WWE on Muchnick’s CHRIS & NANCY — The Twitter Daily Dozen for October 31

For a live feed of this continuing series, follow @irvmuch at Twitter.

PARTS 373 – 384

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 373 statements were false when made originally, false when repeated by me, and my statement that

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 374 Mr. McDevitt had mislead me was also therefore false” I do not agree that your draft Item#2

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 375 should be published for the reasons stated above.

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 376 Irvin Muchnick email to Jerry McDevitt, 6/18/09 3:28 p.m., “RE: Muchnick to McDevitt”

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 377 * I have no problem with publishing your email of yesterday in its entirety.

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 378 * Even after your feedback, my retraction post reads fine to me — simply stating that the item

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 379 was wrong and I take responsibility for it personally and apologize for it. Meltzer has nothing

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 380 to do with my own decision to publish the mistaken fact, and with my own need to correct it

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 381 as promptly as possible. I am open to other possible edits that might make it satisfactory

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 382 from your perspective. Please let me know. * The second draft post was shown to you in good faith,

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 383 not with the idea that you could veto it. I didn’t think it would be right not to tell you that I

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 384 would proceed to explain. My more extended commentary, outside the four walls of the retraction,

Let's Not Go Reflecting on the 'Fan Community' Or Anything

In the chapter of CHRIS & NANCY about the “Wikipedia hacker,” I discuss drilling into the Benoit discussion threads of some of the most popular wrestling fan boards, including one called “WrestleCrap.” I quoted Madison Carter, a Texas-based wrestling fan who moderates the WrestleCrap board, as telling me that he had “a hidden board that contains all the stuff from that night [discussion of the Benoit murders] that we didn’t outright delete, only accessible by my mods [moderators] and I.”

In the thread yesterday at the WrestlingClassics discussion board, cited in my previous post, Madison Carter has this to say:

“Mr. Muchnick … came to … me about seeing if he could get access to the ‘vault’ (for want of a better word) of deleted threads we had stored from the 2-3 day period it took place in; I guess so that they could see the real-time reaction from online fans. Thought about it a bit and decided I didn’t want to let what was going on in those threads — which weren’t truly indicitave of our board’s usual nature — reflect upon us or the fan community.”



Irv Muchnick

CHRIS & NANCY Dustup at Fan Discussion Board

For an absolutely hilarious forum about my book, go to the discussion board at the Wrestling Classics fan site:

http://wrestlingclassics.com/.ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=103539;p=1

If you'd rather read the thread in PDF form, go to http://muchnick.net/wrestlingclassics.pdf.


Irv Muchnick

Benoit Book Author Muchnick Interviewed on CBC Radio's 'Daybreak Alberta'

Irvin Muchnick, author of CHRIS & NANCY: The True Story of the Benoit Murder-Suicide and Pro Wrestling’s Cocktail of Death, is interviewed on the Sunday, November 1, edition of CBC Radio’s Daybreak Alberta.

Daybreak Alberta host Russell Bowers also will be giving away copies of the book.

The show airs from 6 to 9 a.m., Mountain time, on Calgary’s 1010 AM and Edmonton’s 740 AM. The program also streams live online at http://www.cbc.ca/listen.

Muchnick's Iowa Radio Interview in Podcast Form

Irvin Muchnick’s interview on Thursday with The Morning Report with Sean Patrick on WOC 1420 AM in Davenport, Iowa, can be heard at the station’s podcast page, http://www.woc1420.com/cc-common/podcast.html.

When the segment is no longer available at the station’s site, it will be downloadable at http://muchnick.net/woc102909.mp3.

CHRIS & NANCY: The Great Debate

A guy named Gary Cubeta, who hosts an Internet radio wrestling talk show, has posted a pan of my book at Amazon. Weighing in at 33 words – perhaps maxing out on how long Cubeta can sustain a thought – the review concludes with five that anyone could agree with: “my opinions, yours may vary.”

One whose opinions vary is Derek Burgan, a prolific reviewer of wrestling books and DVDs. On Friday night Burgan appeared on Cubeta’s show for a Siskel-and-Ebert debate about CHRIS & NANCY. (Burgan: two thumbs up. Cubeta: two thumbs down.) You can listen to the audio at http://muchnick.net/burgan-cubeta.mp3.

Burgan emailed me, “I was flabbergasted that someone could read the whole book and come away with the conclusion that you were trying to answer why Chris killed Nancy.” He also said, “LOVED the ‘negative’ comments about the book such as ‘too well written’ and ‘too researched.’ How do you respond to that?”

Naturally, your humble blogger thinks Derek is brilliant.

Cubeta, meanwhile, calls to mind this passage in the last chapter of CHRIS & NANCY:

“You can’t talk to a man with a shotgun in his hand. Nor can you argue with anyone who thinks a cluster of avoidable deaths, in a show business in a non-war zone, can be rationalized. Vince McMahon knows this; the rest of us only suspect it.”


Irv Muchnick

WWE on Muchnick’s CHRIS & NANCY — The Twitter Daily Dozen for October 30

For a live feed of this continuing series, follow @irvmuch at Twitter.

PARTS 361 – 372

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 361 retraction and apology should point out the simple truth that neither of you had any factual

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 362 basis whatsoever for that statement rather than water down the retraction. This is not, as you

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 363 would suggest, a matter of framing it as some dispute between Meltzer and I over the events

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 364 in question. Meltzer had no clue-none-as to what was provided at the Aug 14th meeting. I had

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 365 personal knowledge of what happened since I was there.His report, like yours, was simply false

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 366 and had no basis in fact, period. Thus, I suggest that you (1) publish my email entirely to you

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 367 (2) include only Draft Item #1, modified to include the following sentences in the second

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 368 paragraph after the single sentence you now have: ” I based my accusation on nothing other than

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 369 a prior written report of Dave Meltzer, which I did nothing to independently confirm as accurate

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 370 Upon receipt of Mr. McDevitt’s email I contacted Mr. Meltzer and learned that he had no authority

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 371 or factual basis to state that the WWE received the names of talent on Aug 14th or

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 372 for the statement that the WWE waited sixteen days to act on such information. Thus, such

WWE on Muchnick’s CHRIS & NANCY — The Twitter Daily Dozen for October 29

For a live feed of this continuing series, follow @irvmuch at Twitter.

PARTS 349 – 360

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 349 the falsity and the reckless manner in which you published a defamatory statement about me.

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 350 Previously, you put both of my communications on your blog without permission from me, and now

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 351 appear more interested in making yourself and Mr. Meltzer look reasonable than correcting

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 352 the damage you have done. So that your readers know why you are now removing the libel, you should

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 353 publish the entirety of the email I sent you this morning. Secondly, I am not particularly

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 354 interested in reading your tribute to Dave Meltzer, whose sloppy reporting was your source

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 355 for the defamatory statements made about me.The plain reality is you did nothing to confirm

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 356 basic facts behind your defamatory statement that I had mislead you, as you now admit. You didn’t

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 357 even attempt to contact the Albany District Attorney, as you know admit, and didn’t contact,

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 358 or attempt to contact WWE to inquire as to when WWE got the list of names.And, it is now obvious

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 359 that when you contacted Meltzer he had no source for the statement that we received the names

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 360 at the Aug. 14th meeting. Rather than putting Meltzer over as an authoritative source, your

Who Was Chris Benoit’s WWE Diva Mistress? A ‘Shocking Omission’ in SLAM! Wrestling Review

Several months ago TNA’s “Tara” (Lisa Marie Varon), who used to work as “Victoria” in WWE, denied a rumor, which had been capriciously circulated online by another diva, that she was the woman who was having an affair with Chris Benoit during the last months of his life.

