History Repeats Itself?: How Wrestling Regards Its Performers
Big props to Bryan Alvarez for this column about how the unprotected chair shot Rob Terry took showed a callous disregard by TNA for the health and wellbeing of its performers. My only criticism would be that it's the easiest target he could hit and there are plenty of other incidents worth exploring in other companies too.
over 1 year ago
Keith Harris
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The easiest target?
TNA booked Terry to get hit with a head shot to get Terry over as a monster. His chair shot was discussed and planned. Then Terry gets hit so hard he starts bleeding. That is not needed in this day and time.
I haven’t seen anything near that in WWE although I will not give them a pass for having Danielson take Miz’s SCF finisher on the mitb briefcase. Regardless if the breifcase being gimmicked it is still not necessary to put anyone at risk.
WWE though, is the only Federation that has given up the harsh style and has taken the most heat for doing it. Davey Richards killed Tyler Black for going to the Fed with the “easier style” and “shorter matches.” TNA hangs its hat on being faster paced and more hard hitting than WWE. So I will give WWE credit for switching to a in ring style that should’ve put them at a disadvantage in the wrestling marketplace(TNA has not taken advantage of WWE’s style enough to benefit the company).
Freedom is a road seldom traveled by the multitudes...
I think wrestlers today take a ton of unnecessary risks for their art so should everything be toned down? Get rid of Money in the Bank and ladder matches because they always involve high risk spots that aren’t necessary. I’m all for the safety of these men and women but their profession is inherently dangerous and rough on the body. The WWE’s toning down of it’s in-ring style reminds me of the push by parents across America to remove head balls from youth soccer.
The style is the least of WWE’s problems, though the lack of health insurance for its performers and their tolerance of wrestlers working hurt (“How dare you have surgery for your shoulder that needs surgery because we’re pushing you!”), still suggest a similar disregard for the health and wellbeing of its performers that TNA has.
by Keith Harris on Aug 25, 2010 7:30 AM EDT up reply actions
"How dare you have surgery for your shoulder that needs surgery because we’re pushing you!"
That statement is true for every damn sport in America. How many times has an important ballplayer put off surgery so he could continue playing! Now lets compare Bobby Lashley who was in the mist of a Brock Lesnar level babyface push and Johan Santana who until last offseason, pitched 3 years for the Mets with a torn labrum in his shoulder, so is that malicious disregard by the Mets because they didn’t force Santana to have surgery?
Since baseball is so different than WWE lets see the same disregard in football with my favorite team the NY Giants. The Giants signed an offensive lineman who was a rookie free agent. He busted his knee on the 1st day of training camp and was released the next day. No medical insurance, no paying for his surgery, they simply put him on a plane and signed the next body. Giants running back Ahmad Bradshaw played hurt every single game last season. How hurt was he you ask? He tore muscles in BOTH feet and had to be in a wheelchair during the week just so he could play on Sundays.
Now this season Bradshaw is the #1 RB.
Do the Giants use Bradshaw’s example to pressure the rest of the team to play with nagging injuries? Absolutely! I haven’t read on story in any newspaper about Bradshaw’s treatment being cold and callous. Every story about him is about how tough he is because he’s small and still has heart(heard that before in wrestling too).
If you ran a wrestling company and you were pushing this young lion babyface since his debut. You’re coming off a good mania buyrate where you let him cut your hair off and now the fans, who resented him in the beginning, are warming up to him. So you book him to win the fans over and the title at your big summer show. Now you hear he’s injured you find out its a shoulder injury, a torn labrum. You feel bad but you kinda breathe a sigh of relief because you’ve spent millions so far on this guy and you need to get him to the point where he can start getting returns on your investment but you get word that he’s opting for surgery, killing all his momentum.
Then ask yourself if Hogan, HBK, HHH, Rock, Austin, Foley, Taker, Angle, Lesnar, Hart, Edge, Jericho, Cena and so on would have done the same thing? All those guys worked on top with serious career threatening injuries so when Lashley comes back from surgery would you have the same faith in him that you had before? Hell no.
Freedom is a road seldom traveled by the multitudes...
Pointing to Lesnar is silly because he’s admitted to his WWE career being a blur due to all the vodka and pills he took to get through the schedule with major injuries and specifically got out of wrestling because he didn’t want to end up like all the other pain pill addicted, broken down wrecks in the locker room. Watch WrestleMania XX again to remind yourself of the resentment from the fans, wrestlers and management Lesnar got for getting out while the going was good.
by Keith Harris on Aug 25, 2010 12:47 PM EDT up reply actions
Are we talking about main event level guys working with injuries to draw money for the company and the wrestlers or drug use to maintain the WWE work schedule? It is silly to point out Lesnar in your argument when ALL of those men used to get through the schedule and damn near all of them used steroids. The point is Lesnar worked while being injured and being pushed as opposed to Lashley who didn’t finish his push.
Lashley got heat with management and wrestlers because he never lost and quit with an injury that most would’ve worked with. Lesnar never liked pro wrestling. He hated the travel and he felt unfulfilled not having real fights and real matches. They quit for two totally different reasons! Lesnar got heat because the company and wrestlers made him a star and he never appreciated it not because wrestlers questioned his toughness.
Freedom is a road seldom traveled by the multitudes...
Big difference between Santana and Lashley
Terrible comparison that negates any point youre making.
As is the Bradshaw comparison.
/sarcasm
Better known as Black Lesnar
Read me at WatchKalibRun
by S.C. Michaelson on Aug 25, 2010 1:51 PM EDT up reply actions
I said there was a difference between Lashley and Santana
but could you tell me how comparing athletes playing with injuries to wrestlers working matches with injuries are terrible comparisons. Are you gonna tell me because wrestling is fake.
Freedom is a road seldom traveled by the multitudes...
LOL ITS THE REALEST FAKE ART FORM EVER!!!
The issue is the injuries are real and the locker rooms in wrestling companies have the same mentality as real sports locker rooms. I believe most wrestlers want to prove how tough they more so than any other athlete because its fake. So they want to go out there and have that Willis Reed moment at the Garden just like the real sports athletes.
Freedom is a road seldom traveled by the multitudes...
its not like WWE has a lack of great matches. They still have match of the year candidates every year and to me they are the better working roster when they can do ppv’s like mitb this year without blood and certain suplexes and blows to the head that make the crowd oooh and awwww. I get what you mean i just feel that its better to monitor whats being done in the ring,
Freedom is a road seldom traveled by the multitudes...
The problem is that you need a great story to go along with the violence.
And TNA doesn’t have anything great to justify chair shots and broken table spots.
Wrestling was fine before hardcore wrestling became the status quo. As great as Money in the Bank matches are, they only work because we, the fans, are emotionally invested in the wrestlers and their desires to win an opportunity to wrestle for a world title. The WWE does a great job of creating decent storylines for most MITB participants to build up the hype and emotional investment for the match.
Without proper build up, Rob Terry’s chair shot or any Money In the Bank match become superfluous and trite. Sure the chair shot looked brutal but it’s meaning is totally diminished when you don’t give a sh*t about feud or storyline. It’s a shame that Terry and other wrestlers are putting their bodies at risk for nothing more than a quick crowd pop instead of a well-planned spot/sequence with a purpose.
TNA could never capitalize on being more “hardcore” than a PG rated WWE because it lacks the ability to create a good story to support and justify the violence. The greatness of FMW and ECW matches was not due to violence but due to the drama and feuds that preceded them. Damn, I miss me some Onita!!!!
by FighterHayabusa on Aug 25, 2010 1:04 AM EDT reply actions
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