Chris, Nancy, & Daniel Benoit found dead

[jdw]

(IIRC, at least one of the changes by that person was about how they'd love to fuck Stacy Kiebler in the ass.)

It's a damn good thing that I don't live in Stamford or people would blame this on me.

 

 

John

[Guest teke184]

(IIRC, at least one of the changes by that person was about how they'd love to fuck Stacy Kiebler in the ass.)

It's a damn good thing that I don't live in Stamford or people would blame this on me.

 

 

John

 

Same here.

[Loss]

A little more information:

 

http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Death_of_Nancy...ody_being_found

 

Death of Nancy Benoit rumour posted on Wikipedia hours prior to body being found

From Wikinews, the free news source you can write!

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June 28, 2007

 

This article mentions the Wikimedia Foundation, one of its projects, or people related to it. Please note that Wikinews is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation.

 

Wikinews has learned through an investigation that anonymous edits on the Wikipedia article Chris Benoit were added about the death of his wife Nancy Benoit 14 hours before police entered the Benoit home to find the former professional World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Canadian wrestler and his family dead.

 

An anonymous edit from IP address 69.120.111.23 using the Internet service provider Optimum Online was made at 04:01 UTC on Chris Benoit's Wikipedia article. On a paragraph about an earlier fight: "However, Chris Benoit was replaced ... due to personal issues,...", the anonymous editor added " stemming from the death of his wife Nancy." The edit was reversed just under one hour later with the comment: "Need a reliable source. Saying that his wife died is a pretty big statement, you need to back it up with something."

 

Then just one hour later after the first edit reversion, another anonymous edit by 125.63.148.173 using unwiredAustralia.com.au, a wireless Internet service provider, was made adding about the aforementioned personal issues: "which according to several pro wrestling websites is attributed to the passing of Benoit's wife, Nancy." That edit was reverted just under 20 minutes later, with the comment: "Saying 'several pro wrestling websites' is still not reliable information."

 

Further investigation shows that the IP address used to make the first edit is located in Connecticut, but the IP address is not linked to any computers or servers used by the WWE, but according to Cary Bass, Volunteer Coordinator for the Wikimedia Foundation, the IP address matches a location in Stamford Connecticut where the WWE headquarters is located. Bass also informed the local authorities in Atlanta about the unusual edits, but it is not known if the edits were investigated by the police. The second edit was made by a computer in Australia from a wireless network.

 

"It didn't become apparent until someone put the pieces together and realized that the comment was made by someone who apparently knew about the murders," adeed Bass.

 

Fayette County Sheriff deputy Lt. Tommy Pope stated that police found the family at about 2:30 p.m. ET, which is 18:30 UTC, on Monday when the WWE called police and asked them to do a "welfare check" after employees of WWE received calls and text messages from Chris Benoit. Early Saturday, Benoit sent repeated text messages that read "My physical address is 130 Green Meadow Lane, Fayetteville Georgia. 30215." Another text message reportedly said "The dogs are in the enclosed pool area. Garage side door is open." The messages were sent around 4:00 a.m. ET.

 

Later, on Saturday afternoon, Chris Benoit placed a series of calls that explained why he missed his flight to Houston. The stories he told were mostly about his wife and son being sick with food poisoning and vomiting. Although, in one call he said that he and Nancy were at the hospital to be with Daniel who was hospitalized. Throughout he insisted that he would attend that live event in Houston.

 

When he missed the live event on Sunday, and the WWE couldn't get a hold of him, they contacted authorities. Police say that Benoit strangled his wife on Friday, smothered his son on late Friday or early Saturday, and then hanged himself inside his weight room on Sunday or Monday.

 

The Wikinews investigation is unable to conclude whether the anonymous editors had inside information about the death of Nancy Benoit.

 

This is not the first time Benoit's article has been edited to show false or unsourced information, as the article's edit history indicates a long history of promotional spam and vandalism. Around the time of the edits, the article contained a hidden warning to editors of the section mentioned, warning against adding rumours and speculations . For the time being, Benoit's article has been protected in an attempt to stop the addition of fraudulent information.

[Dylan Waco]

Yeah that was posted on DVDVR not long after the murders became public.

 

It is quickly becoming harder to imagine a wierder case than this.

[Loss]

Annnnnnnd even more.

 

http://www.tmz.com/2007/06/28/benoits-doc-...tion-practices/

 

TMZ has learned that the personal physician who saw Chris Benoit just hours before the wrestler killed his wife and son once had his medical license suspended for "repeatedly prescribing several controlled substances to patients in excessive quantities or for excessive periods of time and prescribing for other than legitimate purposes."

 

According to records from the Georgia State Board of Medical Examiners, Phil Carroll Astin was found guilty of engaging in "unprofessional conduct" in 1992 by overprescribing a plethora of pills including amphetamines, antidepressants, tranquilizers and narcotics to various patients. Chris Benoit was not among those mentioned in the case.

 

As a result, the medical board suspended Astin's license for 30 days, put him on 5 years probation and fined him $2000. Astin was reinstated in 1997, following the completion of his sentence.

 

Astin's offices were located in Carrollton, Georgia -- a small college town about 50 miles from Benoit's home.

 

TMZ has also obtained Medical Board records which show that Dr. Astin was suspended again in 2001 for "reasons related to competence or character."

 

Early Thursday morning, authorities raided Dr. Astin's office in connection with Benoit investigation. Officials claim they seized medical records, but no arrests were made. According to the AP, Astin has admitted to prescribing testosterone to Benoit in the past, but has not commented on what, if anything, he prescribed to the wrestler on Friday.

 

Calls to Dr. Astin were not immediately returned.

[Guest teke184]

One of the Fark posters who lived in Benoit's community mentioned that the doctor's office was practically on the Georgia-Alabama state line, so it made it seem very likely that Benoit had found him because he was willing to prescribe steroids, pain killers, and possibly other things as well.

[World's Worst Man]

Not surprising, considering there wasn't really a reason for Benoit to be taking steroids, so the fact that they were prescribed didn't really mean a whole lot.

[Guest teke184]

Not surprising, considering there wasn't really a reason for Benoit to be taking steroids, so the fact that they were prescribed didn't really mean a whole lot.

Claims have been made before that he'd been prescribed them due to his spinal fusion surgery, but other people have said that other types of steroids (non-anabolic) would be involved instead if that were the case and the steroids were really for health reasons.

