From WorldWrestlingInsanity.com
In the name of...
By Paul O'Brien
Nov 22, 2005, 11:47
Eddie Guerrero was loved. Eddie Guerrero died. Eddie Guerrero didn’t actually matter. Not as much as some people hoped he would anyway.
Money often costs too much.
Those who saw RAW (nice numbers) and Smackdown last week, would have seen an emotional general leading his troops in a salute to their fallen “brother” Eddie Guerrero.
Famed for never showing weakness and or emotion, Vince let his guard down, particularly on Smackdown, to show the whole world how sad he was to see “a damn good man” claimed before his time. His eyes were reddened, his voice was trembling. How was his conscience holding up I wonder?
I wonder how hard it is to be Vincent Kennedy McMahon when all the lights in the mansion go off?
Seems to me like Vince was genuinely feeling the weight of Guerrero’s passing, as was his only son, as was his only daughter. I wonder if the conversation around the McMahon French polished dinning table was a little more somber in recent days? After all, the shows they produced this week are “what Eddie would have wanted.” Well, weren't’t they?
Rewind a second though.
Didn't’t Vince and Co mourn the others too? You remember the others don’t you? There was the guy who…and the big guy, the other one was limping a lot before he…and the one with the spikes? You remember, don’t you? The chewing gum guy?
Vince made huge changes in their memories. Lemme see here, he….eh, well, he shaved Heidenreich’s head to sell a DVD of one of them. So, that was nice. He also…interviewed one of their wives live on RAW, that was a nice tribute. He never even mentioned most of the others on RAW, no matter how long they worked there. Then there was the time he…well, Vince…eh….
Guerrero was different though. Vince (almost) cried in public for Guerrero. Vince already promised a legacy for Eddie Guerrero, and in the open too. Maybe McMahon was starting to see the culture he helped cultivate was chopping wrestlers down. Guerrero’s legacy was to be; His family would get royalties “forever.”
Well, it’s always better to pay for one than to pay for them all.
God forbid that any of the wrestlers would get holidays or benefits or even frequent flier miles. That, McMahon can’t handle.
You either go 24/7 or you go away. Just like Vince does. No time off.
Why arena’t the Dudleys wrestling for WWE no more? Why is Angle still wrestling. Why is Victoria still in that knee brace? Why was Trish held back in the locker room for weeks even though she was ready to return? Why are wrestlers taking pain pills? Why isn’t Batista going for surgery?
Paranoia breathes fear for a spot. Fear breathes unnatural drive. Unnatural drive is…well, unnatural. Something always gives.
But, why is someone like the Undertaker constantly on rotation?
It seems the perks are for those who “earn” them. Mark Calloway is now at the stage in his wrestling life where his tenure allows him to come and go as his staleness dictates. Like Foley, both men now have to take extended lengths to heal because they never took the time off to heal.
Makes sense, doesn’t it? One walks like a crab, the other like a lame dog. Both get holidays. Thanks for your service men. Do you need help getting down those steps?
They’re the lucky ones.
Don’t you dare suggest a family vacation to Vince. His idea of a holiday is putting a PPV on Tuesday instead of Sunday. If you want time off in WWE you better be sleeping with a family member, crack Hollywood, break your neck or die.
Those are the stipulations of your contract sir, would you still like to sign?
Of course I would.
For all McMahon’s weight at the head of the table, he needs a collective to exist. Not only does he have that collective, he has many the reserve too. The promoter has a responsibility but the wrestlers have free will.
Money affects the wrestlers decisions just as much as the promoters.
You watch a wrestler grumble all the way until he hits the main event of a PPV. Suddenly he starts to look around the locker room in a different way. His cheque just got bigger, funnily enough, his desire for a union shrunk at the very same instance. He hides the fact that his knee is shot and the fact that it takes him ten minutes to get out of bed in the mornings.
He’s a main eventer now. The clock has already started ticking.
Take the juice to look the part. Take the pills to kill the pain. Take a rap to keep up with the pace. Take the juice to look the part. Take the pills to kill the pain. Take a rap to keep up with the pace. Take the juice to look the part. Take the pills to kill the pain. Take a rap to keep up with the pace. Take the juice to look the part. Take the pills to kill the pain. Take a rap to keep up with the pace.
All the while he’s afraid to leave his spot just in case it won’t be there when he gets back.
Now, everything is pressure. Pressure to look good, pressure to perform, pressure to stay the pace, pressure to save money, pressure to provide, pressure to take your gains before you get hurt, pressure on the heart.
If Hogan in the 80’s wanted changes he would have gotten them. If Austin and Rock of the Attitude Era wanted changes they would have gotten changes. Some changes, big changes, little changes, who knows. But changes they would have gotten. They didn’t come forward, the time has passed. Another one is dead.
But, it seems that changes are going to be made in his honour.
Seems.
WWE announced on 11/21/2005 that it is to introduce a “new drugs testing policy….in which performance enhancing drugs, such as steroids, etc., recreational drugs, as well as abuse of prescription drugs will be banned”
Vince even filmed himself delivering the address to the wrestlers for his website.
So, Eddie Guerrero did mean something? After all, he was able to get Vince to do something that only heat for his own Federal Government was able to do; test for illegal substances in his locker room.
Vince is going to sample “the boys.”
Whether he means it or not. Whether it stays or not. Whether he films the whole fucking thing or not. Vince McMahon cannot look another widow in the face and tell them that their husband was “a damn god man” without taking the reins of his locker room.
Likewise, wrestlers cannot continue to weep for their friends and then deny the deadly situations that they face everyday either. Like JBL in a interview this week stating that most dangerous thing in the locker room today is “carpal tunnel” from playing video games.
Bullshit. Tell that to Vickie Guerrero.
The pressure is on now. The spotlight is shining down from an active top guy dying at 38 years old. Changes need to be seen to be put in place whether McMahon likes it or not. Let him video it. Let him get hits to his site from it. Let him let the world see that WWE is finally moving in the right direction so as there may never be another death on their conscience. Let them do that and let us be weary of it.
Vince didn't’t bring a camera into his locker room to appease us. He has bigger fish to lie….I mean, fry.
We, of course, reserve the right to be weary of a man who couldn't’t tell the truth if his wrestlers life depended on it. It’s always hard to know where the work ends and the truth begins.
If testing becomes the next con and the wrestlers side in on it, the only marks who will pay will be themselves.
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