Is there a place for unprotected chair shots and hardcore matches in 2024?
Lately, AEW as come under fire for doing a more hardcore style on PPV and doing a few unprotected chair shot on television and PPV. Some say they went to far and they should ban those type of spot while others will defend it. So in this column I will take a closer look and try to answer this question.
First let’s look at the history of hardcore wrestling. This type of wrestling truly started in the 90’s in North America. Yes, you had a few barbaric match before then but for the most part it, it became popular in the 90’s with ECW. Later on WWE and WCW try to embrace that style in some ways and wasn’t as successful as ECW.
As for unprotected chair shot, it’s been a thing since wrestling excited. The thing is back then, we didn’t know how big the damage was gonna be as far has the health of the wrestlers and concussion was just a part of the job. Later on, a lot of wrestlers from that era started get more headache and their quality of life was diminished by the choice they made.
Then you have the case of Chris Benoit, we all know what he did and we pretty much all know why it happened. His brain was in such bad shape from taking all those hit to the head that he had a brain of a 80 year old man and he suffered from demantia and Extreme CTE. That a extreme exemple of what can happen if you get hit to many time on the head.
Another exemple is Mick Foley, while the guy is still sane, he’s barely able to move without getting a headache. That’s what being hit to the head with a steel chair will do to a anybody
So the question is simple, now that we know a lot more about CTE and the lasting effects of direct blow to the head, should we be more responsible as far as what we do inside the ring. In my humble opinion, I would say yes we should. While I don’t think that hardcore matches should be banned, I feel like certain spots should like the unprotected steel chair shot to the head.
Their are way to do violent hardcore matches and making sure that the participants are safe at the same time. Just look at how TNA and WWE are doing hardcore matches. They still have violent spots in them but they make sure that anything that’s could cause a concussion isn’t part of the match. Still those matches feel just as violent as the hardcore stuff that AEW is doing and are way safer for everybody involved.
In the end as fans, we should prioritize the safety of the performers over our own enjoyment and that mean stop defending or excepting that promoters let’s the wrestlers deliberately hurt themselves just to get a bigger pop.
When you look at what happened to so many of the legends of the past because they didn’t know better, I feel like the current generation should learn from that instead of making the same mistake. In the end, it’s their quality of life that’s the in stake and I don’t want to see another tragedy like the Benoit murders happen because somebody wasn’t able to say no to them and some of the dumb ideas they had.
First let’s look at the history of hardcore wrestling. This type of wrestling truly started in the 90’s in North America. Yes, you had a few barbaric match before then but for the most part it, it became popular in the 90’s with ECW. Later on WWE and WCW try to embrace that style in some ways and wasn’t as successful as ECW.
As for unprotected chair shot, it’s been a thing since wrestling excited. The thing is back then, we didn’t know how big the damage was gonna be as far has the health of the wrestlers and concussion was just a part of the job. Later on, a lot of wrestlers from that era started get more headache and their quality of life was diminished by the choice they made.
Then you have the case of Chris Benoit, we all know what he did and we pretty much all know why it happened. His brain was in such bad shape from taking all those hit to the head that he had a brain of a 80 year old man and he suffered from demantia and Extreme CTE. That a extreme exemple of what can happen if you get hit to many time on the head.
Another exemple is Mick Foley, while the guy is still sane, he’s barely able to move without getting a headache. That’s what being hit to the head with a steel chair will do to a anybody
So the question is simple, now that we know a lot more about CTE and the lasting effects of direct blow to the head, should we be more responsible as far as what we do inside the ring. In my humble opinion, I would say yes we should. While I don’t think that hardcore matches should be banned, I feel like certain spots should like the unprotected steel chair shot to the head.
Their are way to do violent hardcore matches and making sure that the participants are safe at the same time. Just look at how TNA and WWE are doing hardcore matches. They still have violent spots in them but they make sure that anything that’s could cause a concussion isn’t part of the match. Still those matches feel just as violent as the hardcore stuff that AEW is doing and are way safer for everybody involved.
In the end as fans, we should prioritize the safety of the performers over our own enjoyment and that mean stop defending or excepting that promoters let’s the wrestlers deliberately hurt themselves just to get a bigger pop.
When you look at what happened to so many of the legends of the past because they didn’t know better, I feel like the current generation should learn from that instead of making the same mistake. In the end, it’s their quality of life that’s the in stake and I don’t want to see another tragedy like the Benoit murders happen because somebody wasn’t able to say no to them and some of the dumb ideas they had.