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I have been glued to my computer, and to the 24 hour news networks, for the past 72 hours, ever since the news broke of the tragedy that took place over the weekend. I am more and more bewildered and stupefied with every news report and with every interview I see. I haven't posted my thoughts about the situation. Instead I have posted all the "news" that has been reported as well as some comments from various people in the wrestling business. I figured that now would be as good a time as any to give my thoughts on the way the media is handling this story.
First off, why more people in the wrestling business and with wrestling websites have seemingly ignored Nancy Benoit and her contribution to the wrestling business is beyond me. She was an innovator and most who worked with her or knew her will tell you she not only brought class to the business but had a great mind for it as well. For those of you who may have missed it, here is a career retrospective of Nancy, aka Woman's work.
The last 48 hours seem to have the news media focused on steroids, "roid rage", and the "60 wrestlers, under the age of 45, who have died in the past 10 years." Suddenly, the focus is no longer on the victims but on what what has been reported as "prescription" medications. The latest is a raid on the doctor's office that allegedly supplied Chris Benoit with steroids that were allegedly found in his home. (Yes, I used the word allegedly. Read on to see why.)
Does it concern anyone that the focus of the investigation has gone from the actual murders to the doctors or drug manufacturers? If some of the speculation that states that Chris Benoit may in fact have been murdered himself is indeed true, shouldn't that be the focus? What if Benoit actually did not commit these heinous acts? Shouldn't definitive proof be sought or shouldn't we at least be told what the definitive proof is? What about this new development that Nancy's death was reported 11-12 hours before police even found the body? While I am not the only one who would like to believe that Chris was not able to commit these crimes, it certainly seems as if he did. I would just like to be 100 percent positive, as I am sure all of you would like to be.
I just finished watching more than 3 hours of news on this story. I want to show you why my head is about to explode from ridiculous and inaccurate reporting.
Let's begin with Nancy Grace. Tonight, alongside three other guests who had absolutely nothing to do with pro wrestling, Nancy welcomed Chris Jericho. Jericho was very eloquent and talked about his friendship with Chris and how anyone who knew him never saw any side of him that would give the slightest hint of him having any problems. Of course, Nancy kept harping on the "roid rage" issue and the WWE's drug policy. Chris did defend and explain how rigorous the WWE Wellness Program is. Nancy then scrolled a list of names of wrestler who passed away over the past 10 years, insinuating that steroids had contributed to their deaths. As I looked through the list, I saw some who passed away in automobile accident, others who died of cancer, and numerous other names that passed away from causes that could NOT be attributed to steroids. Good job, Nancy! Nancy Grace was the only person, of all the reports I watched tonight, to actually mention that there is some talk that Benoit may have been murdered. For me, the most absurd thing of all also took place on Nancy Grace... and interview with Lex Luger talking about how shocked he was when he heard about Benoit killing his family. Hello!? Pot! Kettle! Black!!?
Now I move on to Bill O'Reilly. It isn't bad enough that O'Reilly all but blamed Nancy for the horrific acts since she didn't leave the marriage but then he brings on Geraldo Rivera. Rivera started claiming that Sensational Sherri Martel was found dead on the same day as Nancy Benoit. He repeatedly said "They both died on June 15th! June 15th!" I hate to tell you this, Geraldo but Sherri was found dead on June 15th, Nancy was a week later. To make his comments even more absurd Geraldo insinuated that Kevin Sullivan, being an ex husband of Nancy and a friend and former booker of Sherri, may have had something to do with this. His final words were, "Four people may have been murdered!" WHAT? I only hope Mr. Sullivan heard this and presses charges against Geraldo for such allegations.
Scarborough Country decided to do something unique. They had four guests who at least had something to do with the world of pro wrestling. Marc Mero, Steve Blackman, Dave Meltzer, and Irvin Muchnick all discussed the over usage of the term "roid rage" Scarborough stated that Vince McMahon should apologize for airing a three hour tribute to Benoit on Monday night. Believe me, I'm no fan of Vince. However, what Vince did on Monday was the right thing, considering the circumstances at the time. Vince then addressed the situation prior to the Tuesday night ECW show, once again doing the right thing.
Next up, Hannity and Colmes. Their first guest was Debra Marshall, formerly McMichael, formerly Austin's wife. Debra stated that the one year gag order she had imposed on her was over. She basically used this opportunity to trash Steve Austin as much as possible. She discussed how she saw him use steroids. She discussed how he beat her and hit her. She discussed how she had him arrested. Wow, that brought a lot to the table as far as the Benoit situation goes. Great guest so far. Next up was Billy Graham. At least Mr. Graham is a self admitted steroid user so, since the media is insistent on focusing on steroids and not the actual victims of the murder, Graham is a good person to go to. Graham talks about roid rage and how Vince or the WWE are not responsible for anything that may have happened. He talked about Chris being an adult and able to make decisions. He also mentioned how the issue of steroid rage is over hyped. Debra took this as her opportunity to tell Graham that he has never been on the receiving end of roid rage. Does Debra have a book coming out soon because, unless she's here to get publicity for that, she's useless. The final guest was Jeanine Pirro who has absolutely nothing to do with pro wrestling. Need I say more?
So, after watching all these hours of "news", what have I learned? I learned that most of these 24 hour news networks shouldn't have that much difficulty finding actual, knowledgeable guests to appear on their show. However, most of them do. I learned that the victims in a murder case don't really matter as long as the alleged murderer took steroids. I wonder what spin the mainstream news would put on this case if steroids were never found in the home.
I know it will be a while before toxicology reports come back. I know we may never know, 100%, what happened in that home over that weekend. I know that three people are dead and one of them is a 7 year old child. I also know that two other children are now without a father. I just wish that the news media would focus on facts and focus on the victims instead of trying their hardest to lay the blame on steroids and the wrestling business.
By the way, every news show that featured this story tonight, ended their broadcast with the latest on Paris Hilton.
I'd love to hear your opinions, thoughts, reactions, to the reports out there. Drop me a line at WresClothesline@aol.com!
