RIP Lance, another wrestler down due to painkillers. He was only 29 years old! It is the saddest death in recent memory when it comes to wrestling. I have always been down for an offseason in the WWE and for other companies. These guys beat there bodies up 250 days a year, and they don't have no time off to have there body heal. Every other sport has an offseason, and I know wrestling is not considered a sport but the injuries are real. More people get hurt in wrestling than any other sport. No wonder alot of wrestlers abuse painkillers. I know I would because I have been in this type of situation before when I played baseball and took painkillers, only once did I abuse the drug and it put a toll on me. Not making any excuses for these guys but the temptation is there and it can take control. They really need an offseason, even if it is only for a month it would make a huge difference for these guys. Thoughts...
I agree with you fully. The change in brands has provided an excellent opportunity for wrestlers to take time off. One brand works for most of the year while a "developmental" brand works for the rest of the year. I think a nine to three month ratio would work great.
I think it would be smart but I wouldn't do it all in a row. I would give them 2 months off the entire year. Once in the first six months of the year and then another towards the end of the year. They need it...its too much on their bodies but I Dont see VInce going for it, ever.
I don't think there's anyway in hell that Vince McMahon would actually even take this into consideration. Just look at all the dead wrestlers - Lance Cade. Test, Brian Adams, Chris Kanyon, Mike Von Erich, Sherri Martel, Gino Hernandez - I could go on and on. Sure, you know, death happens in sports but wrestling seems to have a relatively high percentage of dead athletes, most of them don't even make it into their mid-50s. The "WWE Wellness Policy" seems like a croak of shit. It's just a "corporate response" in name only. It's completely useless. That being said, it's not fair to put all the blame the WWE either since TNA has the same situation as well.
How is the Wellness Policy a croak of shit? That's one of the things that is actually working in the WWE. The wrestlers are smaller and nobody is getting suspended that often anymore. They've at least cleaned up part of the "sport." HGH is a different story, obviously.
Well all wrestlers are considered as contractors so the WWE or TNA does have health benifits for these guys. But what makes the WWE stand out though is if they realize that a wrestler does have a problem, the company will pay for there rehab, but I really don't think that is enough. WWE has two seperate brands and they can cancel Smackdown for two months if they really wanted to meaning, give the Raw guys one month and while they are away Smackdown stars will be on Raw and when the Raw guys return give Smackdown a month off.
I've always said that they should have a off-season, I really like Millz idea. I think that would benificial for everyone. The Wrestlers back in the day had it way harder than these wrestlers today, there was no wellness policy, drugs and heavy drinking were common, and they wrestled around 320 times a year. I'm all for off-season though.
You make a fantastic point. The Wellness Policy wasn’t establishes until 2006, after Eddie Guerrero’s death. Although, wrestling is, in most cases, a simulated sport, the athletes and trainers are dealing with injuries a lot of the time. I can’t speak for anyone else, but in my honest opinion drugs and addiction are very serious problems. That being said, the WWE has (or in this case, had) staff doctors that literally gave away anti-inflammatories, painkillers and steroids like they were Smarties or something. Guys like Batista got away with steroid abuse well after the policy was established, becuase during the time he was one of Vince’s biggest money makers. They didn’t start taking anything seriously until the Chris Benoit incident. This tragedy could have been avoided if the officials incharge were doing their jobs properly. I can guarantee you right now, that if Vince McMahon and the WWE hadn’t made headlines in the Chris Benoit incident, they wouldn’t give two shits. I mean, like you said its a good thing since some of these wrestlers have shrunken down to human size (cough*Randy Orton*cough), but if you look at it realistically, they only did it to save face. In fact, Vince McMahon is known to encourage his talent to take steroids. (Remember the Steroid Allegations of the early 90s?) I’m not trying to demonize him, but it sounds selfish to encourage your talent, the people who made you a billionaire, to take steroids and other drugs knowing how much harm they can cause. I’m just sayin’ it like I see. I love Vince McMahon’s product which is the WWE, but I don’t respect him as a human being. This is of course just my opinion on the whole issue.
And I don't disagree with anything you said there either. I'm with ya when you say McMahon wouldn't have changed anything if the Benoit thing wouldn't have happened. I think it would be exactly the same if Chris was still alive. My point is that it IS working right now...some good has come from it. The past is the past.
