Andrew "Test" Martin, Canadian, Former WWE Wrestler, Dead Four Days Before His 34th Birthday
[link]
I link to this story not because I am a wrestling fan any longer. (Watched as a kid and then regularly from 1999-2003 but quit again when the writing stopped making sense.)
I link to the story not because I was a Test fan. (I actually hated the guy and not the good kind of wrestling hate where the character makes you want to see him get beat up. No, mine was the bad hate in that I couldn't stand him and turned the channel to avoid watching his lousy workrate and terrible interviews.)
No, I link to this story because the death of young wrestlers is a low-profile shame of the industry. Literally dozens of wrestlers have died over this decade. Some high profile (Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Chris "Mr. Perfect" Hennig), others more indy-type wrestlers that never made it to the WWE and higher profiles.
But they are still dying. Drug overdoses, health failures related to steroids, the horrible case of the Benoit concussion-related murder/suicide...It is all beginning to add up.
I snaked this list from another website and lost the link when my computer froze and I lost windows.
Famous Wrestlers That Have Died Since 1985 Before the Age of 50
Chris Von Erich - 21
Mike Von Erich - 23
Louie Spiccoli - 27
Art Barr - 28
Gino Hernandez - 29
Jay Youngblood - 30
Rick McGraw - 30
Joey Marella - 30
Ed Gatner - 31
Buzz Sawyer - 32
Crash Holly - 32
Kerry Von Erich - 33
D.J. Peterson - 33
Eddie Gilbert - 33
The Renegade - 33
Chris Candido - 33
Test - 33
Adrian Adonis - 34
Gary Albright - 34
Bobby Duncum Jr. - 34
Owen Hart - 34
Yokozuna - 34
Big Dick Dudley - 34
Brian Pillman - 35
Marianna Komlos - 35
Pitbull #2 - 36
The Wall/Malice - 36
Emory Hale - 36
Leroy Brown - 38
Mark Curtis - 38
Eddie Guerrero - 38
John Kronus - 38
Davey Boy Smith - 39
Johnny Grunge - 39
Vivian Vachon - 40
Jeep Swenson - 40
Brady Boone - 40
Terry Gordy - 40
Bertha Faye - 40
Billy Joe Travis - 40
Chris Benoit - 40
Larry Cameron - 41
Rick Rude - 41
Randy Anderson - 41
Bruiser Brody - 42
Miss Elizabeth - 42
Big Boss Man - 42
Earthquake - 42
Mike Awesome - 42
Biff Wellington - 42
Brian Adams (Crush) - 43
Ray Candy - 43
Nancy Benoit (Woman) - 43
Dino Bravo - 44
Curt "Mr. Perfect" Hennig - 44
Bam Bam Bigelow - 45
Jerry Blackwell - 45
Junkyard Dog - 45
Hercules - 45
Andre the Giant - 46
Big John Studd - 46
Chris Adams - 46
Mike Davis - 46
Hawk - 46
Cousin Junior - 48
Dick Murdoch - 49
Jumbo Tsuruta - 49
Rocco Rock - 49
Sherri Martel - 49
I cannot vouch for the circumstances of all these deaths. Owen Hart was killed during a stunt accident at a wrestling PPV, but is that really a "wrestling-related" death or not, I don't know. Bruiser Brody was stabbed to death in Puerto Rico. Andre The Giant was a beast of a man and his life-expectancy was never all that high due to his natural condition. Again, just cause he was a wrestler, doesn't mean it was wrestling-related.
However most on this list aren't like those two. They are on there for the reasons I stated above. There are seventy names there.
Now, we arrive at a question in general and a question to a specific person:
- To everybody: Why isn't this being talked about more by media? Because it is wrestling? If you had 70 athletes die before age 50 in any other sport, I would think that someone would start paying closer attention, don't you?
- To Councilor Grant Nordman: Are you going to raise hell the next time the WWE come to town? Please show some consistency Sir. If you are worried about the athletes in MMA, be concerned for the wrestlers who subject their bodies thru misery and drugs and all sorts of other issues, only to end up on this list.
I link to this story not because I am a wrestling fan any longer. (Watched as a kid and then regularly from 1999-2003 but quit again when the writing stopped making sense.)
I link to the story not because I was a Test fan. (I actually hated the guy and not the good kind of wrestling hate where the character makes you want to see him get beat up. No, mine was the bad hate in that I couldn't stand him and turned the channel to avoid watching his lousy workrate and terrible interviews.)
No, I link to this story because the death of young wrestlers is a low-profile shame of the industry. Literally dozens of wrestlers have died over this decade. Some high profile (Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Chris "Mr. Perfect" Hennig), others more indy-type wrestlers that never made it to the WWE and higher profiles.
But they are still dying. Drug overdoses, health failures related to steroids, the horrible case of the Benoit concussion-related murder/suicide...It is all beginning to add up.
I snaked this list from another website and lost the link when my computer froze and I lost windows.
