By James Caldwell, Torch columnist

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Updated Wednesday, June 27 at 8:40 a.m. - by James Caldwell

-- FIRST WORD: In the search for a motive or some information on what was going through Chris Benoit's head at the time of the alleged murders of his wife and son, the issue of steroids has been raised. It's a natural response, considering that investigators reported that steroids were found in the residence and mainstream reporters have automatically drawn the conclusion that "'roid rage" was a factor in the deaths. WWE instantly refuted those claims yesterday, indicating Benoit tested negative for steroids in April at the time of WWE's latest drug test.

On last night's edition of "Scarborough Country" on MSNBC, Dr. Drew Pinsky made the point that Benoit easily could have been back on a cycle in the two months that followed the steroid test. Dr. Drew also reasoned that even if Benoit was not on steroids, he could have just as well committed the murders. He said, "Behavior can intensify when not on the cycle"; when the body is so accustomed to have drugs in the system, it panics and responds irrationally when not fed a regular diet of drugs.

Many wrestlers don't cycle off, or they simply lower their intake of performance-enhancing drugs for fear of how their bodies will react when not having drugs in the system. The issue shouldn't be whether Benoit had or did not have steroids or other illegal chemicals in his body at the time of the murders, as he just as well could have committed the acts either way. The overwhelming issue is that a wife/mother and a young boy are unnecessarily dead. How this sort of tragedy can be prevented in the future - reduced travel days, mandatory vacation time, less emphasis on superhero physiques, chemical dependency counseling, government and athletic commission regulation, stricter enforcement of the Wellness Policy, etc. - remains key to reversing a two-decade-long trend of premature deaths in the pro wrestling business.

-- WWE's website has provided a very detailed timeline of the events related to the Benoit family deaths. The story begins to unfold on Saturday afternoon when Chris Benoit told a WWE wrestler that Nancy and Daniel had food poisoning and he would be late for the Beaumont house show. His story then changed that he was in the hospital with them, and he would fly in to Houston late Saturday night to rest up for the Vengeance PPV. Those travel arrangements, though, were not confirmed by Benoit ... The next correspondence was very early Sunday morning when Benoit sent a total of five text messages from his phone and Nancy's phone to three wrestlers. WWE says they were unable to contact Benoit at any point on Sunday following the early morning text messages ... Approximately 30 hours after the initial text messages were received from Chris, WWE officials were alerted to the messages and contacted authorities in the Atlanta-area to check on Benoit's residence ... Three hours after initially contacting local authorities, WWE received a call back confirming the deaths. Full timeline.

-- I picked up the Houston Chronicle this morning, and on the front page is a story on the role steroids might have played in the deaths of the Benoit family. Respected Chronicle columnist David Barron has a story on the link between steroids and wrestling, and the renewed scrutiny wrestling faces on the issue. The Benoit story is one of this week's top story in every major newspaper and news website, which means WWE will have to answer questions as the internationally-recognized representative of pro wrestling based on their monopolistic market share. Whether we see real change as a result of public scrutiny - not just a lip-service Wellness policy where wrestler physiques remain the same - remains to be seen, as mainstream press usually shows a renewed interest for a few weeks, then ignores wrestling again. Chronicle article.

-- Ring of Honor announced the line-up for their July 16 show in Tokyo, Japan. Main event is Morishima vs. Nigel McGuinness for the ROH World Title. The big six-man tag match will be the Briscoes & Naomichi Marufuji vs. KENTA & Ricky Marvin & Matt Sydal. Other matches signed include Bryan Danielson vs. Go Shiozaki, Delirious vs. Roderick Strong, Jack Evans & Kotaro Suzuki vs. Davey Richards & Rocky Romero, and B.J. Whitmer vs. Jimmy Rave. Full line-up.

-- PWG has added PAC, Roderick Strong, and El Generico to the 2007 Battle of Los Angeles tournament Aug. 31 - Sept. 2. Complete line-up.

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