Chronicles of the Crippler Chris Benoit: Chapter One

Joe King

At one time, ‘The Crippler’ Chris Benoit was one of the best mat technicians in the entire world of professional wrestling. His absolute heinous and inexcusable crimes against his wife Nancy and son Daniel are unforgivable. We are in no way celebrating or condoning his crimes. Joe King is simply chronicling Benoit’s rise to fame as a pro wrestler.

On the day of May 21st in 1967, the world welcomed Christopher Michael Benoit in the Great White North of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. His parents were Michael and Margaret Benoit. He also had a sister named Laurie. They moved to Edmonton, Alberta when Chris was 12.

As a kid, Chris was known to be a great athlete. His father bought him a weight set and he began weight training immediately. He would remained focused on his diet and his physique for the rest of his life. Even at school, he could always be found working out in Mr. C’s gym. He excelled as a football player in High School. He would hangout with friends at the Londonderry Mall and party down at The Greenhouse Bar. He was involved in an infamous school versus school brawl between St. Ed’s & Rosalyn Jr. High. He came to rescue of his classmates during the melee, as he was supposedly “dropping guys left and right”.

I reached out to a former teammate of Chris Benoit’s from the days at O’Leary. His name is Chris as well. This is what he shared with me about him:

“I knew him from the wrestling team at O’Leary…he was a year older I think.

We didn’t hang out much, he was older, but we did spend a good bit of time training & going to wrestling meets. I remember it being fun! Lots & lots of fun! I wouldn’t have joined or stayed on the team if it wasn’t. I’ll always remember that he looked out for me when he didn’t have to. I was a good bit smaller than everyone else and also had a big mouth…so, he would have my back a lot. A few guys on our team went undefeated throughout high school… I think he was one of us. Was pretty cool having our names on the announcements every Monday morning talking about where & how we won that particular weekend. He was a super nice and funny guy, who had my back & helped make being a wrestler fun as hell.”

Thanks Chris! 

After graduating from Arch Bishop O’Leary High School in Edmonton, he would begin to chase his dream of becoming a professional wrestler like his idol, “The Dynamite Kid” Tom Billington. Starting out by watching Billington perform live for Stampede Wrestling in neighboring Calgary, he would then begin watching and studying tapes of him. He would follow in Tom’s footsteps by beginning training at the infamous “Dungeon”, which was operated by the legendary Stu Hart in the basement of his home. During training, he would go even a step further in emulating Dynamite Kid by purchasing similar tights and boots.