• Chris & Nancy

  • The True Story of the Benoit Murder-Suicide and Pro Wrestling's Cocktail of Death
  • By: Irvin Muchnick
  • Narrated by: Richard Tatum
  • Length: 6 hrs and 21 mins
  • 3.9 out of 5 stars (162 ratings)

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Chris & Nancy  By  cover art

Chris & Nancy

By: Irvin Muchnick
Narrated by: Richard Tatum
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Publisher's summary

Exploring the steroid-fueled world of professional wrestling, this riveting chronicle lays bare the devastating events that led to the 2007 murder-suicide of Chris Benoit, his wife Nancy, and their seven-year-old son, Daniel. Benoit's performance-enhancing drug addiction - massive amounts of doctor-prescribed human growth hormone were found in Benoit’s home - and subsequent suicide proved to be the tipping point for the professional wrestling world, resulting in unprecedented scrutiny of the sport’s subpar health and safety standards. Using public records, dozen of interviews with those inside and outside of wrestling, and investigative results, this authoritative analysis provides an uncompromising look at the price athletes pay in this rough-and-tumble world.

©2009 Irvin Muchnick (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about Chris & Nancy

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

The author has an axe to grind.

Would you try another book from Irvin Muchnick and/or Richard Tatum?

No. Muchnick puts more effort into pointing fingers at the WWE rather than focusing on objectively describing the Benoit tragedy as a whole. Very disappointed.

Would you ever listen to anything by Irvin Muchnick again?

Based on his biased handling of this subject, I can't trust his opinions.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Chris & Nancy?

The author's preamble was far too lengthy.

Any additional comments?

If you're looking for objective coverage of the Benoit story, this is not for you. The author spends endless time guessing what the WWE knew. You can get more unbiased details from Wikipedia.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Poor presentation

Never mind the flawed story - the narration is terrible. Many mispronounced names - if you're going to narrate an audiobook about wrestling, you should probably know how to pronounce the wrestlers' names.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Very interesting info

I would listen again just for the little nuggets of info I did not know about this tragic event. I feel it was too deep of a dive into the pro wrestling industry and steroids. I understand there is a obvious connection but it took away from the main topic.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great News Coverage and Unreported Info

Where does Chris & Nancy rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is one of the better non-fiction audiobooks in my library right now.

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

Though the case was just in 2007, among the media circus it was difficult to figure out what exactly happened at the time. This book is a good run down of what happened, and some other info that wasn't prominently reported.

What about Richard Tatum’s performance did you like?

His reading was great and thorough. The book was mostly investigative, and the reader was very good at reading it in a neutral tone without being completely boring. He added good emphasis to make certain point clearer.

Any additional comments?

There is some bias in the reporting, but the author is good to note that those points are speculative, either his own or someone else's.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Garbage

This book is complete garbage. Full of slander about many people and professions, insteaf of tell the story in the book title.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Bad Narration and a Heavily Biased Report

I don't think I've ever written another review on Audible but this was so bad, I just had to.

The reporting being biased is a personal opinion. I'm not a WWE or Vince McMahon apologist at all but this book seems to be very clearly biased against WWE, Vince McMahon and wrestling as a whole. Again, that's just opinion and Mr. Muchnick has a right to his own opinion. I'm fine with that.

All that being said, if you can cut through what seems like a personal vendetta, there is some very good information in here.

The narration, however, is awful. I would have given it one star but the narrator's voice is pleasant enough. That's the only pleasant part of the narration. Mr. Tatum constantly mispronounces names and terms, the pronunciation of which he could easily look up. He also reads some passages, mainly text messages, as if he were a robot. I think he's trying to read them without emotion or bias in his voice but the tone of most of the text messages is fairly clear. There is no need to strip the reading of it's emotion.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars
  • VC
  • 07-17-17

Great Factual Details, Dumb Conspiracy

What did you like best about Chris & Nancy? What did you like least?