[Loss]

Very good little article, which might be an interesting read for baseball fans.

 

http://www.nysun.com/article/57511

 

Benoit Case Uncovers a Lack Of Understanding of Steroids

By TIM MARCHMAN

June 28, 2007

 

This past weekend, Chris Benoit, a 40-year-old professional wrestler working for World Wrestling Entertainment, killed his wife and 7-year-old son, and then hung himself. Impossibly, each lurid detail disclosed by the investigation has made the story more horrific than the bare facts would have it.

 

As the story has grown into what looks like a major scandal, one that could (and should) inspire congressional intervention in the sewer-like wrestling industry, a main focus has been on the possibility that Benoit killed his family in a drug-induced frenzy. Typically, a report on the Fox News Web site was headlined, " Wrestler Chris Benoit Double Murder-Suicide: Was It ‘Roid Rage'?" Investigators have said that they found large amounts of steroids in the family's home and won't rule out steroid-induced psychosis as a reason for the murders; WWE reacted with a bizarre press release in which it claimed "it is entirely wrong for speculators to suggest that steroids had anything to do with these senseless acts." More interesting were two other bits in the release, which stated that Benoit had passed a WWE-administered steroid test in April, and that all steroids in Benoit's house were believed to have been obtained via legal prescriptions.

 

Both of these last two points are doubtless true, and of the highest relevance for baseball — far more relevant, actually, than the fact that, according to the Albany district attorney's office, Benoit was a client of the same Florida company that also supplied ballplayers like Gary Matthews Jr. These facts show, on the one hand, how fraudulent a drug-testing program can be; and by offering a point of contrast to baseball's drug policy, they show how rigorous that policy really is. That people aren't aware of this shows how bad a job baseball has done of letting people know how serious its efforts have been to clean up the game.

 

WWE instituted its drug testing program in the aftermath of the 2005 death of Eddie Guerrero, who was just one among dozens of wrestlers who have died at age 45 or younger in the last decade, of causes related to long-term abuse of steroids and prescription medications. It's a shamefully inadequate policy. According to documents to be found on the company's Web site, for instance, "A Testosterone/Epitestosterone (T/E) ratio of four (4) or less shall be regarded as a negative test result." Without going into eye-glazing detail, T/E ratio is the chemical clue steroid tests are often actually used to find. A normal ratio is 1-to-1; baseball, following World Anti-Doping Agency standards, considers 4-to-1 a failure.

 

Many people think that baseball's drug testing policy is a transparent public relations ploy. It truly isn't. Determined athletes can beat it, but it's close to state of the art — independently administered, adhering to the anti-doping agency's protocols on technical matters like proscribed substances and T/E ratios, and by all accounts intolerant of quack prescriptions. WWE, on the other hand, not only counts athletes with hugely elevated testosterone ratios as clean, but allows them to use whatever drugs they can lay their hands on so long as they can get some doctor somewhere to write a prescription. That's not a policy, it's a fig leaf.

 

Baseball has to start doing a better job of educating the public about steroids, because no one else is going to do it. Right now, many people believe that steroids drove Benoit to strangle his own child — a belief so self-evidently simplistic and ridiculous that it allows WWE to point to its pathetic drug policy and ignore the real issues at play, which involve not only Benoit's own private demons, but a brutal, dehumanizing schedule, work that requires a level of physical punishment the body just can't handle, drug abuse as a near condition of employment, and a string of dozens and dozens of deaths about which no one has cared.

 

This is a problem for baseball because it shows how deep the ignorance about steroids runs. If people truly find it plausible that someone can murder his own family simply because of an injection of Winstrol, there's no reason to expect them to know or care that baseball's stance on T/E ratios and unannounced specimen collection shows the sport to be profoundly serious about doing its best to eliminate drug abuse from baseball.

 

People believe the mechanistic explanation, though, because they're ignorant about steroids and indifferent to the issue's complexities. And who can blame them, when those with the greatest interest in dispelling ignorance refuse to do so?

 

Baseball has every right to unapologetically point out that no matter how deep the steroid crisis in the game is, it has only affected competition — something that's not the case in, say, bodybuilding, prowrestling, and even football, which have seen violence, suicide, mental illness and all sorts of early deaths connected to steroid use. Baseball also has every right to point with pride to a comprehensive drug testing policy that's better than that found in any other major team sport. Instead, baseball threatens to suspend Jason Giambi unless he cooperates with the sad, impotent investigation helmed by Senator Mitchell. This is anti-publicity. It's time for baseball to stop playing into the hands of the hysterics.

 

[email protected]

[Loss]

Some guy at DVDVR who works in advertising stated that Subway wants the spots with John Cena pulled because of this. Minor, unconfirmed and unsurprising news, but still interesting.

[World's Worst Man]

There's the media going on and on about roid rage, but then you have the people who don't think steroids should be an issue at all, despite the fact that they can cause psychological problems outside of roid rage. It's highly unlikely that this was a case of roid rage, but there's still a chance that steroids could have played a part in Benoit's psychological decline.

[Bix]

The problem is using the term "roid rage." The treatment of steroids -> mental issues is, in most reports, being treated as just the short bursts of rage that are considered "roid rage." When people like Joe Laurinitis say it doesn't sound like a roid rage, they're technically right, but due to the way the media is interpreting thing and nobody elaborating aside from a few doctors, it distorts the issue and comes across as "steroids could not have been a factor."

[Dylan Waco]

Espcially since most people agree that roids can and do cause paranoia and hallucinations.

 

Really I think the liklihood that roid didn't play some role is very low, but I also agree that there is ALOT more to this and Loss is right that the coverage of this is totally unfocused and missing several key issues.

 

Also CNN not revealing that Brian Christophers dad is a contracted employee of the WWE was pretty shitty reporting.

[Loss]

This is really getting ridiculous. Geraldo Rivera was just on O'Reilly and actually said that Nancy Benoit and Sherri Martel died on the same day (which is not true), that they were both linked to Kevin Sullivan and that we may be looking at a triple or quadruple murder. I shit you not.

[Bix]

Umm...

 

Wow.

[Loss]

Chris Jericho just completely owned an entire panel of guests on Nancy Grace. That was seriously the best thing I've seen all week.

