52:28.719
never thought that he would get that recognition.

982
00:52:28.800 --> 00:52:31.079
So it's more about the recognition that he was like

983
00:52:31.119 --> 00:52:33.559
a he was a star, right, because you wouldn't win

984
00:52:33.639 --> 00:52:36.000
that title unless you were really popular.

985
00:52:36.239 --> 00:52:39.679
I think I believe so, and I should have said

986
00:52:39.679 --> 00:52:42.079
this at the beginning. But I don't know much about

987
00:52:42.119 --> 00:52:44.440
the world of wrestling, and it's possible that some of

988
00:52:44.480 --> 00:52:48.320
these nuanced things I'm getting wrong, But that's my understanding.

989
00:52:48.360 --> 00:52:51.039
It's like everyone like and really watching it. You can

990
00:52:51.079 --> 00:52:54.719
tell how emotional Eddie and Chris were in the ring,

991
00:52:55.079 --> 00:52:57.079
and I'm going to get emotional talking about it. They

992
00:52:57.079 --> 00:52:59.440
were just they were really good friends. They really loved

993
00:52:59.440 --> 00:52:59.760
each other.

994
00:52:59.800 --> 00:53:02.480
Yeah, I get that. While many friends described Chris and

995
00:53:02.559 --> 00:53:06.119
Nancy's relationship as normal, it doesn't take much investigation to

996
00:53:06.159 --> 00:53:08.880
come up with evidence to the contrary. They fought a lot,

997
00:53:08.920 --> 00:53:11.679
and the fights often got messy. Chris was away from

998
00:53:11.679 --> 00:53:14.199
home often and this put a strain on their marriage.

999
00:53:14.360 --> 00:53:17.119
Nancy was a strong woman, and having worked inside a

1000
00:53:17.159 --> 00:53:21.079
famously misogynistic industry, knew how to fight back. She would

1001
00:53:21.119 --> 00:53:24.639
tell Chris exactly how she felt, and Chris, like many wrestlers,

1002
00:53:24.880 --> 00:53:28.480
was not good at regulating his emotions or apparently his fists.

1003
00:53:28.920 --> 00:53:31.679
In June two thousand and three, Nancy filed for divorce

1004
00:53:31.679 --> 00:53:35.559
and requested a restraining order, citing cruel treatment. There had

1005
00:53:35.559 --> 00:53:38.159
been an altercation of some kind in which Chris lost

1006
00:53:38.199 --> 00:53:41.519
his temper, threatened her, and began breaking the furniture. The

1007
00:53:41.559 --> 00:53:45.119
two spent some time apart, tempers cooled, and by August

1008
00:53:45.159 --> 00:53:48.760
they reconciled and Nancy dropped the restraining order. It was

1009
00:53:48.800 --> 00:53:51.280
around this time when Nancy began to bring Chris to

1010
00:53:51.320 --> 00:53:55.239
the Peachtree City Christian Church for marriage counseling. Chris had

1011
00:53:55.239 --> 00:53:58.880
become increasingly paranoid and anxious. He hated their home in

1012
00:53:58.960 --> 00:54:02.079
Peachtree City. It was too small and located in an

1013
00:54:02.159 --> 00:54:05.519
area too densely populated for his liking, he always ran

1014
00:54:05.559 --> 00:54:08.760
the risk of being recognized, of being pestered for autograss,

1015
00:54:09.119 --> 00:54:12.360
or worse, being followed home. Chris and Nancy decided to

1016
00:54:12.360 --> 00:54:15.239
build a house in nearby Fayetteville. It was close to

1017
00:54:15.239 --> 00:54:17.800
the Atlanta Airport, but the location was a little bit

1018
00:54:17.840 --> 00:54:21.440
more remote on several acres of land. The custom nature

1019
00:54:21.440 --> 00:54:23.639
of their house allowed for Chris to add as many

1020
00:54:23.679 --> 00:54:26.639
security features as he deemed fit. In the summer of

1021
00:54:26.639 --> 00:54:29.480
two thousand and six, Holly Shrepford, the same woman who

1022
00:54:29.519 --> 00:54:33.480
would eventually find Nancy and Daniel's bodies, saw Nancy walking

1023
00:54:33.480 --> 00:54:35.840
along the side of the road on the outskirts of

1024
00:54:35.880 --> 00:54:39.960
her brand new home. She looked rough. Something was obviously wrong.

1025
00:54:40.519 --> 00:54:42.719
Holly stopped her car and called out the window to

1026
00:54:42.800 --> 00:54:46.239
Nancy and asked if she was okay. Nancy told Holly

1027
00:54:46.320 --> 00:54:49.360
that she'd had another fight with her husband. It got physical,

1028
00:54:49.679 --> 00:54:52.559
badly physical. He had picked her up and thrown her

1029
00:54:52.599 --> 00:54:55.199
against the dry wall. She wasn't sure what to do.

1030
00:54:55.800 --> 00:54:58.400
She definitely knew she didn't want to go back inside.

1031
00:54:58.880 --> 00:55:02.320
Holly told Nancy to. She drove Nancy to a hotel

1032
00:55:02.360 --> 00:55:04.599
where she stayed for a few days. There were a

1033
00:55:04.639 --> 00:55:07.199
lot of hotels around the Benoi home, as they lived

1034
00:55:07.199 --> 00:55:09.840
a short drive away from the Atlanta airport. It's so

1035
00:55:09.960 --> 00:55:13.280
scary thinking about getting into a physical altercation when your

1036
00:55:13.360 --> 00:55:16.559
husband is a professional wrestler and built like he was.

