-- ALSO SEE: McMahon on his WWE future.

By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

In an interview with Brian Lockhart of the Connecticut Post, WWE CEO Vince McMahon responded to criticism of WWE's business practices that have followed Linda McMahon during her U.S. Senate campaign in Connecticut. The following are highlights of McMahon's responses, with analysis.

-- McMahon was asked about the Chris Benoit tragedy and how the physical toll of being a pro wrestler contributed to Benoit's mental faculties at the time of the double-murder/suicide in June 2007. McMahon said it's "unfair" to criticize WWE for contributing to his mental condition.

"Who knows what clicks in somebody's head one day?" McMahon told Lockhart, who said McMahon used the term "going postal" to describe what happened. "People look for excuses as to why someone would do that. I don't think you can point to his profession as to why he did that."

Caldwell's Analysis: This was one of many outlandish statements made by McMahon in the interview. There is overwhelming evidence that Benoit had unidentified brain damage brought on by years of abusing his body while a professional wrestler. It's irresponsible, easily disputable, and misleading for McMahon to say Benoit's profession did not contribute to his physical health.

-- McMahon claimed current Wellness testing has revealed WWE does not have any drug problems "at all."

"Without telling you too much about it because we have some confidentiality ... I think we're ranking pretty good. We just don't have any problems at all. None," he claimed.

Caldwell's Analysis: McMahon may not want to admit it, but prescription pain pill dependency is a serious issue in pro wrestling, including WWE. To categorically deny there being any drug issues in the company is, again, irresponsible and misleading.

-- Related to steroids, McMahon repeated Linda McMahon's claim in the BusinessWeek interview last month that there isn't enough evidence to support the theory that steroids can have long-term adverse effect on a person's health.

"There's not much information that you guys know about steroids other than the media is writing hysterically about them, and maybe they should," McMahon said. "I don't know there's really been any great research you can point to that definitely says this is deleterious to your health or in some cases it helps you or whatever ... So I don't think there's enough empirical research done, certainly not by the government."

McMahon continued: "What is abuse of steroids? I don't know what that is. No one can tell you what that is. You can abuse sugar or any other substance or any other drug. There's not enough known about these damn things."

Dr. Gary Wadler, an expert on steroid use with the American College of Sports Medicine, responded: "It is very, very clear what the adverse effects of these drugs are and how they are being abused. Statements of that sort - they just don't comport with what's really going on."

-- McMahon commented on the time period when WWE did not have a drug testing policy while competing with WCW during the Monday Night Wars. McMahon said his priority was to stay in business.

"I was really concerned about going out of business competing with Turner and we came close to it," McMahon said. "So better we be in business and have our performers being able to have a livelihood than being out of business."

Caldwell's Analysis: I would argue the opposite that it would have been better for WWE to go out of business than for them to look the other way as the culture of death expanded to the point where there are countless dead bodies from that era and wrestlers developed dependency on drugs. The value of a human life should be more important than the value of keeping a corporation in business that was looking the other way on serious health issues.

-- McMahon tossed around Linda McMahon's "evolve" word on changes the company has made by instituting a Wellness Policy. Of course, the company is now essentially competing against itself in the marketplace and there isn't a competitor challenging them like WCW was during the 1990s.

"You evolve in terms of how you want to run your company, you evolve in terms of how you want to present it and you evolve in terms of the way you treat your performers," McMahon said. "Even if we didn't personally care - I'm very close to a lot of these guys personally - it's good business. I like to say the only raw material that our company really has are our talent. The better shape they're in the more you can invest in them. The healthier they are the greater longevity and all of that so it's just good business."

McMahon also responded to wrestlers being classified as independent contracts, specifically related to WWE not paying for health insurance in a dangerous industry where wrestlers are high-risk candidates for health issues. McMahon's justification is the top stars make enough money to buy their own insurance.

"Anyone who makes the kind of money that they make can easily afford their own health care," McMahon said. "Most independent contractors have their own health care."

-- On the topic of WWE's content over the years, McMahon said some of the TV programming "was over the top" at times. He said it was "expedient" to change to a PG-TV programming model.

"I think a lot of our environment in the past is held up as who we are today, which of course is just not the case. It's just politically expedient to do so. You can pick apart every little thing we've ever done, sure," McMahon said.

"When you look at the totality of the number of minutes we've produced and look at the number of those that may be incendiary or what have you, it's a fraction. ... Are there moments of which I might have some degree of regret? Yeah, there are. But like any good producer, any good television writer or film writer, you write the best film you can."

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