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Why does it seem like the younger generation (meaning after the 80s or so) are so much more prone to dying young? People from the 70s and earlier seem to have lived much longer. Dory Funk, Terry Funk, Bruno Sammartino, Harley Race, Verne Gagne, Billy Graham............etc. are all alive and kicking into old age. I wish the media would highlight THAT fact a lot more. 

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Is there any interest in myself getting Vince Russo & Chris Cash (from WrestleZone) to sign up on the board and post a few times? I already got him to join EWB and introduce themselves.

WrestleZone & Vince Russo get a bad rap, but I'll be damned if they aren't really cool dudes, so down to earth and friendly.

You should get them their own little subsection on wrestlingclassics.com. They probably won't hate him as much there since most of them had already stopped watching by the attitude era. Which they remind you of over and over and over again.

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Why does it seem like the younger generation (meaning after the 80s or so) are so much more prone to dying young? People from the 70s and earlier seem to have lived much longer. Dory Funk, Terry Funk, Bruno Sammartino, Harley Race, Verne Gagne, Billy Graham............etc. are all alive and kicking into old age. I wish the media would highlight THAT fact a lot more. 

 

Early death has always been a part of wrestling. Frank Gotch died at 39. Rikidozan died at 39. Gorgeous George died at 48. Antonino Rocca died at 49. Skull Murphy, Moondog Mayne, Chris Colt, Hercules Cortez, and Bobby Shane also died young. I think there is a larger percentage in recent years due to the influence of drugs. There is also the fact that many older wrestlers have died in their sixties or early seventies than their late seventies or eighties. Plus I wouldn't exactly use Verne Gagne and Billy Graham as examples of "alive and kicking." 

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Verne's almost 80*, alive and kicking is perfectly acceptable.

 

ETA: GAH! I did my math wrong, Verne is 78, not 88

 

I think your math is still off. Wiki says he's 88, and news articles when he killed that dude in 09 said he was 82 at the time.

 

You need to be somewhat sprightly to kill a person?

 

I think he just basically knocked over a 97 year old guy who then died.

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Why does it seem like the younger generation (meaning after the 80s or so) are so much more prone to dying young? People from the 70s and earlier seem to have lived much longer. Dory Funk, Terry Funk, Bruno Sammartino, Harley Race, Verne Gagne, Billy Graham............etc. are all alive and kicking into old age. I wish the media would highlight THAT fact a lot more. 

 

Early death has always been a part of wrestling. Frank Gotch died at 39. Rikidozan died at 39. Gorgeous George died at 48. Antonino Rocca died at 49. Skull Murphy, Moondog Mayne, Chris Colt, Hercules Cortez, and Bobby Shane also died young. I think there is a larger percentage in recent years due to the influence of drugs. There is also the fact that many older wrestlers have died in their sixties or early seventies than their late seventies or eighties. Plus I wouldn't exactly use Verne Gagne and Billy Graham as examples of "alive and kicking." 

 

 

That is a fair point. The recent increase though is troubling and I would hope that Vince would try to find some way to address it. Not it all SHOULD fall on him but the media puts it on him when they label Sean O'Haire a former WWE star when the guy spent all of 2 years contracted to them and maybe less than a year total as an on-air talent. 

 

And Graham is in his 70s and alive, a lot of top guys from our childhoods never made it THAT far. And Verne Gagne is an almost 90 year old man with dementia, that's not abnormal for his age. 

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I don't really think there is a way Vince could address it. There are so many different reasons that seem to cause early wrestler deaths.

 

A) You could definitely argue some are related to wrestling. (wear and tear, concussions, steroid/pain killer abuse).

 

B) But then there are plenty that are not related to wrestling. (drug/alcohol abuse, financial issues, the people themselves)

 

The WWE has definitely taken big steps with concussions. They have a drug/alcohol abuse program. If I recall, they've even started a program to help ex-talents go to school all expenses paid. 

 

What else can reasonably be done?

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I don't really think there is a way Vince could address it. There are so many different reasons that seem to cause early wrestler deaths.