1037
00:55:17.079 --> 00:55:19.599
Yeah, he knew how to hurt someone. Yeah, let's talk

1038
00:55:19.639 --> 00:55:22.760
for a minute about how being a professional wrestler affects

1039
00:55:22.760 --> 00:55:27.239
the mind and body of the athlete. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy

1040
00:55:27.440 --> 00:55:33.679
CTE for short, is an irreversible neurogenerative disease. Neurogenerative meaning

1041
00:55:33.719 --> 00:55:38.280
that your brain literally degenerates. It sheds neurons. The healthy

1042
00:55:38.320 --> 00:55:41.960
flow of blood and cerebral spinal fluid is interrupted as

1043
00:55:42.000 --> 00:55:44.400
the brain is shaken around the inside of the skull,

1044
00:55:44.880 --> 00:55:47.079
and as it bangs around the inside of the skull,

1045
00:55:47.199 --> 00:55:51.400
the tissue is damaged. Long term, CTE causes the brain

1046
00:55:51.440 --> 00:55:54.960
to shrink and shrivel up like a raisin. Brain scans

1047
00:55:54.960 --> 00:55:59.039
of patients with CTE and elderly patients with Alzheimer's are

1048
00:55:59.079 --> 00:56:02.199
nearly identical. It's usually caused by, to put it in

1049
00:56:02.280 --> 00:56:06.320
Layman's terms, getting hit in the head really hard frequently.

1050
00:56:06.880 --> 00:56:15.239
CTE is common among the following sports football, mma, boxing, soccer, hockey, rugby,

1051
00:56:15.400 --> 00:56:19.280
and wrestling, pretty much all sports that are high contact sports. Right,

1052
00:56:19.639 --> 00:56:23.159
CTE worsens with time, and its symptoms don't present until

1053
00:56:23.239 --> 00:56:27.119
years after the trauma is endured. In the beginning, CTE

1054
00:56:27.360 --> 00:56:31.000
causes confusion and memory loss. As it worsens, it can

1055
00:56:31.079 --> 00:56:37.920
result in aggressive and impulsive behavior, paranoia, depression, and suicidal thoughts. Basically,

1056
00:56:38.000 --> 00:56:41.239
anything that can go wrong in your brain will go wrong.

1057
00:56:41.760 --> 00:56:44.360
All of those news stories you hear about NFL players

1058
00:56:44.400 --> 00:56:48.519
either becoming explosively violent like Aaron Hernandez or taking their

1059
00:56:48.559 --> 00:56:52.840
own life like Vincent Jackson is because of CTE. To

1060
00:56:52.920 --> 00:56:55.519
cope with the pain of being smashed and bashed in

1061
00:56:55.559 --> 00:56:59.159
the head repeatedly with a steel chair, scraping against the

1062
00:56:59.239 --> 00:57:03.400
heavy ring, flying from the top ring ropes and landing

1063
00:57:03.440 --> 00:57:06.000
on an opponent, or being thrown out of the squared

1064
00:57:06.079 --> 00:57:08.639
circle and landing on their neck at the wrong angle.

1065
00:57:08.960 --> 00:57:13.760
Professional wrestlers often turn to drugs. Sometimes these drugs are recreational,

1066
00:57:13.880 --> 00:57:17.280
like alcohol and cocaine, and sometimes they are prescribed, like

1067
00:57:17.400 --> 00:57:21.840
opioids and sedatives. Either way, their habit forming and extended

1068
00:57:21.960 --> 00:57:26.000
use is a bad mix with brain damage. Anabolic steroids,

1069
00:57:26.039 --> 00:57:29.000
which are commonly used in combat sports and bodybuilding are

1070
00:57:29.039 --> 00:57:33.400
regularly abused by professional wrestlers as well. While anabolic steroids

1071
00:57:33.400 --> 00:57:36.719
have a multitude of medical uses, in the context of wrestling,

1072
00:57:36.920 --> 00:57:40.920
they're only used for one reason to grow muscle unnaturally fast.

1073
00:57:41.239 --> 00:57:44.800
Pro wrestlers are appearance obsessed to showmen. Part of the

1074
00:57:44.840 --> 00:57:50.000
brand is an unrealistic action hero physique, which is incredibly difficult,

1075
00:57:50.239 --> 00:57:54.519
if not impossible, to sustain without chemical assistance. Due to

1076
00:57:54.559 --> 00:57:58.599
the seasonal nature of bodybuilding, bodybuilders generally exercise a degree

1077
00:57:58.639 --> 00:58:02.440
of discipline and their steroid use. A method called cycling,

1078
00:58:02.519 --> 00:58:05.400
in which they start slow, take the steroid over a

1079
00:58:05.400 --> 00:58:09.440
brief period, and then taper off does not savee per se,

1080
00:58:09.599 --> 00:58:12.800
but it is a much less dangerous way to consume steroids.

1081
00:58:12.960 --> 00:58:16.239
Wrestling isn't seasonal. It's at least three hundred days a year.

