The Wrestling Gospel

[Metamorpho1977]

I wrote this right after I found out about Test's death for my live journal. Posted it over at OWW, been meaning to post it here. Forgive the grammar errors, it was 4 AM and I was a bit emotional at the time. Been building up for years, really.

What is Happening to My Generation of Wrestlers?

For the last 10 years too many wrestlers the age of 50 and under have been dying, and for reasons that could have been easily avoidable had wrestling been more regulated than it is today. Heart attacks at the age of 33, 38 and 42 should not be a common occurance in a coreographed sport. But then you have Eddie Gilbert, Eddie Guerrero and Ray "Big Bossman" Traylor, all dead from heart problems due to the combined stress of the sport and years of damage done to the body from drug, alcohol and steroid abuse. You head too often how a wrestler from the previous generation drops dead out of nowhere from drug abuse or an enlarged heart or a coronary. It's a travesty, as I'm sure this could be prevented. Wrestlers for 2 and 3 generations ago were able to cope with similar, or even harsher, schedules they experience the last decade and a half, and they are still with us, outliving a generation that should still be strong today.

This is what makes it hard for me to be a wrestling fan. One week I'm at a small show watching Chris Candido and Homicide have one of the best matches I've ever experienced live, and 2 weeks later he dies from a blood clot cause a fatal heart attack. Times like this is what really makes me regret investing so much time into wrestling. These people become more than just characters and performers. You read up on their lives, in and out of the ring. You meet them and realize they're just as human as you are. You follow their careers for 5 to 10 to even 20 years, and then all of a sudden, after a few years out of the limelight, they're gone from this plane of existance. And it shouldn't be happening at the rate it is.

Courtesy of http://www.100megsfree4.com/wiawrest...r/obituary.htm, here is a list of all the wrestlers that has passed away age 50 and under since 1999, along with the known reason of their death.

