WWE is reporting that Chris Benoit, 40, his wife Nancy (who managed in WCW as Woman) and his son Daniel were found dead in their home. They don't have any other details at this time other than the Benoit family residence is currently being investigated by local authorities.
The Wrestling Observer reported that it is believed that Chris Benoit's two other children were in Canada.
WWE has also announced that Raw tonight will serve as a tribute to Chris Benoit and his family.
Benoit was slated to wrestle CM Punk at WWE Vengeance Sunday night but missed the PPV and a Saturday night house show in order to return home to Atlanta for personal reasons.
With the current dominant tasteless storyline that's going on right now, we feel compelled to note that this is not a wrestling storyline and is very real.
From Ryan Clark in his recent post: To those emailing us with the note from Wikipedia.com claiming the Benoit-family death situation is a WWE television angle - we can confirm that rumor is completely false. There is nothing scripted about the very tragic circumstances that unfolded today.
TNA issues the following statement on TNAWrestling.com:
TNA MOURNS THE LOSS OF CHRIS BENOIT
Everyone in the TNA family joins the entire wrestling world in mourning the untimely passing of Chris Benoit, his wife Nancy and their son Daniel.
Many TNA staff and stars worked closely with Chris throughout his career and we are all shocked and saddened to lose a friend and legendary competitor. Benoit was considered a consummate professional both in and out of the ring.
As details develop, those who knew and admired Chris are shocked and saddened to hear of he and his family's untimely passing.
Please keep Chris and the Benoit family in your thoughts and prayers during this time of tragedy.
We here at WrestlingInc.com would like to offer our thoughts and prayers to the Benoit family and their relatives during this tragic time.
