Wrestling has been a source of entertainment for decades, but wrestlers face serious injury and exploitation. Oliver explains why on Last Week Tonight.
Let’s talk pro wrestling. If you’re not part of the fan base, it may not be immediately clear that it’s such a big deal. But it turns out that professional wrestling is big business. It has millions, if not billions of fans, along with a movie studio, television shows, video games, and tons of merch. Wrestlemania, one of the key events in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), is ranked the sixth most valuable sports brand in the world, higher even than the World Series.
The fact is, wrestling has lots of fans, and some of them may surprise you. Even John Oliver counts himself among their number, despite, well, his whole general aesthetic of being a twiggy guy with a history of unfortunate hairstyles.
Wrestling is “objectively entertaining” to John Oliver, and it’s hard to disagree. Take the clips played on the latest episode of Last Week Tonight of WWE antics. These include Macho Man Randy Savage being bitten by an actual cobra and Steve Austin spraying WWE head Vince McMahon and The Rock with a beer hose. That feat was later emulated by Kurt Angle, who blasted everyone ringside with a milk hose, as you do.
Unfortunately, it’s not all ridiculous hose-based stunts and McMahon being beaten with trash can lids. There is also a chilling spate of stories concerning wrestlers’ early and frequent deaths.
Early deaths
That’s no exaggeration. Wrestlers really do die early, and at shocking rates compared to other violent, high-impact sports like football. All of those body and head injuries can really add up, sometimes to tragic ends. In an interview with HBO, Rowdy Roddy Piper said that, as easy as it may be to start in the field, “there’s no exit plan” to wrestling.
“I’m not going to make 65. Let’s just face facts, guys,” he said. Piper died in 2015 at age 61.
For another example, consider the life of Chris Benoit, a WWE wrestler who killed his wife and young son, then himself, in 2007. While Benoit’s actions aren’t officially linked to his 22-year career as a top wrestler, his repeated and often serious head injuries may have played a significant role.
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, is a brain disorder that results from repeated blows to the head. Benoit was known for taking hard “chair shots” directly to his head. CTE can be associated with behavioral and personality changes, included increased aggression and poor impulse control.
Ultimately, much of the focus must come back to one man: WWE CEO Vince McMahon. He’s one of the most powerful people in the world of wrestling, having consolidated many different federations into one giant behemoth, the WWE.
Vince McMahon has essentially monopolized the entire industry. He’s not just a CEO, but also a script supervisor, actor, and generally the emperor of modern American wrestling. Many wrestlers have also alleged that McMahon is an abusive boss. Retired pro wrestler Bret Hart said that McMahon “treats wrestlers like circus animals,” to the point where he compared the end of wrestling careers to aged animals being led behind a barn and unceremoniously put down.
Contractors and clauses
How did it get so bad for the wrestlers? The key to all of this likely comes down to their employment status. Turns out WWE wrestlers aren’t actually employees, but “independent contractors.” As such, wrestlers don’t have a right to protections like leave, health insurance, or many workplace safety laws.
Despite this, they are often held to exclusive contracts that limit their ability to work outside of the WWE. Those contracts are considerable documents, too. In them, wrestlers can be held to serious clauses, including a liability clause that keeps the WWE from being responsible for serious injury and death, even if it results from negligence on the WWE’s part. If a wrestler is injured and cannot work after six weeks, they can even be dropped with little warning.
Also, the WWE has a monopoly on the entire industry. McMahon himself has an enormous amount of power at his command. Jesse Ventura, during his pre-governor-of-Minnesota career as a wrestler, even tried to unionize wrestlers. McMahon blocked all attempts to organize and the union never materialized.
All this can culminate in an incredibly dangerous working environment. CM Punk, a former WWE wrestler, has said that WWE doctors have glossed over concussions and essentially dosed wrestlers up to perform. That sort of damage can be cumulative and long-lasting, as it appeared to be for Benoit and others. McMahon doesn’t provide health insurance for his “contractors.” He’s gone to extraordinary rhetorical, even violent, lengths to deny responsibility.
How to change wrestling, maybe
Now, there have been some changes, like more refined treatment for concussions and banning of chair strikes. Oliver argued that it wasn’t enough, though, especially as long as wrestlers have to operate with few protections and inadequate medical coverage.
Is there any chance for change? It’s not going to come from McMahon on his own. He’s made it clear that the health and safety of wrestlers is not a top priority for him. Even the NFL is morally superior to McMahon’s operation, given that it provides for players’ medical care and has established a “legacy fund” to help care for retired players.
True change may actually come from the fans. The WWE is often beholden to its fans and sometimes makes real and substantial changes based on their input. Many fans genuinely care about wrestlers, like when they helped “Jake the Snake” pay for medical costs. Indeed, fans have funded multiple online campaigns to pay for wrestlers’ medical costs and funerals.
Oliver argued that fan mobilization could enact that sort of positive change for wrestlers. How could they do it? Maybe fans could, oh, chant and make signs to wave around on the live Wrestlemania broadcast, which would be difficult for producers to edit on the fly.
If you need some extra motivation, Oliver premiered a Wrestlemania-style spot encouraging fans to support their wrestlers in the quest to have working joints, functioning brains, and the ability to make it into the seventies. It’s a silly segment, but one that could encourage real and lasting change for the people caught in the middle of the WWE’s exploitative structure.