Breaking Down the Walls
June 30th, 2007At night, the freaks come out on Fox, galvinizing the galvinized and the tame, as evidenced by normally respectable Greta Van Sustren’s asking former wrestler Chyna to speak about steroids and Chris Benoit on her show. Chyna took the opportunity to, first, make accusations about flagrant steroid use then deny ever using them herself. Now tell me, when you look at this woman, and take into consideration her confession in her autobiographies and interviews that she’s had plastic surgery — can you tell me with a straight face that you believe her when she says she’s never taken steroids? Then look into her history and see why she might be a little bitter with Vince McMahon: her boyfriend was fired for drug use and generally being a mutt, while her longtime boyfriend Triple H wound up marrying Vince McMahon’s daughter after dumping her. But hey: I guess she’s speaking out in the best interest of the wrestlers and their families.
Yesterday, Debra Marshall appeared on a talk show where she declared that Stone Cold Steve Austin (the Hulk Hogan of the 1990s, as well as her former husband) used to beat her (that’s why she left him, which is common knowledge) and take steroids. The second revelation is not a surprise, and while I generally admire Debra’s courage in speaking out about spousal abuse in wrestling, I question the way such information will be used in the media. “Wrestling creates wife-beating monsters!” will definitely be a charge when the truth is that it doesn’t. You’ll find spousal abusers in every field, but especially in athletics of all sorts. Let’s not blame World Wrestling Entertainment, however, as I don’t believe the federation encourages its workers to beat their wives. If evidence arises to the surface, I will personally slap Vince McMahon in the mouth.
I’d like to express my appreciation of semi-retired professional wrestler Chris Jericho for his comments on the talk show circuit, including his interview with Nancy Grace, whose ridiculousness I’ve already discussed in detail. While she’s still asking absurd questions and posting empty hypothesis’ (“there is evidence that Chris Benoit himself was murdered”), it’s nice of her to have featured Jericho, who has known Benoit for years and is closer to him than most. He’s also more articulate than Bret Hart (with no disrespect intended toward the Hitman) and so I’m glad he was given the opportunity to point out that mental illness and drug use seem more likely culprits than steroids.
Just a little bit more before we talk about the government and the Associated Press. Warrior’s appearance on Hannity and Colmes was pushed back to Monday because of the attempted-but-foiled-by-incompetent-terrorists-themselves terror plot in London. I wonder what nonsense he’ll find to say now that he has a few more days to prepare or more accurately, seethe.
This article is from the Associated Press and it declares that too many pro wrestlers are dying young, which is true. It’s definitely true, and it goes back to what was suggested by Keller that I linked to here. It’s probably true that the WWE’s Wellness Program needs to be stricter, like with most professional drug testing programs. It’s a fine piece to read because it’s about the tragedy that’s become of so many young wrestlers as opposed to being, say, a smearjob on the WWE. The one thing about the article that I have critical comment about is here,
Over the years, there are been numerous proposals to put wrestling under some sort of oversight, be it at the state or federal level. Those ideas usually have fallen on deaf ears, largely because the powers-that-be, be it the old-time regional promoters or WWE owner Vince McMahon, the guy who largely controls the sport today, don’t want the government telling them how to run their business. Jim Wilson, who parlayed pro football into a ring career, says he was blackballed when he began pushing for a wrestler’s union. Since then, he has written a book about his experiences and kept up the push to rein in those who govern the sport. Although Wilson’s battle often has been a lonely one, he says Benoit’s death might reinvigorate the cause.
A union could be a useful tool for cleaning up the sport. It might lead to a pension plan, improved benefits, more stringent health and safety guidelines and a revamped pay structure that would allow wrestlers to spend more time at home without risking a pay cut. Now, most top wrestlers get a guaranteed salary, but the bulk of their income is based on how often they compete. That leads some to feel they must get in the ring while injured, often with the aid of painkillers and other numbing chemicals. And much like rock stars, plenty of wrestlers have fallen victim to excessive partying, alcohol and drug dependency, and marital problems during grueling stints on the road.
“My longest run was 79 days in a row without a day off,” said Joe Laurinaitis, the wrestler known as Road Warrior Animal and father of Ohio State football star James Laurinaitis. “It’s not as bad now. They’ve got good guys running the WWE. Still, we need to take a look at it when things like this (the Benoit murder-suicide) are happening. Guys are still overworked.”
That’s why Wilson’s calling for Congress to hold hearings on the wrestling industry, much like it investigated doping in professional sports and just this past week heard from ex-NFL players who believe they’re being shortchanged on their pensions. “In those other sports, they aren’t dropping like flies like they are in the wrestling business,” Wilson said. “Now is the time to push for legislation nationally.” He’s already spoken with U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), who instructed his staff to begin gathering information on the issue to determine if a hearing before the Health Committee might be warranted.
Isakson said his main concern is steroid abuse. “I’m not going to start speculating on federal regulation of wrestling,” he said. “The issue is anabolic steroids, which are a significant problem and are known to cause significant difficulties. It’s a health issue that’s appropriate for us to discuss, regardless of the profession.
First of all: I don’t believe a Wrestling Union would work because there are so many different independent promotions unless it were something like the Screen Actors Guild but I doubt that happens and question if it should. What I believe is that the Federal Government should mandate that full-time wrestling promotions like WWE and TNA set the limits that Keller has called for. That leaves a loophole that indie wrestlers will have to deal with but it’s impossible to solve all problems because wrestling is so layered and has a a million different legs. The Indies are hard to help, but they are just as at-risk as anyone else, and something needs to be done about their schedule and everyone else’s.
Unfortunately, I know that if Congress gets involved it will become a mess. Grandstanding morons will take the hearings over and everyone will be so busy harping on steroids that they’ll miss prescription drugs, injuries and the cost of health insurance, especially for independent wrestlers, focusing instead on the gruesome details of the Benoit murder-suicide and pictures of pecks instead of the fact that people are dying because of the workload.
If I were a Senator, I’d call Vince McMahon, tell him to get something legitimate done about wrestling schedules (even if it is a brave new step, as Keller’s is, and they’re frightened to do it: they must get it done) or else the federal government will step in with hearings and legislation. McMahon has a reputation as a ruthless businessman, which he is, but he is no monster. He is known to help long-departed wrestlers and their families to pay for their rehab, surgeries, bills and rent. He is known to give jobs to people who can’t wrestle anymore or simply have no business in the ring at such a stage in their life just so that they can find work. He’s given hundreds of men second and third chances and helped them fix their lives. He’s no angel, but I imagine that if the government took a good-faith approach, coupled with a tug of the arm here and there, he’d be willing to concede that the schedules need to be fixed.
Of course, the government doesn’t care about the wrestlers: they want the publicity, and to look good, so anything that could be called discreet is unacceptable, and so this tragedy will become a scandal will become a joke because the American government and the global media haven’t the slightest idea how to handle something that is serious without an agenda. Sometime ago, the “mainstream media” decided that professional wrestling was a world of idiots and trailer trash and said, “We should stomp them with every opportunity we get.” Now everyone will suffer, from the fans who have to watch their product trashed by the Ultimate Warrior and Nancy Grace to the wrestlers who will have to deal with the uncertainties of their profession in the coming months to the taxpayers who will watch as the government pays the world’s respect to matters it should handle on the down low to the to those of us who hope that something can be done to ease the pressure on these athletes and provide them with something of an offseason.
There are a lot of walls to be broken down before that can occur, and I’m not sure they’ll ever fall.