Very sad, as he was only a year older than me. You’d think that Eddie Guerrero’s death would have taught a lesson to a lot of people, but once again it seems that drugs + steroids = heart attack at a young age. Makes you wonder how all the guys from the 80s could do the drugs they did and make it out alive, while the next generation is dropping off so fast?
Edit to add: Here’s WWE.com’s very heartfelt tribute to him:
WWE would like to express its deepest condolences to Mr. Fatu’s family, friends and fans on his tragic passing. Mr. Fatu was under contract with WWE at various time periods and most recently performed under the name "Umaga." Mr. Fatu's contract was terminated on June 11, 2009.
That’s right, make sure to note that he was fired BEFORE dying, just in case someone wants to link his death to WWE. I’m surprised they didn’t add another paragraph about how they tried so hard to get him into rehab, but he gave them all the samoan spike and cut a promo on them before leaving the promotion or something. There’s self-serving and then there’s just fucking heartless.
Also, it looks like Brock Lesnar is done for good according to Dana White, which is a gigantic blow to the UFC. Bad day all around.
I’m taking heat for being hard-hearted about it. I don’t care though. Umaga was just another wrestler who watched his friends shoot up, snort, swallow pills and croak and didn’t learn their lessons.
No sympathy, no hurt, no sorrow. Just another stupid fucking idiot who won’t be in the next Raw (number) Anniversary Battle Royal.
To those who say “it’s too soon to assume he died from drugs” I’m going to say you are a total knuckledragging moron. It’s perfectly fair to assume that when someone who is a junkie dies at 36 that it’s connected to his drug issues, just like it’s safe to assume someone who is 36 and has cancer that dies likely died because he has cancer.
Well, if you take heat, you won’t be the only one. I feel bad for his family, but that’s about it.
It’s weird, because before I knew about any of this I was watching the new Hogan DVD and when I got to the 1986 Hogan/Savage match I had the same thought I always have when watching 1980’s Savage matches: of all the fools involved in this match, including the ref and often the announcers, Elizabeth is the one who ended up dead. And then I watched Batista with his ‘wellness physique’ on Smackdown and realized that he’ll probably live long enough to collect Social Security while some schmoe with a lower tolerance will be lucky to see forty. That’s just how it works, I guess.
What an awful, screwed-up business.
Well, I might would take even more “heat” then, because I don’t feel sympathy for any of these people who die because of their own poor decisions. Even Elizabeth was an adult who made her own decisions to take the drugs that led to her death.
Also, I don’t quite get the Batista comment. Although it would seem pretty certain that he’s taking some type of steroid to keep his physique, we don’t know the extent of what kinds of unsafe drugs he might be taking, and anyway he doesn’t seem like a particularly bad guy. I would hope that he does live at least that long..
I’ve got nothing personal against Batista, just using him as an example of a guy who will likely live a relatively long life while others who engage in identical activities die young. I’m making no excuses for Elizabeth either, just marveling at how things turned out. If you’d told me back in 1991 that one of the Megapowers would be dead in less than a decade, I sure wouldn’t have picked her as the one.
That’s because she wasn’t a Megapower. If I said “A Headshrinker died!” you wouldn’t think of Captain Lou, would you?
You know, feelings that a person is an idiot for choosing to poison themselves to death, and feelings of sadness that a person who entertained main people has died do not have to be mutually exclusive.
The thing is, Charlie, a lot of these guys do it not necessarily out of an addition, but just to keep going. They bang up their bodies so much that pain killers are sometimes a must. They’re on the road so much and spend so much travelling that they don’t have the time to hit the gym as often as it’s needed to look great on TV, so they take ‘roids or something else.
They do the drugs to make the travelling and everything just a little easier on them. Even Bret Hart admitted to doing steroids in the 80s Dynamite Kid would take a downer to go to sleep, an upper to wake up and steroids to work out. Hell, look at RVD. He does pot, which calms himself and his muscles down and he works a very rigorous match with a lot of jumping around and high-flying, which can’t be eas on the body.
Yeah, maybe Umaga should have learned the lesson, but that’s easier said than done when you’re on the road near 24/7 and just trying to keep going.
