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Chris & Nancy: The True Story of the Benoit Murder-Suicide and Pro Wrestling's Cocktail of Death
Author Muchnick puts together the first thorough and authoritative events of the Benoit murder-suicide in 2007, one of the most shocking stories of the year. The book also goes beyond the crime itself, showing how the tragedy was a microcosm of the drugs culture in wrestling. The Benoit case led to unprecedented scrutiny of wrestling's overall health and safety standards, and this book is the primary source of what they found and what they should continue to look for.
260 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
August 5, 2025
I know this sounds callous, but, even more than the crime and discussion of brain injury, the most chilling writing in this book was part of a sentence in the foreword, since it had such unpredictable foresight, incredibly so.
This book was written before 2015 and 2016.
And what did the sentence in the foreword say?
Two things.
He is talking about America and he writes that, unfortunately the values and culture of the WWE are increasingly permeating themselves into mainstream American culture and POLITICS!
We all know what happened from 2015 and what is continuing to happen.
Surely no one, hardly anyone could have imagined what America and American politics has become today?
Of course we know trump has had much involvement with the WWE.
This book was written before 2015 and 2016.
And what did the sentence in the foreword say?
Two things.
He is talking about America and he writes that, unfortunately the values and culture of the WWE are increasingly permeating themselves into mainstream American culture and POLITICS!
We all know what happened from 2015 and what is continuing to happen.
Surely no one, hardly anyone could have imagined what America and American politics has become today?
Of course we know trump has had much involvement with the WWE.
Read
May 29, 2010I remember tuning into Monday Night Raw, WWE's flagship show, on June 25th 2007 to find it was a tribute show to WWE superstar Chris Benoit who had been found dead earlier that day along with his wife and young son. My blood turned cold and my skin broke out in goosebumps. I couldn't believe what I was seeing and quickly logged onto the internet to validate that this was real and not some twisted storyline (up until their recent change to a more PG rated product there was very little off limits in terms of WWE storylines including such topics as necrophilia, gay rape, wrestlers being covered in excrement and, ironically, the week previous to June 25th's episode the murder of WWE chairman Vince McMahon). Unfortunately, this was no storyline.
It's unfortunate that in my tenure as a wrestling fan that a whole bunch of my favorite wrestlers have died while still young including such greats as David Smith aka 'The British Bulldog', Curt Hennig aka 'Mr Perfect' and more recently Eddie Guerrero. What's even more unfortunate is that the passing of these lives occurred without much scrutiny from the media in general. All that changed with the Benoit tragedy.
If you're not familiar with Chris Benoit, or somehow missed the media explosion following the murder-suicide, he was regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of his era. He was a former WWE champion and looked upon as being a role model to fans and younger wrestlers learning their craft. Outside the squared circle he was known as a very humble and reserved man who always found time to pose for pictures, and sign autographs, for his fans. 'Chris & Nancy' looks at the reasons as to why Benoit snapped and committed such atrocities and the subsequent investigation into the murder-suicide along with the role the WWE played in distancing themselves from the scandal.
I found this a very difficult book to read due to the fact I was a big Chris Benoit fan and knowing what he done to his wife and child sickens me to my stomach. However, such crimes are not committed on a whim and I wanted to know more about the timeline of events and what might have led to such a tragedy. This book was the perfect source for such information.
The book itself is split into fourteen chapters each dealing with a particular topic related to the events that unfolded on that fateful weekend in June. Each chapter relays the officially stated facts pertaining to the particular topic it is dealing with and Muchnick's investigation into those facts. It soon becomes apparent that those "facts" are sometimes nothing of the sort and he exposes such things as inconsistencies in the police reports, information that was overlooked and a possible WWE cover up of the timeline to limit damage to their public image.
The investigation by Mr Muchnick is very much a thorough one although I felt some information would have been better left out of the book. For instance, Chris Benoit was rumored to be having an affair with a current WWE diva. Even though it might appear that this was true, and may have led to further instability in Benoit's already unstable marriage, there wasn't enough evidence to support this theory as concrete fact. Yes, the diva's phone number might well have appeared on Benoit's cell records but that doesn't necessarily mean they were having an affair. Although intriguing I also felt that the chapter on the Wikipedia hacker was more filler than it was anything substantial in relation to the investigation.
