Working With Injuries
Last week, while writing about stars who had been on the verge but hadn't quite made it, I touched on the topic of injuries and how many wrestlers continue to work through them when it's probably in their best interests to rest up and heal properly. Injuries can cut careers short, as was the case for Ultimo Dragon. They can also severely limit what a wrestler can do in the ring, as you see with Rey Mysterio Jr. and Perry Saturn.
Wrestlers do not have a union, they really don't have any protection and there is always the risk of losing your spot by not working, unless you have reached the elite level, like currently injured superstars, Steve Austin and Ric Flair, have done.
A few weeks ago, I caught the Rams vs. The Broncos on Monday Night Football - yet it wasn't until days later that I learned that Olandis Gary, the Broncos' running back, was now "out for the season." It turns out that Gary tore his ACL during the third quarter and kept playing anyway! A torn ACL is not a minor injury, it's almost always season-ending and usually takes a full two years to recover from completely. There is a ton of pressure in both pro football and pro wrestling to keep playing, to keep working through even serious injuries. If you don't, your toughness comes into question.
In a similar situation, Johnny the Bull was wrestling Terry Funk back in early July. He hit Terry with a springboard legdrop off the top rope, all the way out to the arena floor. Johnny ended up breaking his pelvis and suffering a torn urethra during that move. What happened next? Johnny staggered to his feet, rolled Funk back into the ring and eventually won the match with a DDT. You have to credit the man for his toughness, but was this really necessary?
In most injury cases in the NFL these days, particularly neck injuries, you see the doctors take every single precaution to protect the athletes and their careers. Even when the injury appears to be a minor one, they don't take any chances; see what happened with 49er Junior Bryant against the Rams. He landed head first on the concrete and stayed down for several minutes. Although it was later revealed to be only a neck sprain, the NFL took every measure to ensure he wasn't further injured when the accident happened. Moving a guy around when he has a neck injury can cause even more damage if every precaution isn't taken.
Think back to SummerSlam '97. Steve Austin suffered a severe neck injury after taking a piledriver from the late Owen Hart. After the move, it was obvious that something wasn't right with Austin but, as usual, "the show had to go on." Austin sucked it up, managed to pin Owen and won the IC title. What should have happened? Austin should have been immobilized and immediately tended to by trained paramedics. I can't say that Austin's injury was worsened by his activity after the fact, but it certainly wasn't helped by it. If the show had to continue, simply have Owen pin Austin, retain the title and have Austin come back and win the belt when he was healthy enough to do so.
Unfortunately there are two sides to every coin. For every Austin, Johnny the Bull, or Hardcore Holly, who finishes a match with a serious injury, there are those who simply fake injuries or perhaps merely exaggerate them just to take some extra time off. Whatever the case may be, the number of injuries in wrestling and the treatment of the workers after the injuries, both need to be addressed. There are several steps that need to be taken in order to protect the careers and even the lives of the workers.
Inexperience leads to injuries
Bret Hart touched on this issue recently in his column for the Calgary Sun, and it's definitely worth bringing up again here. In today's sports entertainment, there are an increasing number of youngsters being elevated to the big leagues before they are ready. Their moves don't look polished in the ring, but more importantly than that, they can often injure other wrestlers by not executing a move properly.
As it turns out, Fall Brawl unfortunately provided a perfect example of that. Paul Orndorff suffered a legitimate stinger injury while trying to piledrive Mark Jindrak of the Natural Born Thrillers. According to all reports, Jindrak didn't go up for the piledriver so Orndorff had to lift him up as dead weight for the piledriver. In an effort not to injure Jindrak with the move, Orndorff ended up suffering an injury of his own.
Even the best, most experienced wrestlers can cause injuries. Accidents happen, but many of the younger, inexperienced guys develop reputations for injuring people. Another example of this was when Ahmed Johnson (Tony Norris) had his Intercontinental Title run in the WWF four years ago. He injured several people over a short period of time and eventually had to be let go because of it.
The promotions need to be more responsible and held accountable if an injury occurs as the result of a wrestler being brought up too quickly, before he is experienced enough to work in the big leagues. The art of wrestling is all about making the action look as painful as possible while, in actuality, making it as painless as possible. I once read a wrestler's online commentary, I believe it was Lance Storm's, where he was asked if Chris Benoit was a better worker than the Dynamite Kid. Storm responded by saying that he couldn't really answer that, because he'd never been in the ring with Dyno. Both men's offense looks incredible, but if one man is killing his opponents while the other isn't causing any injuries at all, obviously the second man is the better worker.
While all of the Power Plant guys in WCW are graduates, is that really enough to guarantee the rest of the locker room that it's safe to work with them? There are tons of wrestling schools all over the country and I'm willing to bet that none of them are the same. Some will stress psychology first, others conditioning. If you managed to graduate from School A, does that mean that you would have graduated from School B as well? That's why it's important for even top graduates to get experience with different workers from different areas before being thrust into the main event. Despite the fact that all of these guys have graduated, not everyone agrees that they are ready for the big time, Bret Hart being just one of them. Maybe it's time for the companies to look at the graduation requirements and re-evaluate them a little.