1082
00:58:16.519 --> 00:58:19.039
Wrestlers are on the road all of the time, and

1083
00:58:19.119 --> 00:58:22.320
they need to rapidly recover from their hard workouts so

1084
00:58:22.360 --> 00:58:25.199
they can adequately perform in their next show with no

1085
00:58:25.280 --> 00:58:29.039
time to taper off. Pro wrestlers overload themselves with steroids

1086
00:58:29.159 --> 00:58:31.920
so much that their muscles actually get too big, to

1087
00:58:31.960 --> 00:58:34.239
the point where their tendons are not strong enough to

1088
00:58:34.280 --> 00:58:38.000
hold their muscles together. The side effects of steroid use

1089
00:58:38.039 --> 00:58:42.280
are well documented. Testicular shrinkage, irregular hair loss, and liver

1090
00:58:42.400 --> 00:58:45.599
damage are side effects of note, but relatively minor. The

1091
00:58:45.599 --> 00:58:50.599
two most dangerous are cardiovascular and neurological effects. Steroids elevate

1092
00:58:50.639 --> 00:58:53.880
blood pressure can cause the heart, which is also a muscle,

1093
00:58:53.920 --> 00:58:57.360
to swell to a dangerously large size. Cardiac muscle is

1094
00:58:57.400 --> 00:59:00.000
one type of muscle that you don't want to be big.

1095
00:59:00.360 --> 00:59:03.639
Heart of a disproportionate size will make for an irregular

1096
00:59:03.719 --> 00:59:06.480
beat and will often lead to heart attacks. This is

1097
00:59:06.480 --> 00:59:10.199
a leading cause of death for professional wrestlers. One report

1098
00:59:10.239 --> 00:59:13.159
from USA Today says that from nineteen eighty seven to

1099
00:59:13.239 --> 00:59:17.199
nineteen ninety four, sixty five wrestlers under the age of

1100
00:59:17.239 --> 00:59:21.440
forty five died twenty five. Of those sixty five, thirty

1101
00:59:21.440 --> 00:59:25.519
eight percent were from heart attacks. The neurological side effects

1102
00:59:25.559 --> 00:59:28.760
of steroid use bear a remarkable similarity to the effects

1103
00:59:28.840 --> 00:59:34.599
of CTE. Emotional regulation becomes harder, extreme mood swings, increased

1104
00:59:34.719 --> 00:59:39.119
level of aggression and paranoia, depression and anxiety, a notable

1105
00:59:39.159 --> 00:59:42.079
decrease in intelligence and learning capability.

1106
00:59:42.400 --> 00:59:45.719
So I would imagine then that steroid us combined with

1107
00:59:45.760 --> 00:59:48.400
the punishment that they take in the ring, like headbutting

1108
00:59:48.480 --> 00:59:51.159
and landing on their heads and stuff. It's just a

1109
00:59:51.280 --> 00:59:54.039
multiplier effect that those problems.

1110
00:59:53.599 --> 00:59:57.280
So many aspects of being a wrestler contribute to your

1111
00:59:57.320 --> 01:00:03.360
cognitive and physical Declas Tom Billington The Dynamite Kid, Chris's

1112
01:00:03.480 --> 01:00:05.880
role model is a good case study of what all

1113
01:00:05.960 --> 01:00:07.920
this damage to the body and mind can lead to.

1114
01:00:08.519 --> 01:00:12.119
He overdosed multiple times on multiple different drugs, which he

1115
01:00:12.280 --> 01:00:14.639
turned to in order to manage the physical and mental

1116
01:00:14.679 --> 01:00:17.960
pain of the profession. Right after his final match, at

1117
01:00:18.000 --> 01:00:20.199
the age of thirty eight, he had a seizure which

1118
01:00:20.239 --> 01:00:22.400
took him out of the game for good. He would

1119
01:00:22.400 --> 01:00:24.639
soon lose the use of his left leg due to

1120
01:00:24.679 --> 01:00:27.440
the frequent and severe back and leg injuries he suffered

1121
01:00:27.480 --> 01:00:30.519
during wrestling. He would never walk again. He spent the

1122
01:00:30.519 --> 01:00:33.039
next twenty two years of his life in a wheelchair.

1123
01:00:33.360 --> 01:00:36.360
He also regularly dealt with heart problems and suffered a

1124
01:00:36.400 --> 01:00:39.559
stroke in twenty thirteen. He died in twenty eighteen at

1125
01:00:39.599 --> 01:00:43.199
sixty years old. But he actually fared much better than

1126
01:00:43.360 --> 01:00:44.360
a lot of wrestlers.

1127
01:00:44.440 --> 01:00:45.159
That's so sad.

1128
01:00:45.519 --> 01:00:48.880
On November thirteenth, two thousand and five, when Chris's best friend,

1129
01:00:49.000 --> 01:00:51.559
Eddie Guerrero didn't answer his wake up call. The hotel

1130
01:00:51.679 --> 01:00:54.559
staff went to his room with his nephew, Chavo, and

1131
01:00:54.599 --> 01:00:57.639
found him face down on the tiled bathroom floor, his

1132
01:00:57.719 --> 01:01:00.480
tooth brush in his hand, with a weak pulse. He

1133
01:01:00.639 --> 01:01:03.880
died minutes later in his cousin's arm. Eddie Guerrera was

1134
01:01:03.920 --> 01:01:07.159
only thirty eight years old. There is a rumor that

1135
01:01:07.440 --> 01:01:10.559
Chris went to Eddie's room and flushed all his drugs

1136
01:01:10.559 --> 01:01:14.559
and steroids down the toilet after his death. The autopsy

1137
01:01:14.599 --> 01:01:16.760
confirmed that Eddie had died of a heart attack. His

1138
01:01:16.840 --> 01:01:19.840
heart had swollen to an abnormal size and his arteries

1139
01:01:19.880 --> 01:01:23.880
were severely inflamed. Steroids were clearly in play, but the

1140
01:01:24.079 --> 01:01:28.480
WWE insisted on an alternate explanation, whether or not the

1141
01:01:28.599 --> 01:01:33.559
facts actually corroborated. That alternate explanation was entirely beside the point.

