KELLER'S TAKE KELLER: Lessons from today's revelations about Benoit's brain should prompt immediate action Sep 5, 2007 - 2:14:00 PM

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By Wade Keller, PWTorch editor

ABCNews.com reports on the findings revealed by the Sports Legacy Institute on Chris Benoit's brain, noting that "Benoit's brain was so severely damaged it resembled the brain of an 85-year-old Alzheimer's patient." The research team concludes that it was the result of a lifetime of chronic concussions and head trauma suffered in the wrestling ring.

Researcher Julian Bailes who examined Benoit's brain said there is a consistent theme among Benoit and some NFL players who committed suicide of "failure of their personal lives, their business lives, depression, and then ultimately suicide."

Damage was found to Benoit's brain deep in the four lobes and into the brain stem, considered proof of repeated concussions.

What should alarm and concern current and former wrestlers and be reason for this to become a top priority among WWE management in terms of augmenting WWE's in-ring style is that it only takes three concussions to manifest later in life as problems.

Michael Benoit said learning this about his son's brain brings him a sense of understanding and comfort that his son as he knew him may have been so greatly affected by brain damage that he didn't take the actions that he did with full moral awareness of someone without brain damage.

Michael said the message he wants Benoit's surviving children from his previous marriage to have is "their dad loved [them] dearly and what happened wasn't his fault."

There was a big reaction among wrestlers initially when roid rage was considered a possible cause of Benoit's actions - which was always an oversimplified hypothesis pushed by the mainstream media wanting an easy hook for their stories.

The defensiveness on the part of wrestlers discounting roid rage was in part prompted by the fact that roid rage isn't common in their daily lives and consists of a shorter temper, but not truly a rage that would last days. So while it could have explained Benoit "snapping" for a few seconds during an argument with Nancy, it was never a realistic hypothesis for what happened over the course of the entire weekend.

The defensiveness by wrestlers was also a case of not wanting their wives and girlfriends to be concerned for their own well-being as many wrestlers' partners are well aware that they use various forms of steroids, growth hormone, and other drugs. The wrestlers wanted to be sure that their wives or girlfriends didn't issue ultimatums that they had to quit using or they'd leave them for fear of their lives.

Today's revelation adds a new dimension to the Benoit Family Tragedy, but also adds a new fear for families of wrestlers. If I'm a family member of a wrestler - a partner, a child, even a parent - I'd be very concerned about the cumulative effects of taking hard bumps or blows to the head over time. If I'm Kurt Angle, Balls Mahoney, Sean Waltman, Mick Foley, or one of countless other wrestlers who are known to have suffered repeated stiff blows to the skull or concussions, I'd be worried about today's revelations and what it means for my future.

Although this dates back to boxers from the 1920s suffering "punch drunk syndrome," the physical abuse wrestlers put their heads through went up exponentially starting in the mid-'90s with an explosion of repeated stiff chairshots in ECW, the indy scene, and eventually the WWF and WCW. We are just entering the phase of time when the damage caused to wrestlers during that time may begin to manifest on a large scale in debilitating ways.

With Chris Benoit, the cause of his actions on that tragic weekend has always been a concoction of various factors all coming together at once - perhaps including a trigger-temper from testosterone overusage, alcohol, clinical depression (from brain damage and coming off of various drugs), general stress (accumulative lack of vacations over the course of his long career and physical deterioration both appearance- and performance-related as he approached age 40), and other factors. The brain damage from bumps and concussions just adds to the understanding of why someone those knew best acted in a way they believed was so out of character with who Benoit really was at his core.

I understand how Benoit having suffered brain damage would be, in retrospect, comforting to his family. While not creating an excuse for his actions, it further paints a picture of someone who wasn't himself and hadn't felt like himself for a while.

There is no reason the pro wrestling industry cannot survive and thrive without this being a necessary, unavoidable price that wrestlers pay to participate. WWE and TNA bringing a concussion expert on the road full-time would be an appropriate gesture at this point so concussions can be diagnosed immediately and wrestlers can be pulled from action if needed. (ROH and all indy promoters should make it a priority to learn as much as possible about signs of concussions, too.) If that leads to inconvenience in terms of PPV matches being changed or storyline plans being interrupted, so be it. Promoterse can learn from it and adjust the in-ring style accordingly over time to do their best to avoid as many concussions as possible and treat those that do happen appropriately.

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