“He tried to do a swan dive like Jeff Harding [sic] does in SmackDown. That was his favorite game. He played it all the time,” said the friend according to GamePolitics.
The boy’s mother said that she should “keep a better eye on what [her kids] are playing or watching. Kids are so impressionable,” while a WWE spokesperson offered condolences, but noted that WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 has a Teen rating (which means that the boy was four years younger than the minimum allowed age) and it does not feature wrestlers jumping of buildings. Still, they do jump from the tall cage’s top and that would be the connection.
However, as sad as the news is for the family and the entire world, putting once more the video games into a bad light is not necessarily the best move. If the roof had been locked, as a neighbor pointed out, that would’ve never happened. And it’s also worth mentioning that the kid was enrolled in special education at school… either way, our best wishes go the boy’s family.