Even Bret Hart? I know Bret’s painted a picture of himself that people seem to believe, that being that he’s on some moral high ground that other wrestlers are not on, but he’s really not that much different than the rest. He partied, drank, drugs, cheated on his wife and had a huge ego. To be honest after I read his book I started to see the complaints some, including Shawn Michaels, had about him. Not to say that Shawn wasn’t a jerk, I think that’s well documented, but Shawn complained that Bret made himself out to be some type of hero in a world of bad people, when he really wasn’t a saint himself. And even complaints that Shawn had for years that always came off as him making stuff up made more sense after reading Bret’s own book….ie, complaining about losing, not wanting to lose the belt, not thinking anyone but him was really worth of holding the belt, etc…In Bret’s mind he always had some logical reason why he should be champion but after reading some sort of “It didn’t make sense to not give me the title/take the title from me” explanation over and over you start to see that he probably was the pain in the ass some claimed he was…
Not really on topic, it’s just your “Even Bret Hart” comment made it seems like “if Bret Hart could do steroids, who wouldn’t?” …
Yeah, the whole ‘even Bret Hart’ comment is pretty ignorant considering that he shoved Canadian Booger Sugar up his nose as much as anyone else in wrestling did, and was also apparently a horrible husband, absentee father, has witnesses who says he tried to run over his sister in a car, compared his brother in law to a dog rolling around in it’s own shit and loving it then attempted to milk his death to further his own agenda, and on and on. If Bret’s a hero then I would hate to see what it takes to make you scum.
That’s why I’m always so unsure about just pinning it on drugs. Drug use has always been rampant in pro wrestling, possibly even more so in the 80s than it is now. And, yet, so many of them are still alive. And the schedules were much tougher then than now.
Meanwhile, we have guys like Jake Roberts, who have gone on record saying “I wish I was dead,” still kicking around the independent scene.
What is it about this generation of wrestlers that makes them so much more susceptible to overdoses. And what is it that makes them so much more injury prone? How many guys just this decade have spent a year or more on the shelf for neck surgeries? Austin, Edge, Rhino, Helms, Benoit, Angle (would have, if not for Dr. Jho)…
“Them” refers to guys who wrestled in the 80s.
Might it be the faster pace? Which could lead to more injuries, which could lead to more reliance on drugs to cope with pain. I don’t know, I’m just speculating.
And are more people actually dropping dead than the ones from the 80s? I mean, Mr. Perfect, British Bulldog, and Hawk all died young.
Not to mention Rick Rude, Big Boss Man and Hercules. There’s probably more.
There’s no scientific method guys.
If there was a way to determine that X Drugs and X Steroids mixed with X Body Type resulted in death at X age, everyone would be able to use safely.
There’s no formula for drugs to kill you. Use them an it’s roulette.
Some guys have a tolerance for it. It doesn’t sound very scientific, but there’s so much stuff that can factor in. Family history of drug use, did you use as a kid? Are you healthy otherwise?
He was fat. He did roids. He did drugs, either pills if you go by the best rumors or possibly cocaine if you go by the most horrific. He was a smoker. He drank. He obviously ate some not so good for you foods.
All kinds of stuff contributes to heart problems. He might not have ODed. It might have just been wear and tear from all previous stuff. It hits some faster then others. A combination of drug problems plus steroids plus one round too many of fast food can do it.
When his wife found him he allegedly had blood coming out of his nose. That’s not a simple heart attack. It’s a major circulatory failure of the body.
Well, I do think that the types of drugs these guys are taking now must be considered a factor, though. I mean, Piper by his own admission did plenty of blow and steroids during the 1980’s, and he wasn’t the only one who did and is still around to tell the tale. Guys from that era have died, true enough, but I don’t think that guys like Hennig and Bossman necessarily had issues with pain pills and all these ridiculously powerful drugs that the rich and stupid use to sleep, screw, look younger, etc. (I freely admit that I could be wrong, though.) You combine all that crap with alcohol, coke, roids, and of course the concussions and the normal wear-and-tear of professional wrestling, and that’s likely the lethal combination that’s going to do a lot more people in before the next decade is done.
Well there’s a difference between a young man doing cocaine and someone halfway to the average life expectancy doing it.
Obviously Curt Hennig wasn’t new to cocaine when he died. I’m sure he did it his whole professional life. It was the in-thing in the 80s.
In his 40s, he was busted down, not a young man anymore, and it took it’s toll.
Just like Miss Elizabeth. She wasn’t new to drugs either. But after a certain point your body can’t tolerate what it could when you were young.
But some guys are just naturally tolerant to it. Jake Roberts is a person who can shovel the shit up his nose and never die. When it’s all over, all that will be left is three cockroaches and Jake Roberts. He’ll never reach down and smoke one of them.
If he does then the match won’t be a handicap match anymore–it’ll be 2-on-2 instead: 2 cockroaches Vs. Jake Roberts and Keith Richards.
Sad time to bring this up, but as a companion to the old argument about how Kurt Cobain killing himself ended up being a great career move….
If Jake had blown his brains out around 1992 or so, doesn’t he end up going down in history as some sort of tortured genius that would probably be revered by the IWC at untold levels today, rather than a sad drug addict who’s barely hanging on? Or are the two not mutually exclusive?
No actually you’re kind of right. Thin line between being pathetic and being a legend.
