I can't believe I never saw this before. Serves me right for rarely coming in here
I agree with you about the competitive sports part, but NFL and MLB don't have tons of old and young players dropping dead due to steroids or substance abuse compared to pro wrestling. That should well override the fact that wrestling is predetermined.
Steroids and wrestling seem to be something that goes hand in hand in public perception and the fingers always pointed at steroids when someone dies. The bodybuilding industry is far, far more involved with such substances and you don't see them dropping like flies.
Whenever the media shouts their favourite word when a wrestler dies they fail to see the bigger picture of the WWE schedule, or the schedue of any wrestler going full time. Especially with Benoit, who's names already popped up and thankfully this is one of the few places who are willing to recognise his mental state was far, far worse than his steroid intake.
Watching Jake Roberts in Beyond the Mat explain his drug addiction is far more revealing to the problems in the industry. In WWE you're working a very physical and demanding schedule almost every day of the week, if you get injured, unless you're a big name, you lose time and money you can't afford so you push yourself back into the game as soon as you can. Kurt Angle was an example of that a few years back working with a broken neck - then opting for experimental surgery as he couldn't afford to take a year out.
The view the public has on wrestling is so ow that no one gives a rats ass if someone gets hurt and it becomes a joke when someone dies.
I feel really sorry for Test as his career spiralled, but he had the sense to go into rehab and was planning to call it quits. Theres a haunting interview where he explains that the full time schedule was a dark path he didn't want to walk down after attending s many funerals at such a young age.
The worst of it is no matter how many more people die, no one cares enough to take steps to avoid it. Raven led the charge and the case was dropped, Roddy Piper tried to sort a union but it failed. Chris Nowinksy is doing some good work trying to raise awareness for medical problems. McMahons latest PR stunt is meaningless when he, like many promoters, consider talent as disposable meat.