The recent untimely death of yet another pro wrestler has resurrected the question: Has wrestling gone too far?
In this time where instant gratification is valued above long-term success, it is that and that alone that has kept professional wrestling alive over the years. When the world wanted mullets and spandex colliding in a graceful, yet violent way, wrestling provided. When they wanted scantily clad women parading their surgically enhanced bodies all over the ring, they got it. When they wanted “huge bumps” and hardcore matches, wrestling gave it to them. But we as fans forgot about the whole other half - the guys who did this day in and day out and their families.
Instant gratification is wrestling’s only headlock on the boxing and MMA worlds. The fact that the biggest names could headline an overpriced Pay Per View card, then have a rematch the very next day on Raw. It was great for us, but what about the people with those names.
One may argue that the toll isn’t necessarily equivalent to that of the “real” combat sports, these aren’t exactly cream puffs landing on marshmallows. No matter how trained you are, no matter how muscular, no matter your pain tolerance; these athletes are working 300 days of the year for you, the fan. There are no off-seasons, and as a result, these aches and pains add up.
And then you see so many of these wrestlers dying at a young age. These are people. I’m only 21-years-old, and I’ve already seen more than my share of wrestling deaths. Deaths of many of those wrestlers of whom I grew up idolizing.
You see so many people so quickly dismiss wrestling because it’s “fixed.” But these deaths are real. Darren Drozdov is really paralyzed. Addictions to painkillers and steroids have become commonplace in wrestling locker rooms, more so than in any other comparable athletic activity. That’s why the number of deaths of wrestlers before age 50 is astronomical. Maybe it’s just me, but I never really thought of myself as middle-aged.
I’m just taking this as a wakeup call and I hope the wrestling world gets it too. The pressure we put on these people to be of a perfect physique for their whole lives are expectations that simply cannot be attained by the most genetically gifted. At least next time I watch a wrestling match on TV I won’t be yelling, “Kill him!” because the sad reality is the fans already are.
Jason Paderon is a co-founder, columnist, and cartoonist for ChewThemOut.com. Additionally, he was a news reporter for the Staten Island Advance. He can be reached at paderon@chewthemout.com.
2 comments:
I remember when stone cold steve austin got knocked out by a brick. I love wrestling, it's so much fun to watch but we have to also think of the safety of our favorite wrestlers.
Terri
Wrestling has gone way too far. My son is a huge fan and I heard the head of the federation in the middle of the ring with his pants down telling the parents the way to discipline children is to have them "kiss your ass". He was then telling his son to do so. I don't appreciate that at all. That's certainly going too far to me.
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