I liked the details explained through the history of events, which were presented fairly despite the Author's bias against pro wrestling and especially WWE. The portions I did not like were the Author's inability to let his bias go and the poor presentation that a conspiracy exists.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

As the book was based on true events (with some spin by the Author), there were no surprises at the ending.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Richard Tatum?

Yes

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

I would not have an interest in watching a movie about this book or about the events in this book, but I know there has been ideas pitched for making a movie about Benoit. There is zero chance that movie is accurate if it's ever made.

Any additional comments?

This book would have been much better is presented strictly in a factual manner. The Author has a long bias against pro wrestling and could have presented the information without showing that bias. Perhaps it would have given the book more credibility because most of the information in the book is well presented and accurate.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

ALL SMOKE & NO FIRE

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

A diehard wrestling fan may find something worth championing in this book, but it amounts to a colossal waste of journalism by missing the real story, and instead, focusing on a "timeline" of what the WWE knew and when it knew it. But to what end? To indict McMahon of having the bad taste to produce a RAW event in honor of Benoit, despite knowing he went crazy and killed his family. To which any reader familiar with this carnival barker will say, "Well, duh? What else is new?" Tasteless as it may have been, it's not a story worth reporting or reading. The real story is WHY Chris Benoit went mad. But the writer is more concerned with bad taste than he is about getting to the real issue in full-contact sports - brain damage. Which is why Sony is making a film about it starring Will Smith; I don't see anyone optioning this book any time soon, however.

What could Irvin Muchnick have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

He should have started over when his fellow journalist, Melcher, told him he was chasing a non-story. Melcher was right. Who gives a damn about the Benoit tribute? Frankly, Chris was as much a victim as his wife and son. And I find McMahon's bad taste far more tolerable than Muchnick's bad journalism.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Richard Tatum?

He was okay, but like every narrator I've heard on Audible, he mis-pronounces names all over the place. Is there no director at these sessions??

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

It's cogently written, but misses the boat. He spends so much time chasing leads that go nowhere --like the kid who posted a rumor that Benoit's wife was dead before it made the news. Why dedicate a whole chapter to this? To suggest this kid was involved with the murders? It's ridiculous. Then he indicts the police for not following up with this lead. They let it go because it went NOWHERE. But nowhere seems to be a destination the writer is hell-bent to arrive at to stake some sore of claim.I don't know why this got published, to be honest.

Any additional comments?

No.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Facts?

In my opinion you can’t hold someone accountable for someone else’s actions. Chris Benoit killed his wife and child not Vince McMahon and not WWE. Nobody forces these men and women into professional wrestling nor are they forced to use drugs and alcohol while on the road. Taking steroids is a choice. Murdering your family is a choice. When you make bad choices for 30 years it usually ends badly. This book is just another witch hunt on McMahon and his company. Im not saying Vince is innocent in fact I think he’s one of the sleaziest people on earth but he is not responsible for the deaths of Nancy and Daniel.

There was at least a dozen names mispronounced and/or incorrect “facts” for example Andrew Martin AKA Test got his name because test is short for testosterone when in fact test got his name because in the story ( possibly in real life but I don’t know for sure ) was the body guard for the band mostly crew and also did sound checks. During the sound check he would say test 1 2 and they called him test.

I’ve done zero research on this subject and found several missed facts. My conclusion is you either want to see Vince McMahon held responsible for something he didn’t do or you just flat out suck at doing researching. Personally I believe it’s a combination of the two.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Informative but Skewed.

Interesting, but if you’re a wrestling fan, you will probably be a little annoyed/disappointed with this title and the narration.

The author seems to have done thorough research, but focuses far more effort on bringing to light backstage/administrative issues as opposed to the Benoit events themselves. As a result, the content is pretty dry. Lots of pointing fingers and suggesting guilt, although not explicitly blaming any one person, and doesn’t really name any smoking gun.

On top of that, the tone attempts to sound objective, or detached, but the mispronunciation of many names suggests the author is altogether unfamiliar with the world of WWE, and some of the statements and conjecture seems outright biased against the industry of pro wrestling. From the introductions, the author seems to suggest that he’d be happier if the WWE were shut down and wrestling labeled as a blight on society.

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