If you read pro wrestling magazines as a kid, you know Bill Apter. He’s so closely associated with his work on magazines like Pro Wrestling Illustrated that they became known as “Apter Mags,” and while they’re like a dinosaur compared to the Internet, his influence can be seen in pro graps journalism to this day.
In a related story that will definitely not cause a bunch of stressful arguments in the comments sections of wrestling sites, Bill Apter thinks Chris Benoit didn’t kill his family and was involved in a mob hit.
On a recent episode of Chris Jericho’s Talk Is Jericho podcast, Apter went into detail on his theory about how the 2007 tragedy that saw Benoit murder his wife, Nancy, and 7-year-old son, Daniel, before killing himself was not the act of a man with rage issues, drug issues and a severely damaged brain, but a good man running afoul of organized crime. Take it away, Bill.
“I think somehow Chris got in some sort of trouble. I don’t know what it was, I don’t know what it was after or whatever, but I think something happened. I think when he got home, Nancy and his son were already dead … to me, if a hit, a murder, is done in a professional way, they can make it look like you did it and you committed suicide as well.”
…
“I understand that husbands and wives kill each other sometimes. They do! But not the boy. This is what didn’t make sense to me. Because I knew they had a volatile relationship, [Chris] and Nancy, there were a lot of issues and all that, but because of Daniel, the boy, and how enamored he was with Daniel, I still, today, can’t fathom that he could do this.”
Jericho said the theory is “as plausible as what the official explanation is and there isn’t one,” and called the situation “shady.” One of the most difficult things about being a wrestling fan and living through the Benoit situation — keeping in mind that the opinions and struggles of wrestling fans are the very least important part of said situation — is how little sense it made. Murder-suicides are like that, I guess. There’s not a “good reason” to kill your family, nor is there an explanation that’s ever gonna make us feel at ease about it. Sometimes it’s easier to say, “maybe ninjas broke in and attacked everybody” than it is accept the reality of a f*cked-up brain going haywire, or the cruel reality that sometimes humanity is the most inhumane thing.
Jericho:
“It could be concussions. It could be rage. It could be demonic possession for all I know. There’s no real closure on that.”
h/t to Wrestling Inc