[Mad Dog]

The coverage doesn't really surprise me. This is par for the course of how right they get the facts in just about everything. My friend got brutally attacked a few years ago and the paper ran an article. I believe the only fact they got right was the weapon he was attacked with.

[Bix]

He was overstating the reliability of the WWE drug testing, but yeah.

 

Jericho's whole "steroids or no steroids, something was building up inside him" point was excellent. Bryan Alvarez said something similar-he was most likely someone who always had it in him to kill two people, and the other factors made it worse.

 

Also, Nancy Grace was about a zillion times better than she was last night.

[shoe]

On Alvarez's Fig-4 podcast he claims their was a photo of Benoit at his Doctor's office the day before the murders wearing a Bruiser Brody t-shirt. It doesn't mean anything, but creepy none the less. He also claimed that he read comments from Benoit's Dad on the situation. He was obviously horrified by the situation; but didn't quote anything that he read.

[Jingus]

I've seen the dad's comments too, on some TV news show's website, can't remember which exactly. Didn't say much, like two sentences, basically just that he couldn't believe what happened and the family might never get over it.

 

Yes, Benoit was wearing a Bruiser Brody t-shirt that day. You can't see the shirt too well in this pic taken in the doctor's office, but I've seen that shirt before, and it's Goodish all right. Creepy creepy ubercreepy.

 

And oh yeah, the "Wikipedia Conspiracy? has been double debunked.

[Loss]

FYI, I am working on a really, really long blog entry at the moment that talks about the entire situation, the media's coverage of it, my opinions, etc. and will link it when I am done.

[Loss]

I'm going to post all of this as one entry at some point when I'm done, but I thought I'd share what I've written of this so far. Considering the amount of time it has taken me just to write this much, and considering how much more detail I want to add, I thought I'd post this in installments. The reason I am writing this is because I'm attempting to make sense of the media frenzy and thought this might be useful in doing so. I am writing this also for the benefit of someone who has no idea about Chris Benoit or wrestling to put this in perspective for someone from the outside looking in. Here's what I've completed up until now:

 

On March 14, 2004, wrestling fans were given something by WWE that sounded far more like an Internet hopeful's fantasy booking than something a company with the philosophy of World Wrestling Entertainment would provide. Chris Benoit, after over 18 years as a professional wrestler, won the World Championship, and celebrated alongside his family, and his best friend in wrestling, Eddy Guerrero. Benoit's path to the top was an inspirational story and was capped off by a classic moment. I know wrestling fans who enjoyed the moment. I know wrestling fans who cried. I know wrestling fans who had their faith in pro wrestling renewed. I even know wrestling fans who stated they would never watch again, because the moment could never be topped.

 

Chris Benoit had long been a favorite of both wrestlers within the industry and fans who followed the industry in much closer fashion than the casual observer. Since Vince McMahon's national expansion of the World Wrestling Federation in the mid 1980s, purists have derided him for making such an over-the-top spectacle of professional wrestling. While wrestling has always had a presence of wacky gimmicks and larger-than-life characters, Vince McMahon emphasized that aspect of wrestling in an attempt to take the industry to places it had never gone before. It was a new era, an era filled with action figures and clothing and pay-per-view, and was so far beyond anything that had been previously attempted or envisioned. A few of the old wrestling territories stayed in the fight for a few years, and were even briefly competitive, but McMahon and his vision won out in the end. The days of professional wrestlers working to convince an audience were largely over. The days of professional wrestlers performing to entertain an audience were just beginning.

 

Distraught wrestling fans who missed the days of old, and new fans who were underwhelmed by the WWF's version of wrestling which was largely catered to small children, began searching out alternatives. They found wrestling in Japan, which more closely resembled the wrestling they grew up watching. The style was more physical and realistic, and was largely without hillbilly weddings, bird men, kings, Elvis impersonators and live animals.

 

It was there that most wrestling fans discovered Chris Benoit. While Benoit had a few years of experience competing in Calgary's Stampede territory, it was in New Japan Pro Wrestling where he had his first real taste of success and received his greatest exposure. Perhaps Benoit reminded older diehards of the style they grew up watching, just as he educated newer fans on a style they found far more impressive and engaging. Benoit was really the antithesis of the circus atmosphere of the WWF. He was 5'8" and not very colorful, even though he was explosive in the ring. From the time Benoit debuted in New Japan in 1990 until March 14, 2004, he had an impressively high number of outstanding matches, far more than the majority of his peers. Despite this, he was never allowed to reach his full potential as a top star, because of perceptions that he lacked charisma and size, and that wrestling audiences would find him dull and not pay money to see him. When Benoit was able to climb his way to the top of WWE, it was seen as an inspirational story, and when he celebrated with his family and his best friend at the 20th Wrestlemania, at that point the most promoted and successful show in the history of American pro wrestling, fans of Benoit (and likely Benoit himself) felt vindicated.

 

When we look back at that memorable post-match celebration now, what used to be remembered overwhelmingly as a hallmark moment now appears, like much of wrestling, to have been a lie. Eddy Guerrero, Benoit's best friend and another world champion at the time, died 18 months later from heart failure associated with years of steroid and drug abuse at the age of 38. Wife Nancy, at one time a pro wrestling valet in the old Florida territory and for Ted Turner's World Championship Wrestling, was strangled to death in her home at the age of 43. Son Daniel was also killed in his home at the age of seven. Most surprisingly, the perpetrator of the murders was the champion himself, Chris Benoit, who at the age of 40 killed his wife and son prior to hanging himself.

 

Naturally, after such a horrific tragedy, the search for answers emerges. What follows is a breakdown of each of the major talking points currently circulating in the media, along with some points that should probably be discussed more than they currently are.

 

Pro Wrestling and Steroids

Roid Rage

The most common media talking point, which has been consistent in virtually all print and television media, is whether or not roid rage played a role in the death of these three individuals. "The physical findings announced by authorities indicate deliberation, not rage," said the WWE press release on Tuesday. "The wife's feet and hands were bound and she was asphyxiated, not beaten to death. By the account of the authorities, there were substantial periods of time between the death of the wife and the death of the son, again suggesting deliberate thought, not rage. The presence of a Bible by each is also not an act of rage." Vince McMahon emphasized this point of view once again when interviewed by Meredith Vieira on NBC's Today Show on Thursday.

