McMahon's Memo

The Day (New London)

Editorial

April 13, 2010

When Linda McMahon's wrestling empire faced a criminal steroid investigation, her reaction was not to stop such conduct, but to warn a steroid-peddling doctor and distance the company from him.

While these recent revelations do not disqualify her as a Senate candidate, they raise troubling questions about her character. ...

Muscled, larger-than-life wrestling characters were the WWF's product and the reckless use of steroids the means for many of them to get that way. The Ultimate Warrior (James Hellwig) and Hulk Hogan (Terry Bollea), two of the biggest stars, were both steroid users. ...

Federal investigators were focusing on Dr. George T. Zahorian III, a wrestling physician used by the WWF. Dr. Zahorian would later be convicted of steroid distribution and sentenced to three years in prison.

Mrs. McMahon saw the investigation as a threat to the company's great success. "Call Zahorian and ... tell him not to come to any more of our events and to also clue him in on any action that the Justice Department is thinking of taking," she ordered in a company memo after learning of the investigation.

How this tip-off may have hindered the government's case is impossible to say. ...

All glitz and marketing aside, the WWF was a brutish business, glorifying brutality and vengefulness. An alarming number of its past stars have died prematurely.

The candidate champions her business success as her greatest qualification. That's the business. It's not a pretty picture.

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