The death rattle of Linda McMahon’s Senate campaign in Connecticut is a series of publicity stunts by World Wrestling Entertainment, the company founded by Linda and her husband Vince. One of several surrounding controversies involves the staffing of off-duty cops from the Bridgeport police force on Election Day – Tuesday, November 2. That same night, WWE is shooting one of its television shows in the city.
For details, see blogger Lennie Grimaldi’s “Will McMahon Hire Off Duty City Cops Election Day?”, http://onlyinbridgeport.com/wordpress/will-mcmahon-hire-off-duty-city-cops-election-day/#more-14868.
The relationship between wrestling promotions and city police forces is a fascinating one in itself. The Bridgeport scenario reminds us that WWE’s close ties to another Connecticut police department, that of its home city of Stamford, may have played a role in the unsatisfying resolution of the story of the “Benoit Wikipedia Hacker” – the local college kid who in 2007 posted online, perhaps inadvertently, the news that star wrestler Chris Benoit’s wife was dead more than half a day before police in Georgia found the dead bodies of all three family members in a grisly double murder/suicide.
The full story was told earlier this year in a four-part series on this blog. Here are the links:
“Linda McMahon Chronicles: Strange Tale of the Stamford Police and the ‘Benoit Wikipedia Hacker’ (Part 1),” January 28, http://wrestlingbabylon.wordpress.com/2010/01/28/linda-mcmahon-chronicles-strange-tale-of-the-stamford-police-and-the-%E2%80%98benoit-wikipedia-hacker%E2%80%99-part-1/
“Linda McMahon Chronicles: Strange Tale of the Stamford Police and the ‘Benoit Wikipedia Hacker’ (Part 2),” January 29, http://wrestlingbabylon.wordpress.com/2010/01/29/linda-mcmahon-chronicles-strange-tale-of-the-stamford-police-and-the-%E2%80%98benoit-wikipedia-hacker%E2%80%99-part-2/
“Linda McMahon Chronicles: Strange Tale of the Stamford Police and the ‘Benoit Wikipedia Hacker’ (Part 3),” January 31, http://wrestlingbabylon.wordpress.com/2010/01/31/linda-mcmahon-chronicles-strange-tale-of-the-stamford-police-and-the-%E2%80%98benoit-wikipedia-hacker%E2%80%99-part-3/
“Linda McMahon Chronicles: Strange Tale of the Stamford Police and the ‘Benoit Wikipedia Hacker’ (Part 4),” February 23, http://wrestlingbabylon.wordpress.com/2010/02/23/linda-mcmahon-chronicles-strange-tale-of-the-stamford-police-and-the-%E2%80%98benoit-wikipedia-hacker%E2%80%99-part-4-conclusion/
Irv Muchnick
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