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Instead, just about everyone who cares about pro wrestling has been releasing one collective sigh of relief as Jerry Lawler is on the mend, recovering from a massive heart attack.
While certain media outlets have wondered whether 62 year old Lawler should have even been in the ring (certainly a question for another day, since a much younger Ric Flair was retired by the company in 2008), the reality is that while the mainstream media has been here before, covering a tragedy surrounding the business, this time, there was one aspect they haven't focused on, possibly because we have as happy an ending as there can be when someone suffers a heart attack.
WWE deserves praise for their handling of not just the Lawler situation but how they have improved their entire Wellness Policy and handling of medical issues for their talent.
In the early day of pro wrestling, if someone had a major medical emergency, they were waiting for an ambulance and the chances are that reaction time was the difference between life and death. Even in instances where wrestlers themselves applied CPR to talents who had seizures or heart attacks, it was too late.
It was haphazard depending on the promoter, the venue, the city, and/or the State as to whether wrestlers were examined before their matches, treated after their matches or even had their injuries and illnesses covered. It was the way of the world, so that was the way it was always going to be.
Even as sports medicine grew and evolved with full time trainers and doctors working with athletes and teams, pro wrestling was always a generation or two behind the norm. Not falling neatly into the entertainment or sports worlds, the business sort of settled into its own bubble - and a dangerous one at that.
As the years went on, things like steroids, painkillers and recreational drugs became all too dangerously intertwined in pro wrestling's DNA, things got worse for talents and there were far too many premature deaths. All you have to do is go grab a DVD from your collection and the chances are that at least one performer from that show is dead.
But, the business put its head in the ground, one giant, stupid collective ostrich, ignoring the obvious. After all, "It won't happen to me." "What's going to happen is going to happen." "I won't make those same mistakes." Wrestlers used the same tired excuses as their co-workers, friends and brothers dropped dead. Promoters shook their heads sadly but chose not to do anything, greed or guilt overcoming shame and morality. It was someone else's problem.
Then Eddie Guerrero dropped dead brushing his teeth the morning he was supposed to win the WWE title for the second time. This woke up WWE as to how badly things were going and (perhaps more importantly to the company), how bad WWE was going to get blamed for their responsibility for these things happening.
So, the Wellness Policy was born. At times, it was laughable. They didn't test for pot. Guys could get around it with testosterone replacement therapy. Wrestlers were suspended and kept on the road working "for free."
Then Chris Benoit killed his family and himself. WWE's worst fears had become a reality. They were all over the 24 hour news cycle and being torn apart.
Worse still, some of the wrestlers who were defending the company as being clean ended up suspended themselves - either failing tests or getting ratted out to the company by New York State Prosecutors working on a case involving online pharmacies.
While none of this showed any discernible impact on WWE's attendance and money-making ventures, it also helped to reinforce the oldest stereotype about pro wrestling: it's a sleazy business.
But, WWE continued to evolve and tighten their Wellness Policy. Today, you can't get a job if you don't pass medical, psychological and drug tests. You get randomly picked for tests and get phone calls that you'll have a test monitor on their way to your home if you aren't on the road. You will be dropping your pants and showing the full Monty so they know you aren't cheating. Somas, the culprit that killed Louie Spicoli and helped end the WWE run of Matt Hardy and Nick Dinsmore, among others, are banned forever.
It's not just a Wellness Policy for the sake of saying "GOTCHA!" to their contracted talents, either. WWE has instituted a ton of helpful medical exams in an attempt to maintain the health of their wrestlers and maintain it despite their rough lifestyles. There are a ton of physicals. EKGs. Impact testing for concussions. Heart and brain scans. WWE runs their wrestlers rougher test-wise than some Last Man Standing matches. In most cases, it's better safe than sorry but sometimes, as in the case of MVP, they find a dangerous condition that might have gone unnoticed and correct it. In the case of MVP, it also led to his brother getting checked out and correcting the same potentially fatal issue.
WWE has also increased their medical staffing. Where before if something went wrong, they needed to wait for an ambulance to come to the arena, now WWE has a full-time medical team, including the doctor at ringside that began working on Jerry Lawler within seconds of his collapse and a slew of others that work with the wrestlers, administer physical therapy treatments on the road, prescriptions when needed and much more. They are the unsung heroes of the genre....and they saved Jerry Lawler on Monday, along with the EMTs WWE brought in to be stationed at the event in Montreal.
The Wellness Policy's system will never, ever, ever be perfect. Don't think I am claiming it is. However, in a world where it's so easy to place blame and recite criticism, it's important to point out the facts. WWE has improved their system and they deserve that praise for doing so.
I think Jerry Lawler would agree.
Mike Johnson can be reached at Mike@PWInsider.com. He suggests "Send In The Clowns" by Eddie Rose for your reading pleasure.
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