Insight with Chris Van Vliet - David Benoit: Chris Benoit's son opens up about tragedy, training to be a wrestler, Hall of Fame, AEW

Episode Date: January 14, 2020

Chris Benoit's son David sits down with Chris Van Vliet for his first on-camera interview in Las Vegas. He said nothing was off limits and that he would talk about anything. David opens up about his father's last days, his favorite memories of him, wanting to follow in his footsteps, whether ChrisBenoit should be in the WWE Hall of Fame, how AEW got him back into wrestling, he addresses the conspiracies surrounding the murder/suicide and much more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Look at you, man. What's that? What's that? What's that? This is the Chris Van Bleach Show. Chris Van Bleed Show. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Blitz. Oh yeah, what is going on?

Welcome to another audio adventure on the Chris Van Vleek Show. This episode is brought to you by Untucket, and wow, we are in for such a good one with this episode. David Benoit, if you didn't know, you probably know, but if you didn't, is the son of Chris Benoit. And, oh, yeah, we covered everything in this interview. And I know you can't see it because this is just the audio version, but I have a photo on my Instagram. You can watch the video on my YouTube channel. he looks just like his father. It's uncanny.

You got to check it out. We're only two episodes in the year. Two big ones, in my opinion. Kurt Angle, and now David Benoit, we're just getting started here. I just want to thank you, though, for making the show as popular as it is, one of the top 10 wrestling podcasts in the world.

Thank you for continuing to spread the word. And please, if you're listening right now, take a screenshot. Let me know what you think of this interview. And if you haven't subscribed yet, please take a few seconds to click subscribe. And if you're listening on Apple Podcasts, on your iPhone or on iTunes, could you please take 27 seconds out of your day to leave a review? Thank you to everyone who has left one. There's been

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review. Man, that's very kind of you. And you're right. Please. Please subscribe. So, I've been following David Benoit on Instagram for the last few months. He's David Benoit 1 if you want to follow him. I'm sure he'd love that. We interacted a little bit here and there. And then he sent me a DM one day and said, I should come on your show sometime. I love your interviews.

And I'm like, uh, absolutely. I would love to find out more about you. So he lives in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, which is where Chris Benoit was from. I said, I'm willing to fly there. My sister actually lives a few hours away in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Atlanta, Lance Storm style.

He said, you know what, I'm going to be in Vegas sometime in 2020. We'll make it happen there. I said, sure. And who wouldn't love a trip to Vegas? Especially if you can interview David Ben-Wa while you're there. So I flew there, met up with him on a Thursday, and he said he was open to talk about absolutely everything, that nothing was off limits and we could discuss whatever we wanted. So that's exactly what we did here.

We dug in to everything from who his father was to how his father was. to how his father's being remembered now. The murder, suicide, everything that's happened since then, his legacy, the Hall of Fame, and the fact that, yes, David Benoit wants to follow in his father's footsteps, although those are big boots to fill. He wants to get into that. So I can't wait to see what he does.

I love this conversation. Also, the fact that this is David Benoit's first real, long-form interview, and the fact that he granted this to me means so, so much. So I hope you appreciate this. As much as I did, it's a great conversation. Here you go. It's David Benoit. This is happening.

So thank you for finding the time. And of all the places to do this interview, we're doing it here in Las Vegas, which is crazy. But no, thank you for making the time to do this. No, thank you, sir. I appreciate it. No, you reached out to me and said, would you ever want to do an interview sometime?

I'm like, absolutely. I mean, you have a great story to tell. But it's also like you're a fascinating person and I feel like people don't really know a lot about. No. No one knows about anything about me. No. I think people know obviously about your father,

and that's kind of where it ends. And here we are. Here we are. So here we are. And, I mean, just like your father, you love wrestling. I love wrestling with all my heart. It was my life, man. I watched it every day.

And then when I went down to Atlanta, the visit, we'd watch wrestling. wrestle in the pool a little bit. I got the diving headbutt done to me. Did you ever do the diving headbutt? No. Yeah. Pools are like a great place to try out wrestling moves, I feel like.

Yeah. No. So home for you is Edmonton, right? Yes. Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Yes, sir. Okay. So what do you do there?

What's your job there? I work in the oil field and just working up in, Fort McMurray, two weeks on, one week off. For those of people that don't know, like Fort McMurray is like the place to work in the oil fields. Up in Canada. Yes, in Canada. You make a lot of money doing it. You make a lot of work.

So like what's the day and day out of your job there? I'm just running a rig. So we drill. We put big drill pipe down into the ground. Okay. 50 feet. Yeah. And I'm up in a little, like a little, one of those little crane tower boxes, like 80 feet in there or something like that.

Is this something you went to school for? Yeah. Really? Yeah. Okay. What did you go to school for? Engineering. Where'd you go?