On this blog, I agreed that Victoria was not the one. I further noted that CHRIS & NANCY would talk about the evidence of who was Benoit’s mistress.

In his review of my book earlier today at SLAM! Wrestling, David Bixenspan fails to confront this subject at all.

A shocking omission!

(Sorry, I couldn’t resist.)



Irv Muchnick

SLAM! Wrestling’s Muchnick Benoit Book Review a Flawed But Valuable Resource

The headline is cheeky – deliberately echoing the one over the review of CHRIS & NANCY published earlier today at SLAM! Wrestling.

In the next post I’ll make my most pungent comment on what David Bixenspan did and didn’t choose to write. But let’s say this much up front: Bixenspan has penned a good piece that grapples responsibly with how to reconcile the perspective of a hard-core fan like himself (and like his SLAM! readers) with that of softer-core fans like myself with more general interests.

Go ahead and read the review for yourself at http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/Benoit/2009/10/22/11493831.html.

“Incredibly well researched … incredibly valuable resource” – these are selective promo fragments. The full flavor of Bixenspan’s take is expressed in this passage: “While the negatives are there, there is enough strong reporting that I have to recommend this book. The good parts are absolutely fascinating, and the bad parts were at least expected for the most part. The fact that the flaws largely come from exploiting holes in the official story and searching for the truth make them more tolerable than they would be otherwise.”

An author can’t ask for much more than that: a reviewer’s full, good-faith read. Criticism goes with the territory.

Let me address some of the reviewer’s specifics – starting with the mistakes he alertly nails.

Without as yet having looked further, I am assuming that Bixenspan is correct in noting that I misspelled the real last name of Johnny Grunge. When you have a name like Irvin Muchnick, you try real hard to avoid that sort of thing. Sorry. This will be corrected in future editions of CHRIS & NANCY.

I’m also pretty sure Bixenspan is right when he asserts that I erred in stating that Chavo Guerrero’s June 25, 2007, video tribute to Chris Benoit, which the book quotes in its entirety, appeared on the WWE website but not on Raw. Evidently, the website content here was identical to the cable TV show’s. The reason this is significant is that I hold up this tribute as a purported contrast with what Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer, among others, described as Guerrero’s strange demeanor on Raw. In truth, in my viewing, this particular clip was not strange at all – just a garden-variety tearjerker monologue.

I’ll have to check more into this aspect of the story. In the meantime I want to acknowledge Bixenspan’s catch and thank him for it. Indeed, Bixenspan busted me on this one in a private email before the review was published, and the review itself proved very gentle with it (perhaps because Bixenspan regarded it as not so important in the big picture, but perhaps more because he is a decent guy).

The rest of Bixenspan’s criticisms are more complicated and – in my obviously biased opinion – less convincing.



* The reviewer thinks the book “overanalyzes” the 911 calls and “gives too much credence to the possibility” that WWE security consultant Dennis Fagan was involved in “some sort of misdirection.” Such a subtle ruse would have been fruitless, according to Bixenspan, since “the correct time of the messages would be readily apparent.”

My response is: So what if possible chicanery would become clear later on? When you’re spinning in the world of the 24/7 news cycle, you’re living in the moment. Days later the correct time of the text messages not only would be apparent – it had already been published on WWE’s two similar-but-different timelines. Yet, as CHRIS & NANCY exposes, that didn’t stop the Associated Press – apparently influenced by lawyer Jerry McDevitt – from falsely transmitting to newsgathering clients the world over that the Guerrero and Scott Armstrong texts were sent after, rather than nearly 24 hours before, the “Wikipedia hacker” eerily reported Nancy Benoit’s death.

(As an aside, Bixenspan is being obtuse when he claims that “Fagan didn’t even seem to know the proper name of the company he was working for.” Fans call it “WWE” or “World Wrestling Entertainment,” but a lot of outsiders and corporate types refer to it as “World Wrestling.” For example, that was the term used by CBC’s Bob McKeown, the Walter Cronkite of Canadian broadcasting, in his documentary on Benoit. “World Wrestling” may sound clunky to Bixenspan, but it is hardly improper.)



* Bixenspan seriously low-balls the case against Chavo Guerrero’s credibility when he writes: “At one point, Guerrero said he was woken up by the new message notification sound on his phone early Sunday morning, and at another, he claimed that he had cellular reception problems and didn’t get the messages until Monday morning.”

“Woken up by the new message notification sound on his phone early Sunday morning” – what an odd truncation of the detailed account he gave Greta Van Susteren of Fox News. My book reproduces the relevant transcript in its entirety.

.

* According to Bixenspan, and contrary to what the book states, Benoit didn’t do all that many benefit shows for dead wrestlers. And Benoit’s Brian Pillman Benefit “hardway” bloodfest with William Regal didn’t earn Regal his new lease on life with WWE – he was already working there.

I’ll let Bixenspan and Meltzer duke it out over these pieces of arcana.



* Finally, in a “shocking omission,” my book fails to develop sufficiently the relentless mind game by which WCW booker Kevin Sullivan threw his wife Nancy together with Chris – “working” not only the public but also the other wrestlers.

This is not a shocking omission at all, but a matter of emphasis. The reviewer is trying to say that if he were writing the book, he would have tapdanced on this point for pages. That the author decided to toss it off succinctly and move on to his own agenda is somehow unacceptable. Well, blow me down.

As Bixenspan knows, I had already covered the origin of the Chris and Nancy romance in one of the pieces in Wrestling Babylon. And the topic had been discussed to a fare-thee-well elsewhere. There is no way that anyone reading CHRIS & NANCY should not understand how they met. And there is no way readers wouldn’t see that they were being invited to draw their own conclusions as to what it meant in terms of the rest of the sorry saga. For Bixenspan, it was “a major force in Chris and Nancy getting together for real.” For me? “Only their hairdressers knew.”

Here is where wrestling fans – and wrestling journalists, who are “fans by other means” – can get truly nutty. If I had written more about Kevin Sullivan, the booker who booked his own divorce, then I presumably would have opened myself up to the cousin criticism that I was stealing material from others or rehashing what everyone already knew.



***



I conclude by returning to the theme of my appreciation of this review. David Bixenspan is one of those fan-journalists who, at least intermittently, seems capable of imagining a world and a life outside the four corners of his television screen. For that, he deserves credit, as well as my thanks for sharing his insights with SLAM! readers.



Irv Muchnick

WWE on Muchnick’s CHRIS & NANCY — The Twitter Daily Dozen for October 28

For a live feed of this continuing series, follow @irvmuch at Twitter.

