Linda McMahon's Body Count

by Dave Zirin [this article was co-written with Damian Smith]

Imagine if someone ran for senate on the strength of their experience as CEO of a billion dollar company. Now imagine if as an aside, their employees kept ending up dead. They would routinely die of heart attacks, drug overdoses, suicides, and strokes before the age of 50. Imagine if their company had a “death clause” in their contracts that prevented employees and their families from suing the company. Imagine if they had gag orders to prevent family members from speaking out against what could be fairly called the most dangerous working conditions in the United States. Imagine if this candidate was so sociopathic, that they would look at this billion dollar business built on broken bodies and death as a source of pride and even as a motivator for why they deserve the power of public office. And lastly, imagine the media happily joining in with the socio-pathology and giving them a free pass. Welcome to the race for Senator of Connecticut where Republican Linda McMahon is self-funding her campaign on the bodies of the dead wrestlers that have built the billion-dollar empire that is World Wrestling Entertainment.

Just this fall alone during her campaign we have seen the deaths of wrestlers Eddie Fatu aka Umaga at 36, Lance Cade at 29, Luna Vachon at 48, and Jorge Gonzales at 44. In recent years we have seen the death by heart attack of wrestling legend Eddie Guerrero in 2005 and the suicide of Chris Benoit, which took place after he murdered his wife and child in 2007. To call the response to these tragedies cold-blooded would be an insult to reptiles. Here is WWE spokesperson Rob Zimmerman: "Ultimately... stars in any form of entertainment should be held personally responsible for their own actions. Prescription drug overdose is a problem not only with former WWE talent, but society as a whole according to the Centers for Disease Control, as it is the second leading cause of unintentional death (particularly among younger people) in the U.S." This is like a tobacco company executive saying, "Well, LOTS of people get cancer."

As for Linda McMahon, the wife of WWE founder and impresario Vince McMahon, she was blasted by Lance Cade’s father after brushing off a reporter’s questions about his death saying, she "might have met (Cade) once." McMahon has also brushed off suggestions that the WWE is a serious business with a body count by repeatedly 
saying that the whole thing is a "soap opera" that "isn't real.

Well, Mrs. McMahon, the results of matches may be pre-determined, but the risk is very real. The injuries are all too real. Darren Drozdov was made a quadriplegic because a routine move went wrong. Bob Holly suffered a broken neck in a similar fashion. Reconstructive surgery and painkillers are as normal part of professional wrestling, as shaved torsos and fake tans. And wrestlers play hurt or they don’t get paid. They don’t have much of a choice. Unless you’re Linda’s son-in-law, multiple-time champion Triple H, there are no guaranteed roster spots and no guaranteed contracts. Taking too long to heal from an injury is simply career suicide. If you sprain your ankle in Denver on Saturday but have to be on television in LA on Monday, there aren’t many options. There is no union to fight for healthy safe work conditions in the WWE.
Wrestlers are expected to do minimum 200 shows a year crashing through tables, bouncing off steel and falling hard on a concrete floor. If you’re hurt during a match, but you can somehow move, the show must go on. Sometimes, even if you can’t move, the show still goes on. This culture of playing through pain results in a culture where saying your prayers and eating your vitamins means praying for health and popping Vicodin.

To hear Linda and Vince McMahon talk about their “family business”, you’d think they were florists. You’d never imagine that the day after the great “Flyin’” Brian Pillman was found dead in his hotel room, Vince would drag his grieving widow on television for an interview and force her to call her just-dead husband a drug addict. It’s hard to imagine that this mom and pop operation forced Owen Hart to wear a ridiculous costume and descend from the rafters at a pay-per-view—a stunt which resulted in Owen falling to his death in front of tens of thousands of horrified fans. That night, as always, the show went on as planned.

Linda McMahon believes she should be elected to the United States Senate because she is the CEO of a company that happily exploits young men and women during the best years of their lives and with few exceptions, cares little for the collateral damage. Her campaign web site claims that she wants to “put people first.” This certainly doesn’t mean the people who work for her. The web site also tells us that Linda is not a career politician. The McMahons have left a trail of dead and broken bodies in their wake on their way to becoming billionaires. They don't seem to understand that they've become succesful by seeing the people in their employ as less than fully human and therefore disposable. Linda McMahon may not be a career politician, but she already embodies everything wrong with both political parties in Washington DC.

[Dave Zirin is the author of “Bad Sports: How Owners are Ruining the Games we Love” (Scribner) Receive his column every week by emailing dave@edgeofsports.com. Contact him at edgeofsports@gmail.com.]

Ventura: Will he or won’t he?

http://www.examiner.com/blogs/Yeas_and_Nays/2008/3/14/Ventura-Will-he-or-wont-he

Ventura: Will he or won’t he?
March 14, 2008

To hear Jesse Ventura tell it, he’s either out to become president or an expatriate.

In the opening to his fourth book, due out April 1, the former wrestler and governor of Minnesota writes: “As I begin to write this book, I’m facing probably the most monumental decision of my 56 years on this planet. Will I run for president of the United States, as an independent, in 2008? Or will I stay as far away from the fray as possible, in a place with no electricity, on a remote beach in Mexico?”