Nate. Okay. Yeah. Wow. I got a degree and everything now, so. What do you need wrestling for then? I don't. But I love it.

It's my life. Well, it's interesting that we're in Las Vegas right now because this was the place that kind of, I think made people realize that you were serious about getting into wrestling. You came here for double or nothing. Yes. You know, a little under a year ago. Yes. You posted a photo with Tony Kahn. And I think people went, first of all, they went, oh, my God, he looks so much like his dad.

Yes. I get that all the time, man. Of course. You're like a lot taller, though. Yeah. How tall are you? Six-two? Yeah.

Something like that? Yeah. I mean, you look just like him. Yep. And then I think people went, oh, I think like maybe this is a thing now. Like, you know, you could get back into wrestling. So is that the goal now? That is the goal to get back into wrestling.

You know, when I came here for double or nothing, when I was sitting out in that crowd, man, I just got lost in the moment again. Like I was, but way back, like 2000, when my dad was wrestling still and all that. Yeah. Yeah, man. What was it about AEW's product that brought you back in?

The storytelling in the ring. Quality wrestling. That's what I love, man. Great storytelling. Go out there, bust your ass. And then, you know, I don't know. Yeah, yeah. So I know that you were training at least a little bit.

You were at Lance Storm's school five or six years ago, was that? Yeah. Did you end up graduating from his school? No. Okay, so you were there for a little while. A little while. And then you've been training in other places. You mentioned on Fred Rosser, Darren Young's podcast,

that you'd been doing some stuff with AEW guys. So who is it that you've been in the ring with? I've been in the ring with Harry. He's not technically a, you know, he's not an AEW guy, but... No, but... Second generation guy, yeah. He knows the business. He's a beast, bro.

Oh, he is. I love Harry. Yeah, he's a great guy. I love Natty. too. I feel like when we name all the people that you're like connected with, they're all second generation people. Is that coincidental? Do you think? I think so. Because it's also Brian Pilman Jr. Yeah, I met him. Natty. Natty. Harry. Harry. Teddy Hart, you were talking about. Yeah. Oh, I love Teddy. Yeah. Yeah, he wants me to rest, train with him too. So.

What are you waiting for? I just moved down to Florida already. I think that's the thing. So, you know, so you've done some training. Yeah. The goal is to, I guess, sign with a major company. Yeah. Signed with AEW. Is that the goal? That would be the goal or New Japan.

Okay. Yeah. New Japan, bro. I know there was like, there was a... I tried getting in there. Oh, really? Yeah. So what happened?

So hard to get in there, bro. So hard. Huh. Hardest place to get into. Well, maybe once you get some other matches under your belt. Yeah. There's no way they're going to say no. No.

So there was a match you were supposed to have. Yeah, yeah. Six years ago? It was me and Chavo versus, I don't even know. What happened with that? It got canceled. It was Jericho that stepped in? Yeah, yeah.

Did Jericho not think that you had the experience enough to do this? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. He was looking out for me, so, and I appreciate that. Probably the time, though, that was probably like, you're probably bummed out. Well, a little bit, but at the same time, I'm like, eh, I told them I wasn't ready. He wanted me just to get in there and do it. Yeah.

So Jericho stepped in and dealt with it. And Jericho is someone you're probably the closest with. Yes. Have you been friends with Jericho or has he been friends with your family? I guess your whole life, right? Yeah, pretty much my whole life, man. Yeah. And Jericho is someone you speak with frequently?

Yes. So that's the reason you were at Double or Nothing. Yes. It's all coming together here. It all makes sense. So you've been to double or nothing. Yes. All out?

Yes. And were you at other ones? No. So those are the two you've been to. Yeah, yeah. Backstage of them as well? No, I did all out backstage. Okay. Yeah, when I met Tony Con. Nice. And then posted the photo with Tony Con. Yep. We're also backstage at a WWE show. Yep. In Edmonton. Yep. Wearing an AEW sweatshirt. Yep. How was that received? they all thought Chris bought it for me. Oh, okay. Okay, so they thought it was a rib.

Yeah. Ah. Yeah. And then you mentioned on, you mentioned on Darren's podcast that you were banned from being backstage at WW. Yes. Is that still a thing?

No. Okay, so why were you banned? Going to AEW. Just going to one of their events. Yep. That, that blows my mind, bro. Wow.

I had to make a few phone calls. And did someone reach out to you and go you're no longer welcome here or did you like ask for tickets and they said sorry? No, I was trying to talk to someone. But they never got back to me for like a good four to five months. Oh. And they would usually get back to you? Yeah. Huh.

