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Archive for the ‘Chris Benoit Family Tragedy’ Category

Connecticut Attorney General and U.S. Senate hopeful Richard Blumenthal must feel desperate in his race against former WWE CEO and GOP Senate hopeful Linda McMahon, because he went straight into the gutter recently. He did this by dragging into the Connecticut spotlight Michael Benoit, father of the late WWE wrestler Chris Benoit, to make a bunch of grief-induced charges against WWE and Linda.

Talk about ambulance chasing and capitalizing on a pro wrestler’s death? WWE never did anything this disrespectful to the Benoit family. Still think Blumenthal is Senate-worthy, Connecticut? Or is he promising all of your cash advances to your next WWE house show?

Former WWE wrestler Chris Nowinski is calling for the federal government to declare the WWE an “unsafe work environment,” as well as calling for the McMahon family to be drummed out of the industry. What’s all the uproar about?

Well, Nowinski is a kid who was a Top Three finalist on the first season of the MTV/WWE reality show, Tough Enough. Though he didn’t win, Nowinski was indeed ultimately hired by WWE and wrestled as a heel under the moniker, Chris Harvard. His career was short and injury-interrupted; he lasted only two years, retiring from the ring in 2004.

Since then, the Harvard graduate has gone on to write books on brain injury in the NFL, other professional sports, and he was a leading activist in the effort to study the brain of Chris Benoit following the Benoit Family Tragedy of 2007. His book, Head Games: Football’s Concussion Crisis, is a surprisingly careful and scholarly effort.

While his campaign to drum the McMahon family out of their own company is clearly a case of tilting at windmills, Nowinski’s research has borne fruit; the autopsy of Benoit’s brain showed the 41-year-old had suffered such head trauma in his career that he possessed the equivalent of a brain of an 80-year-old man with dementia.

That’s startling, and while his solution’s a bit preposterous, credit should go to Nowinski for shining some light on the very real and prevalent problem of brain injury in pro wrestlers, as well as pro athletes. Makes a lot more sense than hawking weight-loss pills for a living!

It’s never fun to report hard news on the WWE, because hard news is rarely ever good news. Yet when a story like this breaks, that could affect current storylines in such a major way, it’s unavoidable.

The New York Daily News and Sports Illustrated are reporting that as many as 14 WWE superstars have been listed as acquiring steriods and human growth hormone through an illicit drug network, Signature Pharmacy. The WWE is said to have quietly suspended as many as 10 WWE superstars for violating the company’s anti-drug policy, and on Fox News Channel’s On The Record with Greta Van Sustren, WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt confirmed 10 suspensions so far, with possible two more to come tomorrow.

While the WWE has said it will keep the names of this group of wrestlers private, their conspicuous absences going forward will soon make it clear who is and who is not suspended.

The New York Daily News and SI.com have separate lists that don’t completely agree, so it’s clear there’s some speculation going on at this point, but several huge names are on both lists. Looks like another PR nightmare for WWE; hopefully once this shakes out, the table can be cleared and the company can get back to putting on some great sports entertainment programs. No one I know enjoys hearing this kind of stuff.

Here’s a Christmas gift idea for anyone who cares about the WWE: a 2008 all-company photo that contains no one who’s involved in making bad personal decisions. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case this year.

In the wake of the Benoit double murder-suicide, one of the people who’s been making the most sense is Wade Keller of PWTorch.com. A wrestling newsletter writer and industry journalist for something like 20 years, he was not taken in by the big media push to blame steroids and only steroids for what happened. His business cards verify his expertise, as does the 20-year existence of his newsletter.

Instead, Keller has put forward five main talking points relevant to the incident. Steroids is one item, but Keller makes the point that their use is nearly taken as a given in sports entertainment. How else can these men maintain superhero-stature bodies?

He goes beyond that to suggest that WWE’s policy of allowing wrestlers to endure repeated concussions that are often left untreated as another contributing factor. His argument for reform in this area of WWE’s employee policy is long overdue to be adopted.

Benoit’s son suffered from a rare case of what is known as Fragile X syndrome. It makes caring for the child a much larger task, as would any unusual health complication. This undoubtedly added stress to Benoit’s marriage.

The most insightful cause that Keller cites, however, is the lack of planned time off for WWE performers. With a workforce of traveling entertainers who only get to spend significant time with their spouses and children for perhaps one week around the Christmas-New Year time frame, most WWE superstars only get significant time off the road when they are injured – which is hardly what qualifies as “quality time with your spouse and kids.” His argument for two six-week breaks a year would employ 25 percent more wrestlers and give WWE performers much-needed physical, mental and emotional health breaks.

He also mentions the role of WWE using “individual choice” as a shield against criticism of the working environment they provide. Of course, considering they are the only major fed employing today’s sports entertainers, that excuse doesn’t hold water. There is no “choice” with the only alternative is flipping burgers at Wendy’s.