That’s a really fascinating question and observation, actually. Jake is still revered as one of the great minds of this business who was a genius on the mic. But much like you could never talk about Michael Jackson simply on the merits without bringing up the molestation issues, you can’t really talk about Jake without his sad current condition hovering over the proceedings.
It’s like with Flair. Let’s pretend his career match with Hogan at Halloween Havoc 94 was really his last match (I know it was never intended to be the end of Flair’s career, but just a way to write him out of storylines for a while since Flair was opening up a gym and needed time away, just play along). Let’s pretend the curtain really closed in 94. How do we remember Ric Flair? If you ask me, I think a lot of people would consider him the greatest wrestler who ever lived, beyond contention. And those last two words are the important ones, “beyond contention.” People still make the argument today that he’s the greatest of all-time, but the counterpoint, the contention (if you weeeeelll), is that he’s bastardized his legacy in the past decade in a way that immediately cheapens him and detracts from the legitimacy of his claim to the title of the greatest of all-time. Of course, Flair’s retirement in 94 wouldn’t preclude others who’d later cement their greatness from laying claim to the title, but I’m just throwing it out there for argument’s sake since, in my own observations, the one thing that keeps people from putting Flair’s name down definitively as the greatest has been his activities in the past 6-8 years.
Anyway, I’m not here to argue whether Flair is the greatest or not, just to posture how he might be remembered if his career had ended 15 years ago. Would we revere him? Would we revere Hennig, had he kept going on indefinitely? Would we revere Hogan if he kept coming back? Or Foley? It’s strange. I respect the ones who walk away before their demons claim them, or the ones who are able to walk away before it consumes them. Like RVD, who claimed that while he loved the business, he always knew when to walk away. They wanted to turn him into a jobber in WCW, he knew it wasn’t good for him, and so he gave his notice. Vince wanted to start jobbing him out in 97 during his brief summer stint in WWF, and he knew that wasn’t good for him and so he walked away. Ten years later, he felt he’d had his run and left. I feel the same way about The Rock, and others who don’t cling to the business. Flair could have taken $250,000 a year as an ambassador for WWE. But he just had to be in the ring. He shouldn’t even HAVE to wrestle now, with all the money he should have put away. But I guess when you can’t walk away, the business swallows you whole. It’s strange and sad that way, and I wish it were different. But I guess that’s true of nearly any business.
amen.
Flair’s legacy was tarnished because, like you make mention of, he held on too long, and because at some point he just started talking too much and said whatever was on his deteriorating mind. To me, I thought of Flair as one of the greatest wrestlers in history, and a classy guy that you have to respect…then little by little he started to come off like a complete asshole.
Now, I really don’t respect him much. He had his greatness in the 80’s and early 90’s, but I didn’t see him until his WWF run in 1991 so I don’t have the attachment to him that makes me look the other way on some of his negatives. The guy just seems like a complete jerk, and an unbelievable fake. He kisses the asses he needs to kiss to get what he needs (a job/money), and when that’s run it’s course, he gets bitter towards them and moves onto a new ass to kiss. (Ie, he’s not open to working for TNA because WWE isn’t going to use him. He’s done nothing but trash TNA, Vince Russo, Eric Bishoff and Hulk Hogan for years while sucking the shit out of Vince McMahon’s ass. WWE gave him a huge, wonderful send off, despite the fact that, in WWE World, he’s never really been anything important, which was a great conclusion to a run that should have ended 10 years earlier. Now that WWE doesn’t have anything to do with a 60-year-old, washed up shell of Ric Flair, he’s entertaining TNA, which he’s had nothing good to say about for years. )…that’s not even mentioning his personal life, which is a wreck. That would all be fine and his business if he didn’t have such negative things to say about so many others or continue to think so highly of himself. He talks down about Jim Herd because he ran a pizza company. What’s wrong with that? It’s paying the bills, people have to make a living, and not everyone is in the position to make millions of dollars pretending to fight other people for 30 years before they have to sell their robes to pay the rent.
About the Herd thing; he was successful at it. Has Flair ever been a successful booker or owner of a promotion?
I don’t think Flair’s been successful at anything outside of the ring. Didn’t he just have a financial advisory company go under?
He was the booker in WCW for all of 1989. Take that as you will.
Injury wise, I’d blame it on the different type of matches these days. Go back and watch wrestling from the 80’s, early 90’s. A lot of matches are kind of boring, to me at least. A lot of holds, slower pace, not a lot of bumps, and the bumps you get are from a suplex. I remember watching back then and, compared to what I was used to seeing, I thought a superplex could kill somebody. So if that’s what we got on television, I’d imagine house shows carried much less riskier matches.