As for the rest of the book it was very well thought out and evidence was presented, as required, in relation to the case that Muchnick built throughout the text. Ultimately, the reader is left with many unanswered questions that we will never know the answers to due to the case being closed and many people involved refusing to speak further about the incident. One of those bigger unanswered questions, in my opinion, was why WWE wrestler Dave Taylor was at the scene of the crime but later denied being there at all? However, Muchnick does make it clear that multiple explanations are the likely cause of Benoit snapping including prolonged use of performance enhancing drugs (which WWE knew about but chose to look the other way), depression and trauma inflicted upon the brain. The biggest unanswered question though is how Mr McMahon sleeps comfortably of a night knowing the role that his company has played in the deaths of many its performers as well as Chris Benoit and his family?
Normally I give ratings to books but given the subject matter I don't think it would be appropriate to rate this book. What I will do though is recommend this book if you are interested in finding out more about what took place, the attitude of the WWE to what happened and the reasons as to why the murder-suicide occurred as you will find 'Chris & Nancy' be the definitive source on the subject matter.
It's unfortunate that in my tenure as a wrestling fan that a whole bunch of my favorite wrestlers have died while still young including such greats as David Smith aka 'The British Bulldog', Curt Hennig aka 'Mr Perfect' and more recently Eddie Guerrero. What's even more unfortunate is that the passing of these lives occurred without much scrutiny from the media in general. All that changed with the Benoit tragedy.
If you're not familiar with Chris Benoit, or somehow missed the media explosion following the murder-suicide, he was regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of his era. He was a former WWE champion and looked upon as being a role model to fans and younger wrestlers learning their craft. Outside the squared circle he was known as a very humble and reserved man who always found time to pose for pictures, and sign autographs, for his fans. 'Chris & Nancy' looks at the reasons as to why Benoit snapped and committed such atrocities and the subsequent investigation into the murder-suicide along with the role the WWE played in distancing themselves from the scandal.
I found this a very difficult book to read due to the fact I was a big Chris Benoit fan and knowing what he done to his wife and child sickens me to my stomach. However, such crimes are not committed on a whim and I wanted to know more about the timeline of events and what might have led to such a tragedy. This book was the perfect source for such information.
The book itself is split into fourteen chapters each dealing with a particular topic related to the events that unfolded on that fateful weekend in June. Each chapter relays the officially stated facts pertaining to the particular topic it is dealing with and Muchnick's investigation into those facts. It soon becomes apparent that those "facts" are sometimes nothing of the sort and he exposes such things as inconsistencies in the police reports, information that was overlooked and a possible WWE cover up of the timeline to limit damage to their public image.
The investigation by Mr Muchnick is very much a thorough one although I felt some information would have been better left out of the book. For instance, Chris Benoit was rumored to be having an affair with a current WWE diva. Even though it might appear that this was true, and may have led to further instability in Benoit's already unstable marriage, there wasn't enough evidence to support this theory as concrete fact. Yes, the diva's phone number might well have appeared on Benoit's cell records but that doesn't necessarily mean they were having an affair. Although intriguing I also felt that the chapter on the Wikipedia hacker was more filler than it was anything substantial in relation to the investigation.
As for the rest of the book it was very well thought out and evidence was presented, as required, in relation to the case that Muchnick built throughout the text. Ultimately, the reader is left with many unanswered questions that we will never know the answers to due to the case being closed and many people involved refusing to speak further about the incident. One of those bigger unanswered questions, in my opinion, was why WWE wrestler Dave Taylor was at the scene of the crime but later denied being there at all? However, Muchnick does make it clear that multiple explanations are the likely cause of Benoit snapping including prolonged use of performance enhancing drugs (which WWE knew about but chose to look the other way), depression and trauma inflicted upon the brain. The biggest unanswered question though is how Mr McMahon sleeps comfortably of a night knowing the role that his company has played in the deaths of many its performers as well as Chris Benoit and his family?
Normally I give ratings to books but given the subject matter I don't think it would be appropriate to rate this book. What I will do though is recommend this book if you are interested in finding out more about what took place, the attitude of the WWE to what happened and the reasons as to why the murder-suicide occurred as you will find 'Chris & Nancy' be the definitive source on the subject matter.
July 30, 2010
Irvin Muchnick paints a great picture of all sides of the story providing details of the events that took place. I appreciated how he set the book up with all the information the reader needs to know about the weekend and then goes to evaluate how this whole happening could have been prevented. Before reading, I stood on the fence as to the complete involvement of steroids in causing the murder-suicide. Now after reading it, I am firmly and completely still on the fence. As to my opinion, I believe that obviously having drugs in his system, this can not be denied and they probably helped fuel the situation. Although, upon hearing how he calculated his own suicide with weights, I think there was some thought put into it and the "roid rage" theory would not enable him to have pure thoughts.
