WWE Hall of Famer JBL has revealed the thought process of June 2007 as details came out at the time revealing the true nature of Chris Benoit.
Benoit, his wife Nancy, and son Daniel were found dead that month, and WWE would air a tribute episode to the late wrestler.
Shortly after the episode, it was revealed that Benoit had murdered his wife and son before taking his own life and WWE has avoided mentioning him since.
On a recent edition of the “Something to Wrestle With” podcast, JBL recalled having concerns ahead of the tribute show. He said,
“I started thinking, what if Chris did it? I went to Taker and said, ‘What if Chris did it?’ He just looked at me, and you could tell that the wheels were spinning. He said, ‘We need to talk to Vince.’ I said, ‘Yeah, we do.’ As we go to Vince, Steve [Austin] was the biggest name in wrestling history at the time, and still is. He grabbed Steve and said, ‘Steve, come with us. We gotta talk to Vince.’“
JBL recalled never seeing McMahon look more indecisive as he was confronted by the three shortly before the tribute episode was scheduled to air.
The WWE Hall of Famer added that for as confident as McMahon usually was in his decision-making, he was unsure how to proceed. He said,
“Vince is a quick mind, and he said, ‘John, I don’t know what to do.’ For Vince to say that, that maybe was the only time in his life he ever said that. I said, ‘I don’t know. That’s the downside risk.’ He said, ‘John, I think we have to go with what information we have now, and if it changes, we’ll change.’”
JBL speculated that McMahon had not considered the possibility that Benoit had killed his family before being approached ahead of the show.
McMahon appeared on that week’s edition of ECW and spoke of Benoit’s horrific acts in what was the final mention of Benoit by name on WWE TV.