Throughout the book, called “Don’t Start the Revolution Without Me!,” Ventura seems to go back and forth on the question, pro and con:

Pro: “My outrage knows few bounds. … I can’t live with this apathy. I can’t tell myself it’s not happening.”

Con: “Psychologically, I need to break away from the United States. I also felt it was time in my life to go on an adventure. … And I found that, even in the 21st century, you can still be something of a Kit Carson,” the renowned 19th-century frontiersman.

Pro: He details a conversation he had in Mexico with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about running together on an independent, third-party ticket.

Con: His wife, Terry, says she refuses to be first lady of anything again.

Pro: WWE Wrestling Chairman Vince McMahon told Ventura he’d back his bid “100 percent, with everything I’ve got.”

Con: The epilogue of the book imagines eight months of 2008 headlines, as Ventura decides to run on a “WWE independent ticket.” Ventura envisions “shoving McMahon off to the side” and announcing his candidacy before 70,000 fans at the 24th annual WrestleMania. Which must mean he can’t be serious.

Mayweather to get $20 million to wrestle

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080226/ap_en_tv/box_wrestling_mayweather

Mayweather to get $20 million to wrestle
By BETH HARRIS, AP Sports Writer
Tue Feb 26, 2007

Floyd Mayweather Jr. is a champion boxer and has tested his moves on "Dancing With the Stars." Now the man many consider the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world is preparing to drop the gloves and do some wrasslin.'

A $20 million payday awaits the undefeated WBC welterweight champion when he takes on Big Show as part of WWE's "WrestleMania XXIV" at Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Fla., on March 30.

"It's entertainment. You have a chance to just be you and do what you want to do," Mayweather said Monday after a chaotic Staples Center event that masqueraded as a news conference.

The boxer nicknamed "Money" clearly likes the way WWE does business.

"Wrestling takes care of business right on the spot," Mayweather said. "Whatever they say they're going to do, they do it right on the spot. There's no waiting three, four, five months. Quick results, quick money. Quick big money, too."

His manager Leonard Ellerbee and WWE executive Shane McMahon confirmed Mayweather's eight-figure payday for the outdoor match to be shown on live on pay-per-view.

Mayweather incited the couple hundred of already hyped fans at Staples Center by whipping out a thick wad of cash and repeatedly tossing $100, $50 and $20 bills into the crowd that had nearly as many women as men.

A mad scramble ensued, with a light pole nearly getting knocked over and two small children caught in the chaos. One lucky man emerged from the pileup clutching six $100 bills.

Mayweather played to the frenzied crowd after appearing from behind a black curtain wearing a New York Yankees jacket and cap. Fans shouted insults and the name of hometown hero Oscar De La Hoya at Mayweather.

"I run Vegas and I run L.A. and I will run the WWE," he boasted.

At 5-foot-8, 150 pounds, Mayweather gives up big numbers to the bald Big Show, who stands 7-feet and weighs 430.

"I weigh three times as much as he does," Big Show crowed. "It's not fair, but I'm a businessman and I see an opportunity for business."

Then he picked up the wooden podium and tossed it to the floor, where it splintered and the attached two mics lay like broken sticks. Clearly, Staples Center officials hadn't expected the move.

Mayweather hopped onto a chair and exchanged glares with Big Show while WWE regulars Randy Orton, John Cena, Triple H and Edge looked on, witnessing a newcomer who clearly understands the theatrics of modern-day wrestling.

"WWE is the biggest it gets," Mayweather said. "This is going to be an event like none other."

Ellerbee scoffed that hard-core boxing fans won't take Mayweather seriously after his WWE antics.

"After March 30, when Floyd goes out and takes care of his business at WrestleMania, he's still going to be the best fighter in the world and the face of boxing," he said. "Tell me what changes about that? Nothing changes."

The wrestling gig is another part of Ellerbee's carefully crafted plan to expand Mayweather's fan base.

"Either I'm going to be a genius with this or I'm the biggest idiot," he said. "Boxers have such a short window of opportunity. He can't become any bigger in boxing."

That's why Ellerbee snagged Mayweather a spot on ABC's reality hit "Dancing With the Stars." Mayweather didn't win the disco ball trophy, but he wasn't the first one voted off, either.

"It crossed him over and took him into the households of many middle-aged Middle Americans and turned him into a mainstream superstar," Ellerbee said. "Now when Floyd goes into the grocery store, the first thing 65-year-old ladies say is, `You're Floyd from `Dancing With the Stars.'"

Mayweather plans to train with WWE Latino star Ray Mysterio, who wears a mask on his face.

"I'm outside the box," he said, lapsing into the third person. "Floyd Mayweather is not just a fighter, he's an entertainer. That's what the world must know."

But he hasn't forgotten his night job.

Mayweather alluded to a possible rematch with De La Hoya in September. De La Hoya lost a split decision in their last bout May 5.