Courtesy of George Napolitano
On Tuesday, March 24, VICE’s TV network, VICELAND, premiered season two of critically acclaimed “Dark Side of the Ring,” a documentary series that explores controversial topics in the world of professional wrestling. The new season’s debut episode was a two-part retelling and investigation into the notorious Benoit family tragedy, a 2007 case where WWE performer Chris Benoit was found dead in his home along with his wife, Nancy, and their 7-year-old son, Daniel. The event is widely regarded as one of, if not the darkest, moments in the history of professional wrestling, and the season premiere gave viewers an unprecedented look into the incident.
The first part of the episode focused on providing context for the lives of the series’ most important characters. Common praise given to the show’s first season was its accessibility for viewers who are uninitiated into the world of pro wrestling; each episode provides enough background knowledge and context to make the topics easily understandable. The 44-minute opening half of the Benoit episode did just that, telling the stories of Chris and Nancy Benoit, as well as fellow wrestler Eddie Guerrero, whose life was closely linked to Chris’.
Part of what made the episode so special was the involvement of two people close to the incident who had not previously spoken about it in such detail. Those two people were Nancy Benoit’s sister, Sandra Toffoloni, and Chris’ surviving son, David Benoit. The two shared their experiences in excruciating detail throughout interviews shown in the episode, being brought back to the day they found out about the death of their loved ones. The episode’s guest list does not stop there, as the producers of the show recruited almost everyone with relevant information about the event, including Chris’ closest friends in pro wrestling.
The second part of the episode began by taking viewers back to the day that the bodies of the Benoit family were found, and it told the story of the event’s impact, investigation and aftermath. The incident was determined by police to have been a double murder-suicide committed by Chris over a period of three days. The episode explored numerous theories regarding Chris’ motive, the damage done to the wrestling industry by the national media’s coverage of the event and the legacy left behind by the Benoit family, as told by the people most deeply affected by their deaths.
A heavily-praised aspect of the episode was its focus on the life and career of Nancy. Chris Benoit was a former world champion heavily featured on WWE programming, with a storied career across the globe at the time of his death, but Nancy had previous experience in pro wrestling as well. Her accomplishments had always been less frequently praised compared to her husband’s. The show’s depiction of Nancy’s often overlooked career celebrated her life in a way that it had not been celebrated since her death.
The episode closes on as heartwarming of a note as possible, explaining how Chris Jericho, a pro wrestler and former close friend of Chris Benoit’s who served as both the show’s narrator and an interview subject, reunited Sandra Toffoloni and David Benoit for the first time in years. The profound effect that their participation in the documentary had on them both is evident in the episode’s conclusion.
This season premiere is as in-depth and thoughtful of a documentary as can be found. Despite the intrinsic link between the tragedy and the world of professional wrestling, viewers of the episode need no prior knowledge of the sport or of the incident to connect with the story. The interviewees shined new light on an event 13 years in their past, all in order to tell the story the way they believe it deserves to be told. The story of the Benoit family is not a pro wrestling story, but a human story, and the documentary presents the victims in a truly human way.
