How Vince McMahon allegedly reacted to being told that Chris Benoit was potentially a murderer

The Netflix docuseries about former WWE owner Vince McMahon premiered on Wednesday, September 25th 2024 with comments from Vince that were made prior to his 2022 “hush money” scandal. Chris Benoit, who killed himself after murdering his wife Nancy and their seven-year-old son Daniel, was mentioned by Vince during episode six.

Shortly after Benoit’s death, WWE paid tribute to him without knowing the full details of what happened. While speaking on the Something To Wrestle With podcast, WWE Hall of Famer John “Bradshaw” Layfield commented on the situation…

“I started thinking, what if Chris did it? I went to Taker [Undertaker] 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.’“

“So me and Stone Cold and Taker went into Vince’s office. It was late in the day. I said, ‘Vince, what if Chris did it?’ We’re about to do a tribute show for a guy who could have done a horrific thing, if that’s a possibility.’ Vince looked at me, and I’ve never seen a man that was so indecisive in my life. I’ve never seen Vince like that. I don’t know if he had thought about it before. I can’t read his mind. I have no idea. He didn’t give anything away, as he never does. He said, ‘What do you want me to do?’ I said, ‘I don’t know. I’m just telling you that there’s a chance that something horrific has happened here, and it could have been different from what we think.’ He said, ‘What do you want me to do?’ He was not confronting me. He didn’t know what to do. He had no idea what to do. I mean, none. I don’t know if he had thought about it before, but you know, 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.’” (quotes courtesy of WrestlingNews.co)