 

A) You could definitely argue some are related to wrestling. (wear and tear, concussions, steroid/pain killer abuse).

 

B) But then there are plenty that are not related to wrestling. (drug/alcohol abuse, financial issues, the people themselves)

 

The WWE has definitely taken big steps with concussions. They have a drug/alcohol abuse program. If I recall, they've even started a program to help ex-talents go to school all expenses paid. 

 

What else can reasonably be done?

 

Then Vince needs better PR people who can get the word out so WWE doesn't suffer the PR hit whenever someone who may have walked in the door of Titan Tower at some point in their life dies. With the increase in suicides, I would want WWE to maybe offer ways to help them get the help and medication that they need.

 

Vince's steps with addressing concussions and alcohol/drug abuse is good and will hopefully save lives in the future. 

 

The part about the people themselves being the cause is interesting, wrestling could just attract people who would self-destruct anyway.

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The PR hit of an ex-employee from ten years ago dying is a thing.

 

But the PR hit of your PR person sending out a release saying "this person worked for us _________ years ago and we haven't heard from them in a while so it's not related to us" would be even worse. That's too defensive.

 

The first sort of hit is better because (for better or for worse) the public is used to wrestlers dying young.

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I was thinking more like a pre-emptive PR campaign that highlights what WWE is doing to help ex-talent and how easy it is to take advantage of the benefits. I'm not sure if it would be effective though or even worth their time. But I would imagine that the average reporter (let alone person) has any idea that WWE DOES try to help former talent. 

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Keep in mind, this is the kind of stuff you get from WWE PR reps:

 


Me: Your release says that Carey is being recognized as being an entrant in the 2001 Royal Rumble. I believe that was a wrestling event.

 

Kellie: No, we don’t do wrestling events. They’re entertainments. And we don’t call them wrestlers. They’re superstars and divas.

 

I’m thinking to myself, is she kidding me? Is this woman mad? The company’s official name is World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. Its crown jewel is an event called WrestleMania. In the best tradition of wrestling on TV since its earliest days, they put on terrific shows (and events), with athletes who are performers and they’ve got storylines that are far more elaborate than any Gorgeous George and Freddie Blassie would have ever imagined. Why would they want to run away from who they are, from what’s made them wildly successful beyond most people’s dreams?

 

Me: Kellie, I really don’t have time for this. WWE presents wrestling events. I’m not going to change the headline or anything in the item. If you’d like, I’ll just remove it.

 

Kellie: Huh? What?

 

Me: Kellie, I don’t have time for this. What do you want me to do?

 

Kellie: Remove it.

 

So I did.

Kellie sent me a follow-up email saying “I hope nothing was contentious in our conversation…” She added, “I know the perception is that we are a wrestling company but we are actually much more than that–we are a global media company which is how our Chairman and CEO, Vince McMahon, positions us.”

Whatever. Take away wrestling from WWE and what do you basically have? I don’t think WWE is quite as diverse as global media companies such as News Corp. or Time Warner or Viacom, but what do I know.

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Keep in mind, this is the kind of stuff you get from WWE PR reps:

 

 

Me: Your release says that Carey is being recognized as being an entrant in the 2001 Royal Rumble. I believe that was a wrestling event.

 

Kellie: No, we don’t do wrestling events. They’re entertainments. And we don’t call them wrestlers. They’re superstars and divas.

 

I’m thinking to myself, is she kidding me? Is this woman mad? The company’s official name is World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. Its crown jewel is an event called WrestleMania. In the best tradition of wrestling on TV since its earliest days, they put on terrific shows (and events), with athletes who are performers and they’ve got storylines that are far more elaborate than any Gorgeous George and Freddie Blassie would have ever imagined. Why would they want to run away from who they are, from what’s made them wildly successful beyond most people’s dreams?

 

Me: Kellie, I really don’t have time for this. WWE presents wrestling events. I’m not going to change the headline or anything in the item. If you’d like, I’ll just remove it.