Yeah. But that's now fine? Everything's fine. How did this get ironed out? I talked to their. lawyer. Oh, geez. And then I talked to Mark Carano after. Okay. All right. So everything's, you're welcome everywhere now. Welcome everywhere now. We're good. Okay. Problem solved. Good. I'm glad, to hear that. Yeah. When you go, when you walk around at these shows, you must get recognized all the

time. Yeah. Just because of, you know, how much you look like Chris. Yeah. Have you signed merchandise? Have you signed stuff? I signed the money in the bank briefcase. really yeah and I get it it makes sense when people see you like at Starcast or something like that or a double or nothing what's the first thing that most people usually say to you you look like you dad okay that was obvious like what's the thing that most people want to talk to you about

the most just come up and say hello to me that's it we just talk about wrestling or talk about my dad and yeah that's what they all want to talk about so Yeah. I'm all for that.

And I mean, you're obviously probably the biggest fan of Chris Benoit. Yes. And I see on your Instagram, you're watching his matches all the time. All the time. Do you have a favorite Chris Benoit match? I got so many favorite matches, man. I got Benoit versus Jericho. Great.

I just watched those two wrestle in Tokyo. Wow. Yeah. Raw. First Raw ever. It's a missing match. That was a good match. That was a great match.

Look, I don't think your dad ever had a bad match. No. No, he took it so serious. And here's the thing. If you're looking to get into wrestling and you're serious about this, obviously, you know, there's the final days of your father's life, but there's also the pedigree of wrestling that he had, that there's this massive standard that you're going to have to live up to.

How do you feel about that? I can only do me, man. He had his own shoes. I can't. I could try to fill them, but I won't. He was the greatest of all time in that ring. I'm a hero, and I can't, bro. I think, though, when your last name is Benoit,

and you're going to lace them up one day, which is your plan, people are going to have certain expectations of how you're going to perform in there. I think they all want me to perform like my dad. Let's be honest. Of course they will Yeah How do you think I mean obviously you haven't worked a match yet

But what do you see your style being like? Like my dad Yeah yeah yeah Okay Maybe like with less flying head butts Yeah Okay Yeah

Yeah I like that That technical wrestling style That's what I like Harry be a great person to learn that from Hell yeah I love Harry What

You talked about having Gear already made Yep What's the gear look like? Looks like my dad's. Yeah? Yeah. This is very exciting.

Yeah, I got it, one in white, one in blue. Nice. Yeah. So you've got gear ready to, like, gear's ready to go. All you need is like just to, you know, get the reps there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so this needs to happen.

Yeah. This isn't happening working on the oil rigs. No, about making money, so. You're probably making, like, a lot of money doing that. Yeah. Yeah. So if it was AEW, they got you back. into it double or nothing being there seeing the crowd seeing the matches that got you back

into it were you not watching before that no really I'd watch it for Natty okay or when Chris was on the show back then but other than that no I didn't watch wrestling for a long time now I just I don't know I imagine my love for WWE is just wasn't there they weren't producing good stuff anymore and I find the quality was just going down, down, down, down. Yeah. Yeah.

We saw obviously how WWE handled the situation, how they've kind of, you know, erased your father's name from the record books. How were you and your family treated in the months following what happened? The news, man.

The news just fucking nonstop. steroid, steroid, steroid, steroid, steroid, steroid, there were that Nancy Grace joke, you know, it was just terrible, man. Like, I couldn't even, can't even walk around. I didn't even go, I didn't finish school. Yeah, and you're what, 15? 14, 14, 15. Jeez. Yeah, man, I didn't finish my finals.

Yeah, there we go. I'm sorry. You didn't finish your finals? No. So did you not finish high school? Well, I finished high school. But just not that year. It does not that year.

Yeah. I wasn't, yeah. That must have been, you know, that must have been tough for the perception of everyone else. And this is your father, the man, your hero, the man that you, you know, grew up idolizing. Yeah. And these people are saying awful things about him. Yeah. It wasn't him, man.

Definitely wasn't him. He would never do that, bro. I know he wouldn't. I think something terribly went wrong. You know, the doctor said he had CTE. So that's what at the beginning gave me, you know, somewhat closure, you know, because of, you know, I don't know. It just made my life a little easier. Sure.

You know, didn't have to think about it. You know, he had CTE and, you know, I don't think it was him, so. Did you see any signs in the days, weeks, months leading up to that that can make you go, my father has this side to him? What do you mean? Like was there any, would he ever snap or would he ever, you know, was there anything that you could go, you know, I'd seen signs? No, I didn't see him that much though.

Like I would see him in the summertime for like four weeks and then Christmas time for two weeks. And then obviously for WrestleMania. Sure. Other than that, it wasn't really, didn't get to see him that much, so. So people need to know that you have a different mother. Yes. Yeah, okay, and you were living in Canada at the time? Yes, I was getting ready to go down, actually.

To Georgia? Yep. Wow. Yeah. Like, how soon? Like, maybe right after. Wow. Yeah, I talked to my dad, Father's Day.

