Drugs and wrestling

The whole Chris Benoit tragedy really threatenes to blow apart a whole industry. By now we've all heard of the double murder-suicide of former WWE Champ Chris Benoit and his family. He was still going strong and was, by all accounts, about to take the ECW Championship when this amazing event happened.

I've read a heap of info about it (maybe I shouldn't have). Some of the detail made me actually feel sick to the stomach, and that stuff I don't want to comment on. The drugs-side of this tragedy is was is leaking out at present and really that is the big story overall here. As the WWE has removed almost all references to Benoit from its website and is quickly erasing history as it relates to him, they have a bigger issue here. They've got a major health issue arising from its wrestlers use of drugs (performance enhancing or recreational), they've got some major marketing to do and are likely facing dire business consequences. No doubt for the well-being of the wrestlers, drug use needs to be stamped out and policed, pensions, annual leave and other benefits need to be given to them. Wrestling needs to be run like a proper sporting league, otherwise it has no chance of getting out of the whole that its in. I think that that is the only way that they are going to turn this into a positive business move also. I don't see how a business and marketing strategy that covers up all of the problems that have been building for decades is going to work in the long term. I don't think the business community and the public will buy it.