1142
01:01:33.760 --> 01:01:37.360
They insisted that all of Eddie's previously well documented abuse

1143
01:01:37.360 --> 01:01:40.639
of alcohol and GHB was to blame for his death,

1144
01:01:40.960 --> 01:01:43.880
not the steroids that he was currently pumping into his body,

1145
01:01:44.280 --> 01:01:46.360
and muddled the waters enough to keep the heat off.

1146
01:01:46.400 --> 01:01:49.960
The WWE and the police without any physical steroids in

1147
01:01:50.000 --> 01:01:53.840
the room were left shrugging their shoulders. Eddie was frequently injured,

1148
01:01:53.880 --> 01:01:56.760
but didn't take time off to properly heal and turned

1149
01:01:56.760 --> 01:01:59.239
to drugs and alcohol to deal with the pain. He

1150
01:01:59.280 --> 01:02:02.440
had overdosed three times in his own home and received

1151
01:02:02.519 --> 01:02:05.920
multiple DUIs. He was fired after coming to work high

1152
01:02:06.039 --> 01:02:09.079
one too many times. He went to rehab and returned

1153
01:02:09.119 --> 01:02:13.719
with renewed vigor and was even rehired by the WWE.

1154
01:02:14.239 --> 01:02:16.599
I think he was clean at the time of his death.

1155
01:02:17.079 --> 01:02:19.719
Eddie was a great guy and he was a favorite

1156
01:02:19.760 --> 01:02:24.360
of both wrestlers and fans. Eddie's death wrecked Chris. To

1157
01:02:24.400 --> 01:02:27.000
give you an idea of how close Chris and Eddie were,

1158
01:02:27.199 --> 01:02:30.079
they treated each other like a married couple. They never

1159
01:02:30.199 --> 01:02:32.800
ended a conversation without telling each other I love you,

1160
01:02:33.079 --> 01:02:35.719
I love you too. Eddie was very religious. When he

1161
01:02:35.760 --> 01:02:38.159
and Chris were driving to an event together, they would

1162
01:02:38.199 --> 01:02:41.480
read Bible passages to each other along the way. Eddie

1163
01:02:41.480 --> 01:02:44.159
had gifted Chris with the Bible, and after Eddie's death,

1164
01:02:44.280 --> 01:02:47.199
Chris took the Bible with him wherever he traveled. It

1165
01:02:47.239 --> 01:02:49.599
was painful for everyone to see Chris, a man who

1166
01:02:49.679 --> 01:02:54.440
rarely displayed emotions so broken. Here's Chris in a WWE

1167
01:02:54.639 --> 01:02:58.840
tribute to Eddie and Eddie.

1168
01:03:00.719 --> 01:03:03.159
I know that that you you're in a better place,

1169
01:03:03.800 --> 01:03:05.559
and I know that you're looking down at me right now.

1170
01:03:07.360 --> 01:03:10.760
I only know that I love you if I miss you.

1171
01:03:28.559 --> 01:03:29.519
How you made.

1172
01:03:33.119 --> 01:03:36.199
You made such a great impression all my life, and

1173
01:03:36.239 --> 01:03:38.760
I want to thank you for everything you've ever given me.

1174
01:03:39.960 --> 01:03:41.679
I want to thank you for my heart.

1175
01:03:41.559 --> 01:03:43.480
To tell you that I love you and I'll never

1176
01:03:43.559 --> 01:03:47.840
forget you, and that will see each other again. I

1177
01:03:47.920 --> 01:03:54.480
love you, Eddie. Brutal Chris lut year up right after

1178
01:03:54.480 --> 01:03:57.079
the funeral and continue to work, taking no time off

1179
01:03:57.119 --> 01:04:00.559
to properly grieve his best friend and support system. Chris

1180
01:04:00.599 --> 01:04:03.599
withdrew from family and friends and became more reckless in

1181
01:04:03.679 --> 01:04:06.960
the ring. Nancy moved in with Vicky, Eddie's widow, after

1182
01:04:07.000 --> 01:04:09.840
his death, to help take care of their daughters. Vicky

1183
01:04:09.840 --> 01:04:12.280
said that Nancy was an angel to her in many ways.

1184
01:04:12.519 --> 01:04:15.159
When he wasn't traveling for work, Chris came over and

1185
01:04:15.280 --> 01:04:18.000
lay in Eddie in Vicki's bed, clutching his pillow and

1186
01:04:18.079 --> 01:04:22.400
sobbing into it. Nancy, concerned over her husband's extreme depression,

1187
01:04:22.519 --> 01:04:26.480
bottom a journal where he wrote letters to Eddie. Ken Kennedy,

1188
01:04:26.519 --> 01:04:29.440
a fellow wrestler, talked about how much Eddie's death affected

1189
01:04:29.480 --> 01:04:33.199
Chris quote, I think everyone handles stressed differently, and Chris

1190
01:04:33.280 --> 01:04:36.320
was one of those guys that internalized everything. You could

1191
01:04:36.360 --> 01:04:39.159
see it, especially after the death of Eddie. You could

1192
01:04:39.239 --> 01:04:41.840
tell I could definitely see a difference in Chris. And

1193
01:04:41.920 --> 01:04:43.880
I used to ask him, are you all right?

