Chris Benoit, the World Wrestling Federation performer who in June killed himself, wife Nancy and son Daniel, 7, may not have been under the influence of steroids, but suffering from dementia.

Neurologists with the Sports Legacy Institute who examined Benoit’s brain found it pockmarked throughout with evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), whose symptoms include depression, dementia and erratic behavior.

CTE is believed to afflict 20 percent of professional boxers and was found in four professional American football players aged 36 to 50 who died in recent years — two by suicide — after showing erratic behavior, the institute said.

The private research institute’s experts believe Benoit’s brain damage “is enough to very likely explain aberrant behavior including suicide and even homicide,” Julian Bailes, chief of neurosurgery at West Virginia University, told a news conference in New York.

New Zealand Herald

Brain injury seems like reason enough not to pursue a career as a professional wrestler.

Chris’ father Michael had this to say about the injury, “The human skull just isn’t built to get hit with a table or a chair.”

I honestly thought the wrestling was more in the way of theatrics then competition, particularly the WWF, so I am surprised they are actually getting that severely injured.

Note by Celebitchy: Maybe this tragic case will bring more awareness to the need to prevent brain injury in contact sports. If boxers, football players and wrestlers are having their lives and sanity ruined for a few years of play, it hardly seems like the lifestyle and high pay are worth it.