William Regal has revealed that Chris Benoit was banned from his home for a number of years, despite them previously being friends.
Chris Benoit has been back in the news recently following comments by IMPACT Wrestling star Jordynne Grace which caused a stir online. Grace claimed that Benoit wouldn’t be able to keep up with today’s stars, before writing that she was unable to separate Benoit the wrestler from Benoit the man.
She later issued an apology for any offence caused while discussing the sensitive topic.
The disgraced former World Champion murdered his wife Nancy and their seven-year-old son Daniel before taking his own life in 2007, in what was one of the darkest incidents in wrestling history. As a result, all references to Benoit were removed from WWE with many fans now unable to watch his old matches.
William Regal knew Chris Benoit for a number of years, having worked with him in WCW and in WWE. Speaking on his Gentleman Villain podcast, Regal recalled that infamous weekend in June 2007. During the conversation, the AEW star also revealed that Benoit was banned from coming to his house, as his wife was close friends with Benoit’s first wife, Martina.
“Years before that, Chris had left his wife. And because we lived in the same neighbourhood, my wife was very friendly with Chris’s wife. My wife would not have Chris anywhere near my house. So although we lived in the same town, eventually Chris moved to six miles away from where I live once he was with Nancy.
Chris knew that he was not allowed near my house, so any of our social life ended then. It had ended before because we used to knock around with each other in the 90s, by the 2000s I wasn’t going out anymore. So when we were back together in WWE, our only time that we were ever together was when I was at work.
But after the incident when Chris left with Nancy, my wife banned him from the house. And Chris understood that and that was just the way it was. So we had no contact at all except for at work. And I never travelled with Chris, I’d stopped travelling with him in the 90’s, just we weren’t compatible as travelling partners, we got on good together, but we didn’t travel together. Because sometimes you have to find a compatible travelling partner. I didn’t travel with him. So he knew that and we were completely, the only time we ever were around each other after the what was it? was it 97?
Whatever, whenever that was at work and we still had a ‘hello how you doing?’ And that was it. And he understood the situation with my home that he wasn’t allowed. And because we live six miles apart, we never saw each other.”
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