On Monday July 25, 2007 it was reported that wrestler Chris Benoit, his wife and child were dead. At that point in time, the full extent of this tragedy was unknown, and the WWE canceled its planned live Raw event and aired a special Tribute Show - out of respect for the sudden death of Benoit's family and his contributions to the business.




Now, as the details of this tragedy are being uncovered, the WWE is being slammed for "honouring" a murderer by media outlets and also by the public. I believe that when the decision was made to make Raw a Chris Benoit tribute show, the WWE was doing only what seemed to be respectful at that time. As more information was discovered, the WWE took a different and appropriate stance to their programing. Tuesdays ECW and Fridays Smackdown were dedicated to all the fans and it was made clear that no mention of Benoit would be made in those shows.



In Australia, Raw isn't shown until Wednesdays, the "tribute show" was never screened here. On Wednesday 27, Raw was not aired - instead an apology was issued on behalf of the WWE and alternate programing was aired by Fox8. On Saturday [when a repeat of Raw is usually aired], a special Raw was scheduled, again dedicated to the WWE fans - this edition of Raw showcased some of 'the Greatest Championship Matches over the past year'. As with ECW and Smackdown, no mention of Benoit was made.



I do not think it is fair that the WWE is being give such a hard time because of it's decision to air the tribute show. As stated before, at that point in time the WWE [and the world] did not know the full extent of this tragedy. They did what any other sporting show would have done had Benoit been a 'traditional' athlete - pay homage to his {i}career{/i}. The full extent of this tragedy was not made public until approximately 2/3's through the original broadcast of the Raw tribute. The WWE did the right thing by canceling delayed broadcasts of the tribute show [like in Aus] and removed not only the tributes on their website but also his Superstar page and merchandise from the WWE shop.



I believe that the WWE should be commended on how they have handled this situation, not condemned for it. It is a very delicate situation and they have handled it well despite what the media have said and implied about the industry and company.



Although Benoit was not one of my favourite wrestlers, I did respect him. As did all wrestling fans and those who knew and worked with him. Like the rest of us, I believe the wrestling world feel just as confused, shocked and angered by Benoit's actions. I know that there are a lot of people saying that Benoit couldn't possibly have killed his wife and child, that it was a set up. I disagree, the police are not stupid. There would have been evidence of 'outside interference'. People deal with grief in different ways and until this case is officially closed by police, there are going to be a lot of theories and opinions on the events that took place over the weekend of the murders. The truth is, a reason or motive for the events may never come to light.



I think it is terrible how the media is spinning that 'roid rage' is the cause of this tragedy. For starters, the authorities have not yet finished their investigation, and therefore nothing is certain at this point. The media need to take a step back and look at the facts of this case. I, like the WWE, don't believe 'roid rage' is the cause of this tragedy for several reasons.



* A toxicology report is yet to be released [and won't for a couple of weeks] - it isn't even known if Benoit was using steroids. As the WWE have stated he tested negative in a random test conducted in April this year. And yes, like any workplace that carry out drug tests - they are random.



* Physical findings released by authorities indicate deliberation, not rage. The wife's hands and feet were bound and she was asphyxiated [as was the son], not beaten to death. Authorities have stated that there was a substantial period of time between the time of death of the wife and the death of the son, which suggests deliberate thought, not rage. Neither has it been stated by officials that the house showed signs of damage caused by a fit of rage, surely if Benoit was indeed affected by 'roid rage' there would have been some damage caused to the house and furniture.



* Authorities stated that all drugs found in the house were legal and have stated plainly that there is no evidence that Benoit had steroids in his body, pending toxicology reports, and they had no evidence at this to as to a motive for these acts.



I don't deny that steroid/drug use has been a problem and is still, to some extent, an issue in the wrestling industry, the WWE have been taking steps to address these issues over the past few years in their 'Wellness Program'. I am sure that the WWE will look to improving it's Wellness Program and do as much as it can, as an employer, to help employees with any problems they may have.



If you listen to the media Benoit killed his family because he was a wrestler on steroids. The way the media has been spinning this case, they are making it look like every wrestler uses drugs and take steroids - which is plainly not the case. I think they are spinning the 'roid rage' angle in this case simply because Benoit was a wrestler, nothing more.



The wrestler and the person who committed these horrible acts seem to be completely different people, according to accounts from those who knew him. As Chris Jericho stated in an interview on the Nancy Grace show on CNN: "This is not about steroids, this is not about wrestling; this is about finding out about the mental problems this man had to cause him to snap in such a brutal form,"



Until all the facts of this case are revealed and the authorities release their findings, all we are going to have is opinions as to what has taken place. Due to the physical facts surrounding the deaths of his wife and child, I will not except 'roid rage' as a reason behind the deaths of Benoit's wife and child - even if toxicology results find steroids in Benoit's system. The facts of this case and the facts of 'roid rage' simply do not add up.



Chyna Dolores is an author on http://www.Writing.Com which is a site for Creative Writing. You can view her personal work at Chyna's Articles.



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