The following link is to an USA Today article about the high death rate among pro wrestlers. I haven't been following "sports entertainment" for a while, so it was a real shock to me to learn of some of the recent deaths.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/2004-03-12-pro-wrestling_x.htm


-Brian Hunt

"Because we are the most visible organization, we get the black eye," adds McMahon, noting that only two of the 65 deceased wrestlers died while working for his company.

We were talking about opening the gates to hell in another thread, but this lie is big enough to do just that. McMahon only pushes "big guys", therefore encouraging steroid use even though he doesn't outright say it (wink, wink, nudge, nudge). If not, then explain why it takes "smaller" guys YEARS to get any decent push when guys like Brock Lesner get pushed on the outset.

Only 2 of those who died were working for the company but the other 63 got big while working for WWF and took steroids to make it there.

Here are list of relatively young wrestlers who have died for various reasons from the past few years:

Brian Pillman, Owen Hart, British Bulldog, Ms Elizabeth, Rick Rude, Road Warrior Hawk, Hercules, Crash Holly, Russ Haas (Charlie's brother), Rocco Rock (of Public Enemy), Louie Spicolli, Renegade, Yokozuna, "Mr Perfect" Curt Henning, Art Barr, Eddie Gilbert, Bobby Duncum Jr., Terry "Bam Bam" Gordy, Rhonda Singh, Big Dick Dudley, Pit Bull #2 and "The Wall" from WCW.

And don't forget Mike, Kerry and Chris Von Erich

Here are list of relatively young wrestlers who have died for various reasons from the past few years:

Brian Pillman, Owen Hart, British Bulldog, Ms Elizabeth, Rick Rude, Road Warrior Hawk, Hercules, Crash Holly, Russ Haas (Charlie's brother), Rocco Rock (of Public Enemy), Louie Spicolli, Renegade, Yokozuna, "Mr Perfect" Curt Henning, Art Barr, Eddie Gilbert, Bobby Duncum Jr., Terry "Bam Bam" Gordy, Rhonda Singh, Big Dick Dudley, Pit Bull #2 and "The Wall" from WCW.

And don't forget Mike, Kerry and Chris Von Erich

Don't forget David Von Erich, either.

Vince says that "only two" of those guys woorked for him when they died. But look closer. How many of them worked for him during the "expansion era" of 1984-1993? Or had worked for him within two years of their death?

Owen Hart died due to a stunt gone awry. Brian Pillman was scheduled to work at a PPV the day he died.

Rick Rude was there in the 80's, as were Davey Boy Smith (the British Bulldog), Mike Hegestrand (Road Warrior Hawk), Hercules Hernandez, "Mr Perfect" Curt Hennig, Miss Elizabeth (who was obviously never on the juice, although living with Randy Savage and Lex Luger over the past 15 years probably had her subjected to all sorts of drug use)and Terry Gordy (albeit briefly).

The eighties were the time for steroids in wrestling, when they would be dispensed for the wrestlers by the company.

Rude, Hawk, Spicolli, Crash Holly, Yokozuna, Rocco Rock, and Gordy all worked for Vince in the late 90's as well.

All of them are dead. All of them worked for Vince post steroid testing.

Has anyone noticed that the guys who AREN'T dying are the ones who were there during the mid-nineties? Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Jeff Jarrett, etc.?

I can't really fathom why ANYONE would want to become a pro wrestler. The dangers and difficulty heavily outweigh any monetary reward. Plus, you'd aspire to work for Vince McMahon. Who the hell would want to aspire to work for a scumbag like that?

Two guys that I'm surprised are still alive are Jake Roberts and Lex Luger. Roberts is a devout crack and coke addict, and it's only a matter of time before someone finds him dead in a gutter somewhere, and Luger has been juiced to the gills for YEARS. Bet he dies within three years, of a heart attack brought on by an enlarged heart.

Any takers?


Sean

"I saw a lot of things in the Navy. A Uterus was not among those things."

www.livejournal.com/users/shlocko

It may be my rose colored glasses, but I saw just as much wrong about the USA Today article as I did with the Amazon.com announcement about selling comics. Yes, they die too young. I think it is partially because of the Rock N Roll lifestyle and the physicality required day in, day out.

Here is a HHH interview regarding steriods from yesterday http://www.411mania.com/wrestling/news/newsboard.php?news_id=8794


By the way, Brock has announced that he is leaving WWE after Wrestlemania to go to the NFL.

It's more than the rock n roll lifestyle. It's working injured, being in costant pain and chronic use of painkillers to cover it. Throw that in 'physique enhancers' and the rock n' roll lifestyle and there's your high mortality rate.

WWE can't go under fast enough for me.

Then you're prepared to say farewell to wrestling on a national level in the United States? WWE has been a bit of a mess the past three years, but it's all we've got. TNA is looking increasingly clueless (*another* Vince Russo vs. Jeff Jarrett feud? Yeah, that's worth ten bucks a week) and Ring of Honor- even if it does survive the Feinstein scandal- simply doesn't have a product that appeals to mainstream, casual fans.

Plus to give WWE some credit, they've started to turn things around a little. Both shows have been increasingly watchable in recent months, with Smackdown making some very notable positive moves, such as pushing John Cena, putting the world title on Eddie Guerrero, and replacing Stephanie McMahon as GM with Paul Heyman. A WWE resurgence makes it more likely that network and cable executives will see wrestling as a hot commodity, which means it'll be easier for TNA or some other upstart group to get national TV time, which means an alternative for fans and a better product from both national companies (similiar to the mid/late-90s Monday Night Wars, when Nitro and Raw were both trying to outdo each other). WWE must survive (and I think it will, partly because the McMahons are relatively smart about cost-cutting and partly becuase it's just a matter of time before they find the next big star to lead them to another boom) if there's to be any reasonable future for wrestlers and pro wrestling.

I'm not advocating a death pool here, but I think Jeff Hardy will be dead in a few years. Of course, when he does die, the WWE will wash their hands of it since they fired him a year or so back.

"Then you're prepared to say farewell to wrestling on a national level in the United States?"

HELL yeah! Let's get it back on a local level where it belongs!

A return to the territory system is great from a romantic standpoint...but realistically, it probably won't happen. Even assuming McMahon goes under, SOMEBODY is going to try to do the same thing he did back in '84 again. Plus there's no way the "gentlemen's agreement" most old promoters had to respect each other's "boundaries" would stick these days- what about the Philly promotion wars of just a year or two ago, with ROH, XPW, CZW, and 3PW all battling each other?

"I'm not advocating a death pool here, but I think Jeff Hardy will be dead in a few years. Of course, when he does die, the WWE will wash their hands of it since they fired him a year or so back."

They fired him for drug use. They offered him rehab more than once, and he said no. He was constantly late and no-showing programs, and didn't want to be there anymore. They washed their hands of him when they let him go.

On the broader topic, where is the sense of personal responsibility in any of this? NONE of these people were forced to take drugs of any kind, be they performance-enhancers or "recreational" drugs. They knew the risks, they chose to gamble, and they lost. Ultimately, the fault lies not with the WWE, Vince McMahon, or wrestling in general. It lies with each and every individual who TOOK THE DRUGS. Period.

I'm not talking about a territory system, I'm talking local indies. Where goes the WWE right now goes wrestling. I'd expect a decade gap between the fall of the WWE and a new major wrestling promotion.

And that's if the niche isn't filled with something like The Ultimate Fighting Championship. Last I heard, they were about to get weekly TV on Spike.