The Associated Press has written a comprehensive Benoit story leading with how he told some WWE co-workers that his murdered wife and son had contracted “food poisoning,” which is why he missed a scheduled Saturday night appearance in Beaumont, Texas. Here is the link: http://breakingnews.nypost.com/dynamic/stories/W/WRESTLER_DEAD?SITE=NYNYP&SECTION=HOME
The Atlanta-Journal Constitution quoted people who knew the Benoits from outside the wrestling industry in its main story about the situation today. The newspaper also reveals that the DUI arrest Benoit had that Fayette (Ga.) County officials alluded to during a Tuesday news conference occurred in 1998 while he was working with WCW and before he was married to Nancy Benoit. Here is the link: http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/fayette/stories/2007/06/26/0627metbenoit.html
Debra Williams, the ex-wife of “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, felt compelled to speak out about the murder of Nancy and Daniel Benoit on the FOX 31 web site. “Domestic and drug abuse is out of hand in the WWE and something needs to be done about it,” said Williams, who claimed she saw Austin personally use steroids. “If only I had spoken up sooner, maybe Nancy and her little boy would be alive today ... That's why I'm going public now. Something has to change!” The victim of domestic violence by Austin in 2002 – which is the last year she worked for WWE -- Williams said she filed for a restraining order after a third incident between the two. Williams said Austin later forced her to write a letter to the courts asking the order be repealed. In turn, she consented to a gag order about the situation. The link to the story can be found here: http://www.myfoxcolorado.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=3607731&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1
Two wrestling fans emailed from Australia to say that Monday Night Raw, which airs at 3:30 p.m. every Wednesday on FOX8, would not air today and instead replaced by an episode of Jerry Springer.
The Corpus Christi Caller Times has an interesting story about the cancellation and rescheduling of this week’s Monday Night Raw as well as an early run on merchandise after news of his death (sans the gruesome details) began to surface. Here is the link: http://www.caller.com/news/2007/jun/27/wwe-event-is-rescheduled-locally-for-july-16/
Sports Illustrated reported about the link between Benoit and a Florida-based company accused of dealing steroids and human growth hormone. Here is the link: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/more/06/26/benoitcase/
Bret Hart once again weighed in on the Benoit murder/suicide in the Calgary Sun. “I can't begin to even understand what could drive somebody to do this,” said Hart, whose family helped train Benoit to become a pro wrestler. “The sad thing about it is I never saw Chris lose his composure and I never saw him get angry. He was always a very solid, sound, logical kind of guy. It’s totally the last thing you'd ever expect to come out of Chris Benoit. I think that's why everyone's having such a hard time coming to terms with this.” Here is the link to the story: http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/2007/06/27/4293695-sun.html
The Daytona Beach News Journal wrote an article about Nancy Benoit’s early beginnings in pro wrestling. Here is the link: http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Local/newWEST01062707.htm
“Tough Enough” alumnus and concussion expert Chris Nowinski told the New York Times that he believes Benoit’s problems may be related to repeated brain injuries suffered as a wrestler. Kevin Sullivan, who is Nancy Benoit’s ex-husband, also weighs in with his thoughts. Here is the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/27/us/27wrestler.html?ref=usX:
Wrestlemag.com is reporting that Sky Sports in the United Kingdom will replace the Benoit tribute show that aired Monday night with a two-hour “RAW - Greatest Championships” telecast. The show also will air in mainland Europe, Australia and Japan.X: Fayette (Ga.) County District Attorney Scott Ballard told ABC News that it’s believed Daniel Benoit died in a chokehold. Here is the link: http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/Story?id=3320736&page=1
**www.wrestlingobserver.com