Hop over to PWTorch.com and read Keller’s write up. He’s top-drawer.

Fox 5 in Atlanta continues to uncover disturbing new details in the double murder-suicide involving WWE wrestlers Chris Benoit; his wife, Nancy Sullivan-Benoit; and their seven-year-old son, Daniel.

One detail is that Benoit had a history of alleged domestic violence with his wife. In a 2003 divorce filing – a complaint that was later dropped – Nancy alleged that their marriage was irrevocably broken and cited “cruel treatment” when asking for a restraining order against him, saying he’d broken furniture and threatened her during a dispute.

Somehow, their marriage survived and the 2003 divorce filing was never pressed forward. Apparently, however, the couple did not put their issues to rest.

According to the Fox 5 report, based on information released by local authorities, police now believe that Benoit killed his wife as early as last Friday night; she was found in an upstairs room with both her feet and hands bound, the victim of an apparent strangling at the hands of her husband. Blood under her head indicated there may have been a struggle prior to death.

Authorities place son Daniel’s death as occurring late Saturday or early Sunday. He was found smothered to death, on his bed.

Authorities then place Benoit’s suicide as taking place no earlier than late Sunday, perhaps even Monday morning. The long intervals between the two murders and his own suicide will be one of the unanswered mysteries of the case.

Benoit was scheduled to wrestle C.M. Punk at Sunday’s PPV event, Vengeance: A Night of Champions, and was scheduled to win the ECW title that night; Benoit’s in-ring character had been drafted from SmackDown to ECW two weeks prior to the event, setting up the clash. When Benoit canceled his appearance at a WWE Live event on Saturday, as well as his PPV appearance on Sunday, the company promoted wrestler Johnny Nitro into Benoit’s spot and gave Nitro the ECW title in his place. WWE.com reports that Benoit had contacted the company on Saturday to explain his absence, and that he told WWE staff that his wife and child were “not feeling well,” and that he couldn’t make the trip.

While Benoit was reported to be paid roughly $500,000 per year in the 2003 divorce filing, the family’s financial health is not clear at this hour; whether there is insurance coverage for either parent or children insurance on Daniel is unclear, although in cases of murder, insurance companies do not always pay a death benefit to surviving family members. Hopefully, some arrangements can be made for both Nancy and son Daniel.

Credit goes out to Fox 5 in Atlanta for reporting a detail Pro Wrestling Views missed; on Monday Night’s RAW broadcast, Vince McMahon did appear in a pre-show address, admitted the “Who Murdered Vince?” storyline was made up, and said that the storyline had been dropped in light of the Benoit tragedy, which at that point was still not known by WWE officials to be a double murder-suicide.

Props to WWE for dropping the tacky, too-close-to-reality storyline promptly.

A couple unfortunate weeks ago, WWE decided to spice up its storyline with a murder mystery. In out-of-character fashion, Vince McMahon acted a bit goofy after losing the ECW title, and at the end of a Raw broadcast, walked out into the parking lot and got into his limo, which immediately blew up.

The storyline, intended to call to mind the “Who Shot JR?” cliffhanger of the classic TV show Dallas, started out with a bang, but soon grew disturbing and tacky as the WWE played out the concept, because rather than playing it for humor, the company played the storyline straight, airing clips of somber, apparently-grieving wrestlers spilling tears over an owner who, within the storylines, never made any friends.

Pro Wrestling Views was among the first to call for the storyline tone to change or be dumped because it cheapened how the WWE had treated real deaths, like those of Eddie Guerrero and Owen Hart. That call seemed further justified as last week it was learned that classic WWE Diva Sensational Sherri Martel, who died at age 49; Martel passed away in her sleep, with circumstances still under investigation. No foul play is suspected in Martel’s death, though toxicology tests are being run as part of the autopsy to determine if drugs or alcohol were involved.

Now, with a current WWE superstar involved in a possible double murder-suicide, there can be no further justification for continuing the “Who Killed Vince?” storyline. It’s simply too disturbing and too close to real life events. Forget the marketing, forget the T-shirts, forget the engraved pens. The storyline must be dropped immediately to make room for wrestlers and fans to deal with their mixture of grief and anger on a deserving target: a real-life tragedy.

Let’s hope the WWE didn’t know the whole story when they decided to replace a live Raw broadcast with a tribute to Chris Benoit’s 22-year wrestling career on Monday. No doubt if the evidence proves, as local police allege, that Chris Benoit took the lives of his wife and son, then took his own life 24- to 48-hours later, the company is certain to come under fire for celebrating the life of an alleged double-murderer.

Whatever dark thoughts and demonic influences possibly drove Benoit to such evil actions, no amount of “this was about his wrestling career, the good parts of his life” excuse-making can justify the miscalculation it would be if the WWE knew he was possibly a murderer and ran the tribute show anyway. Talk about getting your network cables crossed? It would be bad taste in the extreme.