As far as drugs go, maybe it’s a tolerance thing. If you’re on the road, drinking and partying for 300 or more days a day, you’re probably going to get used to that lifestyle. If you’re smart and don’t over-dose, you can carry it on for a while, and sometimes avoid the long term health risks if you eventually stop, or are just lucky enough that it doesn’t get you. Also, and I’m no drug expert, but there seems to be a much wider array of drugs and pills available these days. There’s a pill seemingly for whatever problems you might have. Pain, trouble sleeping, trouble staying awake, pain while you’re sleeping, lack of energy…They’re very hard on their bodies these days, there’s more variety of pills/drugs more easily available, and they seem to put more effort into their bodies, which for some is another area of drugs they can get into…
I think it’s more telling of how wrestling, and in many ways, the world is different these days. It’s faster paced, bigger, greedier, and in any walk of life you do what you have to do to keep up.
I don’t find that to be heartless at all. It is well documented that WWE insisted he go to rehab and he refused, so they fired him. They have EVERY right to make sure its publicly known that he had been fired at the time of his death, and if I were them I would have made sure it was on the record WHY he was fired. They offered him the option to get clean and he didn’t take it. It’s a shame that he died, as I thought he was a super talented guy, but the company’s hands are clean on this one.
I gotta agree with you on that. It’s his own fault, and everybody that wants to point the finger at wrestling needs to point it at Umaga himself. I read that it was his second heart attack. I honestly don’t know how true that is, but if it was.. it’s definitely his own fault for not doing the things that you need to do to prevent a SECOND heart attack (no smoking, watching what you eat, no drinking, NO DRUGS). Now, to be fair, he could have walked the straight and narrow path and still suffered a heart attack. It happens all the time, but being 400 lbs sure didn’t help his cause.
No, he had his first heart attack, was rushed to the hospital, and had his second there.
I guess an untimely death is some peoples’ big chance to announce their own, suffer-no-fools life philosophy. Really guys, it’s okay to regret someone’s passing without condoning their lifestyle, or their choices. Umaga was, in my opinion, a terrific wrestler. That’s all I really know about him. And that’s what I’ll miss.
As for Keith’s statement up top, I was thinking the same thing. Yes, some of the 80s stars have died young, but other than Rick McGraw, I can’t think of one who died while he was still in his physical prime. Maybe some of the drugs are different. Or maybe it’s like some people have said here: the pace of the matches is faster. If nothing else, that would lead to more injuries, which would lead to more painkillers.
What really amazes me is that so many of the ECW guys are still around.
Jay Youngblood
David Von Erich.
The cause of both those deaths seems to be disputed (yeah, I know David’s a Von Erich).
Gino Hernandez and Buzz Sawyer bought it early, too, come to think of it. Still, has there ever been a period like the last ten years in all of wrestling history, in terms of active, young wrestlers dying in their primes?
I disagree with Scott… WWE were CLEVER to cover their own back and frankly why should they not cover themselves especially as the media will point fingers at them instantly?
Umaga’s death was self inflicted. I feel for his family but can’t feel bad for him… he has seen many of his associates go down the same road and die in a heap in their hotel room.
I just can’t feel bad for the dude… he had a family to look after and he made the wrong decisions knowingly, putting his habits above them. When you put some white powder above your kids welfare don’t expect sympathy from me.
Umaga did make his own decisions, yes. He chose to remain grossly overweight, do drugs (presumably), and work in a highly risky and physically brutal career.
On the other hand, how many damn ex-Vince employees have to die young before we realize that his company is the root of the tree that bears all this poisonous fruit?
Wrestlers aren’t brain surgeons; they’re mostly big blue collar guys who, once they get their first concussion, are pretty much fucked in taking any other job beyond menial labor. And if Vince, the only decent payer in the game, works you seven days a week, implies that steroids will give you a bigger payday, and forces you into extreme matches (elimination chamber, TLC, hell in a cell) …well, you can see how a guy with no other options and brain damage might feel forced into an unhealthy lifestyle just to get paid.
A very similar argument can be made in the NFL, where linemen don’t live to 50 years old because of the NFL’s conditions, and steroid use combined with weak random testing and low penalties—Merriman’s 4 game suspension comes to mind—and reporters enabling and not scandalizing such incidents—sports reporters gave Merriman Defensive Player of the Year *for the same season he was known to be cheating—give every indication that the league is complicit in unhealthy lifestyles.
The WWE released this guy when he wouldn’t go to rehab. With all the shit they take for pushing these guys into early graves, they can be as self serving and heartless as they want when they clearly do the right thing.
How long until Jesse Ventura, Marc Mero, and Bret Hart come out of the wood work and claim that the wrestlers need to unionize?
Didn’t Jesse just do an ESPN Radio interview once again talking about how wrestlers need to unionize?
Jesse went on The Herd with Colin Cowherd this week saying that.
