L. Anne Carrington  

Show Notes

• Archived Blog Post

  Date / Time: 3/18/2009 4:44 PM UTC

  The Subject of Death
  

  With the unexpected and yet unexplained death of Andrew “Test” Martin this past week, the whole issue had gotten me thinking about deaths in the wrestling world in general and what factors tend to cause them.
  
  For those that don’t follow the sport, as we all know, it isn’t taken seriously, but one thing that should be is the death rate among wrestling talent. Perhaps more than any other sport, the death rate is alarmingly high.
  
  The first thing that tends to come to mind for us as the primary causes of such death (especially at such young ages) is drugs. With the talent on the road at least 300 days a year with no off season, the risks of injuries happening are significantly higher than perhaps any other sport in the world.
  
  The end result is usually addiction to painkillers, and when those make them too fatigued to perform, other drugs begin to weigh in. We also know all too well about performance-enhancing drugs such as steroids.
  
  In the end, it all leads to a debilitating and/or deadly result in the end once wrestlers retire, some having long-term, irreversible effects on their health long after they have kicked their respective drug dependencies.
  
  Another factor that may weigh in (and no pun is intended here) are some of the large bodies we see on our screens. Notice the guys that get the major pushes are not the ones that are five foot seven and weigh 175 pounds.
  
  No, the major players are those that are carrying either an enormous amount of muscle or fat to give them the size needed to be successful in the business. Unfortunately down the road of real life, that excessive muscle or fat weight could make the heart work twice as hard…and we all know what the end result of that can be.
  
  Of course, there are also other causes of death such as accidents in the ring (Owen Hart), the aforementioned heart attacks (Hercules Hernandez, Big Boss Man, Road Warrior Hawk, Yokozuna, Curt Henning, Rick Rude, Terry Gordy, Davey Boy Smith, Brian Pillman, to name a few), other heart problems (Eddie Guerrero-heart failure caused by an undiagnosed arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease), traffic accidents (Adrian Adonis, Junkyard Dog), old age (I could name a long list of legends here, but I’d be around for awhile), and of course tragedies such as the Benoit one I don’t need to get into.
  
  Combine all of these areas and wrestling and it isn't rocket science to figure out the mortality rate of deaths in this field in general.
  
  Death is an unavoidable thing; we’re all going to have to face it eventually. But to hear that a present or former wrestling performer has passed at such a relatively young age such as Test’s, when most people are in the prime of their lives, makes one think about how even more precious life is and how much we tend to take for granted.
  
  I wish I could offer a solution to prevent tragedies like this, but unfortunately, like many others, I don’t have the answers. If I did, I not only would be a wealthy woman, but there would be a lot of stars and former stars out there that wouldn’t have their lives cut short in the prime of their lives when those lives still held so much promise for them.
  
  Rest in peace, Test. You will be missed.
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  • The Wrestling Babe
  • Wrestling Deaths
  • Test
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