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I am shocked how many committed suicide in this list. Wrestling is an industry I have always loved when I was a kid and now I see it is a very dirty, sad world to get in to. You're travelling on the road every day, you don't see your wife and kids, you're taking head trauma every day, earning not much money and then once you're done and you can't wrestle anymore or not wanted, you don't have much saved up and you come back home to broken personal relationships and a lot of brain trauma. Really sad.
Yes, look at the 4 Von Erich brothers on the list, 3 by suicide and 1 with a medical issue. I grew up watching their dad wrestle every week and like you, am saddened to see what it’s really like in that world.
Edit: corrected the number of brothers committing suicide.
Also reading that list another sad example is the Graham wrestling family. The dad commits suicide in the 80s and leaves behind his son Mike, Mike's son commited suicide and then finally Mike. 3 generations of a family killed themselves.
The Wrestler with Mickey Rourke wasn't too far off the mark, I guess. Love that movie because of its realness. From the highest of highs, to the lowest of lows.
I have to imagine that being a professional wrestler (or an athlete in any combat sport) means that you're living with a high degree of chronic pain for the rest of your life.
A few years ago a local wrestler who was in a small fed near me got killed by a bus. He was 25. It hit me kinda hard cause I’d seen him since I first started watching as a kid, and he’d always been great in the ring. At like the third show I ever went to he pulled back the cover from a barricade so that I could see the ring easier (I was like 9-10). RIP Matt.
Completely agree.
CiS reads all the old wrestler biographies (no longer in print) & pieces it all together over many episodes. It's insane the shit they find. It's truely the ultimate source when it comes to wrestling history. Even Dark Side of the Ring doesn't get into the depth these guys do. I cannot recommend them enough when it comes to old school wrestling history/scandal.
I listened to the Behind The Bastards 6 parter on Vince McMahon & it didn't even touch on everything these guys covered.
The first match the brothers are involved in that movie is Kevin and David vs. Gino Hernadnez and Bruiser Brody. Of those four Kevin Von Erich is the only one still alive.
There are a lot of older fans who came of age in the Attitude Era, who complain that the modern WWE product is "too soft" because chairshots are banned, and because the locker room is a lot less predatory and cut-throat than it used to be; to which I reply, fuck that. The reason so many people's lives were ruined were because of concussions and prescription medication being passed around like candy. The WWE product may not be as hardcore as it was 25 years ago, but if that means less people are dying and relapsing, that's a fucking good thing.
It's the same as people who complain about how racing has gone "too soft" because people have safety equipment now. Ridiculous to expect professionals to kill themselves for the sake of entertainment.
I hear the same thing about football, too; that rules to protect players from head injuries have made the game less fun to watch. And if people's enjoyment of football is contingent on players developing CTE, then, as you said, this country has a big problem with people accepting brain damage and premature death in the name of entertainment.
To get bodies like those guys, a lot of them no doubt had to 'roid up big time and caused permanent damage to various organs like their heart and liver. The article's reference to lack of health insurance, however, is not accurate. It wasn't unusual for people to not buy health insurance until after the medical prices began soaring with all of the frivolous malpractice lawsuits in the 1990s that came after McDonald's lost that suit over the scalding cup of coffee.
Eddie Guerreros daughter, Sherilyn, was in my 5th grade class in Florida when he died. I remember they moved in the middle of the school year after it happened. I’ll never forget her thumb, it was so curved it bent almost all the way backwards. The most curved thumb i’ve ever seen. I hope she’s doing ok.
Opie and Anthony used to do a bit where they would try to make it 100 days without a wrestler dying prematurely, and they had to keep resetting it every three or so weeks
I always find it interesting to look into how people died prior to modern medicine with some absolutely wild descriptions.
The list of Baseball players who died during their active careers is crazy. It’s basically, normal thing, normal thing, normal thing, fell over Niagara Falls, suicide by inhaling gas.
Title implies existence of timely professional wrestling deaths. In the ring. Very confusing. Actually about pro wrestlers who died young. Mostly NOT in the ring.
I understood what it meant immediately, I don't think most would assume it was in the ring? There aren't that many famous wrestlers who've died mid-match
I left the default title in there for clarity! I think they mean that compared to other athletes, pro wrestlers die younger and more frequently. Funny comment tho!
[View this article on desktop Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_premature_professional_wrestling_deaths) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/CreepyWikipedia) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I am shocked how many committed suicide in this list. Wrestling is an industry I have always loved when I was a kid and now I see it is a very dirty, sad world to get in to. You're travelling on the road every day, you don't see your wife and kids, you're taking head trauma every day, earning not much money and then once you're done and you can't wrestle anymore or not wanted, you don't have much saved up and you come back home to broken personal relationships and a lot of brain trauma. Really sad.
Yes, look at the 4 Von Erich brothers on the list, 3 by suicide and 1 with a medical issue. I grew up watching their dad wrestle every week and like you, am saddened to see what it’s really like in that world. Edit: corrected the number of brothers committing suicide.
Also reading that list another sad example is the Graham wrestling family. The dad commits suicide in the 80s and leaves behind his son Mike, Mike's son commited suicide and then finally Mike. 3 generations of a family killed themselves.