PARTS 337 – 348

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 337 because previous queries of mine to the Albany district attorney (on other matters) had gone

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 338 unanswered. I therefore concluded that that office, like the WWE generally, was not talking to me,

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 339 and I decided to quote Meltzer without elaboration. I did not simply frame the combination

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 340 of McDevitt’s and Meltzer’s statements as a dispute; if I had, I think the item would have been

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 341 in bounds. However, the headline and the way the two accounts were juxtaposed conveyed

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 342 the impression that McDevitt’s was “misleading,” whereas Meltzer’s was authoritative. Therefore,

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 343 my resolution of McDevitt’s objection to the item would turn on whatever Meltzer would tell me

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 344 about the underlying authority for the report of his that I had quoted. After talking to Meltzer,

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 345 I concluded that my item was wrong, warranting the retraction and apology published

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 346 in the previous item on this blog. Irvin Muchnick

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 347 Jerry McDevitt email to Irvin Muchnick, 6/18/09 2:54 p.m., “RE: Muchnick to McDevitt”

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 348 First of all, you have not quoted the entirety of the email I sent to you demonstrating

Muchnick Radio Interview Thursday; Links to CHRIS & NANCY Reviews

Irvin Muchnick, author of CHRIS & NANCY: The True Story of the Benoit Murder-Suicide and Pro Wrestling’s Cocktail of Death, will be interviewed live on Davenport, Iowa, radio station WOC-AM’s Morning Report on Thursday, October 29, at about 8:20 a.m. Central time (6:20 Pacific), by sports and entertainment reporter Sean Patrick. WOC 1420 streams live on the Internet through the link at http://www.woc1420.com.

Muchnick has appeared numerous times on WOC. His most important media spots are collected at the Wrestling Babylon channel on YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/WrestlingBabylon. Muchnick‘s April 4, 2008, interview on WOC, during his research for CHRIS & NANCY, is at http://www.youtube.com/WrestlingBabylon#p/u/18/5xf-7riLmis.

Muchnick’s exchange of emails with World Wrestling Entertainment lawyer and Washington lobbyist Jerry McDevitt continues to be serialized on Twitter at http://twitter.com/irvmuch.

Reviews of CHRIS & NANCY can be viewed at these links:

David Bixenspan / SLAM! Wrestling
http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/Benoit/2009/10/22/11493831.html

Writer Anthony Roberts
http://www.anthonyroberts.co.za/?p=3651

Rich Tate / Georgia Wrestling History
http://gwhforum.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=news&thread=8210

Joe Babinsack / Wrestling Observer
http://www.f4wonline.com/content/view/10962/

“Incredibly well researched … incredibly valuable resource” — SLAM! Wrestling

Full text of the SLAM! Wrestling review of CHRIS & NANCY: The True Story of the Benoit Murder-Suicide and Pro Wrestling’s Cocktail of Death, by writer David Bixenspan, is viewable at this link:

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/Benoit/2009/10/22/11493831.html

WWE on Muchnick’s CHRIS & NANCY — The Twitter Daily Dozen for October 27

For a live feed of this continuing series, follow @irvmuch at Twitter.

PARTS 325 – 336

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 325 on the 30th and the morning of the 31st at WWE headquarters, and the disciplinary action taken

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 326 was immediately announced.” I immediately responded to McDevitt that I would investigate

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 327 the matter, get back to him, and take appropriate action. I later sought his approval of the text

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 328 of the retraction and apology, which is published in the previous post, and shared with him

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 329 a draft of this follow-up blog item. As noted by McDevitt and directly quoted in my item,

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 330 the source for the information about the timing of WWE’s action in the Signature Pharmacy matter

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 331 was Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Meltzer is regarded as the foremost journalist

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 332 in his field, and has been described by the distinguished writer Frank Deford as “the most

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 333 accomplished reporter in sports journalism.” The Observer has become widely recognized

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 334 as the industry’s unofficial journal of record. Whenever I acquire information from the Observer

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 335 that was not evidently elsewhere in the public record, my practice is to seek to confirm it

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 336 with the parties if possible. In this instance, I did not consider that a viable possibility

WWE on Muchnick’s CHRIS & NANCY — The Twitter Daily Dozen for October 26

For a live feed of this continuing series, follow @irvmuch at Twitter.

PARTS 313 – 324

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 313 with knowledge of my dealing with the Albany District Attorney, but rather another of your ilk,

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 314 Dave Meltzer, who has precisely no knowledge whatsoever of anything that happened

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 315 at the meeting with the DA or of the subsequent discussions with the DA. Thus, based on Meltzer’s

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 316 false and incorrect statement that ‘The company was given the list of names at the meeting,

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 317 which took place two weeks before Summerslam’, you accuse me of providing a false and

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 318 misleading account. “The meeting with the District Attorney did take place on Aug 14th, but we

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 319 were not given the names of any talent who had dealt with Signature at that meeting, as Meltzer

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 320 and now you have falsely reported. Instead, the DA asked if WWE would take any action if they

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 321 did provide their information to us, and I told him I was quite sure the company would do so but

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 322 would confirm that and get back to him to that effect, which was done by email the next day

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 323 “The day that information was finally provided to us, which was Aug 29th, the named talent were

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 324 summoned to be interviewed immediately at WWE headquarters. Those interviews were conducted

WWE on Muchnick’s CHRIS & NANCY — The Twitter Daily Dozen for October 25

For a live feed of this continuing series, follow @irvmuch at Twitter.

PARTS 301 – 312

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 301 of the WWE performers on the Signature Pharmacy customer list on August 29, 2007. These performers

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 302 were summoned to company headquarters and interviewed by WWE officials, and the performers

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 303 were notified of their violations of the WWE Wellness Program and their suspensions

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 304 under its terms. The public announcement of the suspensions was made on the morning of August 31,

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 305 2007. The original post wrongly suggested that WWE waited 16 days before taking action.

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 306 I apologize to Mr. McDevitt and WWE for this error. Irvin Muchnick ***************

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 307 DRAFT ITEM #2 Background of McDevitt Retraction and Apology On June 18 I received an email

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 308 from Jerry McDevitt, which stated the following: “[Y]ou have now placed on the internet,

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 309 in bold print, the statement that I provided you with a misleading account of the contact

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 310 with the Albany DA. This, of course, was in reference to me pointing out to you that WWE acted

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 311 within a day of getting the names of talent who had dealt with Signature pharmacy. Your sole basis

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 312 for falsely and maliciously accusing me of providing a misleading source is not a source

WWE on Muchnick’s CHRIS & NANCY — The Twitter Daily Dozen for October 24

For a live feed of this continuing series, follow @irvmuch at Twitter.

PARTS 289 – 300

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 289 in boldface caps: “THIS POST HAS BEEN DELETED. SEE THE RETRACTION AND APOLOGY AT [URL].”

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 290 (There are arguments both for and against deleting the original headline. The argument

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 291 for retaining the headline is that it reinforces the retraction and apology. The argument

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 292 for deleting the headline is that it somehow perpetuates the original objectionable content,

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 293 even though the content was deleted and retracted. I will be guided by your wishes on that detail.

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 294 Please also note that I took the liberty of correcting what seemed to be two typographical errors

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 295 while quoting your email to me.) I sincerely apologize to you privately for this error, and

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 296 I will proceed to do so publicly. Please get back to me to confirm that this is agreeable.

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 297 Irvin Muchnick +++++ DRAFT ITEM #1 RETRACTION AND APOLOGY TO WWE LAWYER JERRY S. McDEVITT

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 298 An item published on this blog on June 17 under the headline “WWE’s McDevitt (Part 1 of 3): Lawyer

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 299 Gives Misleading Account of Contact with Albany DA” was incorrect. World Wrestling Entertainment

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 300 and its lawyer, Jerry S. McDevitt, were notified by the Albany district attorney of the names

Someone Was in Bed With a Publicist on This One

“The WWE is now rated PG”

Buffalo News

http://www.buffalonews.com/entertainment/story/837532.html

Muchnick's Calgary Radio Interview in Podcast Form

Irvin Muchnick’s interview last night with Rob Breakenridge on Calgary’s AM770 CHQR can be heard at the station’s podcast page, http://www.am770chqr.com/Station/Podcasts.aspx.

