The Story Continues
July 10th, 2007Benoit’s doctor has been connected to the death of Michael Durham who is known as Johnny Grunge of the old ECW tag-team, The Public Enemy. And yes, Dear Reader, that doctor and others like him are facilitating the destruction of human lives and families because they’re willing to give prescriptions by the barrel to professional athletes for extra dollars and in hopes of brushing up with fame for five minutes. There’s more important news out, though, and that’s that some tests have been completed” on Benoit’s toxicology report.
A spokesman for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, John Bankhead, told The Associated Press that his agency was waiting for all the tests to be complete before sharing the results with investigators in Fayette County. “We’re going to discuss what we find with local investigators and they can determine what they want to release,” Bankhead said. District Attorney Scott Ballard did not immediately return a page to his cell phone seeking comment. Police have said Benoit strangled his wife and son, placing Bibles next to the bodies, and then hung himself on a piece of exercise equipment in his suburban Atlanta home the weekend of June 22.
Authorities found anabolic steroids in Benoit’s home, leading officials to wonder whether the drugs played a role in the killings. Some experts believe steroids can cause paranoia, depression and violent outbursts known as “roid rage.” Since the deaths, toxicology tests have been conducted on Benoit’s body to determine if steroids or other drugs were present. Blood-alcohol tests also were conducted on his body, and chemical tests were conducted on the bodies of the wife and son, Bankhead said. The wife’s body was decomposed, preventing some tests on her body from being done, though Bankhead declined to be specific. The GBI has been handling the testing for general drugs and alcohol, while an outside lab was hired to do the testing for steroids, Bankhead said. He declined to name the lab or say which of the tests have been completed.
“There is going to be some interpretation of what was found,” Bankhead said, without elaborating.
The last quote baffles, of course, but I take it to mean: “yes, we found steroids in his system, but a lot of other different, more-consistent-with-rage-and-tempers-and-depression drugs.” We’ll see what happens when the full reports are out, though, but there’s still more news coming out of this story: Doctor Astin’s office has been raided a third time for information on his dead patients, and Johnny Grunge’s wife has gone out on record to criticize Doctor Astin, as he should be.
There is another bit of news I’d like to touch upon before we head into the media. Famed wrestling reporter Dave Meltzer is saying that a handful (at most) of people at the top of WWE knew about the murder-suicide on the night WWE aired its Tribute Show to Benoit and is criticizing them for claiming not to have known when, he says, he knew by six o clock. I’m not sure what to make of the news — wrestlers had all sorts of things to say, and Triple H, who is married to the boss’ daughter and holds all the politics clout…well, he had nothing negative to say about Benoit, nothing tentative, and so I wonder if it simply isn’t true, or if it was all speculation.
Like I’ve said before, WWE had a short amount of time to make a decision: air a tribute? Tribute show? Let the show go on? Ignore it for a day? Whatever they came to would be criticized heavily, and so I cut them slack in airing an emotional tribute when all the confirmed news they’d known was, “He and his family are dead.”
Briefly, I’d like to direct you to the Larry King transcript, where he interviewed John Cena of WWE, Bret Hart, Chris Jericho, Ted DiBiase and Steve Blackman, even. He asked fair questions and got fair, straight up answers. It’s how an interview should be done — without an agenda, without pointed questions. He asked about steroids and made other points, but he didn’t scream at his guests — “DON’T YOU KNOW HE WAS TAKING ENOUGH STEROIDS TO GROW A HIPPO? ISN’T THAT CONVINCING AND SHOCKING?!”
And since we’re on the subject, we should touch upon Fox’ continuing coverage of Chris Benoit’s death, as it’s just as important as the Larry King show.
On Friday Night’s “Hannity and Colmes,” wrestlers “Leaping” Lanny Poffo, “Superstar” Billy Graham, and Jacques Rougeau were interviewed on the program. Here are the highlights:
- Alan Colmes mentioned the survey from the U.K. that states that 104 wrestlers, under the age of 50, have died in the last decade. Colmes read a WWE response, “We are in the process of reviewing this list and the many others that are circulating around the internet. We intend to comment on these lists in the near future.”
- Colmes butchered Lanny Poffo’s name, but he corrected him. Poffo said he met Chris Benoit on three different occasions, and spoke to friends Rick Martel and Nora Greenwald about Benoit, and they said he was the last person they’d expect to do something like this. Lanny said he was torn up that a seven year old boy is gone in this tragedy.
- Rougeau said he knew Benoit in WCW, and puts the blame, “100% on steroids.” He said he was in the WWF for 10 years, and says it’s a rough life when you are away from your family 25 days out of each month. He said lots of guys go to the bars after the matches, and mix alcohol with other drugs they are using.
- Poffo said there is an epidemic out there, called “it’s not my fault syndrome.” He said to make it in life you must be yourself and be unique. Poffo said he was proud of his 21 year career, and traveled all around the world.
- Rougeau said he never used steroids, but for ten years was around guys that used them. For an example, Rougeau brought up the Road Warriors. He said Hawk pushed him up against the wall after a match, but apologized five minutes later. Jacques said if a wrestler weights 250 in June, and then weights 265 in July, you know what’s going on.
- Graham joined the program and defended Road Warrior Hawk by saying he was using a large amount of cocaine, in addition to his steroid use and use of other drugs.
- Graham mentioned Dean Malenko’s comments on Raw, how Chris Benoit had a knack of disappearing from conversations. He said Benoit was devastated by the death of his friend Eddy Guerrero, and literally cried on his shoulder about what is wrong with this world. He said that was insight into his mental issues.
- Poffo was asked about steroids in wrestling and if they are necessary, and Poffo said it is important to be unique, because that’s what people will pay to see.
- Jacques said when he started in wrestling 30 years ago, he had 19 ½” arms, and today, he has 19” arms. He said the Rougeau family has done well without using steroids. He talked about his successes in the ring including defeating Hulk Hogan, and said he never needed steroids.
- Jacques said it’s the night life that has killed a lot of guys.
- Graham said it’s a matter of choice. He said he choose to use steroids, starting in 1966. He said he enjoyed taking steroids.
- Colmes asked Graham about Daniel, and wondered if he had Fragile X Syndrome. He said he isn’t a doctor, but knew he was shy. Graham said he could have been undersized. He said undersized kids have been prescribed human growth hormone to help them grow.
- Graham said the Bibles at the scene showed anguish by Benoit. He felt Benoit was taking himself and his son to another place.
- Poffo said he almost declined the offer to do the show because he thought he’d get too emotional. He said Benoit didn’t leave a suicide note, so we can only speculate what was going through his mind. He gave a message to the kids, “if you play, you must pay.” He said you must know the Consequences for everything you do.
- Jacques ended the segment by saying “stay away from steroids.”
It was a much better show than the rest of what’s been on Fox, but I take exception with Rougeau’s comments. I’ll accept them as having less an agenda than the media’s, though, as he was a wrestler, but I think he’s as wrong as can be. “100%” blame on steroids? No way.