1194
01:04:43.960 --> 01:04:44.239
Man?

1195
01:04:44.599 --> 01:04:46.599
Because I used to see him and he had that

1196
01:04:46.800 --> 01:04:50.199
thousand yards stare. He just looked like he wasn't happy.

1197
01:04:50.280 --> 01:04:53.239
And I remember I used to call him Cyboard because

1198
01:04:53.280 --> 01:04:55.760
the pain that man would endure in a workout or

1199
01:04:55.800 --> 01:04:59.119
in the ring was amazing. It was like no human

1200
01:04:59.159 --> 01:05:01.679
being could do that. That's where we're going to end

1201
01:05:02.119 --> 01:05:02.599
Part one.

1202
01:05:03.119 --> 01:05:05.239
Sad story so far, and I have a feeling.

1203
01:05:05.320 --> 01:05:08.400
And Eddie's death, it's just really so sad.

1204
01:05:08.519 --> 01:05:10.320
Yeah, it's really heartbreaking. You can tell how much it

1205
01:05:10.400 --> 01:05:11.519
affected Chris.

1206
01:05:11.840 --> 01:05:14.519
I think it's important we talk about Chris as a person.

1207
01:05:15.000 --> 01:05:17.159
He was known to be like a really good guy,

1208
01:05:17.199 --> 01:05:19.760
like everyone only had good things to say about him.

1209
01:05:19.760 --> 01:05:22.559
He was a hard worker, he'd only ever wanted to

1210
01:05:22.599 --> 01:05:26.199
be a wrestler, and because he was a smaller guy,

1211
01:05:26.800 --> 01:05:29.239
he had to work twice as hard as everyone else.

1212
01:05:29.559 --> 01:05:32.599
He took probably twice as many steroids as everyone else too,

1213
01:05:32.800 --> 01:05:36.400
Because he really, naturally, I think, was a smaller person,

1214
01:05:37.320 --> 01:05:39.800
and because he worked so much harder, I think the

1215
01:05:39.840 --> 01:05:43.639
wear and tear on his body was greater and which

1216
01:05:43.920 --> 01:05:47.519
led him to you know, not recover from his I

1217
01:05:47.519 --> 01:05:49.280
think this is something we can't say enough about all

1218
01:05:49.320 --> 01:05:52.599
of these men. They work really hard. It's a brutal industry,

1219
01:05:53.039 --> 01:05:56.039
and they aren't given much time off, and if they

1220
01:05:56.079 --> 01:05:57.639
take time off, they don't get paid.

1221
01:05:58.239 --> 01:06:00.760
And yeah, it almost seems like there's probably a culture

1222
01:06:00.840 --> 01:06:03.199
too of just you know, being toughing it out and

1223
01:06:03.360 --> 01:06:05.559
just getting back in the ring even if you're hurting

1224
01:06:05.719 --> 01:06:09.039
or yeah. So yeah, I think it's maybe probably even

1225
01:06:09.079 --> 01:06:11.119
worse than like football, but I think it's like the

1226
01:06:11.159 --> 01:06:11.599
same in fun.

1227
01:06:11.719 --> 01:06:12.920
It's definitely worse than football.

1228
01:06:13.000 --> 01:06:15.599
Yeah, there's like a pride in like playing through injury

1229
01:06:15.760 --> 01:06:17.800
and you know, just being a tough guy.

1230
01:06:18.199 --> 01:06:20.800
Well, how many games to football players play every year?

1231
01:06:21.320 --> 01:06:23.800
Well, yeah, seventeen, unless you're like the Lions and you'll

1232
01:06:23.800 --> 01:06:25.119
play like twenty or twenty one.

1233
01:06:25.239 --> 01:06:28.280
So okay, mister optimist. No, they probably will this year.

1234
01:06:28.960 --> 01:06:33.039
But my point is that Chris probably worked harder than

1235
01:06:33.039 --> 01:06:35.559
anyone else because he wanted to succeed more than anyone

1236
01:06:35.599 --> 01:06:39.719
else to his detriment physically and yeah, and you know

1237
01:06:39.920 --> 01:06:40.679
he definitely had.

1238
01:06:40.920 --> 01:06:42.840
Yeah, he was so driven. And then it seems like

1239
01:06:42.840 --> 01:06:46.239
when Eddie died, he became even more like maybe more

1240
01:06:46.239 --> 01:06:48.800
reckless or just didn't care as much about or didn't

1241
01:06:48.960 --> 01:06:50.440
take as much care for himself.

1242
01:06:50.599 --> 01:06:52.519
Right, Well, I think at this point, I think Chris

1243
01:06:52.599 --> 01:06:55.239
was probably about thirty eight, and you know, he'd been

1244
01:06:55.239 --> 01:06:57.000
wrestling for twenty years at that point.

1245
01:06:57.199 --> 01:07:01.280
Yeah, I can't imagine what the body lasting that long.

1246
01:07:01.360 --> 01:07:12.719
Even before we go, I want to talk about something

1247
01:07:13.039 --> 01:07:16.760
that I've been thinking about since these California fires have

1248
01:07:16.840 --> 01:07:19.880
come up, that we all need better safety plans. We

1249
01:07:19.960 --> 01:07:22.000
all need to be prepared for disasters.

