Ring of Hell follow-up

On June 3, I posted the overheated press release for the book Ring of Hell, the pro wrestling expose focused on Chris Benoit. There was a time when I was more interested in wrestling than I am now, and I saw a great ladder match between Benoit and Chris Jericho in New Orleans, so I was interested in the book for more than just the lurid revelations.

It can't surprise anyone that the world of pro wrestling is cruel, violent, drug-enriched and ego-driven, but the details are still pretty raw, particularly the hazing-like pranks. Writer Matthew Randazzo V also ties the sport to gangsters worldwide, which I suppose you could see coming, though I didn't. You also knew steroids were a significant part of the wrestling story, but again, you probably don't expect the degree to which it plays a role. According to Randazzo, Benoit had a chance to go to the WWE earlier than he did, but because it had just been investigated for steroid abuse, it had a new testing policy, one that would have revealed Benoit's years of steroid use. The book is nearly sad because Benoit's death and final murder spree seem so unnecessary because he watched other friends have their lives shortened by steroid-related illness. Then again, it's hard to imagine a smaller, less built Benoit would have had a career in wrestling. Once he started down the wrestling road, the decisions were largely made.

Still, it was hard to get around the luridness of the writing. As written, everyone's an asshole, everyone's an egomaniac, everyone's a reprobate. Randazzo's flatly declarative writing style stresses everything cheap, foul and tainted about wrestling. Obviously, wrestling gave him a lot to work with, but the writing also feels like a nod to the true crime genre, which is more about revealing the depravity than solving the crime. The jacket notes emphasize Randazzo's birth to an old Sicilian family and expertise in organized crime as if the shadiness must also extend to the writer.

More Mail Fun

The temperate language hyping this book on the death of wrestler Chris Benoit caught my eye:

WRESTLING'S DEATH GRIP ON ITS STARS

Non-fiction book Ring of Hell lays bare the unbelievable true story of Chris Benoit and the global pro wrestling racket

Beverly Hills, CA - ”Many people consider the world of wrestling to be a harmless American pastime. Perhaps they should contemplate the alarmingly high death rate among its wrestlers. Phoenix Books presents author Matthew Randazzo V's behind-the-scenes expose of the World Wrestling Entertainment organization, Ring of Hell: The Story of Chris Benoit & The Fall of the Pro Wrestling Industry. Ring of Hell is the story of Chris Benoit, the beloved WWE superstar who stunned America in June of 2007 with the bizarre double-murder of his wife, Nancy, and seven-year-old son, Daniel, in a tragic turn of events that ultimately led to Benoit's suicide.

While the outcomes of the WWE matches are pre-determined, the effort put into those matches takes a huge toll on the wrestlers' bodies. Ring of Hell reveals in heretofore unpublished detail how the pro wrestling industry tempted and encouraged a troubled man to embrace a lifestyle of self-destruction, which included years of heavy amphetamine, steroids, alcohol, painkiller, and psychiatric drug abuse. Benoit was a small man desperately looking to succeed in an industry dominated by giants.

Randazzo writes an uncensored account of how the industry aided Benoit in cultivating his basest qualities until they consumed him, merging the family man so many admired and the self-mutilating wrestling junkie into one. Randazzo conducts countless exclusive interviews with former employees of the WWE, divulging first-hand, eyewitness accounts of the rampant drug abuse, sexual misconduct, organized crime ties, and fatal contempt for the wrestlers in its employ.

Ring of Hell examines and answers the following questions:

What caused the catastrophic psychopathic breakdown of Chris Benoit?

Why does the pro wrestling lifestyle of international TV celebrities come with an occupational mortality rate worse than that of drug dealers?

What has been the daily reality of the average pro wrestler over the past twenty years?

Why have the McMahon family's business practices accumulated such a high body count, and why does it persist?

Are more tragedies like Chris Benoit's inevitable?

Is the pro wrestling industry unsalvageable?