VICE has released a trailer for their upcoming Dark Side of the Ring documentary which will take a look at the Chris Benoit tragedy.
VICE’s Dark Side of the Ring will return for a second season on March 24, and its premiere episode will be a two-hour, two-part focus into the Chris Benoit murder-suicide from 2007.
On June 24, 2007, Benoit murdered his wife and son before killing himself and the tragedy stands alone as wrestling’s saddest and sickest moment.
It ended the life of two innocent people, as well as putting a black dot on Benoit’s wrestling reputation, as WWE has avoided acknowledging him at all costs ever since discovering the murder.
The documentary will look into the details surrounding the murder-suicide, with input interviews from Benoit’s son David, Nancy ‘Woman’ Benoit’s sister Sandra Toffoloni, as well as insight from Benoit’s closest friends in Chris Jericho, Chavo Guerrero Jr. and Dean Malenko.
During an interview with Sports Illustrated, Jericho explained why being a part of the Benoit documentary was so important to him.
The AEW star said: “I didn’t want to hear how I was glorifying a murderer. I don’t want to hear that I’m ignoring this murder. I wanted to talk, specifically, about his life and times, his intensity, and his successes within the ring.
“We’re not glorifying a murderer. We’re telling the full story. It was done properly, it was done for the right reasons, and we were able to portray the full story, emphasizing the tragedy that much further.”
The documentary will also look into the relationship of Benoit and Eddie Guerrero, and how Guerrero’s death affected Benoit.
Jericho said: “There was a huge connection between Chris’ life and Eddie Guerrero’s life, and his death, so half the story is the story of Eddie and the other half is of Chris.
“I think we did the right way of portraying this, reminding everyone there were people behind this, not just sensational murder coverage.
“There is a story to tell of a friendship and a family, and a guy that was not a monster. This was someone you could trust and that was very respected in the wrestling community amongst his peers.”
Chavo Guerrero helped to produce the Benoit episode. Jericho added that Chavo is the one who got him involved, and he explained how he then got David Benoit, and Nancy Benoit's sister, Sandra Toffoloni, to participate.
He said: "Chavo Guerrero helped produce it, and he's the reason I decided to do it. His mindset was, 'If we don't do this properly, it's going to get done anyway. Let's do it for the right reasons and do it the right way.' I think he was spot on with that.
"Chavo was involved, which got me involved, and David Benoit and Nancy's sister were involved, then I was able to get Dean and Dean's wife, and Vickie. Suddenly it became this noble project instead of a hack job, which is what the media tends to do in situations with someone they don't know. We knew the person behind this, not just the murderer."
The Dark Side of the Ring series airs on VICE TV next Tuesday.