That was the last time. Wow. We talked for like two hours. Wow. That was the last conversation you had? Yeah. Is there anything specific from that conversation that sticks out for you? Yeah.

We were just laughing and getting ready to make plans for the summer. And I got to say I love you one last time with him. And, you know, that was the last time. I'm sorry if this is too much. No? No. Okay. It was good to get it off my chest, bro.

Yeah. I need this. You've never spoken about this before. I never spoken about it. this is this is the tell all you know I can only imagine

all of us can only imagine what you've had to go through these last 13 years you know with you have this image of who your father was to you and obviously wrestling fans had this image of who

Chris Benoit was to them and it's basically a couple of days has completely tarnished his legacy and the idea of him. Yeah.

It's terrible. It's just terrible. You know, I want them... I would like the WWU to remember him. You know, at least for the good times. Sure. You know, I want them in the Hall of Fame. Do you think they'll ever put him in the Hall of Fame?

I think so. Like, soon? Like, I feel like maybe 20 or 30 or 40 years from now. It might also, you know, have something to do with what you end up doing in the ring. Yeah, it might. because, you know, maybe his legacy's been tarnished, but, you know, his legacy lives on through you, which is... Those are big shoes to fill.

Bro, they're huge. Excuse me. Yeah, of course. They are very big shoes to fill. Dude, like, I can't. Like, I have his last pair of tights at home. Have his last pair of boots. You ever wore?

You know, I have it all. Have the belts. Yeah. I have everything. So you're living in Edmonton with your mom? Yes. So Chris's first wife? Yes.

And your sister? Yes, Megan. Okay. And no one ever talks about your sister. My sister is hiding, so. She's hiding? Well, it doesn't want to be found, but... Okay.

You know, whatever, let her live her life. And I think she'd be coming to nurse or something, too, so... Okay. Well, good for her. Yeah. And you're living your life too. I'm living my life. I'm happy.

Yeah. You know? I don't know, man. Fuck. I wish she was still around, though. Of course. What do you think he'd be doing in 2020 if he was still around? Probably working for AEW or WW.

Like as a producer? Yeah, he got offered a producer job actually. Really? Yeah. In WWA? Yeah. In what, do you know what year that would have been? 2006.

Really? Yeah. And he turned it down? Yeah. I don't know why. Probably because he was still in the ring. Yeah. I don't think he was ready to retire yet.

Wow. So they offered him a backstage match producer role to kind of say, on your way out. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Kind of like what Dean Malenko's doing now. Yes. Or, I mean, name anybody.

Tyson Kids doing it now. Yeah. Yeah. Hurricane's doing it. Everyone's doing it. Yeah. Wow. Yeah.

I wish he took it. Or just retired. I asked him to retire, too. You did? Yeah. When was that? 2006. when he was off

I think he had surgery or something and he came back October for No Mercy in Raleigh, North Carolina when he fought William Regal were you there? No, I wish. So when you say, Dad, I think you should retire,

what's he say? He was thinking about it. I'm pretty sure he was. I wanted him to. Fuck. He did everything, man. He had nothing. and left to prove. All the boys respected him. You know, office respected him. He loved the

WWE. He wouldn't take shit from nobody. And we saw that in the raw tribute. Yeah. Nobody had a bad thing to say about it. No. I've watched that show too. I cried, man. I think everyone cried, but I can't imagine what it would be like for you. I thought it was a joke when I found out. So where were you? day? I was in Edmonton. Okay. Doing a fundraiser for my sisters that are skating when she was skating back then. And then my mom got a phone call from the RC&P telling her to come down.

Wow. So how did you find out? Your mom told you? Yeah. And then you guys went down to Georgia? No. No? No. Okay. Did your mom go down? No. My grandfather went down. Really?

Yeah. And what purpose is it for him to go down? And is that Chris's dad? Yeah. Okay. Michael. Yeah. So Michael goes down for what purpose?

He was in control of it. My mom couldn't do it because she had to take care of me and my sister. So he was in control of the estate and fucking lawyers. I had four of them, bro. Four lawyers? Yeah. Dealing with the estate and everything. Waste of money, bro.

So your mom tells you the news. Yeah. What's your first reaction? I punched a cop. I punched them. Punched them right in the chest. I thought it was a joke. Really?

Yeah. I really did. I really thought it was a joke. I just, I didn't. I didn't believe it for days, bro. I think the day it really hit me was his funeral. That was a hard day.