 

This has also been substantiated by other wrestlers who are not currently under contract to WWE. "I've never seen a 48 hour roid rage," said Joe Laurinitis, who achieved wrestling fame as Road Warrior Animal, on MSNBC Wednesday. "Most roid rages I've seen have been five minutes and then you apologize for blowing up. Your blood pressure is up and you're blowing a cork. I just think there are so many contributing factors. I've seen Chris with his son Daniel. Chris loved that little boy. There was something else psychological happening to have him flip out and blow his cork like that and do what he did."

 

"I don't believe it's a roid rage story," said Dave Meltzer, editor of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, on his website Thursday. "I don't rule out steroids being one of numerous aspects that could have played a part in the story. There were numerous stresses, personal, professional, and Chris had a dark side."

 

Even those who think roid rage possibly played a part in the crime believe other factors to be at play. "Steroids should be on the media radar this week, but not judged in comparison to a bodybuilder or athlete or gym rat who use steroids," said Wade Keller, editor of the Pro Wrestling Torch. "Benoit had many other factors that could have made the effects of steroids - either being on them or withdrawal from coming off of them - much worse."

 

Keller's theory is one that has not been discussed much, but is certainly a possibility. "What's also frustrating on the other side of the coin," he said on his website, "is that people are saying it couldn't have been roid rage because it appeared to be a calculated series of events over the course of several days. This seems obvious, but I'll say it: Isn't it possible - worth exploring, not right to rule out - that Benoit killed his wife in a fit of 'roid rage', and then afterward calmed down and killed his son ... The weekend may have been triggered by roid rage, but then turned into a sad spiral downwad for Benoit as he tried to figure out how to deal with having become a murderer - perhaps in a fit of roid rage."

 

It is also worth noting that Geraldo Rivera's accusations that Benoit broke Sabu's neck in 1994 in a fit of roid rage are completely unfounded and without merit. The incident has been reported in detail for years by those who cover the industry, and is considered to be a freak accident.

 

Referring to this as a simple case of roid rage is oversimplifying what is really a very complex story, something the Associated Press seems to have picked up on Saturday.

 

"I can paint any number of scenarios that explain this without invoking 'roid rage," said Dr. Gary Wadler, a member of the World Anti-Doping Agency, in an interview with the AP. "Roid rage tends to be impulse control. This event happened over two or three days. It has the earmarks of some calculation."

 

Why Wrestlers Use Steroids

Wrestlers have been using anabolic steroids for decades. The drug has proven to be lucrative for a high number of wrestlers. Wrestlers who struggled for years to get noticed by promoters have gone on steroids, increased in size, and received unprecedented opportunities. Large, chiseled men who never had aspirations of getting into pro wrestling have seen the amount of money they can make in the business, walked off of the street, and been given more opportunities out of the gate than smaller wrestlers who have been with the company for years. There are only a few spots available in wrestling for main event performers. Wrestlers who work main events, selling out shows, drawing big money on pay-per-view and selling large amounts of merchandise, obviously make far more money than wrestlers confined to the middle of the card or the opening match.

 

Steroids increase the speed of the healing process as well. While precautions are typically taken, and wrestlers are trained not to hurt themselves, injuries still occur, even among wrestlers who are highly skilled and have been active for many years. Only the most severe injuries usually result in time off, and most wrestlers hope to avoid missing time. Since WWE contracts are structured in a way where performers have a low downside guarantee and are paid based on the number of shows they work and their place on the card, there is pressure to work through injuries.

 

"I think this is one of the things fans over look when they watch wrestling or consider getting into it," said former WWE wrestler Lance Storm on his website last month. "They realize that there is a risk of getting hurt in what we do but I don’t think they fully grasp the toll this business takes on ones body. The risk isn’t really of getting hurt, or even injured, those are both givens, the risk we are taking is of serious injury."

 

Wrestling fans also have notoriously short memories, and a long absence could result in a loss of momentum and star power. No matter how talented or successful any wrestler is in a main event position, there is always a roster full of wrestlers ready to jump into open spots when someone goes down.

 

Wrestling also requires a great degree of strength. There are wrestlers who have no desire to become overly muscular who simply use steroids to assist in performing their routine job duties. Bodyslamming and suplexing 250 lb. men 4-5 nights a week is no easy task.

 

"Millions of dollars can be made off of bodies enhanced by steroids and HGH," said Storm, "so until the penalties for being caught become greater than, or at least proportional to, the potential rewards this problem is going to get worse."

 

This hopefully strongly emphasizes that steroids provide many rewards for professional wrestlers. Most wrestlers see the potential risks involved as being unquestionably outweighed by the rewards.

 

WWE Wellness Policy

Positives

In response to the death of Eddy Guerrero, WWE did institute a wellness policy in February 2006. WWE, to their credit, has kept the policy in effect and continues to perform random drug testing administered by an independent agency. Some wrestlers have been removed from the road, fined and suspended in cases of wellness exam failures. In one more famous case, a main event wrestler, whose name recognition goes beyond pro wrestling, was released from a seven-figure contract because he refused to seek help.

 

In June 2006, Rob Van Dam, at the time the world champion of both the RAW and ECW television shows, and Sabu of the ECW brand were arrested for marijuana possession. WWE's response was to quickly have Van Dam drop both championships on television before suspending him for 30 days. When Van Dam returned, the company no longer invested in he nor Sabu as one of their top stars. Sabu was later released and Van Dam opted not to renew his contract when it expired earlier this month.

 

WWE also released a wrestler earlier this year for appearing for work in no condition to perform.

 

The wellness exam tests for steroids and recreational drugs, and also requires a cardiovascular exam.

 

Negatives

WWE has been inconsistent in the way they have reprimanded talent. When the policy was first implemented, those who failed were fined and/or suspended. In many cases, they were taken off of the road completely. We saw a more lenient approach to the wellness policy after July 2006, when just before the Great American Bash pay-per-view event, many wrestlers scheduled to perform in high-profile positions on the show were removed from the card due to elevated liver enzymes, which may or may not have been associated with steroid use. Since that time, many wrestlers have failed wellness exams, and rather than be removed from the road causing disruption to company storylines, they have been fined and kept on the road.

