Former WWE VOD Content Director Discusses WWE’s Directives on Chris Benoit Changing Over Time

– Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston and Jesse Collings recently spoke to former WWE Video On Demand Content Director and Supervising Producer John Carlan. Carlan worked with WWE from 1998 to 2020 as a production assistant and producer before transitioning to the Video on Demand side of the brand in 2014. During the chat, Carlan discussed WWE’s directives regarding Chris Benoit following the murder-suicide tragedy that took place in June 2007. Below are some highlights (via Fightful):

Carlan on WWE’s directive regarding Chris Benoit material pre-WWE Network: “Certainly, that was a major directive, especially pre-Network. For Classics, he was a ‘no go.’ Matches were removed, mentions of him were removed, graphics were removed. That was a tough cut, like blurring the WWF logo. You would have to make notes of it and they would say, ‘scratch logo, massive cursing, Benoit,’ it would have to be noted. It was more when we got to the Network, he was allowed. We didn’t want to lose any integrity of any shows. I guess, he did a lot of good wrestling. He did. Things changed. Legally, it changed. Feelings changed. We just followed direction. It was never something I made any calls on. I just did what I was told.”

On another name he was told to “note” being Buck Zumhofe: “Certainly, down the line, one I can remember in the last five or ten years was Rock N Roll Buck Zumhofe. You guys know the story about that dude, it’s not a good one. He did a lot of really bad things to a lot of young women. He was on the list. He jobbed for [WWE] a lot in the 90s on Superstars.”

In 2007, Benoit committed a double-murder/suicide, first killing his wife Nancy and son Daniel, followed by himself.