Speaking to The Fight Club Chicago, former WCW and ECW star Scotty Riggs weighed in on the Chris Benoit double murder and suicide and why he believes that Vince McMahon feels Benoit is a blackeye to WWE.

“I still believe that what happened, the tragedy with Chris and Nancy and Daniel… I knew them well,” said Riggs. ” “[I] Used to eat dinner with Chris and he would get on his cell phone and he would be on the phone with Nancy and he would give me the phone and I’m like what and he goes, ‘Nancy wants to say hello to you. She loves you.’

“I had a great relationship with the family. So whatever happened in that period of time, I still don’t think it’s the Chris Benoit that all of us knew. It might have been that physical person, but the mental person… whatever was going on with him mentally, I just don’t think that was him.

“Verne Gagne a lot of people knew him from AWA and this wrestling historian, basically is in a retirement home. Killed a roommate, something of the sort. Never got the publicity because he wasn’t high profile at that time. But he had no recollection of it. Didn’t remember doing it and they basically gave him a free get go. Basically did the same thing, took another persons life. Whether it’s your family or whether its a person or anything of that sort. Scott Hall, he’s had his demons, found out what he did early before he started wrestling when he took a life, but how it affects you. You see how it’s affecting him, his demons and his life now.

“But with Chris, no one ever saw what was happening in his mind. You saw glimpses of things that maybe might make you question, but no red flags that would make you think he’d do that. So for people who really, really respect him as a wrestler… The fans will never forget Chris Benoit. Wrestlers who knew Chris Benoit as Chris and as a guy who was there as a friend will never forget him and so he’ll be remembered.

“I think WWE, Vince McMahon will never acknowledge him because of there quote, unquote family PG status right now. They just won’t do it. To them its a black eye. Vince, he’ll deny everything and he’ll just sweep it under the rug and only let the good be seen. He’ll get rid of the bad, pretend it didn’t exist. He does that with everything and everybody and always has. It’s unfortunate.”

Riggs also discussed Eric Bischoff, the New World Order, WWE and more in the interview. It is available here.

Photo of teenage Chris Benoit with The Undertaker and Scott Hall »

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