samanthajane13
07-08-2007, 11:32 PM
Submitted by Errol Leigh Farrell on Sunday, July 8, 2007 at 4:07 PM EST
By Ted Dibiase
Jul 2, 2007
Ted DiBiase, the legendary "Million Dollar Man," was kind enough to share his thoughts with tPC on Chris Benoit, Steroids, Vince McMahon and the WWE. Here is the pro wrestling hall of famer's exclusive article.
Here's what I know about Chris Benoit, about the guy that I knew and that many of my colleagues knew. We knew a man who was committed to his trade, who made all the sacrifices necessary to become one of the very best, who was unselfish, who went out of his way to help the other guys who were coming up in the field to be the best that they could be.
He was an encourager and he was soft-spoken. Chris Benoit was never known as one to fly off the handle or to have outbursts. He was a very soft-spoken guy, a genuine family man. Chris was the kind of guy who was known to fly home for 7 hours, when it would have been much easier and cheaper just to stay wherever he was to get to wherever he was having to go the next day.
But he made that sacrifice to be with his family.
That's the character of the man all of us knew. That's why all of us are in such shock and bewilderment as to -- what is it? -- What is it in the man's psyche that made him snap?
As I've watched the coverage, some say it's what you call... "fair and balanced" well it's not, it's almost like it's lets' see if we can bury the WWE.
Where do we draw the line in the sand and make people responsible for their actions? It's like Geraldo has this crusade to bury the WWE or make it the WWE's fault that 60 wrestlers, or whatever the figure is, have died in the last 10 or 20 years.
I quit physically wrestling in 1993. They had a drug policy in place then, and when Eddie Guerrero died, I just so happened to be working for the company again, and they instituted what is called the wellness program. The WWE has gone out and hired an independent company, independent of their organization, to do all the testing. In other words, they don't have any say-so in it.
So this company randomly picks wrestlers and they randomly test whoever they want to who is employed by the WWE…tests them for steroids and all drugs.
Any drug that you can test for, you're tested for. I know their policy, and their policy is this: If you test positive the first time, you automatically are suspended 30 days without pay. If you need rehab, the company will pay to put you thru the rehab.
If you flunk yet a second test, then it's a 60 day suspension without pay, and then if it happens a third time, then you're out, you're fired; you're no longer employed by the WWE.
Now it's a 3 strike rule: How many times can you give somebody a chance to grow up? Be responsible for your own actions? And that's my contention.
I've been a part of this industry for my entire life, I grew up in it, and I watched the old WWF, which is what it was when I was there. It was this enormous entity and like any other company, and any other business, it has had its growing pains. I was around when the federal government tried to nail Vince McMahon to the wall, and tried to get the world to believe that he was supplying steroids or that he was making wrestlers take steroids. I was one of those athletes. And I was never encouraged to take anything. And at that time, if Vince McMahon were guilty of anything, it may have been just like all other sports… simply turning a blind eye to it and not seeing it.
But that's not the case. The WWE has grown into this huge company now, and Vince does have a concern for his people, which I think is evident by his policy. As a company, a corporation, what else do we want him to do? That's what I would ask Geraldo… what else would you like Vince McMahon to do?
If you are going to try and cast stones at the WWE, and try to put the blame for all these deaths in the industry on the company for it's "failure," then I say let's go to football, basketball, and baseball. And more than any of the others, let's go to Hollywood. Let's go to rock and roll. What institution, what governing body, or what record label has ever had any kind of drug testing policy to protect the people they have under contract? It's unheard of.
Again the point becomes... when do we make the individual responsible for their actions? As far as those former employees who have come out attacking the WWE or Vince, none of them have ever made any significant contribution to the industry so consider the source.
As a man of God, as a Christian, and as a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ... when you come right down to it, I believe that every man is born with a void and an emptiness -- and I call it a God-sized hole in their life and in their heart - and that all of us will continue to try to fill that void with whatever it is… success, fame, money, position, power… whatever it is. And will do so insatiably. We will continue to repeat the very same mistakes in our lives, over and over, either until it kills us or until, in this case, we kill ourselves or somebody else... or until we realize that the only thing that's going to fill that void is Jesus Christ.
