June 24th, 2007 is considered to be one of the, if not the single darkest day in professional wrestling.  WWE Superstar Chris Benoit, his wife Nancy, and their 7-year-old son Daniel were found dead in their home.  I remember hearing the news from my mother-in-law, packing up the dinner we had just made, and driving to my in-laws' house to watch Monday Night Raw.  In the wake of the news, the live event was canceled and replaced with recorded messages from the grieving wrestlers and a "best of" collection of Benoit's career.  The next day it was revealed that it was Benoit himself who killed his wife and child, then hung himself in his gym.  WWE then announced that there would be no mention of Benoit in the company from that point on.  Mentions of Chris Benoit have subsequently been eliminated from WWE history books and home video releases.  It is a tragedy that many wrestlers and fans do not want to relive, but now they have no choice.

SRG films announced last week that they will be adapting the book Ring of Hell into a movie called "Crossface", a reference to Benoit's finishing move, the Crippler Crossface.  According to a press release, the movie is,

"a biographical thriller, [and] delves into the pressures WWE superstar Chris Benoit faced throughout his wrestling career as the combination of drug-use, depression, and head trauma became increasingly impossible for him to handle. The true story made headline news in 2007 when Chris murdered his wife and young son before taking his own life."

Immediately after the murders, many people jumped on the "Roid Rage" bandwagon, believing that Benoit was abusing steroids and the murders were from the resulting rage.  Evidence later showed that the murders and suicide may have been premeditated, and actually took place over the course of a few days, with Benoit leaving Bibles next to the bodies of his wife and child.  Benoit was revealed to have been taking testosterone as a replacement treatment for his previous use of steroids.  A postmortem examination of Benoit's brain found damage similar to that of an 85-year-old Alzheimer's patient, with damage to all four lobes of the brain and the brain stem.  Some have theorized that years of head trauma in the ring lead to his depressed state which may have resulted in his actions.

At this point, I don't see who would really want to see this movie.  Its obviously a film that will paint the world of professional wrestling in a bad light, but pro wrestling fans are going to be the target audience.  Many wrestlers and wrestling fans are still hurt and saddened by what happened four years ago, and this movie will just serve to remind people of what happened to one of the most popular performers in the past 20 years.

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