2/23/99 - The Renegade - Suicide - 23 (I was told he was 33)
4/20/99 - Rick Rude - Heart Attack - 41 (I was told he was 40)
5/23/99 - Owen Hart - Accidental Fall - 33
5/25/99 - The Sarge Donnie York Sr. - Complications of Diabetes - 50
8/09/99 - Jackie Sato - Stomach Cancer - 41
9/08/99 - Mark Curtis - Stomach Cancer - 38
11/13/99 - Tony Rumble - Heart Attack - 43
1/07/00 - Gary Albright - Heart Attack - 34
1/24/00 - Bobby Duncum Jr. - Drug Overdose - 34
2/29/00 - Liz Chase - Died During Surgery - 45
4/19/00 - Masakazu Fukada - Bleeding of the Brain - 27
5/16/00 - Tomomi "Jumbo" Tsuruta - Internal Bleeding - 49
8/25/00 - Chris Duffy - Seizure - 36
10/22/00 - "Yokozuna" Rodney Anoia - Heart Attack - 34
7/16/01 - Terry Gordy - Heart Attack - 40
7/27/01 - Rhonda Singh (Bertha Faye) - Unknown - 40
7/29/01 - Dennis Coraluzzo - Stroke - 48
10/07/01 - Chris Adams - Shot to Death - 46
10/28/01 - Chief Dave Foxx - Heart Attack - 44
12/15/01 - Russ Haas - Heart Failure - 27
12/25/01 - "Maniac" Mike Davis - Heart Attack - 46
5/07/02 - Randy "Pee Wee" Anderson - Natural Causes - 41
5.14/02 - Erich Kulas (Mass Transit) - Complications From Surgery - 22
5/16/02 - Alex "Big Dick Dudley" Rizzo - Unknown - 34
5/16/02 - Shoichi Arai (FMW President) - Suicide - 36
5/17/02 - "British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith - Heart Attack - 39
9/21/02 - Ted Petty (Rocco Rock) - Heart Attack - 49
11/22/02 - Billy Joe Travis - Heart Attack - 40
11/29/02 - Jeff Peterson - Cancer - 22
2/10/03 - Curt Hennig - Drug Overdose - 44
3/19/03 - Hiromichi "Kodo" Fuyuki - Cancer - 42
5/01/03 - Miss Elizabeth (Elizabeth Heulette) - Drug Overdose - 42
7/08/03 - Giant Ochiai - Brain Injury - 30
9/26/03 - Anthony "Pitbull #2" Durante - Drug Overdose - 36
10/19/03 - Road Warrior Hawk (Mike Hegstrand) - Heart Attack - 46
11/06/03 - Mike "Crash Holly" Lockwood - Asphyxiation - 32
12/05/03 - Jerry "The Wall/Malice" Tuite - Heart Attack - 36
12/26/03 - "Fabulous" Danny Fargo - Lung/Liver Cancer - 44
3/06/04 - Hercules Hernandez - Heart Attack - 45
7/03/04 - Billy Redwood - Auto Accident - 28
9/22/04 - Ray "Big Boss Man" Traylor - Heart Attack - 42
10/04/04 - Marianna Komlos - Breast Cancer - 35
4/28/05 - Chris Candido - Blood Clot after Surgery - 33
7/11/05 - Shinya Hashimoto - Brain Anresum - 40
8/18/05 - Chri$ Ca$h (Christopher Bauman Jr.) - Motorcycle Accident - 23
11/13/05 - Eddie Guerrero - Heart Failure - 38
12/10/05 - Chad Floyd (Chazz Rocco) - Heart Failure - 37
1/15/06 - El Texano (Juan Aguilar) - Respiratory Failure - 47
2/16/06 - Mike "Johnny Grunge" Durham - Complications from sleep apnea - 39
4/02/06 - Victor Quinones (Owner of IWA Puerto Rico) - Natural Causes - 46
6/07/06 - John "Earthquake" Tenta - Bladder Cancer - 42
6/28/06 - Marlon Kalkai (Tiger Khan) - Unknown - Mid-30's
10/15/06 - Jumping Joey Maggs - Unknown - 37
1/19/07 - Scott "Bam Bam" Bigelow - Drug Overdose - 45
2/17/07 - Mike Awesome - Suicide - 42
3/18/07 - Angel Azteca - Unknown - 43
4/04/07 - Mephisto Lephanto - Sudden Heart Attack in the Ring - 31
6/15/07 - Sensational Sherri Martel - Drug Overdose - 49
6/23/07 - Shane "Biff Wellington" Bower - Heart Attack - 42
6/23/07 - Nancy Daus (Woman) - Strangulation - 42
6/25/07 - Chris Benoit - Suicide - 40
7/18/07 - John Kronus - Natural Causes - 38
8/13/07 - Brian Adams - Unknown - 43
10/10/07 - Isak Rain (Norwegian Wrestler) - Car Accident - 22
11/24/07 - Angel of Death (Dave Sheldon) - Unknown - 43
12/23/07 - Mr. Gillis (NWA ECCW Wrestler) - Heart Attack - 44
3/20/08 - Bestia Salvaje (Juan Manuel Rodriguez) Liver Disease 46
3/23/08 - Chase Tatum - Drug Overdose - 34
3/13/09 - Andrew "Test" Martin - Unknown - 33

(Unfortunately, the site doesn't seem to have been updated since May of 2008, so there might be 1 or 2 names that escape memory from the last year or so.)

Far too many of those names are followed by Heart Attack or Drug Overdose. Suicide comes up a disturbing amount of times as well. How did our generation of wrestlers, the people we grew up cheering and loathing, celebrated with when the won and cried with when they lost, become the such victims to their own bodies and demons? Granted, there have been times in previous generations that wrestlers have died young as well, but in the last 10 years, it just seems to be more frequent and commonplace to see at least one person you grew up watching just one day keel over, and we get to spend the next month speculating as to why. Maybe it's because I grew up watching them, so they are a part of my life from childhood to adulthood, but it seems to be more than that.

