Linda McMahon Again Trying to distance Herself

It seems that Linda McMahon is again trying to distance herself from professional wrestling. This time she did it no less offensively than she has in the past. Upon being asked about the recent death of Lance Cade, Linda's exact words were, "I may have met him once." She then went on the compare his situation and how it relates to the WWE with Heath Ledger's death, saying that WWE was no more responsible for Cade's death than a movie studio would be for the death of a film star.

Let's compare and contrast those two situations.

The movie business is not one that takes a tremendous physical tole on a person's body. About the only time anyone ever gets hurt in the movie business if if they do their own stunts, which not many people are allowed to or choose to do anymore. Professional wrestling is a tremendously physical business. Even the idiots that refer to pro wrestling as "sports entertainment" know that. It's why they add the word sports in front of entertainment, because there is a large physical element to the business. Heath Ledger's using sleeping pills because he was performing a disturbing film role is very different from the situation of any professional wrestler. These guys are constantly getting dropped on their backs, necks, heads, and any other body part you can think of. The risk of physical injury is much higher for them...and what is it that doctor's prescribe most for injuries of a physical nature? That's right boys and girls...pills, painkillers to be precise. Vicodin, percocet, lortab, norco, that's what you get for pain, that and a "check back in a few weeks". The extremely physical nature of the business makes just about anyone involved complicit, inculding the wrestlers themselves, so I guess the WWE really can't be blamed for that part, at least not in full, because wrestlers make the choice to get in the ring themselves.

However, the lack of any sort of company insurance in WWE or any of the corporate wrestling companies that have existed up to this point might show some complicity in the growing numbers of wrestlers dying from substance abuse related causes. The WWE organization signs all their wrestlers under contracts that state them to be "independent contractors". They are then technically employees of WWE, subject to all sorts of rules and restrictions, but not entitled to any sort of company provided benefits. That's a nice little loophole that allows World Wrestling Entertainment Incorporated to maximize profits while bringing down their overhead considerably, and with the way that they have been losing money in the past year or two (and will probably continue to lose money due to their increasingly poor product), it's not surprising that they haven't yet yeilded to the demands of wrestlers for such benefits. Just ask Scott Levy (aka Raven) who sued WWE and lost. They've got deep pockets and high-priced lawyers. Who's going to beat them?

Also, the salary of an actor with as much recognition and renown as Heath Ledger is much higher than that of a WWE imposed midcarder like Lance Cade. Cade was making probably a decent six figures each year. Ledger was making several million--that's with six zeroes after it--dollars per picture. With Ledger making that kind of money, he could afford tons of personal insurance. In the wrestling business, a corporate entity like WWE will not allow a man to step in the ring without insurance. It would make them liable to any injury that man might suffer. But of course, they don't supply any sort of insurance through their organization.

WWE obviously recognizes and acknowledge's the problem, because they pay for wrestlers to go into rehab. That being said, their is no sort of proactive approach being thaken or planned for guys like Lance Cade, Chris Kanyon, or anyone else. WWE's funding for wrestlers in rehab is a half-assed way for them to cover their bases. It is a way for them to be able to say that they acknowledge the issue and try to take some sort of marginal responsibility for it.

I realize that I've been repetitive in my last couple posts, but these issues bear repeating and rehashing. I guess my whole point here is that Linda McMahon has been the recipient of quite a bit of money from the wrestling business, just as much as Vince, Shane, or Stephanie, and what she pulled was a tasteless and borderline vulgar political trick in order to cover her own ass. Not that I'd ever expect anything less of a politician...or a McMahon.