When the segment is no longer available at the station’s site, it will be downloadable at http://muchnick.net/robbreakenridge102209.mp3.

WWE on Muchnick’s CHRIS & NANCY — The Twitter Daily Dozen for October 23

For a live feed of this continuing series, follow @irvmuch at Twitter.

PARTS 277 – 288

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 277 “The meeting with the District Attorney did take place on Aug 14th …” and running through

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 278 the paragraph beginning “The day that information was finally provided to us, which was Aug 29th,

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 279 the named talent were summoned to be interviewed immediately at WWE headquarters…” I agree

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 280 with you that an accurate record of the timing of your actions in this matter is paramount.

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 281 I will get back to you shortly. Irvin Muchnick

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 282 Irvin Muchnick email to Jerry McDevitt, 6/18/09 1:45 p.m., “Muchnick to McDevitt”

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 283 Dear Mr. McDevitt: Per my previous message, I have looked further into your objection

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 284 about my item about the timing of your actions upon receiving information from the Albany

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 285 district attorney on Signature Pharmacy. I conclude that you are correct, and that my post and

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 286 the headline over that post were wrong. Accordingly, I am outlining for you the retraction and

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 287 apology I contemplate publishing. I am cc’ing my attorney Karl Olson. I would like to take

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 288 these steps: * Post the two draft items below. * Replace the text of the original post with a note

Syndicated Columnist Marvez Interviews Author Muchnick

Alex Marvez, wrestling columnist for the Scripps-Howard News Service, this week interviews Irvin Muchnick, author of CHRIS & NANCY: The True Story of the Benoit Murder-Suicide and Pro Wrestling’’s Cocktail of Death. The article can be viewed at http://www.scrippsnews.com/content/marvez-talk-irv-muchnick-author-new-book-benoit-case.

Author Muchnick will be interviewed live tonight on the Rob Breakenridge Show on AM770 CHQR Radio in Calgary. The approximately 15-minute interview will start at 8:05 p.m. Mountain time (7:05 Pacific). AM770 programming streams live on the Internet at http://snipr.com/snpzk.

CHRIS & NANCY: The True Story of the Benoit Murder-Suicide and Pro Wrestling’s Cocktail of Death is the hottest-selling independently published wrestling book at Amazon.

WWE on Muchnick’s CHRIS & NANCY — The Twitter Daily Dozen for October 22

For a live feed of this continuing series, follow @irvmuch at Twitter.

PARTS 265 – 276

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 265 was also constructed with a view towards disparaging me for providing it to you, rather than

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 266 using it to cease your mindless theory, still completely unexplained that WWE somehow had

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 267 advance knowledge of what had happened in the Benoit house, which is an utter and malicious

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 268 falsehood you have constructed out of nothing. You may think that people don’t care about their

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 269 good name and reputation, and that you have some right to print whatever you like

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 270 without consequence. I can assure you that I don’t intend to give my professional reputation

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 271 to you to damage with lies as a price of communicating the truth to you in order to prevent you

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 272 from continuing to print lies about those I represent. You should consider this a formal demand

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 273 for an immediate retraction of your false statements about me referenced above, to be published

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 274 as prominently as the lie was published.

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 275 Irvin Muchnick email to Jerry McDevitt, 6/18/08 8:09 a.m., “[no subject]” Dear Mr. McDevitt,

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 276 I have your email. I will recheck my information with respect to what you say beginning with

Benoit Book Author Muchnick in Live Interview on Calgary Radio

Irvin Muchnick, author of CHRIS & NANCY: The True Story of the Benoit Murder-Suicide and Pro Wrestling’s Cocktail of Death, will be interviewed live on AM770 CHQR Radio in Calgary tonight, Thursday, October 22.

The approximately 15-minute interview will start at 8:05 p.m. Mountain time (7:05 Pacific). AM770 programming streams live on the Internet at http://snipr.com/snpzk.

WWE on Muchnick’s CHRIS & NANCY — The Twitter Daily Dozen for October 21

For a live feed of this continuing series, follow @irvmuch at Twitter.

PARTS 253 – 264

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 253 at the meeting with the DA or of the subsequent discussions with the DA. Thus, based on Meltzer’s

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 254 false and incorrect statement that “The company was given the list of names at the meeting,

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 255 which took place two weeks before Summerslam”, you accuse me of provided a false and misleading

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 256 account. The meeting with the District Attorney did take place on Aug 14th, but we were not given

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 257 the names of any talent who had dealt with Signature at that meeting, as Meltzer and now

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 258 you have falsely reported. Instead, the DA asked if WWE would take any action if they did provide

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 259 their information to us, and I told him I was quite sure the company would do so but would confirm

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 260 that and get back to him to that effect, which was done by email the next day. The day that

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 261 information was finally provided to us, which was Aug 29th, the named talent were summoned

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 262 to be interviewed immediately at WWE headquarters. Those interviews were conducted on the 30th

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 263 and the morning of the 31st at WWE headquarters, and the disciplinary action taken was

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 264 immediately announced. Your other headline treatment of the factual information provided to you

WWE on Muchnick’s CHRIS & NANCY — The Twitter Daily Dozen for October 20

For a live feed of this continuing series, follow @irvmuch at Twitter.

PARTS 241 – 252

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 241 it gets in the road of their preordained theories and mindless speculation passed off as factual

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 242 reporting. Your handling of the information provided to you demonstrates the reckless manner

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 243 emblematic of your ilk, and provides graphic evidence not only of your reckless disregard

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 244 for the truth but your actual malice towards those who confront you with the truth.

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 245 In the process, you have now spewed defamatory per se statements about me on the internet

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 246 instead of correcting prior false statements. Thus, you have now placed on the internet,

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 247 in bold print, the statement that I provided you with a misleading account of the contact

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 248 with the Albany DA. This, of course, was in reference to me pointing out to you that WWE acted

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 249 within a day of getting the names of talent who had dealt with Signature pharmacy.

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 250 Your sole basis for falsely and maliciously accusing me of providing a misleading account is not

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 251 a source with knowledge of my dealing with the Albany District Attorney, but rather another

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 252 of your ilk, Dave Meltzer, who has precisely no knowledge whatsoever of anything that happened

WWE on Muchnick’s CHRIS & NANCY — The Twitter Daily Dozen for October 19

For a live feed of this continuing series, follow @irvmuch at Twitter.

PARTS 229 – 240

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 229 then entered the premises, secured the dogs so the police could enter, and went upstairs and found

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 230 Daniel’s and Nancy’s body, and then exited the premises. I would strongly suspect that your big

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 231 mystery about the dogs has more to do with those facts, and your desire to write a book before

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 232 you know the facts, than anything material to the crimes committed. In closing, I do not intend

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 233 to correct any more of your errors. You are now more than on notice of facts you have printed

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 234 that are wrong and false, and we trust you will proceed accordingly.

