Debra Cashes in on the Benoit Tragedy

It’s been almost a week since the world learned of the tragic events surrounding the Benoit family in Atlanta, Georgia. Bret Hart put it perfectly when he said that this is probably the biggest tragedy to hit the professional wrestling industry, even bigger than the death of his brother Owen eight years ago.

While the British press has covered the story, we on this side of the pond have had to use the internet for the most part to get the latest details. That and Fox News.

I hadn’t paid much attention to Fox News before, but now I find myself tuning in on an almost nightly basis to find out what’s happening, and while I don’t necessarily agree with the way that some of our American cousins have sensationalised this story, there is one thing that has really annoyed me, and that’s the way that some people, and one in particular, have used this situation to put themselves back in the media spotlight.

People like Bruce Hart and Joanie Laurer have used the platform they have been given to criticise Vince McMahon and the WWE for things that happened to them in the past. Bruce Hart was extremely critical of McMahon a few years ago, especially when his idea of creating a feeder territory in Canada was turned down. Laurer has been on a downward spiral ever since she quit WWE in 2001, and her appearances in a certain porn video and in “101 Reasons Not To Be A Professional Wrestler” showed just how far she has fallen.

On the other hand, people like Chris Jericho and Bill DeMott have spoken about the situation in a very rational manner, putting things into perspective, telling us of the real pressures that the Benoit family were under.

But there has been one person who has really capitalised on these events, who seems to have been on my television screen on a nightly basis. That person is Debra Marshall, ex-wife of Steve “Mongo” McMichael and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin.

Marshall is currently working as a real estate agent, and has been out of the wrestling business since she left WWE in 2002. Since then she’s gone through a divorce with Austin, and has apparently tried to gain work with TNA and WWE.

But this past week Marshall has taken the opportunity to tell the world of the apparent hell she went through as Austin’s wife, using the airwaves to tell people how she was a victim of domestic abuse at the hands of Austin five years ago.

She paints a sorry picture of the current state of the wrestling business, of drink and drug-addled wrestlers who spent a great deal of time drinking booze, popping pills and beating up their partners. She tells us how she was constantly beaten up by Austin, and how she wished she had spoken out then, because if she had, Nancy and Daniel Benoit may be alive right now.

But Marshall also tells us that she signed a gagging order when she divorced Austin, how she was paid a large some of money to keep quiet about what happened to her. But she doesn’t tell us what’s happened to that money. She doesn’t tell us why she’s suddenly appeared on the international stage again to tell her side of the story. Did she contact the news companies, or did the news companies contact her? And how much was she paid to tell the same story night after night after night?

I’m not going to pretend that there isn’t a dark side to the professional wrestling business. I worked in the British wrestling business for five years, and saw my fair share of unpleasant things over here. I’m not going to pretend that everything is perfect. Nothing in life ever is.


But if Debra Marshall was so worried about things, why didn’t she turn down the large some of money that was given to her five years ago and speak out then? Why didn’t she stand up for what she apparently believes in then?

My answer to that is a simple one - because she wants to get back in the spotlight. In his biography “Bang Your Head”, Dewey Robertson, aka The Missing Link, tells us how difficult it is for those who retire from the wrestling business to handle life out of the spotlight. They can’t handle the fact that the spotlight isn’t on them anymore, and they’d do anything to get back the attention that they had before.

I truly believe that this is the case with Debra Marshall. She says she’s lost friends by speaking out in this way, but she’s once again in the spotlight, telling people how hard done by she was during her time in the wrestling business. She’s extended her fifteen minutes of fame, on the back of the tragic deaths of three people. While I’m sickened by the events that saw the deaths of the Benoit family, I’m sickened by the way that Marshall is cashing in on this situation.

But going back to what happened last weekend, I will say this. I’ve been a Chris Benoit fan for about fifteen years, ever since I saw him on a New Japan show that was broadcast on Eurosport. I’ve watched his career through his time in WCW and WWF, through two world championship wins, and while I’m deeply saddened by the way that that his life came to an end, I will always be a Benoit mark. Although I will never forget what he did to his family, I will always be thankful for the countless hours of entertainment he gave me over the years.

And I will always say a prayer for Nancy and Daniel, two people who were taken from this world before their time.

Rest in peace, Chris, Nancy and Daniel. Your fans will never forget you.