1250
01:07:22.320 --> 01:07:24.320
That's probably a good idea.

1251
01:07:23.840 --> 01:07:27.239
And we have some we have some stuff, but it's

1252
01:07:27.280 --> 01:07:30.239
not all in the same spot. And today I actually

1253
01:07:30.360 --> 01:07:32.960
ordered like a fire We have a box, but I

1254
01:07:33.000 --> 01:07:36.280
don't think it's really fireproof. So everyone should make sure

1255
01:07:36.280 --> 01:07:39.840
that you have your papers and a fireproof waterproof box,

1256
01:07:40.400 --> 01:07:43.320
like your birth certificates and you know those important your

1257
01:07:43.360 --> 01:07:45.159
insurance information and your.

1258
01:07:45.000 --> 01:07:47.239
Will and your passport and all that kind.

1259
01:07:47.119 --> 01:07:49.199
Of all that stuff because I've heard like a lot

1260
01:07:49.239 --> 01:07:52.360
of people in California didn't have time to prepare.

1261
01:07:52.480 --> 01:07:53.719
Oh yeah, that's a really good point.

1262
01:07:53.760 --> 01:07:55.760
And you know, we should all you should all we

1263
01:07:55.760 --> 01:07:58.000
should all have a box of where those important papers,

1264
01:07:58.000 --> 01:07:59.480
Like that's one of the most important.

1265
01:07:59.559 --> 01:08:01.639
Yeah, if you have to evacuate, you could just grab

1266
01:08:01.679 --> 01:08:02.920
it quick, right.

1267
01:08:02.800 --> 01:08:05.320
But not just that, but you're you know, your prescriptions

1268
01:08:05.400 --> 01:08:08.360
and those things, like everyone's safety kid is going to

1269
01:08:08.360 --> 01:08:10.400
look a little different, like if you have little kids

1270
01:08:10.519 --> 01:08:12.239
or if you you know, if anyone in your house

1271
01:08:12.320 --> 01:08:14.360
is on medication, Like those are the things that you

1272
01:08:14.400 --> 01:08:16.039
need to pack. But a lot of people said that

1273
01:08:16.079 --> 01:08:18.600
they really just got out with the clothes on their back. Yeah,

1274
01:08:18.840 --> 01:08:21.359
so scary. Yeah, and you and your kids should have

1275
01:08:21.399 --> 01:08:23.960
a safe word, do you know what I'm talking about?

1276
01:08:24.720 --> 01:08:27.319
Yeah, like just something if there's an emergency.

1277
01:08:26.920 --> 01:08:29.000
There's an emergency, or someone else needs to pick up

1278
01:08:29.000 --> 01:08:30.960
your kid, like they should know the safe word, or like.

1279
01:08:30.880 --> 01:08:32.600
If you're on the if your kid is calling you

1280
01:08:32.640 --> 01:08:34.800
on the phone, they could slip in a safe word

1281
01:08:34.800 --> 01:08:36.680
if they're in some kind of trouble. That they don't

1282
01:08:36.720 --> 01:08:38.279
want the other person to know.

1283
01:08:38.439 --> 01:08:39.880
Yeah, do you know what our safe word is?

1284
01:08:41.520 --> 01:08:43.560
See? I embarrassing. I remember we talked about it a

1285
01:08:43.600 --> 01:08:44.920
while ago, but I kind of forgot.

1286
01:08:45.000 --> 01:08:48.920
Yeah, I'll tell you later, Okay, Yeah, Yeah, you should

1287
01:08:48.920 --> 01:08:50.319
have a word with your kids. I don't know what

1288
01:08:50.359 --> 01:08:52.439
are other things I think every I don't I'm not

1289
01:08:52.479 --> 01:08:54.479
telling anyone what to do with your family, but I'm

1290
01:08:54.520 --> 01:08:57.039
just saying like everyone should really take a look at,

1291
01:08:57.319 --> 01:08:58.199
you know, your house.

1292
01:08:58.359 --> 01:09:01.399
I think having like a water supply, like having emergency

1293
01:09:01.399 --> 01:09:03.319
things on hand, like if you were to lose power

1294
01:09:03.399 --> 01:09:05.720
for a week or two weeks or something like that.

1295
01:09:05.960 --> 01:09:08.920
There's been so many natural disasters in recent years and

1296
01:09:08.960 --> 01:09:10.359
you just never know what's going to come your way.

1297
01:09:10.399 --> 01:09:13.319
So we should all if you go to if you

1298
01:09:13.359 --> 01:09:16.000
go to ready dot gov, there's a lot of lists there.

1299
01:09:16.399 --> 01:09:18.279
But I think everyone just needs to be aware that

1300
01:09:18.560 --> 01:09:21.000
things happen and we need to be prepared for them.

1301
01:09:21.119 --> 01:09:22.000
Yea good advice.

1302
01:09:22.239 --> 01:09:24.720
And everyone in your family should know where your safety

1303
01:09:24.800 --> 01:09:27.760
kit is and all the things should be together because

1304
01:09:27.800 --> 01:09:30.720
we have flashlights here and there, but we need to

1305
01:09:30.720 --> 01:09:33.319
work on that and can everything in a central location

1306
01:09:33.520 --> 01:09:35.520
so everyone knows where it is and where they can

1307
01:09:35.560 --> 01:09:35.960
grab it.

