David Benoit Addresses Conspiracy Theories Surrounding Chris Benoit's Double-Murder Suicide

In June 2007 former WWE Superstar Chris Benoit killed his wife Nancy, suffocated his 7-year-old son Daniel and hung himself inside his home in Fayetteville, Georgia. The crime was one of the most shocking in pro wrestling history, and caused WWE to remove nearly any mention of Benoit from company programming. Over the years conspiracy theories have started popping up about the murders, with some believing that someone else had committed them and that Benoit was framed. During an interview with Chris Van Vliet that dropped on Tuesday, Benoit's older son (from his first marriage) David directly addressed those theories.

"Conspiracy theories are just a joke," Benoit said (h/t Wrestling Inc for transcript). "Kevin Sullivan didn't do anything, you know? We looked into that and never had the police look into him, so yeah. I didn't want to believe it. I thought someone broke into the house or some s--t and did it, but apparently there was a scuffle at the door. That's what I heard."

David, who was a young teenager at the time, said he struggled to believe the murders were actually true.

"I thought it was a joke when I first found out," he said "I was in Edmonton doing a fundraising thing with my sister. My mom got a call from RCMP telling her to come down (to Georgia). My mom told me. My grandfather (Chris' father) went down (to Georgia). He was in control of it. My mom couldn't do it because she had to take care of me and my sister. He was in control of the estate and the lawyers.

"I punched a cop," he added. "I punched him right in the chest. I thought it was a joke, I really did. I just didn't believe it bro. I think the day it really hit me was at his funeral, that was a hard day. I laid him to rest."

Benoit said in an interview back in September that he wants to possibly wrestle for All Elite Wrestling, adding that he's "banned" from WWE events (he stated in Tuesday's interview that the ban was lifted after he appeared at an AEW show). He was spotted in Schaumburg, Illinois during All Out weekend in August 2019, and posted a photo alongside AEW president Tony Khan.

"I want to go to AEW one hundred percent," he said at the time. "I love AEW. I love what they do for the boys. [They] take care of them."