Very well written. I literally grew up with wrestling. The first birthday that I can really remember was my 3rd birthday. Ivan Koloff, Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, Tommy Rich were there. My grandfather took me to Atlanta to my first live wrestling program. My grandfather was Freddie Blassie's mechanic. I remember several times going to his shop and seeing Freddie pull up in his pink Cadillac convertable with genuine leopard skin seats. I remember going to lunch at the diner next door with my grandfather and sitting at the same table with Freddie, Baron Von Rasche, and a guy named Skull Murphy. I never knew his real name, but that was what he wrestled under. I used to love going to downtown wrestling and watching these guys scream at each other, how they were going to kill each other and then get in the ring and to my young mind, I thought they were gonna do it. Then later sitting down to dinner with these guys. I saw them in their real lives. I remember going down the street to the Power Plant, WCW's old wrestling training facility and watching young rookies not even on TV yet, Paul Wight, Buff Bagwell, lots of them, then to see them make it big.

Wrestlers these days, are getting to hyped up on their own hype. They need more regulation and help. When the limelight goes out, it's like the hope goes out of them.

 

[Dr. Evil]

In a hilarious note of the the night:

Spoiler

The Smackdown Spoilers showed Triple H defeating Kozlov. Within 60 minutes, the spoilers were removed from the website after an hour of refreshing and no new spoilers except for that match.

 

[Mr.Webs]

Indeed.

Boy, they sure screwed this show, didn't they?

Royally. It's like Vince isn't even trying no more.

 

[NDX]

Really good read Nex. Ive had the same kinds of feelings ever since Owen died, it just seemed surreal, then all of a sudden guys like Rude, Hennig, Bulldog etc.. from my childhood were also gone and it was just such a strange feeling of sadness.

Thanks. Owen's death really woke me up as to these are more than characters on a television show. But in the last 10 years, as a whole it's just disturbing. All the suicides, the heart attacks and drug overdoses. and I consider Lockwood's asphyxiation as drug related since he choked on his own vomit after overdosing on sleeping pills, I believe. It's a scary thought when you look at wrestlers in their 30s and 40s and not think how many years they have left in the business but rather how many years do they have left in life.

 

[Dr. Evil]

Thanks. Owen's death really woke me up as to these are more than characters on a television show. But in the last 10 years, as a whole it's just disturbing. All the suicides, the heart attacks and drug overdoses. and I consider Lockwood's asphyxiation as drug related since he choked on his own vomit after overdosing on sleeping pills, I believe. It's a scary thought when you look at wrestlers in their 30s and 40s and not think how many years they have left in the business but rather how many years do they have left in life.

The Rock was fortunate to leave when he did, at the age of 32.

 

[Dr. Evil]

ECW wasn't bad tonight, except that Jack Swagger won't be getting his Wrestlemania 25 payday.

 

[Metamorpho1977]

Jack Swagger reminds me of a young Kurt Angle.

 

[Dr. Evil]

Jack Swagger reminds me of a young Kurt Angle.

I so want Angle to return to the WWE to humble Swagger.

 

[NDX]

ECW wasn't bad tonight, except that Jack Swagger won't be getting his Wrestlemania 25 payday.

Maybe that's how they will get Bourne on the show.

 

[Dr. Evil]

Maybe that's how they will get Bourne on the show.

Not enough build unless the plan is for Swagger and Bourne to stretch a possible feud to Backlash.

 

[NDX]

Could use the next week to set up a mini tourney to see who will be the contender at WM, have Swagger just pull out a win, and continue the feud on ECW if Christian does won MitB. If he doesn't, make it a triple feud.

Angle/Swagger could be brilliant of they focus on the wrestling first then eventually devolve into a fight. Would like to see that.

 

[Dr. Evil]

Glad to see "The Wrestler formerly known as Matt Sydal" back in WWE. I am so freaking happy that Bourne is not being mishandled in WWE. He makes ECW better.

