Jordynne Grace stirred up controversy on social media this week as she produced a tweet that referenced Chris Benoit and CTE.
Benoit was one of the best wrestlers of the 1990s and 2000s, whose death rocked the whole industry. He took his own life in a murder-suicide in 2007, tragically taking his wife and seven-year-old son with him.
It made headline news across mainstream media – instantly becoming one of the darkest moments in WWE history as a result.
Coroners determined that one of the contributing factors behind the shocking loss of life was CTE. Central Traumatic Encephalopathy is a brain injury resulting from repeated impacts and concussions.
In recent years, CTE has become a prominent issue demanding action from the WWE. For instance, a number of wrestling stars from the 80s and 90s have taken up lawsuits against the federation over CTE. They claim that WWE failed to provide proper protection against repeated head injuries.
Additionally, former WWE star Ashley Massaro donated her brain for CTE research after her unfortunate passing in 2019. Despite the sensitivity of the issue, Jordynne Grace tweeted a comment regarding Chris Benoit and the CTE that he likely suffered.
Jordynne Grace makes Chris Benoit CTE tweet
The Impact Wrestling star shared her opinion on how Benoit’s skills would match up with today’s crop of WWE athletes. At the time, she was responding to a different tweet regarding other pro’s conduct when discussing Benoit.
Generally, fellow wrestlers qualify any compliments they pay to Benoit regarding his wrestling ability by not excusing his actions. In Grace’s case, she will outright not credit the late wrestler’s career at all.
“This is gonna be the coldest take I ever tweet on this app,” prefaced Grace. “I already know y’all gonna be mad.
“I don’t think Chris Benoit could 100% hang with most of the present-day best wrestlers. He would not be able to remember matches.”
Memory loss is one of many cognitive issues that CTE can aggravate – and is something that Chris Benoit suffered from.
Grace finished the tweet by saying: “Also may he [Benoit] burn in hell, Amen.”
After receiving backlash from some fans on Twitter, Jordynne doubled down on what she said about the late wrestler.
“Proving a point: I said something very LIGHTLY critical about him,” said Grace. “He should never be defended. Dude lost that right when he gave his 7-year-old Xanax and strangled him while he was already unconscious.”
The Knockouts World champion continued to receive floods of criticism, alongside some praise, on social media. Despite this, Grace currently stands by her comments and has not deleted the tweets.
Featured image credit: Instagram/@jordynnegrace