The part where I am firmly off the fence is the involvement and cover up by the WWE. I believe Muchnick and I are on the same side of the fence in stating that the WWE had great responsibility to reprimand Benoit when he failed numerous drug and steroid tests. As well, after reading the book and the detailed timelines of the weekend, Vince McMahon and the WWE went to great lengths to cover their names, instead of helping with the investigation. I was beyond disappointed when I read their take on the timeline of events.
The part where I am firmly off the fence is the involvement and cover up by the WWE. I believe Muchnick and I are on the same side of the fence in stating that the WWE had great responsibility to reprimand Benoit when he failed numerous drug and steroid tests. As well, after reading the book and the detailed timelines of the weekend, Vince McMahon and the WWE went to great lengths to cover their names, instead of helping with the investigation. I was beyond disappointed when I read their take on the timeline of events.
September 28, 2022
I wanted to enjoy this book, but it left a lot to be desired. As an avid true crime fan and a relatively new watcher of WWE, I was hoping for a more analytical look at the Benoit case. I didn't learn anything that I didn't already know about the case, and I have only been interested in wrestling at all for maybe 3 years at most. That means this author, despite the fact that he did a supposed "deep dig" into all the evidence, only managed to produce as much information as one could get from a YouTube video or an episode of "Dark Side of the Ring."
It feels like this could have been an awesome chapter in a larger book looking at the overall substance abuse and CTE issues in professional wrestling, but on its own it was rather long and drawn out. The style of the writing and the voice of the narration was incredibly long-winded, and I feel that most of the material is presented with a clear bias by the author. He makes statements about things being "unassailable facts," when really, they are nothing more than speculation.
Overall, this book is less a revelation of new facts and perspectives about a shocking true crime case, and more a retelling of a story that everyone--at least, everyone who cares-- has heard a dozen times before.
It feels like this could have been an awesome chapter in a larger book looking at the overall substance abuse and CTE issues in professional wrestling, but on its own it was rather long and drawn out. The style of the writing and the voice of the narration was incredibly long-winded, and I feel that most of the material is presented with a clear bias by the author. He makes statements about things being "unassailable facts," when really, they are nothing more than speculation.
Overall, this book is less a revelation of new facts and perspectives about a shocking true crime case, and more a retelling of a story that everyone--at least, everyone who cares-- has heard a dozen times before.
February 19, 2018
Muchnick has done good investigative work over the years -- Wrestling Babylon is a real treat, and articles like "Pimping Iron" are true classics -- but here he gives the impression he's entered "Charlie Day from It's Always Sunny tries desperately to find out where the mail is going" territory. Muchnick, like my good friend Anthony Roberts (with whom Muchnick co-authored a piece years ago), is a government document-gathering machine, and he puts those skills on display here, giving us as detailed a picture of the timeline of the Benoit deaths and WWE's knowledge of those deaths as we are ever likely to receive (and more than we ever wanted, because a) this story isn't that interesting and b) even though Muchnick has caught the WWE in a bunch of lies/half-truths, it's like what Roberts and I have discovered about the bodybuilding world: nobody care. That said, this is an amazing work of investigative journalism that even has a commemorative DVD filled with all the files Muchnick pulled in the course of writing it. Truly a labor of love/insanity/journalistic dedication.
June 19, 2024
This book discusses the murder of Nancy and Daniel Benoit by Chris Benoit before he took his own life. Chris Benoit was a professional wrestler from Canada, who was working for the WWE at the time of this incident. Chris had been a professional wrestler for twenty-two years, traveling all over the world and wrestling in countless matches. Chris had been married once before, with two children from that marriage. Chris and Nancy had one child together. Their relationship was tumultuous, with Nancy claiming Chris was abusive and had destroyed their house on multiple occasions. Chris had been exhibiting some concerning behavior before the murders, but it was largely attributed to him being a private person or depression from the death of his best friend. The author of this book is determined that all of his problems were a result of drugs, which I have opinions about to follow. Chris murdered his wife and child in 2007, before taking his own life.
The author of this book seems to have an unwavering opinion that steroid and recreational drug use were the absolute cause of this murder-suicide. I do not buy it. Was Chris Benoit using copious amounts of steroids, opiates, and other drugs? Absolutely. No question. Do those things have a detrimental impact on the health and cognition of a person? Yes. Steroid use has been known to cause people to have anger issues and become highly erratic and reactive. Does this explain a lot of his behavior? Certainly. Was this a major contributing factor in what happened in his home? Probably. It couldn't have helped. The author seems to dismiss CTE as being a contributing factor, which I disagree with strongly. When Chris Benoit's brain was autopsied, his brain showed severe CTE markers. In fact, it was stated that his brain resembled that of an 80+ year old Alzheimer's patient. Symptoms for CTE include depression, suicide, anger, and memory impairment. Traumatic brain injury information has come a long way since 2007, and a long way since this book was published. Discounting the effects of traumatic brain injury is unhelpful and silly. A scrambled brain in concert with drugs in concert with mental health issues....is simply a bad combination. It is reckless to say that all of these things did not play a factor in the murder-suicide. These things do not excuse murder or abuse of any type, but it certainly helps explain the road map of how we arrived here.