 

In March 2006, just before Wrestlemania, the company's biggest event of the year, one of the wrestlers scheduled to headline the show was caught smoking marijuana in the locker room, even in front of individuals who were backstage who were not WWE employees. While WWE did respond by suspending this wrestler, he returned in a high-profile position. This wrestler, a former world champion, trashed a hotel room in Europe for reasons that have never been reported and was sent home from the tour. This happened earlier this year. Because so many top wrestlers were injured and the company was struggling to continue storylines without them, the decision was made not to suspend or terminate the wrestler, but rather to fine him and continue pushing him as one of the top stars in the company.

 

It is worth noting that in 2005, this wrestler was injured and made an appearance on Monday Night RAW, the company's flagship show while injured to do an interview. At this time, WWE chairman Vince McMahon remarked - on the air - that the wrestler was starting to look small.

 

That is not the only incident of a wrestler's loss of size being made fun of on the air. In another occurrence, a younger wrestler who had failed wellness exams early in the implementation of the program began to show a rather obvious loss of muscle mass. A wrestler known as Triple H, one of the company's biggest stars, mocked the wrestler for losing so much weight so quickly in a backstage skit. Triple H is the son-in-law of McMahon and the husband of Stephanie McMahon-Levesque, the head of WWE's creative team that oversees television storylines.

 

There is an undeniable pressure from WWE management to look a certain way and to be of a certain size, both before and after the implementation of the wellness policy.

 

"Somebody says you need to put 25 pounds on your upper body," said Larry DeGaris, who teaches sports marketing at the University of Indianapolis and moonlights on the independent wrestling circuit as "The Professor" Larry Brisco, in an interview with the AP Saturday. "Well, if you have an athletic background and have been around sports for a while, you know there's only one way to do that. Nobody needs to tell you. It's just a tacit understanding."

 

The company previously implemented a drug testing policy in 1992 before dropping the policy in 1996. This was in response to a steroid scandal that plagued the company in the early 1990s. Vince McMahon was acquitted in July 1994 of charges of steroid distribution. While the new policy is more extensive in that it includes cardiovascular testing, it differs from the previous policy in that the subject is not required to urinate in front of the examiner. The possibility of using another individual's urine is much greater in this policy, and many wrestlers have remarked off the record that this has happened, and that only a fool would fail a WWE wellness exam.

 

In addition, it is possible to pass WWE's wellness exam and still test positive for steroids. The exam only monitors increases in steroid levels, not whether or not steroids are present. A normal person who had never used steroids would test at 1:1. An olympic failure would be 6:1. To fail WWE wellness exam, drug levels would need to be at 10:1.

 

Top wrestlers can also afford designer steroids which do not show up on these tests. These supplements are purported to possibly cost as much as $20,000 per month.

 

In March, Olympic gold medalist turned pro wrestler Kurt Angle was one of many clients implicated in a DEA pharmacy raid. Among the drugs uncovered to have been prescribed to him were nandrolone, an anabolic steroid, and Trenbolone, a veterinary therapy not approved for human use.

 

Prior to the wellness policy being implemented, Vince McMahon had publicly scoffed at previous attempts to require drug testing of his performers. "We are performers, we are showmen, he'd be drug testing everyone on Broadway. He'd be drug testing the circus,'' said McMahon in 2000, when Senator Thomas Libous (R-NY), wanted to require drug testing in New York. "If in fact he's trying to single us out, that is unconstitutional,'' McMahon added. WWE also did not run any shows in Portland, Oregon, once a strong wrestling market, from 1993 to 2003, until a ruling defining "wrestling entertainment" opened the door for them to come back without performers being drug tested.

 

An additional note of value is that when the Wellness Program began, Vince McMahon stopped paying himself with a performer's contract, which ensured that Vince would personally not have to complete the wellness exams like other independently contracted talent.

 

"I am ... appalled at the fact that Vince McMahon is trying to play off the idea that there is not a steroid use problem in the WWE," said Debbie Hernandez, wife of the late Ray "Hercules" Hernandez, said in a public statement Friday. "After Ray died," she continued, "I was too devastated to open up a discussion regarding the deadly role that steroid use plays in the lives of these wrestlers, but now, after seeing yet another tragedy, I must speak up." Hernandez died of a heart attack at the age of 45.

 

WWE has benefitted for many years from the perception that because wrestling is fake, wrestlers somehow are not real people taking real risks.

 

Fragile X Syndrome

Daniel Benoit was allegedly diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder known as Fragile X Syndrome, a form of mental retardation. Fragile X patients require a tremendous amount of one-on-one care, which could have cost the Benoit family hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. It is known that Nancy visited Dr. Phil Astin III on June 22, the day she was likely murdered, to discuss possible treatment options and care for her son. Benoit did not tell any of his friends within wrestling about his son's diagnosis and is rumored to have turned down assistance offered for Daniel at one time because he did not want himself or his child to become the face associated with the condition. "I don't know anybody, myself or any of his close friends, his co-workers, his boss, who knew or suspected anything about him having Fragile X," said Chris Jericho, a former WWE wrestler and one of Benoit's closest friends. "Yet as soon as I read the symptoms of Fragile X, it fit Daniel to a T all across the board. The lack of social skills, hard to make eye contact, intense shyness, flapping the hands, ADHD, and even to the point of his ears being a little bigger, his head being a little larger. You don't think much about that; some kids grow into themselves over the years. But now that you read it, you can kind of see where this all ties in."

 

Nancy's family disputes that Daniel had Fragile X Syndrome. "To them, he's always been a normal, healthy, happy child with no signs of illness," attorney Richard Decker said. "And that's not from a distance. That's from day-to-day contact."

 

It has not yet been confirmed whether or not Daniel Benoit was suffering from Fragile X. And while the argument that Benoit killed his family because of his son's condition seems preposterous, it is possible it was one of many contributing factors that caused Benoit to snap. It is rumored that Chris and Nancy fought over the long-term care of Daniel. Benoit took an extended leave of absence from WWE in 2006, presumably to assist Nancy in caring for Daniel after she had neck surgery.

 

Post Concussion Syndrome

At this time, Benoit's brain has not been examined for post concussion syndrome. “Part of me hopes there was something wrong with his brain," said former WWE wrestler Chris Nowinski, Harvard graduate and author of the book Head Games: Football's Concussion Crisis. "The Chris Benoit I knew was always more concerned with everyone else's well being than his own."