 

Kellie: Huh? What?

 

Me: Kellie, I don’t have time for this. What do you want me to do?

 

Kellie: Remove it.

 

So I did.

Kellie sent me a follow-up email saying “I hope nothing was contentious in our conversation…” She added, “I know the perception is that we are a wrestling company but we are actually much more than that–we are a global media company which is how our Chairman and CEO, Vince McMahon, positions us.”

Whatever. Take away wrestling from WWE and what do you basically have? I don’t think WWE is quite as diverse as global media companies such as News Corp. or Time Warner or Viacom, but what do I know.

 

 

My thoughts as a reporter-type person:

1) The headline is wrong. It's the WWE Hall of Fame. The National Baseball Hall of Fame is a non-profit entity, with a board of directors. Obviously, MLB has a large role in the board of directors and the Hall's management, but it doesn't own the baseball hall of fame.

The WWE Hall of Fame is a WWE property and trademark. It's not like the Cauliflower Club or what have you. It isn't a professional wrestling hall of fame and never purported to be that. It's a WWE promotion tool, essentially.

This stuff happens in the media all of the time. I know things like that happened to me quite a bit. 

2) The PR person is a dolt. She could have simply said -- It's the WWE Hall of Fame and not the pro wrestling hall of fame. She could have avoided the whole branding nonsense and just explained that we own the hall of fame and it's a proper noun.

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Keep in mind, this is the kind of stuff you get from WWE PR reps:

 

 

Me: Your release says that Carey is being recognized as being an entrant in the 2001 Royal Rumble. I believe that was a wrestling event.

 

Kellie: No, we don’t do wrestling events. They’re entertainments. And we don’t call them wrestlers. They’re superstars and divas.

 

I’m thinking to myself, is she kidding me? Is this woman mad? The company’s official name is World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. Its crown jewel is an event called WrestleMania. In the best tradition of wrestling on TV since its earliest days, they put on terrific shows (and events), with athletes who are performers and they’ve got storylines that are far more elaborate than any Gorgeous George and Freddie Blassie would have ever imagined. Why would they want to run away from who they are, from what’s made them wildly successful beyond most people’s dreams?

 

Me: Kellie, I really don’t have time for this. WWE presents wrestling events. I’m not going to change the headline or anything in the item. If you’d like, I’ll just remove it.

 

Kellie: Huh? What?

 

Me: Kellie, I don’t have time for this. What do you want me to do?

 

Kellie: Remove it.

 

So I did.

Kellie sent me a follow-up email saying “I hope nothing was contentious in our conversation…” She added, “I know the perception is that we are a wrestling company but we are actually much more than that–we are a global media company which is how our Chairman and CEO, Vince McMahon, positions us.”

Whatever. Take away wrestling from WWE and what do you basically have? I don’t think WWE is quite as diverse as global media companies such as News Corp. or Time Warner or Viacom, but what do I know.

 

 

My thoughts as a reporter-type person:

1) The headline is wrong. It's the WWE Hall of Fame. The National Baseball Hall of Fame is a non-profit entity, with a board of directors. Obviously, MLB has a large role in the board of directors and the Hall's management, but it doesn't own the baseball hall of fame.

The WWE Hall of Fame is a WWE property and trademark. It's not like the Cauliflower Club or what have you. It isn't a professional wrestling hall of fame and never purported to be that. It's a WWE promotion tool, essentially.

This stuff happens in the media all of the time. I know things like that happened to me quite a bit. 

2) The PR person is a dolt. She could have simply said -- It's the WWE Hall of Fame and not the pro wrestling hall of fame. She could have avoided the whole branding nonsense and just explained that we own the hall of fame and it's a proper noun.

 

 

The proper response would been,

 

"We have a celebrity wing that we dedicate to celebrity guests who contributed to our product in a substantial way. Drew Carey was the first celebrity entrant in our Royal Rumble event so we wanted to honor that by putting him in there. The celebrity wing is separate and distinct from where we put our wrestlers."

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