Earlier this year, a lawsuit against the WWE was dismissed as it related to the employee status of wrestlers. There are a whole host of issues associated with whether someone is an employee or not – whether it be tax withholdings, profit sharing or medical/healthcare benefits.
And here, the WWE, the entity that Linda McMahon (currently running for CT-Sen) earned many millions from, has profited majorly at the expense of those who are actually doing the performing for millions of fans around the United States. But instead of taking care of those who are making the McMahon’s untold millions, they have cut corners in the most basic of areas – making sure that the people who are encouraged to sacrifice their bodies are able to take care of themselves if their health is in danger.
Now, this could just be a typical issue of whether a company should provide health care coverage for non-employees. In this case, wrestlers are "encouraged" to use vast quantities of steroids to perform, to sustain the impact of being hit by a chair, being thrown to the cement, the general violence of a flying elbow or jackhammer move or clothesline by an opponent.
All to line Ms. McMahon’s pockets.
If that were the only issue here, then it wouldn’t be much of a story though. The recent death of yet another WWE wrestler shines the spotlight on the not-so-coincidental health and early death issues that cloud professional wrestling. When a surprisingly large number of wrestlers are dying in their 30s and 40s (more than 60 over a 12 year period), and you have 40% of wrestlers testing positive for steroids, there is a big problem. Whether it be a death in the ring from faulty equipment, a drug overdose, a murder-suicide or a heart attack at age 36 (as the most recent death of "Umaga" Fatu was), then it becomes a story. And when none of the wrestlers have any form of health care coverage, then it becomes inexcusable.
When the former CEO of the WWE runs for Senate with an anti-health care reform message as part of her platform, that is something that deserves much more recognition than it is getting, especially since it is the main part of the grievances against the WWE by the very wrestlers who put their lives on the line for Ms. McMahon and have nothing but a lifetime of health problems and no way to pay for proper treatment to show for it.