 

Nowinski indicated that efforts were made to have the brain of Benoit examined, but that he had been unsuccessful up until that point. The case has been moved from Fayetteville County to the Georgia state level, which could escalate the chances of a brain examination being completed. Nowinski was forced to retire after a very short wrestling career due to the problems associated with PCS.

 

Nowinski is not the only wrestler that has had to retire due to the effects of PCS. In late 1999, former wrestling star Bret Hart, who was wrestling for World Championship Wrestling and was their World Champion at the time, was kicked in the head during a match against fellow wrestler Bill Goldberg and suffered a concussion. Within weeks, he had suffered numerous other concussions and was forced to retire at the age of 42 years old. He later sustained another head injury, which caused him to suffer a stroke and partial paralysis at the age of 44.

 

It is hoped that Benoit's brain will be examined, not to justify his actions, but rather in an effort to uncover as much of the truth as possible. It is certainly a possibility that if Benoit was suffering from PCS that it contributed to his mental state at the time of the murders.

 

Deaths In Wrestling

One aspect that has gotten considerable coverage from the media is the high number of deaths since 1985 of wrestlers under the age of 45. The problem has been that some are saying that 80 wrestlers have died in the past 10 years, some are saying 60 in 10 years, some are saying 60 in the last 20 years. 60 in the last 22 years is correct. It is an alarming statistic, and the media should be more careful to state it correctly. It isn't something that deserves to lose its impact or credibility in being overstated. The truth is scary enough.

 

"I think the problem lies in the lack of checks and balances in our industry, and the fringe celebrity status wrestlers receive," said former WWE wrestler Lance Storm in a commentary on his website earlier this month. "It doesn’t help that the majority of these wrestling deaths happen well after the wrestler is out of the spot light."

 

Vince McMahon said on the Today Show on Thursday that only five wrestlers have died while under contract to his organization, and that he could only speak to those five wrestlers. That is incredibly misleading for many reasons. Of the 60 wrestlers who have died under the age of 45, while it is technically true that only five were under contract to him at the time of death, 32 of the 60 wrestlers worked for his organization at some time, and most of them had extended runs with the company that lasted more than one year.

 

It would be unfair to blame Vince McMahon for all deaths in wrestling. Some of his detractors do more harm than good by attempting to lay the blame on him to that degree, and make him look better than is deserved as a result. However, Vince McMahon has been the most influential individual in wrestling for the past 25 years. It is an undisputable fact that he prefers to make superstars out of wrestlers of a specific body type. There are exceptions to that, but most of the biggest stars in the history of the company, especially prior to 1992 when the steroid scandal hit, were massive guys at their peak.

 

Wrestling Deaths Since 1985

The following is the list the media is currently using of wrestlers who have died before the age of 45. Please keep in mind that there are wrestlers that are not listed here, and that this list only includes wrestlers in the United States. If wrestlers dying at a young age in Japan and Mexico were added to the list, the numbers would increase substantially.

 

Chris Von Erich - 21 years old, committed suicide

Mike Von Erich - 23 years old, committed suicide

Louie Spiccoli - 27 years old, overdosed on somas and alcohol

Art Barr - 28 years old, overdosed on alcohol and painkillers

Gino Hernandez - 29 years old, overdosed on cocaine

Jay Youngblood - 30 years old, heart attack*

Rick McGraw - 30 years old, heart attack

Joey Marella - 30 years old, car accident

Ed Gatner - 31 years old, committed suicide

Buzz Sawyer - 32 years old, possible heart attack or overdose

Crash Holly - 32 years old, overdosed on somas and alcohol

Kerry Von Erich - 33 years old, committed suicide

D.J. Peterson - 33 years old, car accident

Eddie Gilbert - 33 years old, heart attack and cocaine overdose

The Renegade - 33 years old, committed suicide

Owen Hart - 33 years old, fell from ceiling of arena in accidental stunt

Chris Candido - 33 years old, post-surgery complications; blood clot from broken angle suffered in ring

Adrian Adonis - 34 years old, car accident

Gary Albright - 34 years old, heart attack; enlarged heart

Bobby Duncum Jr. - 34 years old, overdose

Yokozuna - 34 years old, heart attack; morbid obesity

Big Dick Dudley - 34 years old, kidney failure

Brian Pillman - 35 years old, heart attack; enlarged heart

Marianna Komlos - 35 years old, breast cancer

Pitbull #2 - 36 years old, overdose

The Wall/Malice - 36 years old, heart attack; long-term drug use

Leroy Brown - 38 years old, heart attack

Brian Hildebrand - 38 years old, cancer

Eddy Guerrero - 38 years old; heart attack, enlarged heart

Davey Boy Smith - 39 years old; heart attack, enlarged heart

Johnny Grunge - 39 years old, sleep apnea

Vivian Vachon - 40 years old, car accident

Jeep Swenson - 40 years old, heart attack

Brady Boone - 40 years old, car accident

Terry Gordy - 40 years old, heart attack; blood clot

Bertha Faye/Rhonda Singh - 40 years old, suicide

Billy Joe Travis - 40 years old, heart attack

Chris Benoit - 40 years old, committed suicide, murdered wife and son

Larry Cameron - 41 years old, heart attack during wrestling match

Rick Rude - 41 years old, heart attack; overdose

Randy Anderson - 41 years old, cancer

Bruiser Brody - 42 years old, murdered by stabbing

Miss Elizabeth - 42 years old, overdosed on alcohol and painkillers

Big Boss Man - 42 years old, heart attack

Earthquake - 42 years old, bladder cancer

Mike Awesome - 42 years old, committed suicide

Biff Wellington - 42 years old, heart attack or stroke

Ray Candy - 43 years old, heart attack

Nancy Benoit - 43 years old, murdered by husband

Dino Bravo - 44 years old, murdered by mob hit

Curt Hennig - 44 years old, heart attack; long-term cocaine use

Bam Bam Bigelow - 45 years old, heart attack; overdose possibly due to cocaine and anti-anxiety drugs

Jerry Blackwell - 45 years old, post-surgery complications; tumor removed from brain stem

Junkyard Dog - 45 years old, car accident

Hercules - 45 years old; heart attack, heart disease

 

*Youngblood was rushed back into wrestling after rupturing his spleen

 

It is truly alarming data. Please note that the majority of the wrestlers listed died of heart attacks. Also, Chris Benoit is not the first wrestler to commit suicide this year, nor is he the first wrestler to hang himself this year. Mike Awesome hung himself on February 26.