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 235 Jerry McDevitt email to Irvin Muchnick, 6/18/09 7:34 a.m., “[no subject]” Dear Mr. Muchnick,

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 236 In my career, I have had the opportunity to work with real journalists in both the print and

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 237 electronic media. Real journalists typically try to get the facts from real sources

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 238 with knowledge, and in my experience welcome being provided facts and correcting errors made

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 239 in prior reporting. I have also had the misfortune of having to deal with your ilk, who masquerade

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 240 as reporters, who make no attempt to get facts from real sources, and who resent the truth when

WWE on Muchnick’s CHRIS & NANCY — The Twitter Daily Dozen for October 18

For a live feed of this continuing series, follow @irvmuch at Twitter.

PARTS 217 – 228

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 217 that WWE knew anything more than the rest of the world knew and no evidence to even suggest

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 218 otherwise. All of which is why you never state what it is that WWE supposedly knew, or how

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 219 they knew it. Fifth, it is illuminating that you would ask me to tell you where and how to do

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 220 research before you print “facts” and supposedly “unanswered questions”,as you do when you ask

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 221 where Chavo Guerrero provided long ago the history of the relevant issues you claim are unanswered

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 222 Perhaps if you took the time to do research before you “report”, you would not get letters from

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 223 lawyers. Did you check to see if he spoke on Greta Van Susteren’s show by chance? Lastly,

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 224 your comments about the “dogs”, and ability to scrape the bottom of the barrel to appear as if

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 225 you are some modern day Mickey Spillane solving some great mystery by focusing on where the dogs

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 226 were when the police arrived, is almost laughable. It is a matter of record that the police were

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 227 not the first to enter the crime scene, which is another cardinal error. Instead, when they

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 228 got there, they asked to neighbor, who was familiar with the dogs, to enter first. She supposedly

‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Is Hottest Independent Wrestling Book at Amazon

Just a day after it began shipping, CHRIS & NANCY: The True Story of the Benoit Murder-Suicide and Pro Wrestling’s Cocktail of Death has become the hottest-selling independently published wrestling title at Amazon.com.

On Saturday, CHRIS & NANCY rose to No. 2 on the Amazon list of wrestling books. Nos. 1 and 3 are both World Wrestling Federation-licensed merchandise (respectively, The Unauthorized History of DX and WWE Encyclopedia).

WWE on Muchnick’s CHRIS & NANCY — The Twitter Daily Dozen for October 17

For a live feed of this continuing series, follow @irvmuch at Twitter.

PARTS 205 – 216

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 205 would have been such charges, since lodging 175 separate charges is not prosecutorial restraint.

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 206 Fourth, just as your original reporting failed to do, you have still failed to explain what you

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 207 meant by your suggestion that WWE supposedly “knew the score” two hours before calling 911.

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 208 Your reporting is clearly intended to imply that WWE knew something(what is never said), and used

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 209 this alleged advance knowledge to”get out in front” and “shape the public story”. Your response

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 210 once again completely fails to shed light on exactly what this innuendo is intended to suggest,

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 211 other than vague notions that WWE did something wrong here.I take it from your feeble response

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 212 that you infer WWE knew something from the fact that you have discerned that calls to Benoit

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 213 ceased two hours before 911 was called.Thus, from the simple and frankly neutral and innocuous

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 214 fact that there is two hours between two different events, you have inferred that WWE “knew

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 215 the score” and, as you put it, used that “early knowledge” to get out in front of public opinion.

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 216 Quite frankly, that is pathetic.The reality is you have no evidence, because there is none,

WWE on Muchnick’s CHRIS & NANCY — The Twitter Daily Dozen for October 16

For a live feed of this continuing series, follow @irvmuch at Twitter.

PARTS 193 – 204

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 193 the names of persons who had dealt with Signature. Not one of the other leagues or entities like

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 194 the NBA, NFL, MLB acted as quickly and decisively as did the WWE. As to your criticism

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 195 of the Wellness Program, much the same could be said. Neither you , nor most of the people who

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 196 criticize, know enough about drug testing in general, or the WWE program specifically, to fill up

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 197 a thimble. Finally, the failure to include any steroid related charges in the new Benoit

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 198 indictment was not, as you surmise, an exercise in prosecutorial discretion. The reality is they

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 199 spent over a year investigating Dr. Astin after the original charges and the lodged 175 separate

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 200 charges against him for other drugs. The original reports, now accepting as gospel truth due to

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 201 the number of times those reports have been repeated, had Dr. Astin prescribing a ten month supply

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 202 each month to Mr. Benoit. Those reports were almost certainly due to mathematical errors and other

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 203 investigative mistakes which preceded the press conference making those statements, none of which

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 204 were ever reflected in an actual charge. Rest assured that if those statements were accurate there

News Notes from the WWE Royal Family

Shane McMahon, Vince’s 39-year-old son, has resigned as a World Wrestling Entertainment executive. The announcement said Shane wants to pursue new challenges. One consequence is that there will not, apparently, be a succession fight for control of what is now a third-generation family business (though one with only a ten-year history as a publicly traded company); the path is clear for Vince’s daugthter Stephanie and her wrestler-husband, Paul Levesque (”Triple H”).

Meanwhile, the Hartford Courant reports that Linda McMahon, the former CEO of WWE who resigned recently to run for the Republican nomination for U.S. senator in Connecticut, has already spent on her campaign an otherwordly $2 million of what is expected to be a total personal outlay of $30 million. See http://blogs.courant.com/capitol_watch/2009/10/mcmahon-spends-2-million-in-se.html.

Irv Muchnick

Muchnick's KRON 4 Interview on YouTube; Links to CHRIS & NANCY Reviews

Irvin Muchnick’s October 14 interview with Gary Radnich on San Francisco’s KRON 4 Evening News is now viewable at YouTube. To see Muchnick and Radnich discussing the new book CHRIS & NANCY: The True Story of the Benoit Murder-Suicide and Pro Wrestling’s Cocktail of Death, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGuVVszpep4. The home page of Muchnick’s YouTube channel, compiling all his media appearances, is http://www.youtube.com/WrestlingBabylon.

Muchnick’s exchange of emails with World Wrestling Entertainment’s lawyer and Washington lobbyist Jerry McDevitt continues to be serialized on Twitter at http://twitter.com/irvmuch.

Three early reviews of CHRIS & NANCY can be viewed at these links:


Writer Anthony Roberts
http://www.anthonyroberts.co.za/?p=3651

Rich Tate / Georgia Wrestling History
http://gwhforum.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=news&thread=8210

Joe Babinsack / Wrestling Observer
http://www.f4wonline.com/content/view/10962/

WWE on Muchnick’s CHRIS & NANCY — The Twitter Daily Dozen for October 15

For a live feed of this continuing series, follow @irvmuch at Twitter.

PARTS 181 – 192

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 181 of Mr. Snuka’s girlfriend is yet another example of your willingness to print any unsubstantiated

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 182 garbage consistent with the portrayal you seek to make of Mr. McMahon. Standing alone, it is

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 183 offensive. When coupled with the statement on your website about the Fayette County authorities

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 184 being supposedly “played like a cello by WWE”,, followed by statements that Mr. McMahon pulled

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 185 an all nighter to keep Snuka from being charged, you are clearly implying that Mr. McMahon

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 186 in some unspecified way manipulated authorities in two criminal investigations. That is false

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 187 Third, you may be correct that you are not the only so-called journalist to have, as you put it,

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 188 “raised questions about how promptly WWE acted on the information given to it by the Albany

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 189 district attorney’. Like you, none of those who do so bother to do the basic fact checking

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 190 emblematic of a real journalist. You never asked WWE to provide the date the District Attorney

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 191 made information available to it, and you certainly never asked the District Attorney when they

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 192 did so. Had you done so, you would have learned that WWE acted within a day of being provided

Here's My Captain Lou Albano Anecdote

In 1985 an attention-starved New York state senator held a hearing on banning pro wrestling. I criticized the ignorance of the senator, whose name was Abraham Bernstein, and I testified with my line on the need for toothful regulation of this industry.

