WWE and USA Wrestle With Fallout From Chris Benoit Case

By Lisa de Moraes
Wednesday, June 27, 2007; C07

WWE Chairman Vince McMahon issued a non-apology last night for his organization's three-hour tribute to pro wrestler Chris Benoit that aired Monday night on the USA Network. USA itself had no comment on having telecast a three-hour tribute to a man who, according to authorities, over the weekend bound and strangled his wife, suffocated his 7-year-old son and placed Bibles next to their bodies before hanging himself with a weight-machine pulley several hours and possibly as long as a day later.

The bodies of the longtime WWE wrestler, his wife and their son were found in their Fayetteville, Ga., home Monday afternoon and reports said police were treating it as a double murder and suicide.

On its Web site, World Wrestling Entertainment said it had asked authorities to check on Benoit and his family after being alerted by friends who received "several curious text messages sent by Benoit early Sunday morning."

But WWE and USA Network officials also were reported as saying they were not aware of the circumstances when the tribute was put together to air in place of the scheduled live "Monday Night Raw" program -- an "investigation" into the faux death of McMahon. (In the scripted story line, McMahon had been "blown up" in a bomb explosion in a stretch limo.)

Last night, at the top of "Extreme Championship Wrestling" on Sci Fi Channel, which, like USA, is owned by NBC Universal, McMahon mentioned the previous night's tribute show.

"However, some 26 hours later," he said, "facts of this horrible tragedy are now apparent. Therefore, other than my comments there will be no mention of Mr. Benoit's name tonight. On the contrary, tonight's show will be dedicated to everyone who has been affected by this terrible incident. This evening marks the first step of the healing process.

"Tonight WWE performers will do what they do better than anyone else in the world -- entertain you."

A spokeswoman for USA said the network had no comment about the fact it had run the Benoit tribute, explaining, "Really, they [WWE] know more than we do -- it's all coming out of their camp."

Late yesterday, WWE's home page posted an article saying the organization was concerned by "sensationalistic" reporting on the Benoit story, specifically that use of steroids might have contributed to his actions.

In a televised news conference yesterday afternoon, authorities said that in addition to prescription drugs they found anabolic steroids in the house. The bodybuilding drugs can cause paranoia, depression and explosive behavior that is sometimes called "roid rage," the Associated Press reported.

During the news conference, District Attorney Scott Ballard told reporters that toxicology test results may not be available for weeks or possibly months. Asked whether steroids played a role in the deaths, he said, "We don't know yet. That's one of the things we'll be looking at."

WWE was already spinning that angle yesterday afternoon, insisting "roid rage" could not have been involved because the "physical findings announced by authorities indicate deliberation, not rage. The wife's feet and hands were bound and she was asphyxiated, not beaten to death. By the account of the authorities, there were substantial periods of time between the death of the wife and the death of the son, again suggesting deliberate thought, not rage. The presence of a Bible by each is also not an act of rage."

According to authorities, Benoit killed his wife Friday, his son late Saturday or early Sunday and himself some time later; his body was found hanging from the pulley of a piece of gym equipment. Ballard said it was "bizarre" that Benoit spread out the killings over a weekend.

"I'm baffled about why anybody would kill a 7-year-old," he said. "I don't think we'll ever be able to wrap our head around that."

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For the first time in ages, NBC had the week's four most-watched shows, but only three racked double digits. CBS and ABC, meanwhile, suffered their smallest ratings among younger viewers since the 1980s.

Here's a look at the week's hot and cold:

WINNERS

"America's Got Talent." The NBC competition series came in first for the third week in a row, this time with an average audience of 12.5 million viewers.

"Dateline." Matt Lauer's interview with Princes William and Harry -- the one that had absolutely no connection to this Sunday's Matt Lauer-hosted NBC broadcast of the "Concert for Diana" concocted by her sons, Princes William and Harry, and for which NBC paid more than $2 million in license fees -- scored 12.2 million viewers. That was last week's second-largest audience and the biggest "Dateline" crowd in two years. During a recent phone news conference to plug the concert broadcast, Lauer insisted there was "no quid pro quo."

"Friday Night SmackDown!" For the second time in three weeks, CW's faux-wrestling show beat the major networks in its time period among the 18-to-49-year-olds they all target.

LOSERS

"Friday Night Lights." So few people are watching this show no one noticed NBC had pulled it off the lineup until its second week off the air. Three episodes were repeated, as planned, but once the series hit a 0.9 rating among young adults, NBC yanked it in favor of a "Law & Order" rerun. This does not bode well for the second-season launch of the critically adored but hardly watched series, especially now that a new guy is running NBC's entertainment division.

"Creature Comforts." After three episodes, CBS yanked its version of the U.K. stop-motion animation hit. The last episode clocked 4.2 million viewers; the "New Adventures of Old Christine" that replaced it logged 5.5 million viewers this past Monday.

The week's 10 most watched programs, in order, were: NBC's "America's Got Talent," Monday "Dateline," Monday "Deal or No Deal" and "Law & Order: SVU"; CBS's "NCIS," "CSI" and "Two and a Half Men"; Fox's "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" and Wednesday "So You Think You Can Dance"; and CBS's "CSI: Miami."