KEY POINTS:
Wrestling fans know that the carefully choreographed ballet of bone-cracking and finger-snapping they see in the ring is as much about fakery as real bodily force. But there was nothing phony about the deaths of one the sport's best-known former champions, Chris Benoit, and his family.
When news
leaked this week that Benoit - the "Rabid Wolverine" - had been found dead in his mansion in Atlanta, the true breadth of the tragedy was not apparent.
The people at World Wrestling Entertainment, the sport's biggest promoter, went straight to work, cobbling together a two-hour tribute shown on cable television's USA Network.
Executives at WWE, and especially its founder Vince McMahon, were soon wishing they had waited. No longer saluting Benoit, they were instead dealing with awkward controversy - were body-building steroids to blame for what happened?
The WWE had asked police to look into the welfare of Benoit, 40, when workers and friends received strange text messages from him over the weekend, after he had cancelled two scheduled appearances because of what he called a "family emergency".
The messages included details of his home's address and, more strangely, where his guard dogs could be found.
On Tuesday, police entered the house and discovered his dead body, dangling from the wire and pulley of an exercise machine in his home gym. In another room, his wife, Nancy, was also found dead with a pool of blood under her head, as was their 7-year-old son, Daniel.
By Wednesday, police were calling it a murder-suicide and adding new macabre details. It appeared Nancy was killed at the weekend and the boy several hours later. Both victims were found with closed Bibles placed beside them.
Benoit, meanwhile, remained in the house for another day before killing himself, possibly on Monday.
"I'm baffled about why anybody would kill a 7-year-old," commented the local District Attorney Scott Ballard. "I don't think we'll ever be able wrap our head around that."
The revelation that detectives had found legally prescribed steroids in the house led to instant speculation that the drugs may have played a part. Some experts pointed to the recorded side-effects of body-building drugs, including depression, paranoia and bouts of unexplained violence called "roid rage".
The WWE had to explain its clearing of the schedules on Tuesday for its tribute to Benoit.
The "facts of this horrible tragedy are now apparent", McMahon said in a statement released before WWE's Wednesday programming.
"Other than my comments there will be no mention of Benoit's name tonight. Tonight's show will be dedicated to everyone who has been affected by this terrible incident."
Ironically, Benoit's popularity was based partly on his image as a wholesome family man. He had been married since 2000.
When asked by a reporter in 2004 to name his worst vice, he replied: "Quality time with my family ... it's something I'll fight for and crave."
Medical examiners have warned it may be weeks before toxicology reports will show whether steroids were present in Benoit at the time of the murders.
- Independent