I’m not sure how much it would help. Maybe a union could reduce the number of shows worked per year and/or slow down the pace and bumps in matches which would reduce the need to use painkillers. However, if someone wants to snort white powder up their nose (assuming that’s what killed Umaga which it may not be), I don’t see how a union could stop them.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: guys who OD because of the grind that is being a pro wrestler are NOT victims of the business. Nobody is drafted into professional wrestling. It’s a voluntary thing. By the end of your first day at wrestling school you should be fully aware that pain is a major factor in being a wrestler.
I was raised on union wages so I get why some unions are good. I don’t see how a union is expected to stop guys from doing drugs.
But the whole ‘these guys are a victim of the business’ thing is bullshit.
Owen Hart was a victim of the business. Umaga wasn’t.
Just for argument’s sake, why was Owen a victim of the business and Umaga not? No one forced him into the rafters. He could’ve said no. Vince McMahon didn’t put a gun to his head and say, “strap yourself to this flimsy harness or else”.
Because it’s what he was booked to do.
Nobody booked Umaga to snort coke, take pills, then die at age 36.
Why is it either/or? I agree that Umaga is responsible for becoming a wrestler, responsible for taking poor care of himself, and responsible for rejecting WWE’s offer of help if, in fact, there was one. Nobody killed Umaga, except possibly Umaga. But that doesn’t mean WWE is the least bit ethical in the way it handles things. It maintains, and profits from, a system that puts immense strain on those it employs. Do you suppose WWE submits its new hires to psychological testing, to determine if they’re truly suited to this lifestyle? It sounds funny, but lots of industries do that–industries with death rates a fraction of wrestling’s.
If you’re psychologically suited to the wrestling lifestyle, like, it seems, Chris Jericho, then good for you. But if you’re not, like Umaga, or perhaps Eddy Guerrero, WWE will make money off your back anyway. It’s legal, but that doesn’t make it right.
Jesse Ventura also thinks the government caused 9/11.
I know Shane is joining UFC, but I would love to see him buy WCW from his dad and bring it back, completely independent from the WWE.
I like how Starrcade ‘92 was called the “Tenth Annual Starrcade ‘92,” while Starrcade ‘93 was called the “Tenth Anniversary.” WWE should take note.
Wow! It’s a real life internet troll! How exciting for everybody.
Who’s the internet troll?
Umaga screwed up a potential fantasy tournament tournament of dead intercontinental champions.
Rick Rude vs Mr. Perfect
Kerry von Erich vs The British Bulldog
Owen Hart vs Chris Benoit
Eddie Guerrero vs Test
I guess Umaga could take on the winner…
I suppose he could replace Benoit, since Benoit’s presence might be upsetting for people. On the other hand, Benoit would be the ultimate heel…
Like I’ve been telling people for years, with all the ODs, Suicides, Wife Beaters, Racists, and various other horrible people that happened to be good at wrestling… real hell is likely to be wrestling heaven.
Brock done in UFC? Last I heard, White said that Brock would eventually be back.
Okay, so as some here know I’m doing the top 10 News Stories of the Decade. The #1 story just got longer by at least a paragraph.
I had a sudden thought…
Why doesn’t the WWE do anti-drug campaigns?
WWE reaches a large amount of impressionable people through it’s TV shows and stuff. Wouldn’t an ad featuring Mr. Perfect, Umaga, Miss Elizabeth, Eddie Guerrero, etc be more effective in making people swear off drugs then, say, someone frying an egg in a skillet?
That’s a great idea.
They did do them back in the 80s as I remember someone had scanned in an anti-drug ad featuring Jake Roberts (of all people, I know) so maybe the question should be why did they stop doing them?
Here’s a cynical scan of said photo: http://content.ytmnd.com/content/9/6/0/960224ae556241c700931639ead213a4.jpg
Isn’t this CM Punk’s shtick?
Wrestlers’ lifestyles and job descriptions are a bit different from the common person’s, so I doubt it would connect with many people. It’d probably just be a reminder to people that many former WWE employees did drugs that killed them off early.
i find it bedeviling as to how people STILL don’t understand that steroid and hgh usage, while potentially dangerous, are NOT in of themselves the time bomb that people seem to think they are. it’s entirely possible that the reason that more 80s stars aren’t dead is because, one would assume, they were on carefully regulated regimens.
before thinking that umaga’s death was predicated on steroid/hgh usage, consider that the E wanted him to go to rehab and that cocaine is TERRIFICALLY strenuous on the heart. that, together with the reported nosebleed, would seem to indicate a different problem than ‘just’ performance enhancers. consider soma, painkillers, cocaine, etc., before you blame the bodybuilding drugs.
and, as a followup, i totally disagree with scott for castigating the E for mentioning that they canned him after he refused rehab. the company gets blamed for employing ‘drug users’ on an every day basis. for them to say “hey, we TRIED to get him to go but he refused, so we cut off his income steam’ is perfectly legitimate. they’re his employers, not his family.
