Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 11/25/07

The difficult-to-define genre of professional wrestling has spent the last several decades as the media's version of the last kid picked for kickball. Too scripted for the sports pages. Not scripted enough for the entertainment pages. Not respected enough for the news pages.

That purgatorial existence ended five months ago today when the world encountered the horrific details of Chris Benoit's murder of his wife and 7-year-old child, and his own subsequent suicide. The mainstream media suddenly became keenly aware of pro wrestling, and its unsavory reputation for drug use and physical wear and tear, not to mention an unprecedented death rate for performers under 45.

Where before obscure jazz musicians would get full-blown obituaries while dead pro wrestlers would only get a mention if they were the biggest of stars, now every wrestling death makes a headline — especially with jarringly young ages like John Kronus at 38 and Brian Adams at 44.

Pro wrestling has gone mainstream. And not just in the media.

U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., chairman of a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee, told the Baltimore Sun last week that he plans to call a hearing on performance-enhancing drugs next spring. And look who's on the invite list.

"Given recent developments — the impending Mitchell report and reports of widespread abuse in professional wrestling — I believe it's time we get a formal update on what progress is being made to eradicate steroids from all sports and sports entertainment," he told the Sun.

That's right, pro wrestling is sharing time at the table with the national pastime itself, Major League Baseball. Congratulations pro wrestling, you've made it.

Of course, this probably isn't how World Wrestling Entertainment boss Vince McMahon envisioned mainstream acceptance.

The week of the Benoit tragedy, I used this space as a call to arms in the media to look past the headline-friendly "roid rage" aspect of the story and shine a light on some of the lesser-known problems that plague pro wrestling. Now I offer them to Congress as some tough questions to ask wrestling's leadership.

Why is there no off-season in WWE that might allow families to reconnect and bodies to heal? What is being done to prevent the long-term brain damage from concussions that Benoit suffered, according to an independent medical group? And of course, isn't it time to close the loopholes in the WWE drug-testing policy that allow for steroids and other controlled drugs if they are prescribed by a doctor — a doctor like Benoit's doctor who federal prosecutors believe prescribed a 10-month supply of testosterone to Benoit seven times over a 12-month period?

Stepping in and regulating professional wrestling from the sold-out arenas of WWE to the mom-and-pop fairground shows may be too untenable a task for Congress to embark on. But asking the tough questions and applying a little governmental pressure is a good start.