That was a super hard day. I laid him to rest. I'm so sorry. Because he was a good man. Oh, he was. And what are the memories that you have of him? We've got to take a time out from this chat with David Benoit to thank our sponsor for this episode,

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Use the promo code Blue, B-L-U-E for 20% off. at checkout. And their website's super easy to use. Even have a page there that's devoted to helping you find your perfect fit. So that's untucket.com. U.N.TU-C-K-I-T dot com. Use the promo code blue to get 20% off. Oh man, we used to travel time on the road and can tell me stories, you know, talk about Eddie and everything. He'd tell me life, tell me what to do and, you know, yes sir, no sir. all that and you know just laugh

you know me and him got into little arguments and once in a blue moon but you know yeah happens do you remember

what your first memory of wrestling was my first memory of wrestling was going to WCW okay

and how old would you have been I think two or three wow yeah because a lot of guys won't bring their kids when they're super small no

would you go often yeah oh great I used to go. When WCW was in Orlando, I'd go every day. Every day to Disney World, and that's what I did when I was a child. Do you remember some of the WCW wrestlers that you saw when you were young? Hulk Hogan, Lachaman.

Did you have interactions with them? Yeah. That's cool. Yeah. Yeah. I met everyone, Man, Sting. Yeah. Jericho.

Eddie, you know, Eddie was a good man, too. Yeah. Do you think that... Oh, that played a role, bro. I've seen it. Really? It took a toll on him, man. When Eddie passed away, oh, that was his best friend, bro.

Like, those two were just brothers. Travel together, eat together, work out. You know, but every time they leave the arena, bro, hugging a kiss. Wow. And I love you. Every time. So what, you know, what specifically changed after Eddie's death?

I think he lost his best friend, right? Yeah. Go-to person who he can call and, you know, all that. Right. So what do you make of the people that say it didn't go down? The tragedy didn't go down the way that the police say it did? There's all these conspiracy theories out there. Yeah.

What do you think of it? The conspiracy theories are just joke. Just a joke. Kevin Sullivan didn't do anything. You know, we looked into that, so. Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah, we had the police look into him, so.

Yeah, I just think that people didn't want to believe that it happened the way that it did. No, I didn't want to believe it. You know, I thought someone broke it. into the house or some shit and did it, but apparently there was like a scuffle at the door. That's what I heard. So when he was on the phone or talking to someone, I have no idea what he was doing. How long do you think it took you for it to sink in and go? That's actually what happened.

It took me seven months, bro. Wow. I'm doing what? Just sitting there thinking. I thought about it every day. you know why couldn't even leave a note or could have called me bro I would have flew down

I seen them get into little arguments before but you know I just let's go you know go down let's go to chilies or something yeah yeah what was your relationship like with Daniel it was incredible man I loved that guy I loved them with all my heart it was a great kid

you know definitely did not deserve that but you know he's in the better place now he was your little brother right yeah like what seven years older than yeah yeah thank you for being so open about oh anything for you man oh and i appreciate you saying that but it's i honestly just can't wrap my head around you know being in that situation in 07 yeah but now 13 years later having to live through this yeah the whole time it can't be any easier now It's not easier, but, you know, I can deal with it. I'm more educated about it now.

My mom told me some things. You know, I got like a police report. Did you read the police report? Yeah. Oh, that must have been so hard. It was, bro, it's a big one. Yeah. It's like, it's a good 300 pages from start to finish.

I don't know if I could bring myself to. read something like that. No, but I read it. But I mean, is there also a certain part of you that goes, that was a thing that happened in the past, not even in my past, in my family's past, what, you're 26, that 27? Yeah, 27. 27 years old now. That happened 13 years ago. It's time for me to move on. It's time for you to move on as well. Yeah. I moved on, bro. You know, it happened. It happened the way it went down is the way it went down so do you think if your dad wasn't a wrestler you'd still be interested in wrestling maybe i don't know i have no idea man yeah i mean obviously that would play you know a big role in this oh it would be if he was still around i probably would

be wrestling right now there's no question no question you know who'd be training you my dad yeah yeah my dad wanted to open up a school really yeah in georgia yeah yeah he had t-shirts and everything. I think he was getting ready to right off into the sunset. So you think he maybe had how much longer in wrestling?

In the ring, I mean. Maybe like another year. I don't know. I wanted him retire so bad. Yeah. Yeah. Great is a full time, man. Should have been in the Hall of Fame.

There's no question that his wrestling accolades should have him go in the Hall of Fame. Yeah. There's no question. Yeah. But I think the tragedy whatever.

Do you guys speak about it in your family? About Hall of Fame or? No, about the tragedy? No. I guess there's no need to anymore, right? No, it's over. Is everything all tied up with that in terms of the estate, the right to his

name and everything like that? Well, I don't own his name yet. Isn't that just his name though? Yeah. I have his middle name. I can legally use it if I wanted to. Oh, you're... Oh, wow.

You're David Chris Benoit or Christopher Benoit? Yeah. Wow. I can legally use it. They can't come after me, so... That's true. Yeah. Do you think you'd ever wrestle?

Yeah. Is Chris Benoit? Yeah. Really? Yeah. Not as David. No. Oh, that's interesting.

