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| WRESTLING EATING ITS OWN
September 5, 2007 World Wrestling Entertainment will never cease to amaze me. While the business is taking a major hit from the media and the U.S. Congress, WWE has the opportunity to change the perception that wrestling is not the seedy business in which it is typically associated by the general public. So many young children look up to the individuals presented by WWE. They have a chance to look like the same kind of hero. They instead have chosen to play the victim in a scenario that could likely be the final act of the drama that is professional wrestling. In all fairness, WWE has taken many hits by the media who have little knowledge of just how unorganized professional wrestling is. I have even heard one local Atlanta anchorperson refer to WWE as “the company that runs professional wrestling”. At least Congress realizes there are other companies that promote wrestling professionally, and have included them in their requests thus far for information into the use of performance enhancing drugs that seem to be permeating the business. Still, WWE is the frontrunner. They are the face of this business. Their brand is generally even known by people who are not wrestling fans, so to many, they would not realize the error of the aforementioned news anchor. It is those people who think WWE is killing these people. With that in mind, WWE should have done many things differently since the double murder-suicide at the Benoit home in June. The most important thing they should do right now is fire everyone in charge of public relations, and employ a spokesperson who is neither a McMahon, a performer, an attorney, or even a third-party contradictory physician charged with overseeing their testing program. To date, they have made so many missteps that they have not removed any inkling to change the perception that they are not, in some way, responsible for the usage of performance enhancing drugs that most likely have led to not only Chris Benoit’s state-of-mind on that fateful weekend, but many other deaths or illnesses of people within the business. The self-administered mass suspensions should only be perceived as an effort to look as if they are doing something about the problem, primarily because that’s what it is. Prior to last week, no one had been suspended if they were a key figure in the grand scheme of things for the next PPV. Ken Kennedy, included in the suspensions, is on tape having said he had only done steroids until he joined WWE, yet weeks later it was discovered he was receiving packages as recently as February of this year. William Regal was quoted in an Australian paper saying he had only dabbled some two decades ago one day before being suspended for more recent dabbling. While people are disturbed about dying wrestlers, WWE is more concerned about covering their ass. They had every opportunity to cover their ass before June had they cared about their employees. In the days following the suspensions, it was public knowledge that a backstage meeting was held prior to an event where performers were directed to “stick together” because the company is “under attack”. It is the “woe is me” attitude that kills me. It is time to stop playing the victim and start making legitimate changes, and not just ones that look good until Congress gets distracted with some other hot button issue. Granted WWE is not directly responsible for the murder of Nancy and Daniel Benoit. They are also not directly responsible for the suicide of Chris Benoit. Nor are they directly responsible for deaths of wrestlers who have died while not on their watch. However, they are directly responsible for creating the standard of which many promotions and young wrestlers follow, which in a way, links them to the lifestyles in which their own performers have chosen. Are they liable for others following their lead? No, but had they not begun the trend, perhaps people would not have followed them down the same horrific path. WWE began pushing superhuman looking characters to the top two decades ago. During that same period, many athletes who desire to be at the top of the wrestling business have made personal decisions to alter their bodies in order to look the part. Even in the aftermath of the Benoit family tragedy, they mocked Congress, and continued to push the most perceived abusers of performance enhancing drugs more than others. It is time for WWE to begin taking on some of the accountability of their own actions, as well as the responsibility of being the standard bearer for an industry that is eating its own. |