Ever since the horrifying facts about the Chris Benoit case came out, there have been strong feelings of revulsion towards the once idolised superstar. There were some who shared Benoit matches over the internet but most simply wanted to put him out of their thoughts. Seeing Benoit gives an uneasy feeling in the stomach. Although none of those matches were wrestled by a murderer (unless you believe he was always capable of it and it was simply a matter of time before his true nature surfaced), they still remind the viewer of every gory detail. The timeline of killings, the putrefaction of the bodies, the sheer disbelief of hearing the news. WWE has the problem of what to do with Chris Benoit footage – they have bigger problems right now but their back catalogue accounts for a significant portion of their revenue so it can’t be dismissed as irrelevant.

Their first option would be to carry on as normal. All Benoit matches would remain in their rightful places, Benoit’s name and interviews would be heard and he would be treated as any historical figure – he’s not excused, he’s not condoned but he’s part of history and must be accepted as such. WWE would be accused of exploiting Benoit for gain but every media company is guilty of exploiting murderers, rapists and despots for money. The very media companies which would jump on WWE would be the very ones WWE could turn to and remind them that they exploited the Benoit situation for weeks of ratings and sensational publicity. And publicity and ratings equal money.

The second option would be to remove all Benoit material from television (including 24/7) but leave it in tact on DVDs. I’m a strong advocate against censoring DVDs because buying and watching a DVD is a choice people make and if they make that choice they shouldn’t then complain about what they see. Television on the other hand (even subscription or on-demand services) can be accessed more or less at random and happening across Chris Benoit might upset some people. But WWE would have to be consistent – a recent example of their inconsistency saw Benoit’s name removed every time from an episode of Monday Nitro but Woman – Benoit’s murdered wife – was described as being "left for dead" following an angle. Either you do this or you don’t. You can’t just censor the word "Benoit" and think you’ve done a great moral service.

Technology gives them another option related to the above. DVD branching means that you can run PPV events and depending on which option you choose, you could have a Benoit version or a non-Benoit version – the player would show the appropriate chapters for your selection. This gives people choice and choice is good. WWE’s demographic is a wide one and you can rarely do right by the full spectrum but this would be a way of doing so.

If WWE want to go down the censoring route they need to decide whether that applies to everything or just to compilations. They recently re-released a three-pack of Summerslam shows. The Benoit matches were removed (including the show he headlined against Randy Orton). I wonder if the box(es) made it clear they contained edited shows? Probably not – that would rather go against the apparent policy to pretend Chris Benoit never existed. This cannot possibly be a good thing. You might argue that WWE had no choice this soon after the event. The counter to that would be that there was absolutely no reason why they had to release the DVDs at all. It was a short term money maker that they chose to release despite the obvious insensitivity of the material.

Summerslam is next on the list for an "Anthology" release – following the successful Wrestlemania and Summerslam sets – and with this also be censored? And censored without drawing attention to the censorship? I don’t suppose too many people would be happy to pay $200 for a set which falsely purports to be "complete". The cynic in my thinks WWE is secretly happy that they have an excuse to release cut material because they will then be able to sell the same DVDs but "uncut" in a couple of years. The cynic in me also wonders where this literal erasing from history will end. Will we see Hulk Hogan’s matches removed from DVDs if he has another big falling out with Vince? You may say "woah – lets have a sense of proportion – a falling out is hardly murdering your family" but I’d reply that Vince equated the heroism of 9/11 with his own strength during his steroid distribution trial so don’t be telling me he has a healthy sense of proportion.

An easier question is what to do with compilation or documentary releases. Omitting Benoit’s matches from packages of extras and leaving him out of documentaries strikes me as a sensible thing to do. There is a difference between selling something of which Chris Benoit was a part (such as a PPV show) and using Chris Benoit as a selling point of a DVD (as he would be if included as so called "added value"). Ideally, there would be no need to consider either scenario for a year or two – all the PPVs Benoit appeared on have been released now so it is only historical shows and re-releases which are in scope. Simply postpone them all for a while – don’t let greed force you into doing something ill-judged.

Releasing edited shows will annoy customers (especially when they aren’t warned that the shows are cut), force WWE’s video department to work overtime to be consistent in the application of the policy and most seriously of all it will make people look elsewhere for uncut versions of the shows. You can get anything online if you know where to look. WWE would be creating a new market if they insist on releasing edited shows. Not to mention the risk of turning Chris Benoit into almost an underground hero. The man "they" don’t want you to see.

If WWE were really serious about deleting Chris Benoit from history they would be removing him from their master tapes. A couple of years of cutting him out of DVDs before re-releasing them all looks the more realistic plan. Rather than avoiding trouble they are blundering in and making themselves look bad. Just as they have at every step along these tragic two months. Release something else for now – do what you said you were going to do at the time – entertain people. Don’t keep skirting round it and leave him always in the corner of the eye. And don’t use this as a tacky ploy to make people buy two expensive boxed sets instead of one. That would be exploiting the very thing you claim you’re doing your best not to exploit.