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FEBRUARY 2016 WRESTLING DISCUSSION


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Why is it the best thing WWE does is capitalize on tragedies for their benefit?

 

The situations are so naturally dramatic that it would be hard to screw up presenting them.

I was thinking more of financial gains from tragedy.

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Is Kofi Kingston currently the longest tenured actively active guy on the WWE roster?

 

I mean yes there is Kane - but he has pretty much vanished (Rumble appearance aside)

 

Taker definitely doesn't count

 

Folks like Cena and Orton have had long periods of injuries

 

Kofi started in 07 and I don't remember he being gone... well... ever (outside that like 6 weeks when they were starting New Day and even then he wasn't really gone)

 

Who am I spacing on?

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Oh, I think, like the NFL, wrestling and other sports are gonna be hit by a rash of early retirements. You can make so much money so quick and there's no long-term viability in running your body down like you're Mr Wonderful in '86 or something. 

 

I mean, one of the reasons for the exodus to WCW was easier schedule/good pay. TNA had that appeal for years, as well. 

 

I think it's very likely that the 20-30 year career in wrestling is going to be a thing of the past in the not long future. 

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Oh, I think, like the NFL, wrestling and other sports are gonna be hit by a rash of early retirements. You can make so much money so quick and there's no long-term viability in running your body down like you're Mr Wonderful in '86 or something. 

 

I mean, one of the reasons for the exodus to WCW was easier schedule/good pay. TNA had that appeal for years, as well. 

 

I think it's very likely that the 20-30 year career in wrestling is going to be a thing of the past in the not long future. 

 

One thing that I don't think has been brought up yet is the subject of "forced" retirements.  Unless I'm mistaken, Christian was essentially retired against his will, in that the WWE also refused to clear him to return after his last injury.  But that was kept fairly low key.  I don't think there was ever any kind of official statement on either side about him being retired.  I don't remember it even being acknowledged until Christian said something on the Austin podcast.  But now, the WWE has made a big deal out of Daniel Bryan retiring, and he was also essentially forced to hang up his boots.  With all the attention Bryan's retirement is getting, both inside and outside of wrestling, is the WWE going to be quicker to pull the trigger on forcing guys out after getting injured, now that more people are becoming aware that this sort of thing is happening?

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Oh, I think, like the NFL, wrestling and other sports are gonna be hit by a rash of early retirements. You can make so much money so quick and there's no long-term viability in running your body down like you're Mr Wonderful in '86 or something. 

 

I mean, one of the reasons for the exodus to WCW was easier schedule/good pay. TNA had that appeal for years, as well. 

 

I think it's very likely that the 20-30 year career in wrestling is going to be a thing of the past in the not long future. 

 

One thing that I don't think has been brought up yet is the subject of "forced" retirements.  Unless I'm mistaken, Christian was essentially retired against his will, in that the WWE also refused to clear him to return after his last injury.  But that was kept fairly low key.  I don't think there was ever any kind of official statement on either side about him being retired.  I don't remember it even being acknowledged until Christian said something on the Austin podcast.  But now, the WWE has made a big deal out of Daniel Bryan retiring, and he was also essentially forced to hang up his boots.  With all the attention Bryan's retirement is getting, both inside and outside of wrestling, is the WWE going to be quicker to pull the trigger on forcing guys out after getting injured, now that more people are becoming aware that this sort of thing is happening?

 

 

It's either that or have their concussion policy become more and more like their wellness policy. Their problem remains that once they have their own doctor tell them that a guy shouldn't wrestle, there's really nothing that they can do that would look good on the company if the guy then returned and got hurt again. So you either respect the doctor you hired or hire one who will tell you what you want to hear.

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Why is it the best thing WWE does is capitalize on tragedies for their benefit?

 

The situations are so naturally dramatic that it would be hard to screw up presenting them.

I was thinking more of financial gains from tragedy.

 

Bryan will get a lot of money off of that retirement shirt too, one would presume.

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Most athletes are retired against their will. Very few walk away physically capable of still being able to perform at the level they need to be at. Most times, your boss and/or the doctor tell you it's done. The ones that ignore that...well, doesn't turn out well, usually.

UFC has basically told guys they're done as well. Of course, there are other places to work.

I find it strange that the narrative is going from 'WWE works their wrestlers to death and shoots them like dogs when they're done' to 'WWE is holding injury prone men hostage and refusing to let them back in the ring.' The latter is far, far better.

Who is on the DNP list? WWE medical won't clear Foley, Edge, Flair, Christian and Bryan. Anyone else?

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Who is on the DNP list? WWE medical won't clear Foley, Edge, Flair, Christian and Bryan. Anyone else?

