Dead Wrestlers: Leaving it all in the ring

Photo Credit: WWE.com

THE SOLUTION

What’s the solution? How can we make things better and safer for the wrestlers? WWE has enacted their drug testing, which is an effort to keep the talent from abusing steroids or any other drugs, but it’s a thinly-veiled attempt to pacify the masses. Guys are just as jacked as ever and the grind is just as difficult.

The fans have been trained to crave blood and they’ve been conditioned to expect dangerous spots that put the talent at risk. Now, to take a quote from the NFL’s concussion issues — this aint ballet. Still, we have to find ways to make things safer.

WWE has gone to great lengths to eliminate some of the moves that have created injuries that in turn create some of the drug-related problems. Piledrivers and other moves that involve neck compression have been banned. Unprotected chair shots (to the head) have been all but eliminated. These are very good first steps and I have to give the WWE credit for that.

Did it hurt business to get rid of those things? No.

Would it hurt business to give talent regular periods of time off? What if the WWE were forced to institute a mandatory month off every year for each wrestler? They wouldn’t have to do it all at once, but rotating through the roster to give people time to heal would go a long way. Is that ever going to happen? Probably not. People are too concerned with losing their spot and they’re worried that fans will forget them.

What happens if a guy like Dean Ambrose is getting over huge, but his “vacation” comes due? It’s bad for business, for sure. It’s better for his after-wrestling life, but it’s pretty obvious that the wrestling organizations aren’t that concerned about that time.