Chris Benoit was one of my favorite wrestlers to watch when I was a kid. I used to watch wrestling all of the time with my grandfather. I got this book during the most recent Audible sale, and I had high hopes for it. It did offer some good information about the case and Chris Benoit's career. I am disappointed in the absolute bias of the author. If you plan to read this, please take it with a grain of salt, as the author left a lot to be desired in unbiased reporting.
The author of this book seems to have an unwavering opinion that steroid and recreational drug use were the absolute cause of this murder-suicide. I do not buy it. Was Chris Benoit using copious amounts of steroids, opiates, and other drugs? Absolutely. No question. Do those things have a detrimental impact on the health and cognition of a person? Yes. Steroid use has been known to cause people to have anger issues and become highly erratic and reactive. Does this explain a lot of his behavior? Certainly. Was this a major contributing factor in what happened in his home? Probably. It couldn't have helped. The author seems to dismiss CTE as being a contributing factor, which I disagree with strongly. When Chris Benoit's brain was autopsied, his brain showed severe CTE markers. In fact, it was stated that his brain resembled that of an 80+ year old Alzheimer's patient. Symptoms for CTE include depression, suicide, anger, and memory impairment. Traumatic brain injury information has come a long way since 2007, and a long way since this book was published. Discounting the effects of traumatic brain injury is unhelpful and silly. A scrambled brain in concert with drugs in concert with mental health issues....is simply a bad combination. It is reckless to say that all of these things did not play a factor in the murder-suicide. These things do not excuse murder or abuse of any type, but it certainly helps explain the road map of how we arrived here.
Chris Benoit was one of my favorite wrestlers to watch when I was a kid. I used to watch wrestling all of the time with my grandfather. I got this book during the most recent Audible sale, and I had high hopes for it. It did offer some good information about the case and Chris Benoit's career. I am disappointed in the absolute bias of the author. If you plan to read this, please take it with a grain of salt, as the author left a lot to be desired in unbiased reporting.
February 19, 2017
A very sad story of the business and the deaths of its performers. I do not think all the answers will ever be known. RIP Daniel, Nancy and Chris.
June 23, 2018
What did you like best about Chris & Nancy? What did you like least?
I liked the details explained through the history of events, which were presented fairly despite the Author's bias against pro wrestling and especially WWE. The portions I did not like were the Author's inability to let his bias go and the poor presentation that a conspiracy exists.
What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)
As the book was based on true events (with some spin by the Author), there were no surprises at the ending.
If this book were a movie would you go see it?
I would not have an interest in watching a movie about this book or about the events in this book, but I know there has been ideas pitched for making a movie about Benoit. There is zero chance that movie is accurate if it's ever made.
Any additional comments?
This book would have been much better is presented strictly in a factual manner. The Author has a long bias against pro wrestling and could have presented the information without showing that bias. Perhaps it would have given the book more credibility because most of the information in the book is well presented and accurate.
I liked the details explained through the history of events, which were presented fairly despite the Author's bias against pro wrestling and especially WWE. The portions I did not like were the Author's inability to let his bias go and the poor presentation that a conspiracy exists.
What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)
As the book was based on true events (with some spin by the Author), there were no surprises at the ending.
If this book were a movie would you go see it?
I would not have an interest in watching a movie about this book or about the events in this book, but I know there has been ideas pitched for making a movie about Benoit. There is zero chance that movie is accurate if it's ever made.
Any additional comments?
This book would have been much better is presented strictly in a factual manner. The Author has a long bias against pro wrestling and could have presented the information without showing that bias. Perhaps it would have given the book more credibility because most of the information in the book is well presented and accurate.
January 2, 2018
An incredibly well researched book that...just isn't as interesting as it should be.
Too much of the content is about whether WWE knew Benoit had murdered his family and committed suicide before they aired their tribute episode. It's hard to say definitely 100% that they did (though that's the conclusion Muchnick draws). They probably had some assumptions, but chose to go with looking at his wrestling legacy for a couple hours. It was absolutely the wrong choice but not one that's enthralling to read for all that long. I mean, if Vince was positive it was a murder/suicide then would he really want to have to post a retraction the following day?
