ARCHIVE 4/2/08: Paging WWE, New York Daily News, Dean Malenko With Benoit Questions (WDMKABAWDHKI, Part 4)

Paging WWE, New York Daily News, Dean Malenko With Benoit Questions (WDMKABAWDHKI, Part 4)

Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008

Below is my email exchange with Gary Davis, vice president of corporate communications for World Wrestling Entertainment.

Date: Fri, 28 Mar 2008 09:43:58 -0700 (PDT)
From: Irvin Muchnick
Subject: Re: Benoit 911 call
To: Gary Davis

Thanks for getting back to me [about WWE security chief Dennis Fagan’s 911 call on June 25, 2007]. Another question:

WWE’s timeline said the company arranged for a Sunday morning flight for Benoit from Atlanta to Houston. Can you provide detail on that? I ask because the open records from the Fayette County Sheriff mention no evidence of a reservation for Benoit on a Sunday flight. We do know, however, that Benoit himself called Delta Airlines and rebooked himself for a Saturday evening flight.

***************

Date: Tues, 1 Apr 2008 10:55:39 -0700 (PDT)
From: Irvin Muchnick
Subject: Benoit questions
To: Gary Davis

Below is my message of last Friday. The question therein has not been answered. Please advise.

Also, I would like WWE to address more generally the issue of the two timelines — the first being the one in your June 26, 2007, news release, the other being the one published in the New York Daily News on June 27, 2007. If you have any information on the sources or substance for the latter, please let me know.

Finally, please let me know if WWE has anything to add, beyond the 6/26/07 statement, about the level of company executives’ knowledge of the nature of the crime in Georgia when the decision was made to air the Benoit tribute on Monday night the 25th. I am publishing, and will continue to publish, evidence raising questions about WWE’s assertions in this area.

Thanks.

***************

Subject: Re: Benoit questions

Date: Tues, 1 Apr 2008 14:10:07 -0400

From: Gary Davis

To: Irvin Muchnick

Hi Irv,

I recognize you have an interest in this subject, but why 

are you asking for this information, how do you intend to use 

this information if it is provided, and what is it that you 

think this information, if provided, is going to prove?

***************

Date: Tues, 1 Apr  2008 11:35:44 -0700 (PDT)

From: Irvin Muchnick

Subject: Re: Benoit questions

To: Gary Davis

Hi Gary,

I am under contract to write a book about Benoit. I also have a blog supplementing that project and my previously published book Wrestling Babylon.

As a journalist, I don’t pre-judge what this information, if provided, might prove.

Below is my email to Leon Carter, sports editor of the New York Daily News. Carter has not responded to it or to a follow-up voicemail message on April 1

Date: Mon, 24 Mar  2008 22:14:41 -0700 (PDT)

From: Irvin Muchnick

Subject: Query from author

To: Leon Carter

Mr. Carter:

I am author of the forthcoming book Chris and Nancy: The True Story of the Benoit Murder-Suicide and Pro Wrestling’s Cocktail of Death (see links to my work […]).

On June 27, 2007, you ran a piece headlined “Chris Benoit Timeline” (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/06/27/2007-06-27_chris_benoit_timeline-2.html).

This timeline — which was circulated widely online — is more detailed, substantially different

and I believe more accurate than the one released by World Wrestling Entertainment. Could

you put me in touch with the Daily News reporter who compiled it?

Thank you.

Irv Muchnick

[phone and email listed]

According to sources who would know, Dean Malenko spoke on the phone with Chris Benoit 

on Saturday, June 23, 2007. Malenko, Benoit, and the late Eddie Guerrero were known as the 

”Three Amigos” because of their long friendship and because they had shared the struggle to 

make it big in pro wrestling without the advantages of huge size or over-the-top gimmicks. 

Malenko is now a road agent for WWE; it is possible that he is the person from Talent Relations 

referred to in the Daily News timeline.

 

On April 1, I left a voicemail message at what one of my sources told me is Malenko’s personal 

cell phone number. The message has not been returned.