 

I thought Hogan was on the list... well until the other stuff happened

 

And it is on the development side but I am 99% sure Regal is now on that list

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Most athletes are retired against their will. Very few walk away physically capable of still being able to perform at the level they need to be at. Most times, your boss and/or the doctor tell you it's done. The ones that ignore that...well, doesn't turn out well, usually.

UFC has basically told guys they're done as well. Of course, there are other places to work.

I find it strange that the narrative is going from 'WWE works their wrestlers to death and shoots them like dogs when they're done' to 'WWE is holding injury prone men hostage and refusing to let them back in the ring.' The latter is far, far better.

Who is on the DNP list? WWE medical won't clear Foley, Edge, Flair, Christian and Bryan. Anyone else?

You can say that but I will repeat the following until people stop with this PR bullshit about WWE really caring about their performers. 

 

They just recently employed Tommy Dreamer for a brief stint. Tommy Dreamer, the man who admits the following:

 

I have a few regrets. My one regret is at times my memory... I can remember anything about wrestling, anything, but before... I don't know what year I got married. I would have to call my wife and say 'what year did we get married?' Or my wife will say 'you already asked me that' and I'll be like 'really?' Or, the other day I came home from wrestling, I pulled my bags out, I went -- it was about 3 o'clock in the morning -- I got home and the next morning my wife comes up and goes 'are you okay?' I said 'yeah.' She goes 'did you get hit in your head or anything?' I said 'no, why?' And when she first comes into your room and goes 'can I talk to you' you're like 'oh god, what did I do now, am I in trouble?' And she's like 'well, I went outside to throw out the garbage and you left your trunk open and it rained. Why didn't you close your trunk?' I said 'I can't tell you that. I don't know why.' Or I've left the refrigerator door open. Now I have an alarm on my refrigerator door that goes off if it's open. That scares me. Or even with my daughter, 'how was school, blah blah blah,' and then I'll ask them something and 'dad, you already asked me that.'

 

Can we please get off that WWE CARES ABOUT THEIR ATHULETES line? 

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Hey, not defending their altruism though they're doing much more than any other wrestling company (as they should) but I equally reject the notion they're not clearing guys out of spite or out of some political brinksmanship.

You know, this board had his whole debate when Angle went to TNA ten years ago. Your mileage can vary on how that turned out.

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They brought him in! He worked 20 matches! How do you just write that off like it doesn't matter? Where is their concussion protocol or worry with him?

 

Simple.

 

WWE has no intention to use Tommy Dreamer over the long term, they would with Daniel Bryan. I don't see how you can't see the difference between Daniel Bryan and Tommy Dreamer. Can I believe that WWE doesn't give two shits about Tommy Dreamer? Certainly. They have nothing invested in him long term. 

 

Is WWE perfect? No. But I hate that some people can't give them credit when they do something right.

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You are saying they were morally right to withhold Daniel Bryan from wrestling. That is fine, okay. Great. It's because his brain is fucked and shouldn't be taking any more damage. Then you say it's okay to use Tommy Dreamer, whose brain is in far worse shape, because who gives a shit about Tommy Dreamer. There is no moral or logical consistency there. Concussion rules and fear should apply to every performer, regardless of the performer's value to the company in the short or long run. 

 

Can you imagine a football team saying that? Or any other sports team? Can you imagine the legal shitstorm they would face should their version of Tommy Dreamer suffer a severe concussion?

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You are saying they were morally right to withhold Daniel Bryan from wrestling. That is fine, okay. Great. It's because his brain is fucked and shouldn't be taking any more damage. Then you say it's okay to use Tommy Dreamer, whose brain is in far worse shape because who gives a shit about Tommy Dreamer. There is no moral or logical consistency there. Concussion rules and fear should apply to every performer, regardless of the performer's value to the company in the short or long run. 

 

They did something right, I didn't say that they did everything right. The Dreamer thing is also fucked up. 

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And, honestly, the science around concussions and CTE is unfolding science with a lot of dissenting opinions and unfolding developments. You can spend a lot of time parsing tests and making exceptions and arguing about these matters. Honestly, the most logical take would be that physical sports with repeated head trauma probably are something that should not be. 

 

People can do what they want with their bodies but if they had a test that determined that 90% of NFL players and 90% of wrestlers/boxers/MMA are currently at risk of long-term brain injury, I'm cool with doing away with the whole paradigm. We can turn wrestling into World of Sport and have grapple fucking every Monday. 

 

Whatever else WWE does wrong or dodgy with who they clear or don't clear, it's hard to argue that Bryan and Christian weren't rapidly falling apart the last few years of their careers. 

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