Yeah. I think it'd be cool. Or would you be Chris Benoit, Jr.?? Yeah. This is interesting. Yeah, man. And I got the tights and it says the one. Your tights? Okay.

With the claw. Oh, wow. Yeah. Wolverine. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Do you think he'd come out to his music?

Yeah. I've been talking to our leady piece about it. Really? Yeah. Good old Canadian boys. Yep. Yeah. Wow.

Yeah. I know that that song was really special to them. Yeah. Is it Rain you're speaking with? Rain Maida, the lead singer? Yeah. Yeah. And they're cool with that?

I hope so. working on it, you know, wow. So to put this into motion for you, maybe it's January here in 2020, to put this into motion for you, what do you think of the next steps you need to take if you want to get signed by someone like an AEW? Well, get in the ring, start training, and then start having some matches, start wrestling, get my name out there, build a rep, you know. You've been working out?

Working out, yeah. Beating clean, though. I don't know if any. anyone could ever have traps like your dad? Nope. I worked out with him once. Okay. What was your workout like with Chris Benoit?

Hell. He made me do 200 squats for a pre-workout. Like air squats? Just squats, bro. Okay, yeah, okay. Not with weights on your shoulder. No. Okay, then what happened after that?

Start lifting weights. Five sets of 20. Okay. And he would just... He did 500 like nothing, bro. He's a beast. Dude, he'd do 500 when he was... Right before he goes out to the ring.

Really? Yeah. Like he would live weights before he'd go out to the ring? Yeah, he'd do his squats. Oh, you'd do 500 squats? Wow. Before he goes out to the ring. Wow.

When was the last time that you lived with him? Like, how old were you? 15. Oh, okay. No, I meant like living like full time with him. Full time? Yeah. When I was young, bro.

Like really young? 2000. Okay. Yeah. All right. That was the last time I was living with him full time. And then I'd travel back and forth. That's a long commute.

It is. Yeah. Canada, the U.S. Yep. Every single time. With WWE, basically, kind of erasing his legacy. What do you think his legacy should be? Remember him for his in-ring work and, you know, just the guy.

He was so kind to everyone, man. You know, he'd hold the door for the old lady or, you know, he'd do anything for the WWE. He was the go-to guy. He trained MVP. MVP was over at the house. Wow. So then all of this and then just, you think it was the CTA,

I think the study of his brain said his brain was like an 88-year-old. Yeah, he had a brain of an 88-year-old with Alzheimer's. And you think that was it? It could be, yep. I do. I truly do think so. It blows my mind, man. All the chair shots he took.

Not protecting himself. Yeah. Chair shots, you think flying headbut had anything to do with it? I guess he was mostly landing on his hands for that. Yeah. Sometimes you could hit. I've seen him hit Regal with his own head. Just a machine, especially when those two wrestled.

Oh, yeah. Outside of Eddie, who else were his favorites to work? Jericho, Ray Mysterio, Kurt Engel, Brock Lesnar. You're listing all the greats. It's amazing. Hurricane. Yeah. Yeah, he enjoyed working Hurricane. Chavo.

Edge. Those two were good buddies. I know that as you're starting to look into wrestling as a career for yourself, what kind of advice is Jericho giving you? Because he's been like a mentor to you. He's my man. He's my best friend, bro. Best friend of the business.

He's such a good guy. I respect him so much. It's hard not to respect Chris Jericho. So what kind of advice has he's been giving you as a mentor? Or just don't take shit from anyone. Okay. Make sure the promoter pays you and flies you in and take care of your hotel and all that stuff. Food.

All I get advice, you know. I mean, for as exciting as it is that David Chris Benoit is looking to get into a ring, there's also going to be detractors as well that think you have no place in this ring because of, you know, the tragedy with your dad. You probably have been dealing with this for a while, though. Yep, I have. Every day. You have haters every day? Yeah.

If you go on Instagram Live or on Twitter, you'll see it. Man. Yeah, your dad's a murder. I delete comments on my pictures sometimes. It's ridiculous, bro. Why do people do that? I don't know. Just to get their fucking two cents in, make them feel,

special. Does it affect you at all? No, I don't care. Probably did at one point. It did at one point, but not anymore, bro. Like, what's it like being 14, 15 years old having to go back to school? That was something. What was the reaction from the other kids at that point?

Well, I had two months off, right? It was summertime, so. That's only two months, though. It kind of made it easier. No one really asked me or, you know, everyone was cool so show me respect and really yeah there wasn't like you know

no jackass kid that was no I guess when you're Chris Benoit's kid no one wants to mess with you no did you ever get in fights when you were younger because of what your dad did no people like oh you think you're a tough guy like show me what you got no I never fought I almost fought the gym teacher ones but he's been a jackass so

what happened we just being a smart ass bro I told them off. I said, you want to fight? Let's go, then, motherfucker. Wow. Yeah. That what happened?

