WWE superstar King Booker sat down with KHOU out of Houston, Texas today to talk about the Benoit tragedy. Below are some of the highlights.
Booker said that he knew Benoit personally and as most people in the business that knew Benoit have said, commented that he had never seen a bad side of Benoit. He noted that he knew Benoit’s wife Nancy and all of his children. He characterized what has happened as completely "out of the norm and unexplainable."
Booker noted that he wrestled Benoit in 75-100 matches and just recently talked to him for about thirty minutes about the wrestling business. "We're all tired at certain points, we work a lot of hours, but I never saw this side of Chris. I've never seen Chris mad. I've never seen Chris angry. He was always the guy with a lot of positive energy, always pushing the guys."
He went on to tell a story of a student that came to his wrestling school in Houston, Texas to be trained. Booker said that the student arrived from Illinois, with “no way to go back” and had $800 in his pocket. He revealed that the student carried around a photo of Benoit and Eddie Guerrero with him, as he was inspired by them to pursue a career in professional wrestling. "That was just the type of person he was, always encouraging people. He didn't even know this guy, but that's the type of person he was." Booker commented.
When “roid rage” was brought up in the interview, Booker commented, "The media is going to put a spin on it, you know. We know that. WWE knows that. Did the guy last week who murders his wife and kid last week have any form of roid rage? He was a cop. This happens in any form of life. I feel like the human life is a delicate piece of equipment and everyone has their breaking point. We don't know what his breaking point was. You don't know what my point is, I don't know what your point is. We're all human. I just think it was a huge malfunction and whatever it was, we may never know. It's not for us to know. It's out of our hands and with God now."
Booker said that the wrestling industry is a huge family and he’s cried and wanted to pull his hair out over the tragedy. He revealed that he loved Chris and said that he is mad to see him "go out like this. I'm pissed at him in certain ways. I wish I could just hold him for a second, but it's out of our hands. I'll be there at the funeral and tell him goodbye and hopefully see him on the other side. Hopefully, I'll find out what happened one day."
Click here to watch the interview.