I’m on the fence about unions. I prefer supporting labour, but the public sector unions in my city have done enormous damage, mostly due to their greed.
The main thing a wrestling union would accomplish, I think, is a reduced schedule and a reduced frequency of highly dangerous matches, such as the Elimination Chamber. The downside would be, inevitably, more demands for creative control on the wrestlers’ part, which we all know can backfire.
Speaking only for myself, I’m fine with this. I challenge any union to produce a more creatively bankrupt, repetitive, uninspired product than Vince and his writers have in the last five years anyway. And don’t forget: as Jim Cornette pointed out, it’s the WRITERS who come up with a lot of the craziest spots, not the wrestlers. Not the guys who have to risk their health in performing them.
For the WWE (or any other wrestling organisation) to make money they need to travel the circuit doing shows as regularly as possible. There is no way for that to change but I believe a Union could help support wrestlers throughout their career and afterwards so they avoid the pitfuls. Also a Union could give the individuals more power and say in how they run their career by forcing WWE to make them REAL employees unlike the current bullshit deal they get at the moment.
Union or no Union though.. wrestling is a very physically demanding job probably the most dangerous profession in the world outside being on the frontline. Wrestling won’t ever go away so the drug problem won’t either… all a Union can do is force WWE and others to look after their employees as best as possible.
First off I could care less about the steroids. You want to take steroids, more power to you. You want shriveled balls and a lower life span, your choice. I’m gonna come off like a bit of an asshole for this and I’m not advocating steroids (never tried them myself or know anyone who has admitted it to me), but Kurt Angle looks horrible off or Roids. Some of these guys in the business now look like guys off the street that I might hire to work retail. No definition, no muscle tone. Maybe it’s because I was raised primarliy on 80s WWF (with a touch of JCP when I didn’t have little league or some other sport) but I want a physique in my wrestlers.
At the same time, one thing that would go far towards improving wrestler’s lives is if the WWE were forced to treat them as real employees, instead of living off the myth that are independent contractors. Independent contractors can take bookings with other promotions, refuse dates, decided on working conditions, etc. What Vince has is employees that he doesn’t want to pay worker’s comp and SSI for. Calling them independent contractors is a leftover from the territory days that has no basis for today’s reality. There has always been drugs in wrestling, just as there has always been drugs in baseball, football, basketball, etc. When guys are on the road, without family and have downtime, alcohol and drugs flow. After a show you have to come down from a performer’s high and that means medicating for many to get up and travel the next day. The only way to reduce the drug issues in wrestling (and again i’m talking coke, painkillers, etc. not roids) is to lessen the schedule. The only way to do that is a return, which has been talked about recently on this blog, to more squash matches, longer angles, larger rosters, and fewer big matches on Raw and Smackdown. Put big names in tag matches at house shows to give them less work. After big angles, cycle guys out for time off. No one has ever gone broke booking big injury angles with surprise returns. You can’t eliminate drugs and injuries from wrestling. It’s a dangerous job. I see it like the NFL and recent handwring over concussions. Be smart. Don’t let guys play until they are ready. But risk is there and you know it when you sign that NFL contract. Wrestling is no different. Risk is there but more can be done to protect the wrestlers with a better schedule, more time off, and better wellness programs. I do give WWE credit in one area: reducing high impact moves.
The last thing I would do would bring back caring about wins and losses based on dollars rather than your “spot in history” or always the belt or “climbing the ranks”. Gorilla used to remind fans how the winner got the bigger purse. To me that’s awesome and gives guys a reason for all these matches. It makes a DQ loss or win mean more. Same with a countout. Now how does this relate to wrestler’s health? I think if fans knew that money was involved in matches, when a guy was too hurt to work, WWE could feel more comfortable pulling him from a show and talking up the replacement and his chance to really make something of himself. It just might be an element that reminds the fans why this match is important when two mid carders like MVP and Swagger wrestle
What I don’t get about the Union issues, and maybe somebody can help me with this, is why these “sports entertainers” aren’t covered under AFTRA, the union television actors and “personalities” NEED to be a part of to work on TV? I’m an actor, and I’ve never understood how people who do skits and monologues, and occasionally stylized dance drama, wouldn’t fall under their jurisdiction. I believe the announcers need to be AFTRA, though.
Any help with it?
Interesting point. But wouldn’t it be up to the actors’ union to extend membership? Maybe they’ve never been approached.
