Matt Randazzo Interview
“Ring of Hell breaks numerous stories thanks to the unprecedented access I was given by wrestling insiders across the world.”
Matthew Randazzo V is the author of Ring of Hell, a searing expose of the 2007 Chris Benoit murder/suicide that also serves as a damning indictment of the wrestling industry as a whole. Containing never-told stories of sleaze, racism, sexual and physical abuse, the book is a must-read for any wrestling fan. Below we present an exclusive interview with the author conducted for UGO.com.
Do you think Vince’s monopoly is responsible for wrestlers working harder than they need to?
MR: Absolutely. As I show in Ring of Hell, Vince McMahon demands more and gives less than any major promoter in recent pro wrestling history. Vince McMahon is a pathological workaholic who devotes his entire life to World Wrestling Entertainment, and he expects the same from his employees, who are required to work the heaviest schedule in wrestling without any regular time off to recuperate from the inevitable injuries they sustain. Despite being international TV celebrities, WWE wrestlers are denied even the most basic benefits, insurance, job security, legal standing, or vacation time, and McMahon himself, as I reveal in Ring of Hell, treats them with so little respect that, in one instance, he mocked and fired a wrestler who sought medical attention for an injury for being “a pussy.” McMahon is also infamous for punishing or even firing any employee who misses WWE events to attend to family emergencies or terminally ill relatives.
The wrestling business is often ugly and exploitative, but it is safe to say that McMahon is the most demanding, coldblooded, heartless, and ultimately destructive promoter in the industry. Unfortunately, in today’s depressed wrestling market, he is also the only man in the world with the power to grant an aspiring wrestler’s dream of becoming a global superstar.
Matthew Randazzo gives his opinion that Little Daniel was even on steroids.
Why do you think Daniel Benoit was on steroids?
MR: I reveal in Ring of Hell that Chris Benoit had a pathological insecurity about his average height and frame dating all the way back to childhood; according to some Calgary locals, Benoit was using steroids when he was barely out of junior high school. It not hard to understand why such an insecure man, after his psyche was further warped by severe brain damage and drug addiction, felt compelled to inject steroids into the beloved son he feared may turn out as physically inadequate (by wrestling’s insane standards) as his father. In every facet of his life, Chris Benoit treated professional wrestling’s bizarre values system as his religion, and he completely internalized the industry’s prejudice against normal body types to the point that he could not respect himself or his physically average son.
To read more on what Randazzo said in his book, Ring of Hell……go here…..
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