Famous Wrestlers That Have Died Since 1985 Before the Age of 50
Chris Von Erich - 21
Mike Von Erich - 23
Louie Spiccoli - 27
Art Barr - 28
Gino Hernandez - 29
Jay Youngblood - 30
Rick McGraw - 30
Joey Marella - 30
Ed Gatner - 31
Buzz Sawyer - 32
Crash Holly - 32
Kerry Von Erich - 33
D.J. Peterson - 33
Eddie Gilbert - 33
The Renegade - 33
Chris Candido - 33
Test - 33
Adrian Adonis - 34
Gary Albright - 34
Bobby Duncum Jr. - 34
Owen Hart - 34
Yokozuna - 34
Big Dick Dudley - 34
Brian Pillman - 35
Marianna Komlos - 35
Pitbull #2 - 36
The Wall/Malice - 36
Emory Hale - 36
Leroy Brown - 38
Mark Curtis - 38
Eddie Guerrero - 38
John Kronus - 38
Davey Boy Smith - 39
Johnny Grunge - 39
Vivian Vachon - 40
Jeep Swenson - 40
Brady Boone - 40
Terry Gordy - 40
Bertha Faye - 40
Billy Joe Travis - 40
Chris Benoit - 40
Larry Cameron - 41
Rick Rude - 41
Randy Anderson - 41
Bruiser Brody - 42
Miss Elizabeth - 42
Big Boss Man - 42
Earthquake - 42
Mike Awesome - 42
Biff Wellington - 42
Brian Adams (Crush) - 43
Ray Candy - 43
Nancy Benoit (Woman) - 43
Dino Bravo - 44
Curt "Mr. Perfect" Hennig - 44
Bam Bam Bigelow - 45
Jerry Blackwell - 45
Junkyard Dog - 45
Hercules - 45
Andre the Giant - 46
Big John Studd - 46
Chris Adams - 46
Mike Davis - 46
Hawk - 46
Cousin Junior - 48
Dick Murdoch - 49
Jumbo Tsuruta - 49
Rocco Rock - 49
Sherri Martel - 49
I cannot vouch for the circumstances of all these deaths. Owen Hart was killed during a stunt accident at a wrestling PPV, but is that really a "wrestling-related" death or not, I don't know. Bruiser Brody was stabbed to death in Puerto Rico. Andre The Giant was a beast of a man and his life-expectancy was never all that high due to his natural condition. Again, just cause he was a wrestler, doesn't mean it was wrestling-related.
However most on this list aren't like those two. They are on there for the reasons I stated above. There are seventy names there.
Now, we arrive at a question in general and a question to a specific person:
- To everybody: Why isn't this being talked about more by media? Because it is wrestling? If you had 70 athletes die before age 50 in any other sport, I would think that someone would start paying closer attention, don't you?
- To Councilor Grant Nordman: Are you going to raise hell the next time the WWE come to town? Please show some consistency Sir. If you are worried about the athletes in MMA, be concerned for the wrestlers who subject their bodies thru misery and drugs and all sorts of other issues, only to end up on this list.
I can't believe how many of my childhood heros are dead. It's all very sad.
Posted by
DailyrantsBlog.com |
6:49 PM
The only issue that is relevant is how many Winnipeg/Manitoba wrestlers are on the list and the answer is ZERO. That tells you something right there.
The first thing Mr. Nordman or anyone else should do is refer to the Wrestling Safety Study in conducted for the provicne of Manitoba in 2003.
Marianna Komlos was a cancer death and so was Mark Curtis for starters, and repeating this list ad hominum with non- drug lifestyle related deaths included is a common practice of MSM -- and is a totally irresponsible
practice.
Hack perhaps you should get ahold of me of you want some background on this situation.
Marty
Posted by
The Great Canadian Talk Show |
7:17 PM
Marty's right, to an extent. A number of these are not drug-related, as opposed to freak-accident-related like Owen and a couple of the Japanese. Remembering that this is physical and entertainment, you're going to have some straight accidents, just as you would with stuntmen, etc. Joey Marella and I think JYD were car accidents. Mark Curtis was cancer, too, if I'm thinking of the right guy.
You also have problems like Andre and Yokozuna, who are simply physically unusual and the industry likes those. But they are at a high-risk for early mortality.
Obviously, everyone's major concern is drugs. Definitely, a lot of them are illegal-drug (OD, suicide)-related or steroid-related (often the heart troubles). The also-troubling thing is that the guys who beat the problems (like Eddie) are still prone to physical problems later (probably the heart problem that killed him was connected to much earlier drug use).
There's some movement. Apparently, Martin (who was obviously juicing for a while) had just completed a rehab program that WWE paid for. After Benoit, WWE started offering rehab to all of its former-emplo... err, independent contractors. There's regular testing, and almost-regular suspensions for unusual results. TNA has apparently put in a testing program of some type, but given that Scott Steiner still has a job, I question the quality of it.
As for the MSM, yah, the criticism has been there. WWE took a massive amount of abuse after Benoit. And there's one critic (whose name unfortunately escapes me now) who's always hammered hard on those stats, but his criticisms are hurt by a lack of perspective. He basically wants Vince arrested for killing these guys.
But it's still deemed to be a sideshow. And if sideshow freaks want or need to kill themselves, how's that anyone else's problem?
Posted by
Iain |
6:36 PM
Seems that some commenters are focused on the examples that weren't the responsibility of the wrestling culture. You could take 5, 10, maybe 15 names off the list, but that still doesn't make a dent in the number of wrestlers that have killed themselves with painkillers and steroids.
I saw Test on TV recently when WWE brought him back for ECW; The guy was suddenly HUGE. I knew right then that he was on something, or had upped the ante on what he was already taking. I'm not surprised that he's dead.
@ Marty: C'mon man, have some sense of the impact of this. Do you really need Chris Jericho to die for you to say this is a big deal?
Posted by
4Shaw |
8:57 AM