I normally find Scott to be over sensitive (no offense) when it comes to WWE at times, but have to agree with the Umaga posting. It stood out to me as well, that they had to go out of their way to mention he was fired and basically wash their hands off any responsibility. And I have to say, from what was reported at the time, they DID try to put him in rehab, and he refused, so they fired him. So I don’t really blame them for this one, they did what they were responsible to do, and if losing his job wasn’t enough to force him to go to rehab, what else can they do? He said he didn’t have a problem, he clearly did and wouldn’t get help for it. Not much else they can do at that point. But that little comment was heartless, and really, pointless, since the media will link him to WWE whether he was employed there at the time or not…and the fact he wasn’t technically employed doesn’t really change that he was working there less than six months ago and likely didn’t develop the problems that led to his death in the time that he left. All they had to do was put out a statement after the fact if they caught heat from the media again…
Not that I want him to be dead or anything, but I half wish he was still working there, just to see the media shit show and WWE defensive attitude that would have resulted from his death.
I just hope he gets a mention or video tribute on RAW unlike Test. And yeah most media stories I’ve read about Umaga’s death have listed him as ‘WWE Wrestler Umaga’.
There was no way of avoiding it. It’s only been 6 months since he was released, and they had him in a mainstream Wrestlemania match featuring Donald Trump. People know he’s connected to WWE.
Busily catching up with this thread.
Ruiner09, great point bringing up the high-profile match at Wrestlemania 23. Between the Lashley Project being such a bust, him now wrestling in TNA, the overall awfulness of the match, Austin’s poor Stunner on Trump and now Umaga’s death, what Vince clearly wanted to be among the great “Wrestlemania moments” is something everyone would just like to forget. (I wanted to forget it at the time, but no matter.)
I honestly can’t blame WWE for the somewhat callous public statement, however. It could have been worse. As someone above (sorry, I just quickly read the thread) wrote, they could have explicitly stated that they tried to get him into rehab and he refused to go, so they were put between a rock and a hard place, electing to release him. The Wellness policy is obviously flawed, but as we’ve seen with Rey Mysterio this summer, it’s quite real and evidently many wrestlers are terrified of it.
Ultimately, yes, the environment of professional wrestling is terribly conducive to the kind of behavior described by many posters here (myriad forms of drug abuse most notably included), but it’s finally up to each wrestler whether or not they will consume those drugs/steroids/alcohol, and even painkillers, or if they want to be a wrestler at all to begin with. Some guys like CM Punk and Triple H won’t put any alcohol or narcotics in their bodies, for instance. I think Scott’s mathematical equation of drug use + steroids is perhaps the key, especially with Eddie Guerrero’s death in mind.
Way off topic, but this from Meltzer:
It will be announced within the next few hours that TNA Wrestling will be doing a three-hour live show on 1/4 featuring the return of Hulk Hogan and several other debuts. My feeling is that when WWE and USA find out, they will schedule a three hour Raw for that night, so there is a good chance both sides will go head-to-head from 8-11 p.m. At this point, this is the only Monday show planned but depending on how the ratings go, it could lead to a permanent move.
I should mention that here besides Hogan and Dixie Carter are Eric Bischoff, Jimmy Hart, Ed Leslie and The Nasty Boys.
– Beginning of the end for TNA, dead by 2011. That 1/4 show might be the one that The Rock hosts, just to drive the dagger home a bit more. Wonder if The Rock would take a spot in the Royal Rumble if offered?
I think the biggest mistake would be for Vince to throw everything and the kitchen sink at TNA in their first week. If people were interested in TNA, they’d be in the 4s, not the 1s. Just do a good show and they’ll be fine.
Also, while I love watching wrestling as much as the next guy (the boxes and boxes of Wrestling tapes and DVDs I have packed prove that), I am not watching Raw on Mondays anymore, and I don’t think either group will be able to reach the heights they did on Monday nights years ago, with shows like Heroes, House, and 24 on the regular networks claiming so much of the regular wrestling fan demographic.
But I think it says a lot about Spike that they’ve got Hogan plugging his TNA debut on one of their highest-rated shows. They’re not treating TNA like a red-headed step-child and I think they (Spike) will do what they can to help fuel TNA in their “fight” with WWE. If Spike is truly backing TNA, they won’t be dead in 2011.
“That 1/4 show might be the one that The Rock hosts, just to drive the dagger home a bit more. ”
Rock should get on the phone right now and see how much Dixie will pay for a one night only appearance for that TNA show. Im sure he’ll have something to promote.
Whoa, I heard the Hogan news, but not the news about the Rock… I’m only a very casual wrestling viewer at this point (i.e. maybe 1 RAW every 2 months), but I’ll definitely be watching whichever one the Rock’s hosting.
I’m interested to see what Hulk’s impact will be (no pun intended), but I don’t see how they could change my opinion that they simply have a tacky product. Regardless, that should be at least one fun night to watch wrestling..
Can’t believe how many people are missing Scott’s point about the WWE going beyond self-serving to acting heartless.