I also persuaded Bill Geist of The New York Times to write a humorous column about the sideshow. The piece was later collected in Geist’s book City Slickers.

Geist called the then-World Wrestling Federation and got a phone interview with its greatest manager and moutpiece of that era, Captain Lou Albano (who died yesterday at 76).

Albano told Geist that he didn’t attend Senator Bernstein’s hearing because “some of these politicians have brains the size of dehydrated peas.” (I think Geist got it wrong: Albano used to say that Jimmy Snuka “had a brain the size of a dehydrated beebies,” and added, “If you put Jimmy Snuka’s brain in a parakeet, the parakeet would fly backwards.”)

Lou also said he was well aware of the state senate bill. “I keep abreast of the issues,” he said. “My favorite TV show is ‘Face the Nation.’”

WWE on Muchnick’s CHRIS & NANCY — The Twitter Daily Dozen for October 14

For a live feed of this continuing series, follow @irvmuch at Twitter.

PARTS 169 – 180

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 169 of the dogs. Another is that the fence around the pool area did not

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 170 contain the dogs. Irvin Muchnick Jerry McDevitt email to Irvin Muchnick, 6/16/09 1:02 p.m.,

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 171 “[no subject]” Mr. Muchnick, I have received your response, such as it is, to my letter

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 172 sent earlier today placing you on notice of certain facts. Your response, like your “reporting”

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 173 leaves much to be desired. In no particular order, a few more observations about your response.

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 174 First, our objection to your use of words like “No show” to describe Mr. McMahon’s inability

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 175 to attend Congressman Rush’s hearing is not “mere semantics”. All words convey a meaning, and

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 176 the reporters selection of words convey a state of mind. That phrase connotes disrespect by WWE

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 177 for the process, and is intended to portray Mr. McMahon in a negative and arrogant light. It is,

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 178 quite simply, factually false and know by you to be false. Second, your reference to some unnamed

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 179 “Investigators” recollection from a quarter of a century ago that Mr. McMahon “served as

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 180 Snuka’s “mouthpiece” when he was interrogated by the police” in connection with the death

Muchnick's KRON 4 Interview Is Wednesday at 6:45 p.m.

Author Irvin Muchnick’s live interview with Gary Radnich on the KRON 4 Evening News in San Francisco is reset for today, Wednesday, October 14, at around 6:45 p.m.

"Immensely interesting and readable" -- Writer Anthony Roberts

Full text of writer Anthony Roberts’ review of CHRIS & NANCY: The True Story of the Benoit Murder-Suicide and Pro Wrestling’s Cocktail of Death is viewable at this link:

http://www.anthonyroberts.co.za/?p=3651

WWE on Muchnick’s CHRIS & NANCY — The Twitter Daily Dozen for October 13

For a live feed of this continuing series, follow @irvmuch at Twitter.

PARTS 157 – 168

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 157 calls to Benoit ceased around 11 a.m. Monday, June 25, 2007 . WWE’s first call to 911 was

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 158 after 1 p.m. What that all means cannot be determined. Good and aggressive advocate that you are,

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 159 you say that it means nothing. 6. Yo, Scott and Chavo. Mr. McDevitt, please share with me Chavo

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 160 Guerrero’s “nationally broadcast versions of exactly what happened and when, including when he

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 161 advised WWE of Chris Benoit’s text messages,” and I will promptly publish them. I will be

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 162 especially interested in how these versions explain the 30-hour gap between when Benoit sent

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 163 Guerrero and Scott James (Armstrong) messages, and when the WWE timeline says company executives

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 164 were told of them. 7. Who let the dogs out? I have reported on this issue several times

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 165 on my blog. Benoit’s texts said the dogs were in the enclosed backyard area by the pool, but when

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 166 the sheriff’s deputies got there, the dogs were loose in the general area near the front gate.

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 167 I also have said that there are two possible innocuous explanations. One is that Benoit, who was

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 168 surely deranged at that point, was not telling the truth in his text messages about the location

Muchnick's KRON 4 Interview Postponed

Today’s live interview of Irvin Muchnick — author of CHRIS & NANCY: The True Story of the Benoit Murder-Suicide and Pro Wrestling’s Cocktail of Death — by Gary Radnich on the KRON 4 Evening News in San Francisco has been postponed due to extensive coverage of today’s storm in the Bay Area.

The interview is being rescheduled. Follow @irvmuch at Twitter, or Muchnick’s blog at http://wrestlingbabylon.wordpress.com, for information on when the interview will air.

WWE on Muchnick’s CHRIS & NANCY — The Twitter Daily Dozen for October 12

For a live feed of this continuing series, follow @irvmuch at Twitter.

PARTS 145 – 156

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 145 raised questions about how promptly WWE acted on the information given to it by the Albany

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 146 district attorney, and how consistently the Wellness Program in general has been executed

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 147 I do not quite see the point of your complaint about my commentary on Dr. Astin’s indictment;

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 148 the essence of the commentary is my wondering aloud why charges related to steroids were not part

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 149 of the indictment. For your part, you offer an articulate argument for the prosecutorial

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 150 discretion that was exercised here. 3. Civil litigation. Nowhere have I said that there is a civil

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 151 lawsuit on file against WWE, so I do not understand your complaint. Thank you for the background

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 152 on estate law and pointers to further areas of reporting. 4. Fayette County authorities –

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 153 threat or menace? Your comments on the Fayette County investigation are valuable additions

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 154 to the public record. WWE’s vice president for corporate communications, Gary Davis, long ago

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 155 stopped responding to my communications. I am happy to have a direct conduit of future

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 156 communications. 5. WWE’s head start. Analysis of telephone call transaction data indicates that

Benoit Book Author Muchnick in Live Interview with Gary Radnich on KRON 4

Benoit Book Author Muchnick in Live Interview with Gary Radnich on KRON 4

Irvin Muchnick, author of the new book CHRIS & NANCY: The True Story of the Benoit Murder-Suicide and Pro Wrestling’s Cocktail of Death, will be interviewed live by Gary Radnich on the KRON 4 Evening News in San Francisco on Tuesday, October 13.

KRON 4 Evening News airs from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Pacific time. Muchnick’s segment with Radnich is expected to be at around 6:45 p.m.

For more information about CHRIS & NANCY, go to the website http://benoitbook.com or to Muchnick’s blog http://wrestlingbabylon.wordpress.com, or follow @irvmuch at Twitter.

Muchnick’s 2007 live interview with Radnich on KRON 4 news can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oH4Vj6X0Q_s&feature=channel_page. The author’s YouTube channel is http://www.youtube.com/WrestlingBabylon.

Media inquiries:

Irvin Muchnick / info@muchnick.net

Simon Ware, Publicity Director, ECW Press

(416) 694-3348 / simon@ecwpress.com

WWE on Muchnick’s CHRIS & NANCY — The Twitter Daily Dozen for October 11

For a live feed of this continuing series, follow @irvmuch at Twitter.

