Post by Meng Lao on Mar 11, 2007 18:11:46 GMT -5
Once again it's time to put the kids to bed for it's time for another edition of the Meng Dynasty!
Today's topic is a somewhat dark one..Death in the wrestling business. In light of the recent deaths of Mike Awesome, Bam Bam Bigalow nad Bad News Brown (Allen) I felt a need to address this situation. I catagorize wrestling deaths in 3 ways...natural, drug related and suicide..
Natural: I won't say much about natural because there isn't anything to really say.
Drugs: Wrestlers put themselves through an ungodly amount of punishment in their careers and unlike other sports they don't stop for injuries..wrestlers step into the ring night in and night out with injuries that in any other sport they would be on the injured list for week or months. The only kind of injury that stops a wrestler is one so sevear that the wrestler is incapacitated. broken limbs..torn muscles..dislocated limbs etc. It's no wonder that some wrestlers turn to medication to get through their matches..the problem is soon one pill isn't enough to kill the pain..1 becomes 2..2 becoms 3...soon your taking 20 or 30 pill to kill the pain. Why do wrestlers do this? Simple. In a lot of cases the wrestler is compelled to work through a injury by the promoter..others are afraid they will lose their "spot" in the company and try to hide the injury with drugs. the end conclusion in some cases is drug overdose and death..or as in the cases of Roadwarrior Hawk and Eddie Guerrero, they managed to overcome their addictions but the damage had been done and a few years later down the road their body's gave out.
There's also another side to drugs..recreational...some wrestler use drugs to kill loneliness of being alone and hundreds of miles away from their families..some do it to party with the "boys"
There is still a third side to drugs as well..Steroids: Some wrestlers will resort to steroids to try and increase their marketability by making themselves bigger and more muscular. The problem is they never think they're big enough and continue to take more and more destroying their body in the process..hell I read in the Dynamite Kid's book that he even tried using horse steroids when regular steroids weren't available and he damn near killed himself in the process.
There needs to be a much stricter policy concerning drug abuse in wrestling companies..if a wrestler is fails a drug test then he should have to immediately go into rehab..if he/she leave rehab for any reason before completion of the program then he/she should be fired and blackballed by the business until he cleans himself up and can show proof that he has cleaned himself up. If he/she falls off the wagon a second time then he/she should be blackballed from the business permanetly...Also this policy should be shared by all wrestling federations...in other words..if a wrestler is fired by the WWE for failing a drug test then NWA TNA shouldn't reward him for failing a drug test by hiring him on with their company.
Suicide: I have very little sympathy for anyone who puts themselves and their own problems before their family. Which is exactly what someone who takes their life does..they think only of themselves..they don't think about how it impacts their friends and family. Lets take Kerry Von Erich for example...He had his problems in his life..pushed too fast and too hard into the wrestling business by his over zellious father Fritz Von Erich..Hell Fritz was promoting his kids as the next WCCW(World Class Championship Wrestling) superstars before they were even out of high school for fuck sake! Kerry resorted to drugs and on more than one occasion was caught by the police but dear ole dad made the problem go away instead of addressing the problem and helping his son...sometime later Kerry once again got caught with drugs and was facing jail time..instead of facing up to his crimes and doing his time..Kerry borrowed a gun from his dad and shot himself in the chest..leaving behind a wife and 2 kids...Kerry thought it was a better idea to deprive his children of a father then to go to jail and do his time...I have a real problem with that..his kids should have been reason enough to put the gun down, go to jail and do his time and then try to be the best damn father to his kids he could be..instead he thought it was better that they grow up without a father.
That about does it for this edition of the Dynasty and as always feel free to respond to anything you read here.
Meng F'N Lao