 

"From my 17 years in the business, I know probably 40 to 45 wrestlers who dropped dead before they were 50," said Storm in an interview with the AP Saturday. "It's an astronomical number."

 

Deaths of those close to Chris Benoit

"I really look at [so many wrestlers close to him dying so young] as the turning point of Chris's life," said Meltzer, "where he lost his best friend, he lost his best friend in Japan, and he lost the guy that would make him laugh when he was in the worst mood possible."

 

Among those Chris Benoit was very close to who are on the list above are Eddy Guerrero, Johnny Grunge, Victor Mar, Davey Boy Smith, Owen Hart, Brian Pillman, Brian Hildebrand and Larry Cameron. "The list is really long and I just think that that depression from all of that, you know a 40 year old guy," Meltzer added. "They were closer to him than to most people."

 

"Chris' closest friend in the world was Eddy Guerrero," said Bryan Alvarez, editor of the Figure 4 Weekly Newsletter and contributor to WrestlingObserver.com. "He could cry to him. He could tell him everything. After Eddie died, I talked to Chris. He was broken man.

 

"It was about this period of time that people started noticing weird behavior, paranoid behavior, which would indicate he was using a lot of drugs," Alvarez said. "He was alone. He was on the road a lot, having to perform at a high level, having to look a certain way. I think the drug use escalated, and his whole world basically fell apart."

 

Alvarez also indicated that Benoit kept a journal after Eddy Guerrero's death where he wrote to him regularly.

 

Dr. Phil Astin III

On Wednesday, the Associated Press conducted an interview with Dr. Phil Astin III, Benoit's physician, who indicated that he had seen Benoit in his office on June 22, but that he did not seem distressed. Astin, who declined to comment on whether or not he had prescribed anything to Benoit that day, said he prescribed testosterone for Benoit because Benoit had low levels of the hormone from his past steroid use. "He was in my office on Friday to stop by just to see my staff," said Astin. "He certainly didn't show any signs of any distress or rage or anything."

 

On Thursday, state and federal agents raided the office of Dr. Astin, taking computers and medical records from his office. TMZ reports that Astin once had his medical license suspended for "repeatedly prescribing several controlled substances to patients in excessive quantities or for excessive periods of time and prescribing for other than legitimate purposes", and was found guilty of unprofessional conduct in 1992 for overprescribing amphetamines, antidepressants, tranquilizers and narcotics. After having his license suspended on 30 days, he was placed on probation for five years and fined $2000. Astin was reinstated in 1997, but suspended once again in 2001 for "reasons related to competence or character".

 

It has also been noted that Astin had autographed pictures of many professional wrestlers on his office wall. Atlanta has been at times a common place for many pro wrestlers to live, especially those who worked for the now-defunct World Championship Wrestling, whose offices were based in CNN Center before being moved to nearby suburban Smyrna in 1999. The company folded in 2001 and its assets were then sold to Vince McMahon's WWE.

 

The Associated Press is now issuing conflicting reports regarding Dr. Astin's previous suspensions, stating it was his father who was found guilty of unprofessional conduct in 1992, and his father that was placed on probation until 1997.

 

Dr. Astin's mother's house was raided Friday, and Astin has not been seen for two days. "The raid on Dr. Phil Astin and looking for information has apparently spread from just looking for information on Chris Benoit to information on other wrestlers that he treated," said Meltzer.

 

Dr. Astin is not the first physician this year to be investigated under similar circumstances. In March, Dr. David Wilbrit of Arizona went under investigation for writing 3,879 prescriptions over the Internet for steroids and HGH. Wilbrit was linked to pro wrestlers, including Eddy Guerrero, Kurt Angle, Randy Orton, Rey Misterio Jr, Gregory Helms and Adam Copeland, the current world champion of WWE's SmackDown! television show, who wrestles under the ring name Edge. All prescriptions were from 2004 and 2005, prior to the implementation of WWE's wellness policy.

 

WWE spokesman Gary Davis simply said in response that company policy does not allow for prescription drugs obtained from the Internet.

 

Med X Life

Chris Benoit was a former customer of MedXLife, a pharmacy based in South Florida that was recently implicated in an upstate New York investigation of illegal steroid sales. In April, two of the company's owners plead guilty to drug charges in Albany County, New York, admitting they helped get prescription drugs for patients who had no medical need for them. The prescriptions were then filled by Signature Pharmacy of Orlando. The pharmacy was selling steroids, HGH and testosterone on the Internet.

 

Terence Kindlon, lawyer for MedXLife co-owner Dr. Gary Brandwein, denied allegations that his client's company sold steroids to Benoit. WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt has emphasized that the drugs found in Benoit's home were legally prescribed. "There's no question, none of these drugs are out there, none of these drugs came from Internet pharmacies," he said.

 

Whether this is the case or not, this only emphasizes the ease with which steroids can be accessed for those who have the money and are willing to expend the effort.

 

Domestic Abuse

On May 12, 2003, Nancy petitioned for divorce and filed a restraining order against Chris, citing that he lost his temper in an argument and threatened to strike her and cause damage to their belongings. She stated in the document that she was "in reasonable fear for petitioner's own safety and that of the minor child." She withdrew the papers in August when they reconciled.

 

The news of this has resulted in some wives of pro wrestlers speaking out in the media. The most vocal of those has been Debra Marshall, who was married to both Steve McMichael and Steve Austin. At the time Debra was married to Austin, he was the biggest star in wrestling, and was, as she correctly puts it, "the biggest moneymaker in WWE".

 

"Everyone thought we had this wonderful life, had this big house, worked together," said Marshall. "I have lived it. I have lived domestic abuse. I don't even want to think about what Nancy went through." Marshall insists that Austin was on steroids and that she personally saw him do steroids, which she believes contributed to his violent outbursts.

 

"I could go into horror stories," said Dave Meltzer in a Spring 1990 issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. In addition to other steroid-related horror stories, he also mentioned "a wrestler who really didn't want to use steroids while his wife was pregnant because during fits of roid rage he had punched her, but at the times there were pressures from the top because he was getting too small."