1308
01:09:36.039 --> 01:09:37.399
All right, let's do that this weekend.

1309
01:09:38.760 --> 01:09:41.000
Okay. I love you guys, and I want everyone to

1310
01:09:41.039 --> 01:09:43.399
be safe. I've been worried about so many people this week.

1311
01:09:44.319 --> 01:09:47.840
Stay safe. One last thing before we go. What would

1312
01:09:47.880 --> 01:09:50.199
your wrestler name be? What would your outfit look like?

1313
01:09:51.920 --> 01:09:52.760
Gosh, I don't know.

1314
01:09:53.000 --> 01:09:54.560
I think I know you've spent a lot of time

1315
01:09:54.600 --> 01:09:55.239
thinking about it.

1316
01:09:55.319 --> 01:09:57.600
No, I really, I really haven't. I think it would

1317
01:09:57.600 --> 01:10:00.399
be much more fun to be a heel than a face,

1318
01:10:00.600 --> 01:10:03.199
right faces face is the good guy. Heel is the

1319
01:10:03.279 --> 01:10:05.199
bad guy. Yeah, but wouldn't it be a lot more

1320
01:10:05.199 --> 01:10:06.520
fun to be the bad guy?

1321
01:10:06.880 --> 01:10:07.399
Probably?

1322
01:10:07.960 --> 01:10:10.880
I just the other day I saw a I think

1323
01:10:10.880 --> 01:10:13.000
I shared it with you and the kids, But there

1324
01:10:13.079 --> 01:10:17.159
was a wrestler who his theme is like grunge music,

1325
01:10:17.439 --> 01:10:21.000
uh huh, and his name is Stephen Flow. You know

1326
01:10:21.039 --> 01:10:23.520
the song There's a song by Pearl Jam called even Flow,

1327
01:10:24.159 --> 01:10:26.600
and he comes out onto the stage to the song

1328
01:10:26.720 --> 01:10:29.600
even Flow, but all the words are changed to Steve Flow.

1329
01:10:30.000 --> 01:10:30.560
Oh you did?

1330
01:10:30.680 --> 01:10:32.159
I just cracked me up.

1331
01:10:32.199 --> 01:10:34.920
But anyway, Oh, we're talking about hould Cogan the other day,

1332
01:10:34.920 --> 01:10:37.359
and I guess the w W E is on Netflix.

1333
01:10:37.439 --> 01:10:40.039
Now he got booed like pretty bad.

1334
01:10:40.239 --> 01:10:41.840
Really well he's the heel.

1335
01:10:41.920 --> 01:10:45.079
Now, well, well I think he said some really horrible

1336
01:10:45.119 --> 01:10:49.680
recist things. People are like nope, yeah, no, that's not cool.

1337
01:10:50.039 --> 01:10:52.039
So so I've ducked your question though.

1338
01:10:52.359 --> 01:10:55.520
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I see you in like some

1339
01:10:55.760 --> 01:11:02.560
like red with some lightning bolts and some yeah use yeah,

1340
01:11:02.760 --> 01:11:05.319
what would your name be? Oh, because your name is

1341
01:11:05.399 --> 01:11:07.479
rich and I don't think you want me to see

1342
01:11:07.520 --> 01:11:09.800
your last name. It would be something about like Richie

1343
01:11:09.880 --> 01:11:12.000
Rich and you'd be like you probably maybe you would

1344
01:11:12.000 --> 01:11:13.880
have like green and you'd beat dollars.

1345
01:11:14.000 --> 01:11:15.560
Rich the poor little rich kid.

1346
01:11:15.920 --> 01:11:17.159
Yeah, maybe that would be you.

1347
01:11:17.239 --> 01:11:19.079
I wouldn't want to do that though. People used to

1348
01:11:19.279 --> 01:11:20.840
say that to me when I was a little kid.

1349
01:11:20.960 --> 01:11:23.920
I hated it. I just hated that. Like nickname Richie Rich.

1350
01:11:23.960 --> 01:11:26.800
It's pretty good. Yeah all right, Well I would not

1351
01:11:26.840 --> 01:11:29.159
be a wrestler. I'm a lover, not a fighter.

1352
01:11:29.399 --> 01:11:33.439
So so how would you have to have some persona

1353
01:11:33.520 --> 01:11:34.600
in the wrestling world?

1354
01:11:34.600 --> 01:11:37.239
Would be whatever you are. I guess I'd be your

1355
01:11:37.359 --> 01:11:37.720
your ring.

1356
01:11:40.000 --> 01:11:40.239
Yeah.

1357
01:11:40.279 --> 01:11:42.159
I would just fluff your hair for you and things

1358
01:11:42.199 --> 01:11:42.520
like that.

1359
01:11:43.159 --> 01:11:44.079
I appreciate that.

1360
01:11:44.319 --> 01:11:46.279
What's wrong, honey, you never ate your broccoli.

1361
01:11:46.720 --> 01:11:49.000
You know. I was so full after that cookie that

1362
01:11:49.119 --> 01:11:54.039
I was going to BROCOLI. I know, I messed up.

1363
01:11:54.159 --> 01:11:57.600
There aren't any foods that I like less than rab broccoli.

1364
01:11:57.800 --> 01:11:58.000
Yeah.

