"Terribly unfair" – WWE legend on the way he was treated after the Chris Benoit tragedy
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross recently opened up about the aftermath of the Chris Benoit tragedy.
In June 2007, the former WWE World Heavyweight Champion killed his wife Nancy and son Daniel before committing suicide. A month later, WWE Executive Chairman Vince McMahon called Ross and asked him to represent the company at Daniel and Nancy's funeral.
Ross, a WWE commentator and executive at the time, said on his Grilling JR podcast that his presence at the service was not well received:
"You talk about dirty looks. It's as if I did something wrong. I was there to show support, but because I was representing WWE I was not a welcome guest at that service, and I thought that was very, very unfair, really, just terribly unfair. It made me feel guilty. When you feel guilty, Conrad [Grilling JR host Conrad Thompson], about things that you didn't do, you've gotta evaluate a little bit here." [1:17:32 – 1:18:03]
Ross did not initially plan to attend the funeral. The day before, he was opening a restaurant in Oklahoma when McMahon asked him to fly to Florida for the service.
Jim Ross comments on Chris Benoit as a wrestler
The topic of Chris Benoit possibly entering the WWE Hall of Fame one day is often dismissed by wrestling legends.
A great aerial photo of my match vs Chris Benoit at Royal Rumble 2003 for the WWE Championship, in front of a sold out Boston crowd....where Chris received a standing ovation after our match. Hear about it on my past episode of The Kurt Angle Show at adfreeshows.com #TAP https://t.co/KWxYIBpf38
Jim Ross agreed that Benoit should never be inducted into any major wrestling organization's Hall of Fame. He also said no one knows why the former WWE wrestler acted the way he did:
"I wish things for a lot of common sense reasons had not gone down like they did, but I'll never not respect the wrestler that Chris Benoit was," Ross continued. "You can't justify, nor should you try, his last few days on Earth because I can't explain that. 'Well, he had the concussion deal, he had CTE.' I don't know what he had for sure, and I don't know that anybody knows for sure." [1:18:44 – 1:19:17]
Earlier this week, WWE producer Road Dogg explained why the Benoit tragedy did not change the wrestling business.
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Please credit Grilling JR and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.