 

WWE announcer and former head of Talent Relations Jim Ross insists that he was close to both Chris and Nancy and was unaware of any domestic disputes, and said he spoke to them both recently. "She said things were fine at home," Ross said in his blog on Thursday. "As well as Nancy and I knew each other, if that had not been the case, she would have inferred otherwise I assure you ... those who have or are loosely associated with wrestling and who are making statements with little or no background of the facts of this matter or who simply want another 15 minutes are in a large sense pathetic."

 

The attempt to smear those outside the company who are speaking out, whether there is truth behind the accusations or not, reflects poorly on WWE.

 

Wikipedia

On Thursday, it was reported by FOX News that web time stamps indicated that Chris Benoit's Wikipedia was updated about 14 hours before police found the bodies of the Benoit family. There was briefly controversy surrounding this because the IP address of the update traced it back to Stamford, Connecticut, which is home to World Wrestling Entertainment, even though the IP address did not match any of the servers of the WWE offices. The individual who updated Chris Benoit's Wikipedia page issued an anonymous public statement Friday apologizing for the coincidence.

 

Thursday on MSNBC, Meltzer explained that a live wrestling chat was taking place during Sunday's Vengeance pay-per-view from Houston, Texas. An individual in the chat posted at 8:41 PM that the "family emergency" reported as the reason Benoit missed the show was because his wife Nancy had passed away, before adding that "Meltzer said it." WWE questioned Meltzer later to see if he was contacted by Benoit Sunday, which he indicated he was not. Apparently, an individual in the chat saw this information and immediately updated Benoit's Wikipedia entry.

 

The update appears to have been a hoax and strange coincidence. Federal agents seized the individual's computer Friday.

 

Sherri Martel and Kevin Sullivan

Former pro wrestler and valet "Sensational" Sherri Martel passed away in Alabama on June 15, 2007 at the age of 49. Police do not suspect foul play, but it has been indicated that the death was not due to natural causes. Geraldo Rivera stated in error on FOX News that Martel died on the same day Nancy Benoit was killed, which is completely incorrect, and suggested that the deaths are all linked, which they certainly or not. In addition, Rivera indicated the incorrect dates of text messages Benoit sent to his friends within WWE. Rivera indicated that Benoit was sending text messages during the Vengeance pay-per-view, which is also incorrect, as it has been confirmed that the cryptic text messages sent to friends were sent at 3:28 AM on the morning of June 24.

 

Rivera indicated a "link" between Kevin Sullivan, former pro wrestler and ex-husband of Nancy Benoit, and Martel, by stating that Sullivan was her "booker". The term booker is being misused by Rivera. In wrestling terms, a booker oversees storylines for a promotion. Martel worked for the defunct World Championship Wrestling from 1994-1997 as a valet, and during this time period, Sullivan was a booker for WCW, not for Martel as an individual. Wrestlers do not have individual bookers, and the only link between the two would be this vague one at best.

 

In 1996, Sullivan was overseeing the creative direction of WCW, and was still married to Nancy. Chris Benoit, who was married to another woman at the time, was a fairly new talent in the company. Benoit was recognized as an extraordinary wrestler who had a lack of charisma. Sullivan felt that Benoit needed an engaging storyline to reach the next level, and concocted a story where Nancy and Chris would run off together, thus creating the illusion that Benoit stole Sullivan's wife. To sell wrestling fans on the idea that the storyline was real, Sullivan encouraged Nancy and Chris to be seen in public together and to share hotel rooms.

 

Art would eventually imitate life, as Nancy and Chris would fall in love during the storyline, breaking up both of their marriages in the process. Sullivan was in a position to keep Benoit from reaching the next level as a result, and from there on purportedly made efforts to end any attempts of Benoit to climb the ladder to the top of the promotion. Sullivan was ousted from his booking position after several changes in power structure within WCW, before ending up back in the same role in early 2000. Benoit saw the writing on the wall and felt that he would never receive a fair opportunity under Sullivan, and at that point bolted to WWE, along with his friends Eddy Guerrero, Dean Malenko and Perry Saturn. Prior to Benoit and friends jumping, Sullivan attempted to earn Benoit's trust by having him win WCW's World Championship, but Benoit jumped anyway.

 

Despite personal issues between them in the past, Sullivan has spoken diplomatically of both Chris and Nancy in the press.

 

"She was a nice person," said Sullivan of his ex-wife in an interview Wednesday. "We just went our separate ways. She was nice and very loving and I'm sure she was a good mother."

 

Sullivan said he never associated with Benoit outside the ring. "I really don’t know his personality," he said. "But I'm sad for all three, especially the child."

 

Benoit's Personal Character

Indications from almost everyone who worked with and knew Benoit are that the incident was a complete shock, and that Benoit showed no warning signs of self destruction ahead of time. "It's almost a tale of two cities, a tale of two people," said Jericho. "There was the Chris Benoit that had these horrendous acts of extreme psychopathic lunacy in the last days of his life. Then there's the Benoit I myself travelled with, lived with, said I love you to on many occasions; he was my mentor, one of my best friends, and was a brother to me in so many ways. The 15 years I knew him and the two days he did these horrible horrible acts, it's hard to kind of discern the two. That's why we have to find out what would make a mild-mannered, polite, influential tremendous person and performer to do such things. Is steroids a reasons? I think it goes much deeper than that. I think we're seeing a man with some severe psychological, troubled issuese and held them in for far too long and they combined to cause him to snap in such a horrible way."

 

Jericho is not the only individual in wrestling who spoke highly of Benoit. "I always thought Chris Benoit was the nicest guy you could ever hope to meet," said Bryan Alvarez in the latest issue of Figure 4 Weekly. "One day he asked for my address. He ended up sending me a chair from the PPV where Eddy Guerrero won the WWE Title. There was also a really nice note in there. I showed it to my buddy Vinny, and I remember at the time we thought, 'How could a man so great be so nice?' It seemed impossible. So apparently it was."

 

By all accounts, Benoit appeared to be a mild-mannered, calm, soft-spoken, kind individual, which makes the incidents of last weekend all the more perplexing.

[Bix]

That is some fantastic writing.

 

Quick correction-I believe the case had already been moved up to the state coroner when the doctor from Nowinski's organization called, and the state office was who was called.

[Jingus]

nevermind,

[Jingus]

extraneous posts