 

[Dr. Evil]

I don't know if I like the "All Divas ECW" next week.

 

[The Sage]

In a hilarious note of the the night:

Spoiler

The Smackdown Spoilers showed Triple H defeating Kozlov. Within 60 minutes, the spoilers were removed from the website after an hour of refreshing and no new spoilers except for that match.

Spoiler

Wow. First HBK, then Undertaker, and now Triple H defeats Koslov. All three of the big veteran big guns. Talk about a push coming to an end.

 

[Dr. Evil]

Spoiler

Wow. First HBK, then Undertaker, and now Triple H defeats Koslov. All three of the big veteran big guns. Talk about a push coming to an end.

Spoiler

This could be fake though as the post on a website was removed after an hour of inactivity with that one match.

 

[NotFadeAway]

Jack Swagger reminds me of a young Kurt Angle.

For me, Swagger reminds seems like a cross between a young Angle and Brock Lesnar, which is not a bad thing.

I think Swagger will be a huge star if they let him. He is great in the ring, has good mic skills, has a good look, and is very young. I'd love a Swagger-CM Punk feud down the road.

On a CM Punk note, I'm hoping that he gets moved to Smackdown while all the "veteran" talent comes to Raw. I've always believed Punk was best suited for Smackdown, and if I were booking things, I would re-establish the Cruiserweight title and division with Punk as the centerpiece. Having Cruiserweights and that title would make Smackdown seem unique, and while Punk might weigh more than a true Cruiserweight, he looks like one due to his physique. But obviously, I'm not booking things. For one, Punk would not lose cleanly so much. I dig clean wins despite regardless of a heel or face taking them, but taking a face that the crowd loves and jobbing him half the time is ignorant.

 

[NotFadeAway]

I've always believed one of the keys for another wrestling company to combat Vince is the use of small wrestlers and a Cruiserweight title that is taken seriously.

 

[Dr. Evil]

Don't know if these Smackdown spoilers are true but:

Spoiler

First set of tapings, MVP wins US Title. Second set of tapings Gail Kim returns attacking Maryse and Michelle McCool.

 

[Dr. Evil]

If true, these spoilers don't sound awful, although many of you will disagree:

Spoiler

Dark Match

Jimmy Wang Yang def. Eric Escobar

First SD!
HHH promo'd about Orton calling him a disease and stating that he was the cure.

HHH def. Kozlov via Pedigree.

MVP def. Shelton Benjamin for the US Championship via playmaker.

Shawn Michaels def. Kane via Sweet Chin Music.

Jeff Hardy def. The Brian Kendrick in a Extreme Rules match via Swanton.

Von Erichs announced for Hall of Fame.

Undertaker def. JBL via Gogoplata.

Vickie announced that the winner of the Triple Threat will be the Champion of her heart. Cena interrupted the segment, and turned Edge/Show against each other, dismantling the 'truce' they had just formed. Edge inadvertedly spear'd Vickie... Show Chokeslammed Edge, and left with Vickie.

Second SD!

Kane, Finlay, Christian, and Shelton def. Mark Henry, MVP, Kofi and CM Punk via Kane Chokeslam on Punk.

Big Show def. Jesse and Festus via KO Punch.

Colons and Brie def. Miz and Morrison and Nikki via Backstabber.

Divas Championship match between Maryse and Michelle ended in DQ when Gail Kim interrupted with a missile dropkick on Michelle. She then attacked Maryse.

Matt Hardy def. R-Truth with a Twist of Fate.

HBK came out dressed in white parodying the Undertaker, saying he represented the light, while Taker represented the shadows. He ranted on about how he will end the streak, and quoted the bible.

Dark Match

Edge retained his World Heavyweight title via Spear versus Jeff Hardy, when Matt distracted Jeff.

