WWE Receives a Letter from Congress Concerning Wrestlers and Drug Abuse

In the wake of the deaths of Chris Benoit, his wife Nancy, and his 7 year old son, Daniel, World Wrestling Entertainment has received a letter from Congress asking them to turn over any information on wrestlers and drug abuse. The letter states that the deaths have raised some questions about the widespread use of steroids and performance-enhancing drugs by professional wrestlers. The leaders of the Congress committee that sent out this letter want a response by August 24. A spokesman for WWE stated that they are currently reviewing the letter and will respond accordingly. Benoit killed his wife and son, placed Bibles next to their bodies then hanged himself on a cable from a weight machine.

Benoit was scheduled to wrestle at WWE'S Vengeance pay-per-view for the Extreme Championship Wrestling World Championship against CM Punk. He called in two days before the match and said his wife and son were throwing up from food poisoning and that he couldn't make the house show on Saturday. Authorities believe he had killed his wife at this point and was getting ready to kill his son.

A co-worker called the police because he was concerned for Benoit's well-being after having a phone conversation with him, stating that Benoit sounded tired and groggy. When the police arrived at the Benoit family home, they found the bodies of his wife and son with Bibles placed next to them. They later found the body of Benoit with a cable from a weight machine wrapped around his neck. Along with the bodies, authorities also found anabolic steroids in the home and wonder if the drugs had any role in the deaths.

On the night after the bodies were found, World Wrestling Entertainment Chairman Vince McMahon, who had recently started a storyline about his own death, announced that Raw would air a three-hour tribute show to Chris Benoit in place of the regularly scheduled show for the night. However, the next night, Vince appeared on ECW on Sci-Fi and apologized for airing the tribute as they were unaware of the circumstances surrounding the death of Chris Benoit. He even went so far as to say they would never mention Benoit's name again.

Following this statement, Benoit's profile as well as any merchandise with his name on it were removed from the WWE website. Not only has the company received bad publicity since the deaths, they may also face being shut down because of it. All loyal wrestling fans are sure to be supporting Mr. McMahon throughout the process he goes through with Congress.