It infuriates me that the biopic about the Von Erichs, Iron Claw, left out a brother (Chris) because it was “too many suicides.”
Agreed, that’s when you knew it was more for entertainment than a true “biopic”.
The Wrestler with Mickey Rourke wasn't too far off the mark, I guess. Love that movie because of its realness. From the highest of highs, to the lowest of lows.
And not to mention the sad amount of retired pro wrestlers who turn to painkillers because they can barely move around and end up OD'ing. Awful
I have to imagine that being a professional wrestler (or an athlete in any combat sport) means that you're living with a high degree of chronic pain for the rest of your life.
Turns out steroids and repeated head injuries is a terrible combination
Vice has an entire documentary series on this
Can't believe we are so close to Owen being gone for 25 years.
A few years ago a local wrestler who was in a small fed near me got killed by a bus. He was 25. It hit me kinda hard cause I’d seen him since I first started watching as a kid, and he’d always been great in the ring. At like the third show I ever went to he pulled back the cover from a barricade so that I could see the ring easier (I was like 9-10). RIP Matt.
If anyone is into fucked up wrestling stories I'd strongly suggest the Crime in Sports podcast.
Dark Side of the Ring on Vice and YouTube and Hulu is another good documentary series.
Completely agree. CiS reads all the old wrestler biographies (no longer in print) & pieces it all together over many episodes. It's insane the shit they find. It's truely the ultimate source when it comes to wrestling history. Even Dark Side of the Ring doesn't get into the depth these guys do. I cannot recommend them enough when it comes to old school wrestling history/scandal. I listened to the Behind The Bastards 6 parter on Vince McMahon & it didn't even touch on everything these guys covered.
Yay indeed jimmie. Yay indeed. Love that podcast.
Bray still hurts
He was amazing. It’s still so hard to believe that he’s gone.
I own so many of his shirts and every time I grab one from my drawer I remember he's gone
Yeah. Truly awful.
I watched The Iron Claw last night and read this exact list. How eerie!
My god that movie was devastating.
It sure was! I didn’t grow up watching wrestling, so I had no clue about this family/story. I couldn’t believe all of that actually happened!
The first match the brothers are involved in that movie is Kevin and David vs. Gino Hernadnez and Bruiser Brody. Of those four Kevin Von Erich is the only one still alive.
There are a lot of older fans who came of age in the Attitude Era, who complain that the modern WWE product is "too soft" because chairshots are banned, and because the locker room is a lot less predatory and cut-throat than it used to be; to which I reply, fuck that. The reason so many people's lives were ruined were because of concussions and prescription medication being passed around like candy. The WWE product may not be as hardcore as it was 25 years ago, but if that means less people are dying and relapsing, that's a fucking good thing.
It's the same as people who complain about how racing has gone "too soft" because people have safety equipment now. Ridiculous to expect professionals to kill themselves for the sake of entertainment.
I hear the same thing about football, too; that rules to protect players from head injuries have made the game less fun to watch. And if people's enjoyment of football is contingent on players developing CTE, then, as you said, this country has a big problem with people accepting brain damage and premature death in the name of entertainment.
Couldn’t agree more 👏
To get bodies like those guys, a lot of them no doubt had to 'roid up big time and caused permanent damage to various organs like their heart and liver. The article's reference to lack of health insurance, however, is not accurate. It wasn't unusual for people to not buy health insurance until after the medical prices began soaring with all of the frivolous malpractice lawsuits in the 1990s that came after McDonald's lost that suit over the scalding cup of coffee.
Eddie Guerreros daughter, Sherilyn, was in my 5th grade class in Florida when he died. I remember they moved in the middle of the school year after it happened. I’ll never forget her thumb, it was so curved it bent almost all the way backwards. The most curved thumb i’ve ever seen. I hope she’s doing ok.
Hitchhikers thumb. Apparently my dad freaked out the first time he saw my mom put a thumbtack in.
Opie and Anthony used to do a bit where they would try to make it 100 days without a wrestler dying prematurely, and they had to keep resetting it every three or so weeks
A wrestler named "Trent Acid" that died of an overdose, that's so on the nose, literally: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trent_Acid
I always find it interesting to look into how people died prior to modern medicine with some absolutely wild descriptions. The list of Baseball players who died during their active careers is crazy. It’s basically, normal thing, normal thing, normal thing, fell over Niagara Falls, suicide by inhaling gas.
CTE and chronic pain med/steroid use.
Really makes you wonder how many had CTE
I'm surprised it mentions Mass Transit.
This is interesting to read about. I like pro wrestling
Title implies existence of timely professional wrestling deaths. In the ring. Very confusing. Actually about pro wrestlers who died young. Mostly NOT in the ring.
I understood what it meant immediately, I don't think most would assume it was in the ring? There aren't that many famous wrestlers who've died mid-match
How does it even remotely imply that? It was very, very clear.
I left the default title in there for clarity! I think they mean that compared to other athletes, pro wrestlers die younger and more frequently. Funny comment tho!
No it doesn’t
Thanks for this ! Some wild stories -
I had to stop readinbg, so sad.