It's Time For A Change

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Dear Reader, I am a Pro-wrestling fan and a former Indie pro wrestler living in Baltimore, MD. For years I have loved the business and I wanted to get into it ever since I was about six years old. Watching the larger-than-life characters strut on the screen was such a great thing for me and I know that it helped shape my life and who I am today. Unfortunately, wrestling is not the way it was when I was a child growing up. And I'm not talking about in the 1930's or 40's. I began watching pro wrestling in the 80's. The characters they had were not all bodybuilders looking to pose on television and scream at each other for thirty minutes. The performers were sometimes fat, sometimes thin, sometimes short, sometimes tall, and yes, sometimes bodybuilders. However, there was a market for almost anyone in the business if you had the charisma and the right promoting. Today it is not like that at all. If you are a WWE/pro wrestling fan you know what I'm talking about. If you are not a pro wrestling fan I challenge you to say the first pro wrestler's name that comes to your mind. Not Hulk Hogan or Macho Man, but someone that has been fully active within the last seven years. With the exception of a couple of gimmick wrestlers there really haven't been fat or "average" build wrestlers on WWE. That is because WWE has taught fans that the "Big" man is the main event guy and everyone else is just an extra. In the 80's and part of the 90's you had guys like The Big Boss Man, Yokozuna, 123 Kid, Roddy Piper, etc... Some of the performers listed above were on the fat side, one was on the very thin side, and the other was in shape, but obviously natural. All four of those men were big names in their days too. Now, you have Batista, Triple H, John Cena, Chris Benoit R.I.P., etc... All of these men are huge guys, Benoi being the smallest only in height. I have no proof that any of these men have taken steroids but I'll leave it up to you to take a look at their bodies and decide for yourself. That is what has been shoved down out throats in today's wrestling industry. We want our cell phones small and our entertainers big. WCW tried hard to compete with WWE's big men while giving a fair amount of television time to the smaller men, cruiserweights, in WCW. WWE had and still has their share of smaller guys but they are not properly promoting these men. It can be argued that WWE has done all they can to promote the little men, but the public wants the big men. That may hold some truth but it has to be said that WWE has a big part in the public's perception on big men vs. little men in the pro wrestling industry. As previously stated, I was a pro wrestler on the indie level. I have even wrestled with a couple of performers who are in a big organization. Many of the guys I wrestled with were all very talented and not one of them was over 220 pounds unless it was fat. Most of the guys were skinny, but as performers were easily as good as some of the guys on WWE that are making the big money and are easily over 220 pounds of muscle. The point of what I'm saying is that no one can say that the reason why the bigger guys are the stars is because they are better performers because I have worked with guys who were awesome performers and half the size of many of WWE's top stars. SIZE DOES NOT MATTER, although today's pro-wrestling market would have you believe otherwise. Too many performers are dying for different causes but they can be linked to one thing: the wrestling business. The drugs, the abuse of the body, the schedules, and the demands put on these men are all factors in the death of just about every pro wrestler that has died too young. Most people simply say, "What can be done about?" I say plenty can be done about it and it is going to take every single one of us to change this pro wrestling industry. You may not be a pro wrestling fan but you can't tell me that you are not a fan of life, humanity, and dignity. If you can tell me that you are not then you can discontinue reading this because it does not pertain to you. This is speaking to everyone out there who is tired of hearing about a fellow human being dying too young and under strange circumstances. This is for wrestling fans and human beings alike. My aim is not to have people dislike Vince McMahon, the WWE, or Pro-wrestling. My aim is to encourage people to educate themselves on this business and help make changes that will benefit these performers. Even the ones who criticize myself and everyone that is trying to make a change. Most critics are in the wrestling business and, to be specific, WWE. And, like Marc Mero said, these men are not going to say bad things about the company that is paying their bills. These people have had nothing but bad things to say about Mero and others like him who want to help the industry. They have turned their backs to what is right. Vince McMahon, Chairman of the WWE, has even gone so far as to remove just about everything concerning Chris Benoit off of the WWE website, www.wwe.com, and has even called Benoit a monster. I do not condone what Benoit has allegedly done but what Vince has done is wrong. The business that he runs and the industry he promotes is partly to blame for the tragedy and it is wrong for him to turn around and pretend like Benoit never existed. I know a lot of you may agree with him but think about if it was someone you knew and cared about. You would not want that person to be forgotten and so rudely discarded the way Benoit has been. At present time I have discontinued my financial support of the WWE. That means that I am not watching its programming, I am not buying its merchandise and I am not promoting its product to anyone I know anymore. Not until changes are made. What we need to do as citizens of these United States is to stand up and make our voices heard. We have a right as citizens to write to our senators, governors, and congressmen on this matter. What I propose is that we here on mylot get together and start a letter writing campaign in our respective states. After getting a fair amount of supporters we should write letters to State reps, governors and even Congress. It is my hope that writing to those in our own states will prompt them to take action by presenting this issue to those in the Federal Government. If they do not, we as citizens have the right and the duty to contact our Federal congressmen directly via letters and Email. Something has to be done and it starts with us. If you are a fan of Pro-wrestling or simply a fan of life, liberty, and justice you should do the right thing and that is to make your voice be heard on the issue of steroids and pro-wrestling. Thank you, Michael H.