When WWE wrestling star Chris Benoit alleged committed double murder-suicide this week Fox MSN didn’t pull any punches: “Add [him] to the long list of freakishly muscled carnival attractions for whom a pro wrestling career ended tragically," the network wrote online.
Steroids are being pegged by several sources, including former wrestlers, as a leading cause behind the horrific crimes. It could be weeks before toxicology results show if steroids were in the body of Benoit (right) at the time of death, but that doesn’t stop the industry and public from raising alarms about the health and safety of wrestling pros.
Steroids have been linked to serious physical health problems for a while now. For example, one of Benoit's best friends, Eddie Guerrero, died in 2005 from heart failure linked to long-term steroid use. Jon Stewart, former pro wrestler and now wrestling promoter, told Bill O’Reilly of The O’Reilly Report on June 27 that “since 1997… more than 60 current or former professional wrestlers, all 45 years or younger, have died from assorted causes” such as drug overdoses, heart attacks and other reasons.
Those other "assorted causes" could well include serious mental health problems, and the Benoit tragedy has unleased a maelstrom of public concern over extreme, illogical anger (known as 'roid rage) and severe, chronic depression and suicidal thoughts or attempts by steroid users.
Mental health issues are popping up in other pro sports
Mental health issues are finally being talked about in other pro sports, too, of late such as the Concussion Summit held by the National Football League June 19 to try and prevent severe (even suicidal) depression and neurological illnesses linked to players receiving multiple concussions.
The NFL is dealing with it. The WWE, however, issued a statement on June 26 that steroids “were not and could not be related to the cause of death… The physical findings [of the murder scene] announced by authorities indicate deliberation, not rage.” The WWE also claims that Benoit tested negative for steroid use on April 10 of this year, the last time he was tested for drugs.
So we wait for the autopsy on Chris Benoit to see, conclusively, if steroids were in his system and any further evidence as to how long he used the powerful drug to enhance his famous beefcake image in the competitive arena of wrestling. Just as horrendous outcomes from football players getting slammed in the head again and again may be leading to real change in health and safety practices in the NFL.
As tragic as the death of the Benoit family is, maybe it will help move our society that much closer to caring enough about the health and safety of its sports stars who, despite their adulation-fed egos and oversized salaries, don’t always get the protection they need.
