I know this will come as a big shock, but it seems that Fox News Channel intentionally misled viewers in an attempt to boost its ratings. The “fair and balanced” channel advertised that Bill O’Reilly would have a “hard-hitting interview” with WWE CEO Linda McMahon on his show last night as part of the ongoing coverage of the Chris Benoit story.

McMahon’s hyped appearance was a hot topic on wrestling Web sites yesterday, as the pundits pondered whether it was a good idea for her to be on a combative, circus-like show such as O’Reilly’s. As it turned out, McMahon was never really booked to be on the show last night. What Fox News aired was an interview with her from five years ago in which she discussed the influence pro wrestling has on children.

That is a classic case of bait-and-switch. Of course, no one should really be surprised. It’s not like anyone will ever confuse a blowhard such as O’Reilly with Edward R. Murrow. Come to think of it, O’Reilly might have missed his true calling. He’d be a natural for pro wrestling as a heel manager.

While I’m on the topic of mainstream television’s coverage of the Benoit story, I thought the Larry King show on Monday night was mostly a waste of time. As usual, King didn’t ask good questions, and we really didn’t learn anything new.

I think the wrestlers on the show, especially John Cena and Chris Jericho, represented themselves well, but at times I felt like I was watching another Benoit tribute show. I can’t really criticize the guests – Cena, Jericho, Bret Hart, Ted DiBiase and Steve Blackman – for that, however, because they all knew Benoit for years and truly did like and respect him. Near the end of the program, Jericho realized that they had spent most of the show saying what a great guy a man who murdered his wife and son was, and he tried to explain where they were coming from.

“We've been talking so positively, but we can also never forget or forgive these horrible acts that he did,” Jericho said. “And that overshadows everything else in his life. But you can't tell the story of pro wrestling without talking about Chris Benoit.”

There was one cringe-worthy moment on the show. When King commented on Blackman's wrestling nickname, the host said: You were known as the Lethal Weapon. A killer.” I know it was something that King said without thinking – and it was live television, so they couldn’t edit it out – but I cringed nonetheless.