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Wrestling:
How fake is it?

October 8,2002
If you remember from a couple a weeks ago, I was pretty banged up. I
had bruised ribs from a bad pump and then the sore neck from the ugly
PPV bump. When I got home I had to ask my kids to take it easy on me.
They usually jump on me the second I walk through the door Tuesday
afternoon. I'm talking literally here, they run at me and all but
tackle me in the hallway. It's a great feeling when you see smiling
faces screaming Daddy running to hug you but with the shape I was in
I had to ask them to be very careful. I didn't much think of it at
the time, but I guess this made a stronger impression on my 6-year
old than I thought.

This past week while I was tucking my daughter into bed she gets very
serious (perhaps that's hereditary) and asks me an interesting
question. "Daddy if your wrestling is fake, why do you get hurt? Why
is your back and neck always sore?" I cringed when she used the
word "fake" because I hate that word, but I have emphasized to her
many times that what I do isn't real. She doesn't react well to
violence so any time she sees me wrestle (which isn't often) I try to
make sure she understands that we are only pretending to hurt each
other and we are more or less just playing.

So here I am stuck trying to explain to a very concerned 6-year old
that we aren't really hurting each other but that injuries can and do
happen. I want my daughter to think that what I do is safe, so she
doesn't worry about me, but that's not so easy considering that she
knows I'm in pain a lot at home. It's hard to explain that a sport in
which the participants all work together and try to protect each
other has such a high injury rate. Take a look at the Ross Report
(www.wwe.com) the first page or two is always the injury report.
We've had 6 or more guys out for serious neck surgery, guys with
shoulder, back, and knee trouble.

The truth be told, wrestling isn't as fake as you would think, or
safe as I'd like her to believe. My sore back and neck, all of my
aches and pains, don't add up to enough to even make me one of the
unlucky ones. Truthfully I'm quite lucky (touch wood) I have never
been injured bad enough to need surgery and my goal is to retire that
way. I don't know how my daughter would take me being laid up after
surgery and I don't want to find out.

So here is how I explained it to my daughter. I told her, "You know
how you and Rachel (her sister) play together down stairs, how you
run around and chase each other. You're just having fun and never
mean to get hurt, but sometimes you trip or bump into your sister and
one of you falls down and gets hurt. You bang your knee or hit your
head on the coffee table. You get hurt but it's just an accident.
That's sort of what happens to me at work. Sometimes we fall down
wrong and get hurt. We don't plan on it, it's just an accident." This
seemed to hit home with my daughter. She is after all a bit of a
klutz and falls down all the time, so she can relate. I think for now
she thinks I'm safe. I will have to make a point to no-sell my aches
and pains better at home. As much as I like that excited smile from
my girls when I get home, I hate that look of concern and fear on
their faces when I'm hurt.

It's strange when you do this as long as I have you get used to all
of the aches and pains and minimize the risks involved in what we do.
You pretty much have to, to avoid losing your nerve. My daughter's
concern combined with my very scary bump on the PPV, last month, has
reminded me just how dangerous the things I do are, and how lucky
I've been.

Till next week, let's be careful out there,
Lance