And then I got sent to the office. Did you get suspended? No. What? You could pick a fight with your teacher and not get suspended? Yeah. So all the kids listening out there, there you go. There, yeah, there you go.

Show your teacher's respect, though. Yeah, sure, show them respect. Is there one maybe piece of advice from your dad that you think about or rings Trudy? you all the time. Just don't take shit from anyone, he told me. Don't take shit from anyone. Which is also seemingly the way that he lived as well. Yeah, he did.

Wouldn't take shit from anyone. If you showed the boys disrespect, you'd hear about it from him. He'd make you do something. Made some young kid do a thousand squats. For what? Disrespecting Sean Michaels. Oh my God.

Yep. Wow. Yep. So what kind of moments growing up, you know, with your father being in WWE, what kind of moments did you have backstage in WWE? I had so many moments, bro. They had this thing called Magic, all the props department. Okay.

So I'd go hang out there with, what does he say, Mike, I believe. Uh-huh. We'd just have fun. You'd show me the Austin 316 gun. Yeah. Yeah. The bang? Yeah.

Oh, that's great. They had everything in there, bro. Brass knuckles, security sticks, Kindle sticks. Nice. Yeah. Who would you say was your, like as a kid, who was your wrestling, like, who was the wrestler that was your friend? When you'd go to shows, you'd be like, I can't wait to see so-and-so.

I'd hang out with Paul London, Matt Hardy, Hurricane, Edge, Big Show. everyone, man. Everyone was just family. Every time I went to the WWI, I'd give Stephanie McMahon a hug. Every time. I've heard such great things about Steph. I love Stephanie. She's an incredible woman. A great business woman, too. Oh, 100%.

So who were some of the... Actually, I want to ask you what your favorite match is that doesn't involve your father? My favorite match? Let's say... Eddie and Kurt Engel. Okay, great match. Incredible match.

Wow. What about, do you have a favorite match from the last 10 years? I would say Natalia versus, what was it? Shit. I don't know. We can insert anyone's name that we want there. Natalia has great matches with everybody. Incredible.

Yeah. I love her. She's the best. There was talk for a while of them making a film. Yes. Called the crippler, I think. Yes. And it was, I think in 2016, it was, there was talk of it going into production.

There was a director attached to this. There was a director, everything, bro. Yeah, what happened? I had to step in because they wanted to do the tragedy, and how it all went down. So we said no. Oh, they weren't making this with your permission before? No, they needed our permission.

Okay. But she sent us to script, and then the end was the whole murder slash suicide was going to be all in it. And then we said no. How did it get to the point, though, where they're announcing this? This is all over the internet. How can you attach you director to a movie that's not getting greenlit? I have no idea. So you guys basically shut it down.

Your family did. Yep. Okay. Got a lawyer. So that movie will not be made? Nope. No movie. What about, you know, do you think that maybe a documentary about your father could be made?

Yeah. I think so. Yeah. It shows things in a different light, perhaps. Oh, yeah. Videos, man. Like, I have so many home videos. Of him just goofing around or, you know, me being stupid.

You should put some of that out there. I should. People would be really interested to see that. Yeah. Do you speak with Chris Nowitzky? No. Were you speaking with him? I know he took money from WWE.

For what? To not say it was CTE? I'm not sure, but I know he took money from them, so. I mean, he was the one who studied your dad's brain, right? Yep. He shone the light on it, and then he changed. My dad changed all sports if you think about it. That is true. If you really think about it,

yeah. You changed all the sports. Yeah. Yeah. That's why you don't see that much fighting in hockey anymore. I mean, that's certainly why there's the concussion protocol they have in most sports. Yep. That's why they have the helmet rules that they have and certainly the contact rules in the NFL.

NFL. NFL got to scoot out the ass for that. Yeah. I mean, CTE wasn't really even... Wasn't even the thing back then. Yeah, it wasn't a thing people talked about. No. No?

My dad changed all the sports if you think about it. Yeah, I guess so. That's maybe one good thing that can come out of that. Yeah. You know what? All sports are taking care of their athletes now better. Better equipment. You know, I'm all for that.

So what do you do when you're not working or watching wrestling? I like to go hang out, play video games, you know. What's your video game? Call a duty. I just interviewed Vampiro and he said the same thing. Gilacull of Duty. All right. Yeah.

Or Grand Theft Auto. GTA is so good. So good. So good. When it wants to be. What it wants to be. Well, yeah, it's glitchy and shit. I'm not playing it right now, so.

No. And your hockey team? Edmonton Oilers. Okay. Yep. Is hockey your favorite sport? Yeah, I enjoy it. If you move to America, you probably won't watch hockey as much.

No. I loved hockey, and I moved here 10 years ago, and now hockey's like my third? What do you watch NFL? Football. Because everyone watches it. It brings people together. It does. What are you doing on Sunday?