PARTS 133 – 144

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt 133 Mr. McDevitt: I will post the text of your email. I think independent observers would agree

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt 134 with my position that the questions I am raising constitute a search for the full

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt 135 truth of the surrounding narrative — not with your position that they show reckless

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt 136 disregard for the truth. I have never said or suggested that anyone other than Chris Benoit

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt 137 committed the double murder/suicide. Inter alia, you object to my reference to the 1983 death

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt 138 of Jimmy Snuka’s girlfriend. My chapter about that incident in my book Wrestling Babylon discusses

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt 139 the recollection of an investigator that Vince McMahon served as Snuka’s “mouthpiece” when he was

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt 140 interrogated by the police. Your bullet point No. 8 has no specifics. No. 9 goes off on a tangent

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt 141 about Michael Benoit. As for the others: 1. Vince McMahon’s no-show of the Congressional hearing.

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt 142 Your objection to the term “no-show” comes down to semantics. The controversy was well documented

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt 143 in the mainstream media, as well as in my post “Wrestling Is Back on the Congressional Radar

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt 144 Screen,” [old URL]. 2. Dr. Astin/Signature Pharmacy/DEA. I am far from the only journalist who has

WWE on Muchnick’s CHRIS & NANCY — The Twitter Daily Dozen for October 10

For a live feed of this continuing series, follow @irvmuch at Twitter.

PARTS 121 – 132

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt 121 Nancy Benoit, but also charging him with conspiracy with some of the recipients of his

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt 122 prescriptions to further distribute the drugs. As Michael Benoit surely knows, since he is the

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt 123 executor of the estate, the house where the murders were committed had no mortgage. Instead, the

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt 124 builder was paid by a series of payments totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars, and all

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt 125 payments were consistently made by Nancy Benoit from various accounts. In closing, try as you

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt 126 might, Chris Benoit, and only Chris Benoit, is factually, legally, and morally responsible

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt 127 for the murders of his wife and child and his decision to commit suicide rather than face

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt 128 the legal consequences for committing two first degree murders. Notwithstanding your desire

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt 129 to shift blame to WWE by your ill-conceived conspiracy theories in order to promote yourself or

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt 130 a book, please try to get your facts correct in the future. Rest assure WWE will not stand idly

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt 131 by if you don’t. Jerry S. McDevitt

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt 132 Irvin Muchnick email to Eileen M. Wargo, 6/16/09 8:49 a.m., “Re: On behalf of Jerry S. McDevitt”

WWE on Muchnick’s CHRIS & NANCY — The Twitter Daily Dozen for October 9

For a live feed of this continuing series, follow @irvmuch at Twitter.

PARTS 109 – 120

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 109 of my son’s brain.” Mr. Benoit also characterizes the indictment of Dr. Astin as not alleging

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 110 anything improper with the prescriptions given Chris Benoit for painkillers and muscle relaxers,

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 111 stating the amounts were not excessive. First of all, in none of the public comments of which I am

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 112 aware has any doctor, including Drs. Bailes, Omalu and Cantu, stated that alleged concussions

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 113 caused Chris Benoit to commit the first degree murders of his wife and son. In fact, I distinctly

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 114 recall Drs. Bailes and Cantu stating they could not render such an opinion. I would further note

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 115 that SLI’s purported findings came out before any of the police investigative work was made

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 116 public. I rather doubt that any reputable physician who has read that report would render

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 117 an opinion that alleged “concussions” made Chris Benoit hog tie his wife and then brutally murder

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 118 her in the fashion depicted in the police report, and none has to date. Secondly, the allegation

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 119 of the new indictment portrays a much different scenario than Michael Benoit portrays, in fact

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 120 charging Dr. Astin with not only prescribing an illegitimate amount of drugs to both Chris and

WWE on Muchnick’s CHRIS & NANCY — The Twitter Daily Dozen for October 8

For a live feed of this continuing series, follow @irvmuch at Twitter.

PARTS 97 – 108

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 97 8. WWE’s Policies – Once again, no real question here; just hyperbole. 9. Cocktail of Death –

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 98 The police report, incomplete as it is in certain material respects, nevertheless portrays

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 99 a deeply troubled marriage having nothing to do with WWE. As to the concussion theory, suffice it

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 100 to say that none of that alleged scientific work has ever been made available for independent

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 101 review, and the notion that Chris Benoit had the brain of an 85-year old with dementia defies

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 102 both common sense as well as the observations of those who had contact with him every week.

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 103 Simply put, he couldn’t have found the airport if that supposed “finding” were even remotely

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 104 accurate. It was for that reason that we asked the Sports Legacy Institute to turn over all of its

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 105 “science” for independent review. They have refused to do so. In regard to the alleged concussion

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 106 issue, I further note that you have posted the comments of Michael Benoit on your web site

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 107 regarding the new indictment of Dr. Astin together with Mr. Benoit’s statement that “the findings

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 108 of Doctors Bailes, Omalu and Cantu that the underlying cause of the tragedy was the condition

"Incredible retelling ... Highly recommended" -- Georgia Wrestling History

Full text of the Georgia Wrestling History review of CHRIS & NANCY: The True Story of the Benoit Murder-Suicide and Pro Wrestling’s Cocktail of Death, is viewable at this link:

http://gwhforum.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=news&thread=8210

WWE on Muchnick’s CHRIS & NANCY — The Twitter Daily Dozen for October 7

For a live feed of this continuing series, follow @irvmuch at Twitter.

PARTS 85 – 96

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 85 two hours before calling 911, or what these unknown persons supposedly knew, is conveniently

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 86 left out of your report, precisely because you know that the whole construct is utter nonsense.

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 87 To be clear, WWE’s timeline reflects what it knew and when, and your attempts to suggest otherwise,

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 88 are simply malicious fabrications. There is not a shred of evidence anywhere that Chris Benoit told

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 89 anybody what he had done—orally, by text message, or by any means—before taking his own life.

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 90 6. “Yo, Scott and Chavo” – Once again, in your attempts to conjure up unanswered questions and

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 91 suggest something nefarious, you ignore that Chavo Guerrero gave nationally broadcast versions

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 92 of exactly what happened and when, including when he advised WWE of Chris Benoit’s text messages.

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 93 Your desire to create a story out of whole cloth is no excuse to ignore facts of record.

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 94 7. “Who Let the Dogs Out” – Is the suggestion of this non-issue that unnamed WWE personnel used

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 95 their alleged, but non-existent, two hour head start to go to Benoit’s house for some reason

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 96 to leave the dogs out? Exactly what purpose would be served by anybody leaving the dogs out anyway?

WWE on Muchnick’s CHRIS & NANCY — The Twitter Daily Dozen for October 6

For a live feed of this continuing series, follow @irvmuch at Twitter.

PARTS 73 – 84

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 73 kept authorities from charging Jimmy Snuka for murder in 1983 is an odious lie. I gather this lie

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 74 was told to support some inference that Mr. McMahon in some way influenced the investigation

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 75 of the Benoit deaths. I would note that Mr. McMahon never spoke to any of the officials

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 76 investigating the Benoit murders, so your attempted inference that he did something improper

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 77 in Benoit’s case, or would have any reason to do so, is also false. 5. “WWE’s Head Start” – In this

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 78 particular piece of drivel, you state that “the company knew the score at least two hours before

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 79 calling 911.” Nowhere, of course, do you plainly state what you mean by “the score.” From

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 80 this phony predicate, which I gather is designed to suggest that somehow WWE knew Chris Benoit

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 81 had murdered his wife and child two hours before supposedly calling 911, you then compound that lie

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 82 by claiming WWE used its “early knowledge” (of what is not said) to get out in front of and shape

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 83 the public story by “slowing down” the timeline and garnering early sympathy. Exactly who

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 84 supposedly knew something two hours before calling 911, or how they or anybody would have known

WWE on Muchnick’s CHRIS & NANCY — The Twitter Daily Dozen for October 5

For a live feed of this continuing series, follow @irvmuch at Twitter.

