First, I don’t want to even see one word written on this site or any other about me bashing women or taking lightly this serious injury.
It’s a You Tube instant classic, in case you missed it. Candice’s face plant against Beth Phoenix on Raw. Candice suffered a concussion and a collarbone injury and is out a couple of months. She’s lucky (and the WWE’s lucky) it wasn’t worse.
Now, it isn’t Candice’s fault that this happened. Things happen in a match and anyone who says wrestling is all staged has never seen what I’ve seen. From Brian Pillman, who I saw in agony after running in on Steve Austin as the Loose Cannon attempted to come back from his leg injuries… From Mick Foley, who was in so much pain the day after Hell in a Cell that he could barely move… and countless more. I thought of my long-time friend Darren Drozdov last night too and remembered visiting him in the hospital.
But, Candice Michelle, in my opinion, shouldn’t have been on that top rope at the tail end of a grueling, fast-paced match. It also my opinion that women wrestler’s should be asked to do the same matches as the men because they just can’t. Physically, women aren’t equal to men and need to be produced differently.
Now, a couple of comparisons… and I’ve made these before. If someone offered you five bucks or two courtside seats to any WNBA game, most of you would take the five. Why? Because, despite the marketing efforts, the quality of basketball produced by the WNBA is so inferior that the overwheliming majority of sports fans don’t even consider it worth watching.
A prominent male tennis player made this statement a few years ago and it has never been questioned by either men or women players on the court. It was said that the 100th ranked men’s pro player on tour could beat the number one ranked women’s player on tour every time.
Why? Because women can’t compete with men.
It’s no surprise that most tournaments award women significantly less prize money, women’s sports draw flies compared to men and if not for Title IX, most colleges would have dropped women’s programs years ago.
Now, getting back to Candice… Can you imagine how much bad press the WWE would have gotten if the “worst” happened? On live TV, a former model is fatally injured attempting a top rope maneuver. From now on, the WWE and TNA need to produce women’s matches with the undeniable fact in mind that women can’t do what men can do and to think they can is careless. Tell a story with mat wrestling and good old fashioned heat.
Thank God that Candice Michelle going to be alright. Accidents happen but some can be avoided.
Now, I’ve seen some question referee Mike Chioda not calling for the bell. You could clearly hear Mike telling Beth Phoenix to cover Candice and all of you should know that Mike’s first and only concern was for Candice and her physical condition.
So, give that some thought and feel free to respond to me at [email protected]