1365
01:11:58.199 --> 01:12:00.079
Whenever you go to a party and you see, like,

1366
01:12:00.119 --> 01:12:02.119
you know, a veggie trade with Rob Rockley and rock

1367
01:12:02.199 --> 01:12:03.640
call Off, I'm like, I don't. I don't know how

1368
01:12:03.680 --> 01:12:03.960
you people.

1369
01:12:04.039 --> 01:12:06.720
If you dip it into something with enough sauce, I

1370
01:12:06.760 --> 01:12:10.199
can tolerate it, but it's really not good. Yeah, cauliflower

1371
01:12:10.279 --> 01:12:10.640
is worse.

1372
01:12:11.039 --> 01:12:13.840
How are your New Year's resolutions going? You're okay?

1373
01:12:13.920 --> 01:12:14.439
Are my?

1374
01:12:14.520 --> 01:12:14.840
Okay?

1375
01:12:14.840 --> 01:12:15.039
Ours?

1376
01:12:15.960 --> 01:12:17.880
One of them's going well so far. The other one

1377
01:12:17.920 --> 01:12:20.319
I haven't really started on yet. But I've got six months?

1378
01:12:21.199 --> 01:12:24.239
Six months? Oh the house? Well, yeah, they gave you

1379
01:12:24.279 --> 01:12:25.199
a six month lead.

1380
01:12:25.479 --> 01:12:27.960
No, their first half of the year, okayrs I decided,

1381
01:12:28.000 --> 01:12:31.600
so I set goals for half of the year. But no,

1382
01:12:31.680 --> 01:12:34.199
I still haven't. I've been, as you know, I've been

1383
01:12:34.199 --> 01:12:36.119
pretty busy with work and stuff.

1384
01:12:36.199 --> 01:12:37.640
Oh there's always going to be an excuse.

1385
01:12:37.720 --> 01:12:40.359
I know there's always going to be. But how are

1386
01:12:40.399 --> 01:12:41.560
your New Year's resolutions?

1387
01:12:41.640 --> 01:12:44.399
I mean, I'm still recovering, so I really haven't. I'm

1388
01:12:44.439 --> 01:12:45.880
still kind of in this weird like.

1389
01:12:46.359 --> 01:12:49.840
Yeah, bog, Yeah, it's taken you a while.

1390
01:12:49.960 --> 01:12:53.119
Yeah getting there. Well, if you are at the gym

1391
01:12:53.239 --> 01:12:55.560
right now, dear listener, I hope you're having a great

1392
01:12:55.560 --> 01:13:00.199
workout and keep pushing, keep working. Get it five going

1393
01:13:00.239 --> 01:13:01.079
to be your year?

1394
01:13:01.439 --> 01:13:01.640
You know?

1395
01:13:01.720 --> 01:13:04.600
They say, what is the date? Friday? The second Friday,

1396
01:13:04.640 --> 01:13:07.479
which is tomorrow for us as we're recording on Thursday.

1397
01:13:08.039 --> 01:13:10.760
It's called what is it called fil fail Friday?

1398
01:13:10.840 --> 01:13:11.960
Or ever heard that before?

1399
01:13:12.199 --> 01:13:17.279
It's the date that most people have abandoned their resolutions by,

1400
01:13:17.520 --> 01:13:19.479
like to the second Friday in January.

1401
01:13:19.560 --> 01:13:20.359
So I didn't know that.

1402
01:13:20.560 --> 01:13:23.079
Yeah, so if you've done that, just get back in there.

1403
01:13:23.159 --> 01:13:24.640
I feel like me and you've never started.

1404
01:13:25.079 --> 01:13:26.960
Yeah, well now you can get started.

1405
01:13:27.199 --> 01:13:29.159
Before we sign off, I wanted to mention that today's

1406
01:13:29.159 --> 01:13:31.880
episode was written by our friend Owen. Owen is a

1407
01:13:31.920 --> 01:13:36.119
recent graduate from Boston University screenwriting program, and he's done

1408
01:13:36.159 --> 01:13:38.560
a great job for us. We are still writing almost

1409
01:13:38.640 --> 01:13:41.840
all of our episodes, but occasionally we are hiring a writer.

1410
01:13:42.199 --> 01:13:44.640
We just wanted to make that transparent. I did a

1411
01:13:44.640 --> 01:13:47.920
contribute to the episode as well, and if you would

1412
01:13:47.920 --> 01:13:50.800
like to hire Owen. His information is in our show notes,

1413
01:13:50.840 --> 01:13:53.439
and he is a fine young man and would appreciate

1414
01:13:53.840 --> 01:13:57.239
any business that you sent his way. If you would

1415
01:13:57.279 --> 01:13:59.920
like to listen to the conclusion of this episode right now,

1416
01:14:00.239 --> 01:14:03.960
you can join us on patreon dot com slash Love

1417
01:14:04.039 --> 01:14:06.800
Mary Kill for five dollars a month. You get early

1418
01:14:06.920 --> 01:14:10.680
ad free access, and a monthly bonus episode. We thank

1419
01:14:10.680 --> 01:14:12.800
you all so much for listening and for all of

1420
01:14:12.840 --> 01:14:16.600
your support and friendship. Please rate, review, follow and subscribe,

1421
01:14:16.920 --> 01:14:19.439
find us on social media, or send us an email

1422
01:14:19.520 --> 01:14:24.520
at lovemrykillat gmail dot com. Until next time, don't kill

1423
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your wife and don't kill your husband. Prior to this monopolization,

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got it, nieled it.