Ted Dibiase
By Ted Dibiase
Jul 2, 2007
Ted DiBiase, the legendary "Million Dollar Man," was kind enough to share his thoughts with tPC on Chris Benoit, Steroids, Vince McMahon and the WWE. Here is the pro wrestling hall of famer's exclusive article.
Here's what I know about Chris Benoit, about the guy that I knew and that many of my colleagues knew. We knew a man who was committed to his trade, who made all the sacrifices necessary to become one of the very best, who was unselfish, who went out of his way to help the other guys who were coming up in the field to be the best that they could be.
He was an encourager and he was soft-spoken. Chris Benoit was never known as one to fly off the handle or to have outbursts. He was a very soft-spoken guy, a genuine family man. Chris was the kind of guy who was known to fly home for 7 hours, when it would have been much easier and cheaper just to stay wherever he was to get to wherever he was having to go the next day.
But he made that sacrifice to be with his family.
That's the character of the man all of us knew. That's why all of us are in such shock and bewilderment as to -- what is it? -- What is it in the man's psyche that made him snap?
As I've watched the coverage, some say it's what you call... "fair and balanced" well it's not, it's almost like it's lets' see if we can bury the WWE.
Where do we draw the line in the sand and make people responsible for their actions? It's like Geraldo has this crusade to bury the WWE or make it the WWE's fault that 60 wrestlers, or whatever the figure is, have died in the last 10 or 20 years.
I quit physically wrestling in 1993. They had a drug policy in place then, and when Eddie Guerrero died, I just so happened to be working for the company again, and they instituted what is called the wellness program. The WWE has gone out and hired an independent company, independent of their organization, to do all the testing. In other words, they don't have any say-so in it.
So this company randomly picks wrestlers and they randomly test whoever they want to who is employed by the WWE…tests them for steroids and all drugs.
Any drug that you can test for, you're tested for. I know their policy, and their policy is this: If you test positive the first time, you automatically are suspended 30 days without pay. If you need rehab, the company will pay to put you thru the rehab.
If you flunk yet a second test, then it's a 60 day suspension without pay, and then if it happens a third time, then you're out, you're fired; you're no longer employed by the WWE.
Now it's a 3 strike rule: How many times can you give somebody a chance to grow up? Be responsible for your own actions? And that's my contention.
I've been a part of this industry for my entire life, I grew up in it, and I watched the old WWF, which is what it was when I was there. It was this enormous entity and like any other company, and any other business, it has had its growing pains. I was around when the federal government tried to nail Vince McMahon to the wall, and tried to get the world to believe that he was supplying steroids or that he was making wrestlers take steroids. I was one of those athletes. And I was never encouraged to take anything. And at that time, if Vince McMahon were guilty of anything, it may have been just like all other sports… simply turning a blind eye to it and not seeing it.
But that's not the case. The WWE has grown into this huge company now, and Vince does have a concern for his people, which I think is evident by his policy. As a company, a corporation, what else do we want him to do? That's what I would ask Geraldo… what else would you like Vince McMahon to do?
If you are going to try and cast stones at the WWE, and try to put the blame for all these deaths in the industry on the company for it's "failure," then I say let's go to football, basketball, and baseball. And more than any of the others, let's go to Hollywood. Let's go to rock and roll. What institution, what governing body, or what record label has ever had any kind of drug testing policy to protect the people they have under contract? It's unheard of.
Again the point becomes... when do we make the individual responsible for their actions? As far as those former employees who have come out attacking the WWE or Vince, none of them have ever made any significant contribution to the industry so consider the source.
As a man of God, as a Christian, and as a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ... when you come right down to it, I believe that every man is born with a void and an emptiness -- and I call it a God-sized hole in their life and in their heart - and that all of us will continue to try to fill that void with whatever it is… success, fame, money, position, power… whatever it is. And will do so insatiably. We will continue to repeat the very same mistakes in our lives, over and over, either until it kills us or until, in this case, we kill ourselves or somebody else... or until we realize that the only thing that's going to fill that void is Jesus Christ.
Ted Dibiase