I'm super critical with how WWE treats their "independent contractors" and their nauseating self-serving charity efforts but I just can't fault them for what they chose to do that night.
All in all, you'll come out of this book finding WWE scummier than ever, feel like Muchnick has a few axes to grind, and be pushed to buy a bonus DVD what felt like dozens of times.
Too much of the content is about whether WWE knew Benoit had murdered his family and committed suicide before they aired their tribute episode. It's hard to say definitely 100% that they did (though that's the conclusion Muchnick draws). They probably had some assumptions, but chose to go with looking at his wrestling legacy for a couple hours. It was absolutely the wrong choice but not one that's enthralling to read for all that long. I mean, if Vince was positive it was a murder/suicide then would he really want to have to post a retraction the following day?
I'm super critical with how WWE treats their "independent contractors" and their nauseating self-serving charity efforts but I just can't fault them for what they chose to do that night.
All in all, you'll come out of this book finding WWE scummier than ever, feel like Muchnick has a few axes to grind, and be pushed to buy a bonus DVD what felt like dozens of times.
October 5, 2019
The story of Chris Benoit and his family is tragic and sad but not worthy of a book. It would have made a compelling chapter in a book about the early demise of wrestlers. The foreword (Mushnick/Muchnick) was as pointless as the timelines and little Daniel’s Fragile X Syndrome. Can someone tell me whose eyes are at the top of the book cover? McMahon?
December 4, 2020
This is a book that you can tell is well researched (though many names and moves are mispronounced in the audiobook version), but it's just not a gripping read. It's fine & factual (though the dismissal of CTE 11 years later in 2020 may be an issue) and it's fair when it comes to positions taken on Vince McMahon & other people but it's just not that great an engrossing read/listen.
June 19, 2023
Super interested in this case but the book failed to provide me with any information I didn’t already know from prior research. The book is supposed to be about Chris and Nancy, but seems to start focusing more on the steroid trials in the second half.
April 27, 2024
This book was interesting diving into the Benoit tragedy. There were certain parts that lost me, however, others kept me in. It really opened my eyes to the dark side of WWE and the narcissism of Vince McMahon.
November 14, 2019
The writer was very negative towards wrestling and I just think the style overall just seemed so dated. I felt at times Irvin dig at myself for enjoying wrestling. I didn't enjoy this book.
July 4, 2020
I enjoyed the book but more from an understanding of the WWE's attitude towards substance abuse. Most of the benoit stuff I knew from YouTube videos and articles over the last anyway
Read
September 9, 2022Audiobook.
May 1, 2023
a very telling book on the tragic Chris Benoit case. A lot of negligence from the WWE - both before and after the horrible events took place
not a fun read but deffo an interesting one
not a fun read but deffo an interesting one
Read
July 25, 2023Awful, quit it half way through. Just a hit piece on WWE.
December 25, 2023
This was fine. An impressive research & investigative endeavor for sure, but it’s a bit all over the place & then just…ends
December 25, 2023
RAGE QUIT @ 43%. It was going okay until he REALLY started to push to idiotic WWE conspiracy theories.
July 9, 2024
No matter the story you believe, it's sad. Muchnick tells a somewhat dry story, but leaves no doubt the investigation was botched and WWE is a suspicious co-conspirator.
November 6, 2024
Great book with detailed information about the fumbled investigation of a shocking murder-suicide.
June 8, 2025
A lot of the information is presented as factual, but I'm not exactly sure. Irvin seems like he has an ax to grind at several points. However the contents of this book are taken, we must remember that the subject is devastating and tragic. Clinical narration.
June 23, 2013
Muchnick's status as one of the only true journalists with a legitimate concern for the professional wrestling business is well-established, and he tackles the Chris Benoit murder-suicide with actual ambition and a genuine professional curiosity. For those looking for dirt, you're not going to find a lot of it here. This is an investigative take on a tragic crime, not just backstage rasslin gossip. The book unquestionably drags in that there is less to really discuss, it seems, than Muchnick might have thought at first, but for those who have a serious interest in the subject, it's well worth a read.
September 17, 2015
If you're looking for a definitive answer about what happened—and caused—the Benoit double murder-suicide, you won't find it here. That doesn't mean Muchnick doesn't try; he's actually pretty damn exhaustive in his research. If anything, it shows how inept some police departments can be, how some still don't understand things like the Internet, and is a damning look at the usually-unseen side of being a pro wrestler, and how the WWE operates... especially in grim times.
August 9, 2016
Say it isn't so Chris...
April 29, 2014
if you are a wwe fan you would love this book.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews