The death of Chris Benoit seemed 24 hours ago like the WWE's equal of what Dale Earnhardt's death was to NASCAR. Now, it looks like it's wrestling's O.J. Simpson case.
It's now been confirmed that Benoit, one of the world's most popular and respected wrestlers, murdered his wife Nancy and seven-year-old son Daniel, before taking his own life on Monday.
This has become a national story, with such bizarre asides as Bill Apter being quoted by Fox News, and steroids being raised as a possible factor in the murders. This may also hurt wrestling quite a bit- we all know about the dozens and dozens of deaths connected to the "sport" over the years; this is only the most prominent, and certainly the most grisly.
Indeed, the tribute show the WWE aired for Benoit last night was pitched as though he was a great guy who had been struck down through no fault of his own; the WWE must now do a total 180 on its treatment of the tragedy. Jonathan Last suspects the tribute aired last night will "disappear down the WWE memory hole pretty quickly," as things in their operation often do. Last also suggests they probably burned the tape right after it aired.
WWE has now pulled all merchandise related to Benoit, and his bio on the website now redirects to the update page related to his death.
Meanwhile, the Internet's best wrestling writer, Rick Scaia, has more on this sad, shocking day.
Posted by Stephen Silver at June 26, 2007 05:10 PMGrisly. Sorry, pet peeve.
Posted by: Mithras at June 27, 2007 07:49 AM