 

[Hunter Rider]

If true, these spoilers don't sound awful, although many of you will disagree:

Spoiler

Dark Match

Jimmy Wang Yang def. Eric Escobar

First SD!
HHH promo'd about Orton calling him a disease and stating that he was the cure.

HHH def. Kozlov via Pedigree.

MVP def. Shelton Benjamin for the US Championship via playmaker.

Shawn Michaels def. Kane via Sweet Chin Music.

Jeff Hardy def. The Brian Kendrick in a Extreme Rules match via Swanton.

Von Erichs announced for Hall of Fame.

Undertaker def. JBL via Gogoplata.

Vickie announced that the winner of the Triple Threat will be the Champion of her heart. Cena interrupted the segment, and turned Edge/Show against each other, dismantling the 'truce' they had just formed. Edge inadvertedly spear'd Vickie... Show Chokeslammed Edge, and left with Vickie.

Second SD!

Kane, Finlay, Christian, and Shelton def. Mark Henry, MVP, Kofi and CM Punk via Kane Chokeslam on Punk.

Big Show def. Jesse and Festus via KO Punch.

Colons and Brie def. Miz and Morrison and Nikki via Backstabber.

Divas Championship match between Maryse and Michelle ended in DQ when Gail Kim interrupted with a missile dropkick on Michelle. She then attacked Maryse.

Matt Hardy def. R-Truth with a Twist of Fate.

HBK came out dressed in white parodying the Undertaker, saying he represented the light, while Taker represented the shadows. He ranted on about how he will end the streak, and quoted the bible.

Dark Match

Edge retained his World Heavyweight title via Spear versus Jeff Hardy, when Matt distracted Jeff.

First set has a crappy sounding finale but other than that looks ok..ish.

I can only hope that second set of tapings is fake b/c that HBK segment sounds utterly dreadful and the combinations in those tags make no sense.

 

[NotFadeAway]

Royally. It's like Vince isn't even trying no more.

That is illustrated best with this years Wrestlemania card, One problem I have is that Orton/HHH and Cena/Edge gave faced off a million times over, and I believe that Wrestlemania should have the freshest matches in possibly can, alongside a true personal feud or two with Wrestlemania being the culmination, like Hart/Austin. And don't forget,Cena/Show happened at a Mania. And Cena was in a triple threat match LAST YEAR.

Another things that makes me sick is that the title is an afterthought between HHH/Orton, a huge slap in the face to the belt. I would have no problem with the HHH/IOrton feud if it was simply personal and not a personal match lumped in with a title match. Itts been awhile for HHH to have a feud like that at Mania. And Cena/Edge/Big Show is also taking backseat to a personal feud, on top of being a horrible idea for a title match at Mania. I'm tell ya, Cena/Jeff Hardy-CM Punk/Edge-Orton/Triple H-Taker/Michaels-Jericho/Hogan was the way to go.

And let us not forget the burial of the Jericho angle with the legends that has lead to a handicap match. What a joke. It's this stuff that makes me hate Vince.

 

[Dr. Evil]

First set has a crappy sounding finale but other than that looks ok..ish.

I can only hope that second set of tapings is fake b/c that HBK segment sounds utterly dreadful and the combinations in those tags make no sense.

They might both be fake. I got it off a forum. Don't judge until real spoilers come out. I doubt the legitimacy of the spoilers anyways.

 

[LastSunrise1981]

I wonder if Vince decided to let a card like this go through just to piss off the fans and force them to accept it? It's not like he has any real competition out there to make him try anymore.

Oh, and one other thing, they really need to get rid of the spinner belt. It looks so out of place on Hunter it's not even funny.

 

[Dr. Evil]

Not all of WWE has been bad. ECW has been consistently decent. Even though Jack Swagger will be left out of Wrestlemania 25, ECW hasn't been awful.

 

[NDX]

This week wasn't as good as the previous weeks. Outside of Bourne's return and the announcement of M'n'M 2.0 and the Colons at WM, was forgetable.

The opening match was okay, but nothing special.