GRACE: Back to former WWE wrestler Chris Jericho, also a very dear friend of Benoit`s. A lot of people have perceived him moving down to the "ECW" as a demotion. You say that`s not a demotion. Why do you say that, and why the perception?
JERICHO: I`m glad that -- once again, I`m glad I got to talk to you about some of this because that`s -- that`s just such a fabrication and totally wrong. The WWE operates with three separate TV shows, "Raw," "Smackdown" and "ECW." They`re three separate brands. There`s a champion of each brand. Chris was the WWE champion on the "Raw" brand. That`s where you see him where he`s hugging his family and all the confetti`s coming down.
Then he moved to "Smackdown," which they moved the wrestlers around to freshen things up. And on "Smackdown," he was kind of in the middle level. So to better utilize his talent, because he was across the board probably the best wrestler in the WWE, and anyone would probably tell you that -- so to move him to "ECW" was twofold. One, he was about to become the "ECW" champion. And two, "ECW" is more with some younger guys that are just learning, and Chris was a great trainer and so well respected, they wanted him to be kind of more of a trainer to some of these younger guys to help them with their future endeavors.
So to move Chris to "ECW," Chris would not see that as a demotion. He would see it as doing his job, which is to help the business and to continue the business going, the business that he loved.
Chris never had a job, ever, except for wrestling. He never delivered papers. He never worked at a convenience store. He wrestled. So for him to go help some of the younger guys, he would take that as an honor.
GRACE: Well, it sounds like to me he was turning into more of a trainer.
JERICHO: Well, no because he was about to become the "ECW" champion. A champion is a champion, right?
GRACE: OK. OK. I`m glad you cleared that up because I didn`t understand it.
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JERICHO: [Answering a caller's question about Chris Benoit's two other children] Well, I mean, they`re doing the best they can to deal with this, obviously. And I think everybody is still processing it. Chris`s son is 14, his daughter is 10 or maybe 11. So I mean, think of it from that respect, losing your father at an age, also a hero, and the way that it happened. I know they`re going to do good, but right now, it`s as devastating as it is to all of us. I mean, what do you expect?
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GRACE: In fact, it would ease my heart to know maybe he was on steroids, maybe he flipped for a moment. I`d rather think that than think that he could do that. When he died, the little boy had a little statuette by his bed of his father. He worshipped his father. And from what I`ve been told, the father adored the boy. So what are we supposed to think?
JERICHO: Nancy, that`s the thing. That`s such the dichotomy of this case. This is the problem. Chris loved his children. I`m not just saying he loved his children. He loved his children, all three of them, talked about them constantly, would go out of his way to go home even just for a few hours to see his son, to see Daniel, for sure.
This is the type of father he was and this is the type of guy he was, and that`s why it`s such a crazy -- you can`t comprehend it. That`s what the problem is. Was it steroids? Maybe. But I don`t want to hang everything just from the fact they found steroids. He did not take a shot of steroids and go, "I`m going to go crazy."
This is something that had been building in him for many, many years, obviously, for him to snap like that and go absolutely insane and take away the most important thing in his life. And I know it, because he told me, all three of his children.
