[quote name='lokizz']the wrestling business brusn a body out pretty quick. very physically demaning, little to no time off from work , and no health care ( unless you pay for it yourself) its your basic meat grinder unless youre one of the lucky few in the top spots , the few of them that there are. the lowest rung player on many pro sports teams probably makes more money and gets treated better and supported more than many of the mid card to upper mid card wrestlers. [/quote]
and from what ive read vince gets way with it by calling wrestlers independant contractors. it sucks that with all these deaths nobody is bothering to examine vinces employment practices.
jesse ventura was talking about making a union for pro wrestlers. that idea ended when vince bought him off by paying him a crapload of money to be the ref of summerslam 2000(?) it might have been 1999, where mick foley won the strap and dropped it the next day to HHH.
liek firing pregnant women , looking the other way to drug and steroid use, and i wont even touch the sexual scandals. it sucks because many wrestlers wrestle because they love it not for the money but they dont get treated ay better than slaves at times.
No one is holding a gun to the wrestlers head and forcing them to do this line of work(it least not in most cases). You can put all of this on vince for his lousy working conditions. Yes, almost all wrestlers take steroids or amphetamines to bulk up and dull the pain. It is hell on the human body.
here is a list of most of the wrestlers who were famous or semi famous who died before age 65-most of these are suicides or heart attacks or drug overdoses. Its basically a who's who of wrestling for the past 30 years
pulled this off of the 'net
Famous Wrestlers That Have Died Since 1985 Before the Age of 65
(This only includes wrestlers who appeared on TV, does not include all of the dead indy wrestlers)
Chris Von Erich - 21 suicide
Mike Von Erich - 23 suicide
Louie Spiccoli - 27 heart attack
Art Barr - 28 apparent brain aneuryism
Gino Hernandez - 29
Jay Youngblood - 30
Rick McGraw - 30
Joey Marella - 30
Ed Gatner - 31
Buzz Sawyer - 32 heart attack
Crash Holly - 32 drug related
Kerry Von Erich - 33 suicide
D.J. Peterson - 33 motorcycle crash
Eddie Gilbert - 33 heart attack
The Renegade - 33
Owen Hart - 33 fell during a stunt
Chris Candido - 33 drug OD
Adrian Adonis - 34
Gary Albright - 34
Bobby Duncum Jr. - 34
Yokozuna - 34 heart attack
Big Dick Dudley - 34
Brian Pillman - 35 drug OD
Marianna Komlos - 35
Pitbull #2 - 36
The Wall/Malice - 36
Leroy Brown - 38
Mark Curtis - 38
Eddie Guerrero - 38 heart attack
Davey Boy Smith - 39 heart attack
Johnny Grunge - 39 (dies in his sleep)
Vivian Vachon - 40
Jeep Swenson - 40
Brady Boone - 40
Terry Gordy - 40 drug OD
Bertha Faye - 40
Billy Joe Travis - 40
Chris Benoit - 40 suicide
Larry Cameron - 41
Rick Rude - 41 drug overdose
Randy Anderson - 41
Bruiser Brody - 42 stabbed by a puerto rican promoter
Miss Elizabeth - 42 drug overdose
Big Boss Man - 42 unkown causes
Earthquake - 42 (john tenta) died of cancer
Mike Awesome - 42 suicide
Biff Wellington - 42 apparent heart attack***** died same weekend as his former tag partner chris benoit
Ray Candy - 43 heart attack
Nancy Benoit (Woman) - 43 (murdered by benoit)
Dino Bravo - 44 killed by mobsters
Curt Hennig - 44 coke overdose
Bam Bam Bigelow - 45 drug OD
Jerry Blackwell - 45
Junkyard Dog - 45 car wreck
Hercules - 45
Andre the Giant - 46 giants disease/heart attack
Big John Studd - 46
Chris Adams - 46
Mike Davis - 46
Hawk - 46
Dick Murdoch - 49
Jumbo Tsuruta - 49 hep b
Rocco Rock - 49
Sherri Martel - 49
Moondog Spot - 51 heart attack
Ken Timbs - 53
Uncle Elmer - 54
Pez Whatley - 54
Eddie Graham - 55
Tarzan Tyler - 55
Haystacks Calhoun- 55
Giant Haystacks - 55
The Spoiler - 56
Kurt Von Hess - 56
Moondog King - 56
Gene Anderson - 58
Dr. Jerry Graham - 58
Bulldog Brown - 58
Tony Parisi - 58
Rufus R. Jones - 60
Ray Stevens - 60
Stan Stasiak - 60
Terry Garvin - 60
Boris Malenko - 61
Little Beaver - 61
Sapphire - 61
Shohei Baba - 61
Dick the Bruiser - 62
Wilbur Snyder - 62
George Cannon - 62
Karl Krupp - 62
Dale Lewis - 62
Gorilla Monsoon - 62
Hiro Matsuda - 62
Bad News Brown - 63
Bulldog Brower - 63
Wahoo McDaniel - 63