It’s not that WWE has the right to publish it or that they’re right to point out he’s an ex-employee. If they had just said “former WWE superstar Umaga….” that would be fine. But they clearly went out of their way to distance themselves from his death by tacking on the last sentence, immediately after expressing their “deepest condolences.”
The two sentence statement reads as “We’re sorry he’s dead. By the way: it’s not our fault, and here’s the proof.” Factually correct? Yes. Appropriate? No.
I can see why they did it, because of all the shit they get when wrestlers die. They’re just being proactive (yet insensitive) because they know they’ll get shit from the media, to some degree at least…but at the same time, you’d think Vince McMahon, the guy who supposedly doesn’t care what the media thinks of him, who’s not afraid to be a dickhead while standing up for his beliefs, would think enough of one of his own wrestlers to give proper condolences…I mean, the guy worked there less than six months ago, they couldn’t have forgotten about him that quickly. Unless he burned his bridges on the way out and had heat with WWE when he died.
Appropriate when, every time someone in wrestling dies, Vince employee or not, main eventer or jobber, someone *coughphilmushnickcough* finds a way to blame WWE? Sadly, yes.
It was appropriate. They are a business, and they could take a lot of heat, and potentially have millions and millions of dollars jeopardized, all because one individual made personal decisions that 99.999% of adults wouldn’t and shouldn’t make, and sadly ended up dying.
If Brock can’t fight anymore, who really cares? I’m a casual UFC fan, and I admit I made sure to catch his fights, but it wasn’t just because I knew him from wrestling, it’s because he’s a jerk and I’d love to see him lose. Which makes him good business for the UFC. He’s not a great fighter, he’s just a powerful monster who can do what he can do to stay in a fight until he gets the chance to pound a guy’s face in…he’s an asshole and people will pay to see him lose. So, in terms of UFC’s business, I can see why he’s a loss.
But why would anyone be bummed if he can’t fight again? I didn’t wish health problems on him, and I’m not taking pleasure in it, but whether it be health problems, legal problems, or a simple lack of talent, I don’t mind his UFC career going to shit one bit, because the guy’s a jerk and pretty much has always been. I didn’t care that he left WWE, because on some level I always enjoy when a wrestler leaves on his own before WWE can get what they want out of him and send him on his way anyway, but the whole “I’m going to play in the NFL because I’m Brock Lesnar” thing rubbed me the wrong way. You don’t just pick up and decide to play in the NFL…he just comes off as, or blatantly is, an asshole most of the time, so if his UFC dreams are over, so what?
Did he date your sister or something? Sheesh.
No problem with WWE making sure to wash their hands of this immediately. They have a VERY shaky public relations image, and they need to do whatever they can to protect it.
Besides, it’s the media that jumped all over the “STEROIDS” angle on Benoit before there was even a shred of evidence toward it. And right now, CNN.com (where Umaga is the top story) have already gotten rid of the word “former” in “former WWE superstar.”
“Also, it looks like Brock Lesnar is done for good according to Dana White, which is a gigantic blow to the UFC. Bad day all around. ”
Where was this reported or said? Nothing was made of it on the TUF finale.
I’m curious as to what medical school Charlie went to. I’m considering going and want to find the easiest one. Basing conclusions on unsubstantiated rumours would definitely cut down on my workload considerably.
I can tell who has/has not ever spent time in a gym from these posts and certainly anyone who has experience with AAS (and if you have to ask what that means, don’t bother).
Being on steroids is a choice made by those whose bodies have reached a plateau. Once can only work out so much before genetics and hormones take the driver’s seat and set a cap on how large or defined you can be. Your average wrestler with a decent physique spends 1-2 hours/day in the gym weight training and even more time practicing move sets and routines, not to mention performances. Their diets are a bland collection of chicken, rice, chicken, rice, and more chicken and rice, ad nauseum. It’s not an easy lifestyle to have to constantly destroy/rebuild your body on a daily basis in order to make a living doing something you enjoy.
As for steroids being harmful, there is a WEALTH of information out there that stand on both sides of the fence. While AAS can be taken safely (Arnold Schwarzenegger used to take 200mg D-Bol/day with no PCT!!!), some people fall into the invincibility complex and feel their bodies will take any punishment given. “Umaga” was one such person who abused substances outside the arena of steroids. It’s obvious that he had an awful diet from his physique and probably was a drinker as well. That plays hell on your internal organs, namely your liver, kidneys, heart and endocrine system.
Sympathy? I have none. This man knew what he was getting into and was probably warned along the way. There are plenty of athletes using AAS who do not die of heart attacks at 40. Those same people aren’t boozing it up every weekend, putting garbage into their mouths and/or shooting up other substances which may worsen any effects steroids caused.