Cops eye 'roid rage in wrestler's murder-suicide

Benoit was a quiet, roughhewn figure amid the glitz and bluster of pro wrestling. He performed under his real name, eschewed scripted personas and didn’t bother to fix a gap where he had lost one of his front teeth. (According to the WWE Web site, he lost the tooth while roughhousing with his pet Rottweiler.)

His signature move was the “Crippler Crossface,” in which he would lock his hands around an opponent’s face and stretch his neck.

“You always rooted for him, because he was a good guy and he overcame the odds,” said Dave Meltzer, editor of the Wrestling Observer, a weekly news letter. “It’s like if you watched ‘Rocky,’ and in the end it comes out that Rocky killed his wife and his son.”

Benoit met his wife in the 1990s when she was married to rival wrestler Kevin Sullivan. As part of the scripted rivalry, Benoit and Nancy were supposed to act as if they were having an affair. A real romance blossomed, and she left Sullivan for Benoit.

Neighbors said the Benoits led a low-key lifestyle.

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“We would see Chris walking in his yard from time to time. He wasn’t rude, but he wasn’t really outwardly warm,” said Alaina Jones, who lives across the street.

Jimmy Baswell, who was Benoit’s driver for more than five years, placed a white wreath at their gate. “They always seemed like they were the happiest people,” he said.

World Wrestling Entertainment said on its Web site that it asked authorities to check on Benoit and his family after being alerted by friends who had received “several curious text messages sent by Benoit early Sunday morning.”

“He was like a family member to me, and everyone in my family is taking it real hard,” said fellow Canadian Bret Hart, a five-time champion.

The WWE canceled its live “Monday Night RAW” card in Corpus Christi, Texas, after the bodies were discovered.

Monday’s show was supposed to be a memorial service for WWE owner Vince McMahon. In a storyline concocted by the WWE, McMahon was supposedly “assassinated” in a limousine explosion two weeks earlier. McMahon appeared at the beginning of Monday’s telecast and acknowledged the bombing was made up.

The McMahon storyline has been dropped.