PARTS 61 – 72

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 61 many things which should have been done, and which they were urged to do, and did several things

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 62 which should never be done in any competent investigation. Foremost among such actions was

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 63 releasing the crime scene, together with critically important evidence, to persons with financial

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 64 interests within a day of discovering the bodies. Indeed, it is a matter of historical record that

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 65 I called on authorities during a national television program to locate Chris Benoit’s diary when I

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 66 learned of it since it might have shed light on the murders. Incredibly, when it finally was

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 67 located or retrieved, it was evidently given to Michael Benoit rather than maintained in police

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 68 custody. Similarly, Mr. Ballard made numerous public statements which were inappropriate and

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 69 ultimately belied by the actual forensic evidence and failed to see to it that certain tests

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 70 were done which might have supplied a motive and/or more complete picture of the circumstances

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 71 within the Benoit family. Indeed, the disdain for Mr. Ballard is evident to anybody who speaks

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 72 to the actual investigators. Likewise, your insinuation that Mr. McMahon in some unspecified way

WWE on Muchnick’s CHRIS & NANCY — The Twitter Daily Dozen for October 4

For a live feed of this continuing series, follow @irvmuch at Twitter.

PARTS 49 – 60

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 49 on the facts of that case. If Chris Benoit first murdered his wife and then his son, which is

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 50 the official conclusion of that investigation, neither Nancy’s parents, nor Michael Benoit,

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 51 are entitled to a dime of estate assets. In that regard, as a reporter, I would think you might

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 52 find it interesting that the settlement of which you speak involving Michael Benoit and

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 53 the parents of Nancy Benoit has been “sealed” from the public. As a reporter, I would think you

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 54 might be more interested in finding out whether estate assets are being transferred in their

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 55 entirety to the surviving children of Chris Benoit or are being diverted elsewhere, including to

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 56 persons with no legal right to state assets. 4. “Fayette County Authorities – Threat or Menace” –

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 57 The notion that District Attorney Scott Ballard and Sheriff Johnson “got played like a cello

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 58 by WWE” is utter nonsense. Nobody from WWE, including myself, ever spoke to Scott Ballard. As to

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 59 the sheriff’s office, we provided numerous facts to them to aid their investigation, including that

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 60 Chris Benoit had seen Dr. Astin earlier in the day. In point of fact, the authorities did not do

WWE on Muchnick’s CHRIS & NANCY — The Twitter Daily Dozen for October 3

For a live feed of this continuing series, follow @irvmuch at Twitter.

PARTS 37 – 48

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 37 those prescriptions. Indeed, after nearly a year of further investigating Dr. Astin, the recent new

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 38 indictment of Dr. Astin does not contain any steroid related charges. Additionally, the toxicology

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 39 report issued by Georgia authorities reveals the presence of other substances found in his body

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 40 on autopsy, and Dr. Astin has been charged with improperly prescribing with respect to those drugs.

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 41 The toxicology report of Nancy Benoit also indicates the use of various drugs, and the recent

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 42 indictment of Dr. Astin appears to charge Dr. Astin with prescribing such drugs to her

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 43 outside the course of proper medical treatment. If these charges are sustained

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 44 at the eventual trial of Dr. Astin, it would indicate that Chris Benoit and Nancy Benoit were both

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 45 abusing prescription medications at the time of the murders. 3. “Civil Litigation” – Simply put,

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 46 there is no civil lawsuit against WWE, nor was it necessary to settle estate issues to clear

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 47 the path to any such frivolous lawsuit. There are no legitimate estate issues, as the surviving

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 48 children of Chris Benoit are the only persons under Georgia law who should inherit the estate

American Lawyer Covers Muchnick-McDevitt Exchange on Benoit Book

Am Law Daily, the blog of American Lawyer magazine, has a story today about World Wrestling Entertainment lawyer Jerry McDevitt’s lively email exchange with author Irvin Muchnick over his new book, CHRIS & NANCY: The True Story of the Benoit Murder-Suicide and Pro Wrestling’s Cocktail of Death.

Muchnick is currently publishing the full texts of his June 2008 correspondence with McDevitt, in installments on Twitter, a dozen “tweets” a day. Muchnick’s Twitter feed is at http://twitter.com/irvmuch.

The Am Law Daily article by Zach Lowe, headlined “K&L Gates in Bizarre WWE Smackdown,” can be viewed at http://amlawdaily.typepad.com/amlawdaily/2009/10/kl-gates-in-bizarre-1.html.

WWE on Muchnick’s CHRIS & NANCY — The Twitter Daily Dozen for October 2

For a live feed of this continuing series, follow @irvmuch at Twitter.

PARTS 25 – 36

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 25 to raise here is not clear, nor is the importance of the “unanswered question” evident

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 26 given the certainty that Chris Benoit murdered his family. There are a few clear things, however,

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 27 which your piece omits. First of all, it was WWE which provided law enforcement with information

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 28 it had about Chris Benoit’s visit to Dr. Astin on the day of the murders before any search warrant

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 29 was executed on Dr. Astin. Secondly, I personally met with District Attorney David Soares,

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 30 who has conducted the Signature Pharmacy investigation, and WWE acted promptly on information

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 31 provided to us by Mr. Soares in suspending talent who had dealt with Signature in ways

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 32 that violated the Wellness Program. Third, there is little mystery now about Chris Benoit’s

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 33 medical condition on the date of the murders. His autopsy report confirms the existence

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 34 of a medical condition requiring testosterone replacement therapy. In that regard, despite original

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 35 statements made by the United States Attorney suggesting that Dr. Astin overprescribed

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 36 testosterone, the fact is that Dr. Astin was never charged with any illegality in regard to

WWE on Muchnick’s CHRIS & NANCY — The Twitter Daily Dozen for October 1

For a live feed of this continuing series, follow @irvmuch at Twitter.

PARTS 13 – 24

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 13 Top Nine List of supposedly “unanswered questions” regarding the murders committed by Chris Benoit.

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 14 In reality, none are questions at all but rather your uninformed musing and falsehoods.

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 15 We address each below. 1. “Congress: All Lick and No Stick” – Vince McMahon did not “no show”

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 16 Congressman Rush’s hearing, as you have stated. As the written record clearly shows, Mr. McMahon

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 17 was “invited” to attend and told he had the right to counsel by the invitation. I was personally

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 18 involved in a criminal trial for another client and had an incurable conflict as a result.

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 19 Mr. Rush’s committee was so advised. Beyond that, I would add that WWE produced all the records

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 20 Mr. Rush’s committee asked for long ago and never heard another word from that committee until

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 21 it “invited” Mr. McMahon to appear. Additionally, WWE also provided additional documents

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 22 to Congressman Waxman’s committee, and Mr. McMahon personally answered questions by their staff.

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 23 In short, Congress has received complete cooperation from WWE.

WWE on Muchnick’s ‘CHRIS & NANCY’ Pt. 24 2. “Dr. Astin/Signature Pharmacy/DEA” – As noted, the precise “unanswered question” you seek