You're watching the game. That's just what people do. Yeah, my dad would watch college football, too. Okay. Do you have a team? It was Texas. What about for the NFL? I think he liked the Vikings.

Okay. Yeah. I guess that'd be by proximity, maybe the closest to Edmonton? Yeah. I think it is, right? Yeah, or the Falcons. Oh, yeah.

Sure. We was down there. Do you think that WWE should honor Nancy in any way? She had her own career, bro. Yeah. You know, if they want to throw in the Hall of Fame, go for it. You know, I'll be there. I'll be there for that.

You know, she's an incredible woman, man. I loved her with all my heart. She made me laugh. You know, we hung out and told me stories. And, you know, I think when Sensational Shea passed away, that was hard for her, too. Those two were close, too. If your dad goes in the Hall of Fame,

do you think you're the one who would give the speech? Yes, 100%. Have you thought about what you might say? No. I just, I picture the moment though, when that music hits and whew, goose bumps, bro, goosebumps, bro. Every time, every time I hear that theme song, bro, you knew you were getting a fucking five-star match.

Yeah. Every time, bro. He would shake the ring crew's hands. You know, that's what I did every time I went to the show. And I still do to this day. Yeah. Go say a little to the, Wow. So he's certainly not, he didn't just imparting you don't take, you know, shit from anyone, but no, but treat everyone.

Great amount of respect. Great amount of respect. Yeah, but I mean, the amount of respect you've shown me, I'm very grateful for, but, you know, the amount of respect you've shown everyone, I think is really impressive and shows, you know, the type of upbringing that you had. Yep. You know, like, hey, without them, there would be no WWE. There would be no show. So I thank the Ream crew every time. Camera crew, you know, the guys that do the pyro, music. You know, I thank them all. I want to thank you. I want to thank you for making this happen. I wanted to do this.

And I really appreciate you speaking so openly. Obviously, you know, some parts probably were difficult to talk about. Definitely was. How can people find you online? You can find me on Instagram at David Benoit. I think he won. David Benoit won, right? And then the real David Benoit on Twitter.

That's about it. I'm mostly on Instagram though, so I really don't play on Twitter that much. What do you want people to know about you? I don't know, man. Fuck, I'm not. I love wrestling and, you know, I don't know. The favorite color is blue. You know, I got my dad

My dad retired a pair of tights And he signed them for me Right after, it was the elimination chamber Those tights I have those framed up It says I love dad Wow Yeah, that's

That's powerful It is Yeah I want to thank you Well, thank you It's been great You're a great guy I've heard nothing but amazing

things about you from everyone that's interacted with you. And it couldn't be more true. You're a stand-up guy, you're respectful, you're smart, you know the business. And I'm so excited to see what happens for you in the business. Oh, thank you. I appreciate it. Because, you know, you can

write your own ticket. In the world's your oyster as long as you put that hard work in. And, you know, obviously your dad had an incredible work ethic, which he's passed along to you. So now it's it's time to step in the in the ring man yeah squared circle here we go 20 20 okay there it is 2020 sometime this year hopefully I'll be in the ring all right brother thank you sir thank you

I appreciate you thank you well there you have it my friend we got deep there there there was some heavy stuff there thank you so much for taking the time to listen and a huge huge thank you to David Benoit for trusting me to do this interview. He told me before we started recording that we could talk about anything and that nothing was off limits. And then afterwards, he said, you know what, I'm really glad I got a lot of that off my chest. I'd never talked about it before publicly. And I'm just glad it's out there now. So I hope that you like it as much as I enjoyed hearing it. He's just such a great guy. And I want the best for him both personally and professionally. So take a screenshot, tag me, tag David. He's David Benoit one. He just said that.

and real David Benoit on Twitter. Let us know what you think. Let us know what your biggest takeaway was from this. I'm so excited to see what he does with his wrestling training. Does he continue it in Canada or does he go to the U.S.? And I'm also interested to see which school he ends up going to. You know, we talked about it a little bit in the interview, but I think that Chris Benoit's legacy should be decided not by the last weekend of his life.

It should be decided by the incredible wrestling career that he had, one of the absolute best to ever step foot inside a squirt circle. And I think that now that this can actually come down to David, and he has the opportunity to continue in his father's footsteps and continue that legacy of the Ben Juan name. So I'm so excited to see what 2020 holds for him. Failure lies not in falling down. Failure lies in not getting up.

It's a great Chinese proverb that I will leave with you. We're going to have two this week. This is the first of two. I did two in Las Vegas last week. So we got David Benoit. And the next one coming up here on Thursday on our regularly scheduled day is going to be an incredible chat with Vampiro. So hang on for that one.

Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss out. Enjoy the rest of your week. We will see you on Thursday with Vampiro. Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because I have a job to do. With rapid fire takes. So I don't want to hear from you lava.

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