When I left the WWE many years ago, I was told by Terry Taylor that The Undertaker had a bit of heat with me. I have to tell you – this absolutely broke my heart because I admired and respected The Undertaker more than you could ever imagine. I can remember vividly the dozens of times that I witnessed Taker sprawled out on the cold, concrete locker room floor after every match with his back in severe pain. But, I also remember asking Taker dozens of times before those same matches if he was good to go, and he always answered “yes”. And, in all those instances, I believed him. So, yes, it bothered me when I had heat with Taker because he told Terry there were times when I asked him to work when he was hurt. The truth is – I never knew he was hurt, because he never told me.
That is the nature of the beast when it comes to professional wrestlers. Wrestlers are warriors, and even though they DO feel pain, they will fight through it and never sell it – especially to management. So now the answer is “why”? Well, some guys actually get paid every time they wrestle, and if they don’t wrestle, they don’t get paid. So, for that one payday they go out there and risk perhaps permanent injury. Yeah, that sucks, but when you think about it, what really is the solution? If a guy is booked to wrestle, he gets paid on a per-match basis, and he’s too hurt to work, do you pay him anyway? Can you see how easy it would be for an “independent contractor” to take advantage of that system? Even though, granted, if the same wrestler pulled that a few times, management would be on to the gig quickly.
Another phrase you hear frequently as to why wrestlers work hurt is that if they don’t, they might “lose their spot”. In other words, if they were down on the sideline, another “independent contractor” would come along and take their spot on the card and they would never be heard from again. In other words, the “Wally Pip” story when Lou Gehrig filled in at first base when he went down.
But is that really true? I can tell you firsthand — while I was writing for WWE, WCW and TNA, I NEVER saw a wrestler lose their spot because they were injured. We simply waited until they were healed, and put them back in the lineup. I never witnessed Vince McMahon punish anybody for being injured, because if he did, I would have known about it as the writer of the show.
That’s why I really raised an eyebrow when Punk said in his interview that on one occasion his set return from injury was 6 weeks and Vince cut that down to 2 ½ weeks. That really took me back, because if it’s true, it’s dead wrong. And honestly, I don’t think Punk would lie about something that severe – or anything for that matter. I would have loved Stone Cold to bring that statement to the attention of Vince during their interview (even though he did a TEMENDOUS job), but even though it wasn’t brought to the surface then, if Vince has a side regarding that incident, he needs to tell it.
So what is it? Do they come back early because they’re wrestlers and they wrestle? Do they come back early because they have to eat? Do they come back early because “it’s their time” and they’re not going to jeopardize that? Do they come back early because they’re afraid of “losing their spot”, or, do they come back early because they’re pressured and pressed by management? If the onus isn’t on them, and the latter is the case, then there is only one answer to the question above…UNIONIZE.
If the boys had a union, coming back from injury prematurely wouldn’t be an issue in professional wrestling. You would be protected. Somebody would have your back to make sure your injury is addressed in the proper manner – just like MLB, the NBA, the NHL and the NFL.
Unfortunately, it is the paranoia of the boys that fails them to unionize, which of course is another story for another time.
