Chris Benoit double-murder and suicide participant Chris Benoit
Aftermath and legacy
In the years following the double-murder and suicide, it continued to be referred to in the media. The Great American Bash pay-per-view on July 20, 2008, was the last WWE pay-per-view with a TV-14 rating; WWE immediately thereafter adopted their current TV-PG rating, which resulted in a noticeable toning down of edgy content in shows. Within a few months, blood was severely toned down, which returned WWE's product to its pre-1997 rule on prohibiting deliberate blading in matches.
The removal of Benoit from WWE media was extensive with the organization immediately opting to remove any and all references to Benoit in all of their media. This also included significant matches with his involvement from pay-per-views including main events. In recent years, WWE has softened its policy and matches he participated in began to appear on the WWE network not long after its launch. While Benoit's matches began to appear again, his name would not appear in any descriptions of the event and searching with his name would yield no results. WWE has also mentioned his name in lists regarding the lineages of titles that he also held, though with no links or biographical information present for Benoit's reigns. WWE would take similar actions with other wrestlers in later years, notably with Jimmy Snuka for his 2015 arrest regarding the death of Nancy Argentino, and Hulk Hogan following the release of a tape that included Hogan making racist comments (see Bollea v. Gawker). As both men were members of the WWE Hall of Fame, the company would remove them from the hall. Journalists and fans compared their removals to the scale of Benoit's, though Snuka and Hogan would eventually have these actions be reversed and both would be reinstated into the Hall of Fame with Hogan being inducted a second time for his work with the NWO in 2020.There have been discussions about whether or not Benoit would ever be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. Steve Austin predicted that Benoit, although important to the business, would never be inducted into the Hall of Fame due to his actions. Jericho also stated that Benoit should never be in the Hall of Fame. Benoit's eldest son David however, believes that his father will be inducted into the Hall Of Fame. Vickie Guerrero, widow of Benoit's best friend and Hall Of Famer Eddie Guerrero has also approved of Benoit being inducted into the Hall Of Fame. Some journalists, fans and wrestlers, including Hall of Famer Mick Foley, have advocated for the inclusion of Nancy into the Hall of Fame for her work in World Championship Wrestling and Extreme Championship Wrestling as a valet and manager.
On July 26–27, 2012, the rap group Insane Clown Posse released a music video for the song "Chris Benoit". The song and music video, however, are not about Benoit himself, but a man's breakdown that is similar to Benoit's. The song and music video do include stock footage and a recording of Chris Benoit before his death. A remix with rappers Ice Cube and Scarface was later released with Ice Cube's verse being entirely about Benoit.
In a July 2013 interview, Sandra Toffoloni (Nancy Benoit's sister) said she believes a blackout caused him to murder her sister. She stated that the medical examiner who examined Benoit's body stated he had only ten more months to live due to an enlarged heart. Toffoloni also stated that Benoit was contemplating retiring and opening a wrestling school, but decided to continue wrestling due to being in one of the main events at Vengeance for the ECW World Championship.
A biopic titled Crossface was announced in 2011, which would have been based on Matthew Randazzo's book Ring of Hell: The Story of Chris Benoit and the Fall of the Pro Wrestling Industry. The film would have shown Benoit, from his early days being trained by the Hart family, to his rise with ECW, WCW and WWE, to the deaths of his wife and son, and his suicide. Liev Schreiber was set to portray Benoit. Filming was set to begin in 2012; however, according to Chris' eldest son David, the film was cancelled following a legal dispute with the Benoit family.
In March 2020, Vice's Dark Side of the Ring released a two-hour documentary episode about the incident featuring family (his son David and Sandra Toffoloni) and close friends in the wrestling industry (Chavo Guerrero Jr., Vickie Guerrero, Jim Ross, Dean Malenko, and Chris Jericho).