Dark Side of the Ring/Recap/S2 E1 & E2 Benoit: Parts One and Two

"He was my hero..."

"In the immediate wake of Chris Benoit's death, the world is desperately searching for answers. What comes to light goes beyond anything anyone could imagine..." —Opening Narration on the second part by Chris Jericho.

In 2007, wrestling superstar Chris Benoit murdered his wife Nancy and 7-year-old son Daniel, and then ended his own life. Those closest to the tragedy never spoken openly, until now...

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Tropes used in Benoit: Parts One and Two include:

• All of the Other Reindeer:
  • David Benoit, Chris's surviving eldest son, had to deal with being treated like an outcast following the aftermath of his father's double-murder suicide in his youth. Chavo Guerrero described him as an innocent bystander being unfairly dealt with a bad hand even though David himself is a victim of the tragedy. Chris Jericho also added that David was automatically blackballed from the world and blamed for what his father did. David wasn't the only one suffering, but also his aunt-in-law Sandra as the tragedy kept them apart for 13 years.
  • Jim Ross being the only WWE representative present in the Benoit funeral garnered criticism from the respective families of Chris and Nancy, with Sandra describing JR's appearance as a Worked Shoot.
• An Aesop: If your body can't take so much beating, the best option is to call it quits. This is even discussed by David Benoit himself had Chris and Eddie retired early from the wrestling business, they'd be still alive by now.
• And Now for Someone Completely Different: From this point on, Chris Jericho takes over as the series' narrator throughout the second season. Jericho himself made an appearance in the flesh in this episode as he also recalls his history with Chris Benoit.
• Bait and Switch: Being a two-parter episode, the first part tells how Eddie Guerrero's friendship with Benoit play a success story to both of their careers and how Eddie's death affected him emotionally, while the second part is the Pater Familicide and the aftermath of the tragedy.
• Bittersweet Ending: Both David Benoit and Sandra Toffoloni get a proper closure on the tragedy courtesy of Chris Jericho, as it was revealed that Jericho reconnected them. The Benoit family had kept them distant since the tragedy for 13 years, but Jericho knew that those two had suffered enough and would immediately understand each other, and he invited them to attend AEW Revolution together. On top of that, it was also revealed that, during this whole time, Jericho and Chavo Guerrero Jr. were the only ones who kept in contact with David.
• Broken Ace: Chris Benoit was already regarded as one of the successful professional wrestlers in the early 2000's, having achieved main event status by winning the World Heavyweight Champion in Wrestlemania XX. Following the death of his close friend Eddie Guerrero, Benoit lost the will to go on, let alone continue wrestling. On top of that, Benoit sustained too many blows to the head ranging from steel chair shots to the use of his signature diving headbutt. The end result was something similar to chronic traumatic encelopathy (CTE) and based on the examination on Benoit's brain, his brain is so horrifyingly mangled it resembled the brain of a 85-year old Alzheimer's patient. Though not mentioned in the episode, Chris's marriage with Nancy became tumultuous, due to implied cruel treatment by Chris himself towards Nancy. All of these factors ultimately caused Benoit to go off the deep end and commit the shockingly irredeemable crime that forever tarnished his legacy.
• Broken Pedestal: Chris Benoit became this once his, Nancy, and Daniel's deaths were revealed to be a double-murder suicide one day after the WWE run a tribute episode for him. From that point on, Benoit's legacy is forever tarnished as a result of the shockingly irredeemable crime he has done.
• Broken Tears: Benoit's mourning over Eddie was non-stop, even during on the latter's funeral, he cried on Chris Jericho's shoulders to the point that his suit is soiled with Benoit's tears.
• Career-Ending Injury: Former wrestler-turned neuroscientist Chris Nowinski had to retire from wrestling after suffering too many concussions in his WWE career. After his post-wrestling career, Nowinski volunteered in examining Chris Benoit's brain to see if concussions had any part in his rage or depression at the time of Benoit's Pater Familicide.
• Death Wail: Chris Benoit lets out a scream of anguish and grief upon learning Eddie's death from Chavo on the phone.
• Despair Event Horizon: Benoit ultimately became a shadow of his former self after Eddie Guerrero's death, and one of the contributing factors to his own downward spiral in the following years before his own demise. As Chris Jericho summed in his own words on the second part, Benoit's own fate is sealed the day Eddie passed away.

Chris Jericho: "He didn't handle it well, let me just say it like that."

• Pater Familicide: Being the main focus of the episode, the Chris Benoit double-murder suicide is one of the darkest incidents in the professional wrestling industry that shook it to its core.
• The Perfectionist: Both Dean Malenko and Chris Jericho describe Benoit as such in the way he handles pro wrestling. During his stint in New Japan Pro Wrestling, Jericho recalls Benoit doing hack-squats as punishing himself for "botching" the former's spin-kick after the match.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: On the second part, Chris Jericho explained how he reconnected David to his aunt Sandra in order for them to move on from the tragedy.

Chris Jericho: "I felt that because Chris killed his family, that the family he left behind was automatically blackballed from the world; like they're going to be blamed for what Chris did. To me, those who needed to be reconnected because talking with David and meeting Sandra, and though she's having the same issues and pain, and hurt that David had. And nobody will ever really understand what they went through, with the exception of each other."

• Turn the Other Cheek: Sandra Toffoloni, Nancy's sister, states that she's more willing to forgive her brother-in-law rather than hate him for killing Nancy. The burden of hate can be exhausting and everyone deserves forgiveness, as she said at the end of the episode.

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Jim Ross: "The father killed his wife and son, then committed suicide. That's what's happened here. You don't want to believe it? Can't believe it! Can't be true! But, it was..."

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