Enough with the out-of-ring stunts already! Another frequent cause of injuries is when wrestlers have to do stunts out of the ring, merely for angles or for show. Goldberg nearly lost his arm because the script called for him to punch his fist through a car window. What does that have to do with wrestling? Another more tragic example occurred last year in Kansas City, when Owen Hart died in the ring attempting a stunt where he would fly down from the rafters into the squared circle. What did that have to do with wrestling? Nothing. Did we, as fans, need to see a big flashy entrance to be entertained? Hell no!
I remember Mick Foley vs. Triple H in the Hell in the Cell at No Way Out earlier this year. At one point in the match, the two men were brawling on top of the cage and the steel began to give way in the corner they were brawling on top of. I watched on in horror because directly below where the two men were fighting was the steel ring post! If that section of the cage had continued to give, I don't even want to think what could have happened. If you're going to have two men brawling on top of a steel cage, at least have them do it over the center of the ring. Not that the ring is soft, by any means, but it's a damn better place to land than the arena floor, the ring apron, or the ring post.
On another stunt-related note: I've seen people giving WCW a lot of flack because, during their risky bumps, (such as Crowbar falling off the balcony on Nitro, or Fall Brawl's scaffold match), the workers have fallen onto "obviously padded stages." Hold up for just one second. Let's think about what is being criticized here. We're trying to criticize WCW for protecting the health of their workers? What's up with that? Isn't the wrestler's safety and long-term health more important than a bump looking more realistic? I sincerely hope the majority of you reading this answer that health and safety are more important.
As a fan, a great wrestling match, some exciting ring entrances and some great promos are enough to keep me entertained. I don't need to see people repelling down from ceilings, smashing windows with their bare hands, or driving away from the arena at breakneck speed just to make an angle look more realistic.
Wrestlers need a union or some type of insurance
I'm dipping way back into the news archives for this one… the time when Mick Foley, Roddy Piper, Hulk Hogan and Barry Blaustein appeared on Larry King Live to promote "Beyond The Mat" back in March. Piper, in particular, had some very interesting comments to make about injuries. The following is a paragraph from my report on the show:
When Piper wasn't praising the documentary, he was taking a stand against the promoters, standing up for the boys. Piper was demanding that the workers these days should have better health care, a union, better working conditions. Most importantly, they should have some type of health plan that takes care of them after they retire, because as of now, they have nothing like that. Piper was torn between his love for some aspects of the sport, (the actual show and competition,) and his hate for other aspects (how some promoters use and abuse the workers, taking advantage of them.) Piper said that he is in a position now where the promoters can't hurt him, so he has taken it upon himself to speak up for the rights of the new generation of workers.
As an editor for a website, it sounds like I have better health coverage than the wrestlers, who really need it, do. The health hazards of this job are almost non-existent while the health hazards in pro wrestling are probably as high as any profession known to man. I do have to give wrestling the nod in some cases. While updating the IIC (Injury Information Center), I have noticed that a lot of the injured wrestlers, such as Steve Austin, Tori, Ric Flair and others, have gone to see Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, Alabama. He's pretty much considered the best in the business. That being said, however, the wrestlers need some type of union and post-career health plan.
Wrestling with Injuries: How Much is too Much?
This is really a tough question to answer because I think the answer depends on each individual wrestler. Knowing your own limitations is important in everything in life. If you know what you can and can't do, and don't push yourself over the edge, you should be fine. However, there are a lot of people who try to push themselves too far due to peer pressure or because they want to impress someone. Whether it's wrestling or just trying to impress a member of the opposite sex, this is ALWAYS a bad thing! Knowing your own limitations in life is like knowing your strike zone in baseball. As long as you don't go chasing something out of the zone, you'll be fine.
For an experienced veteran like a Bret Hart, you'd have to think he knows his limitations very well. Sometimes it's not worth the risks to work injured, other times you know you'll be fine. This is another point against bringing guys up before they are ready. In an interview on WCW.com, Johnny The Bull admitted that it was a mistake to try the ambitious move and he probably would have been better off if he hadn't continued to wrestle. I'm sure Steve Austin probably feels the same way about his neck injury. He should have remained still, paramedics should have immobilized him immediately and run tests to determine the extent of the injury.
In closing, I think the wrestling industry needs to address some of the issues when it comes to how injuries are treated and how many wrestlers continue working with injuries when it's really in their own best interests to take some time off. Things have improved in this area a lot over the past few years, take a look at how cautious the WWF is being with Kurt Angle's concussion right now. In a lot of cases, the only thing that can stop someone from achieving their ultimate goal is an injury. Almost two years ago, when I weighed around 265 pounds, I began to seriously work out on pretty much an everyday basis. I pushed myself extremely hard, but never to the point where I suffered a major injury. I messed up my right knee a few times, did some damage to my right shoulder as well, but I knew my limitations and kept going whenever I could. As I write this today, I'm weighing in at a lean, mean 175 pounds, (I'm 6'1). I knew the only thing that could stop me was an injury of some sort, the drive and determination to succeed was there. For most of these wrestlers, it's the exact same thing, only an injury can slow them down, so why risk it?