Jim Ross Discusses Andrew Martin‘s Death, Drug Abuse in Wrestling, Being Sick for Smackdown’s 500th Show, More

– Jim Ross has a very long new blog entry up, here are the highlights:

On Being Sick for This Week’s Smackdown: “One can be sick just at work just as easily as one can be sick at home” as I was once reminded and so with that said I am back from Corpus Christi with the “historic” 500th episode of Friday Night Smackdown in the books. Friday night’s broadcast is a loaded show from start to finish and will be on display before a sell out crowd taped on St. Patrick’s Day. Let’s get this show on the road.

On Andrew Martin‘s Death and Drug Abuse in Wrestling: I have also received several emails after the untimely death of Andrew “Test” Martin asking if I thought that wrestlers could function without the regular use of pain medication. After shaking my head and rolling my eyes, the answer is an emphatic, “Hell yes!”

Prescription medication in general and the easiness in acquiring such, utilizing naive and/or “dirty” physicians, and medical info being utilized for one’s convenience has done the wrestling business no favors over the past 2-3 decades. The over utilization of prescription medication in our society is astonishing to me. One can watch TV and see tons of commercials touting various medications that one can obtain as long as they have a prescription. These ads and promotional pieces give the potential patient/customer just enough info to take to their personal physicians and ask to be prescribed these meds. Massive amounts of money are spent on TV, Radio and in Print to encourage people to solve their problems and improve their quality of life by taking certain prescribed drugs.

I have consulted with wrestlers who, for example, didn’t save their money and/or didn’t pay their taxes or who cheated on their wives and were being pressured by their mistress to leave the wife, using two, random examples, who then self diagnosed themselves with having “anxiety attacks” ala Tony Soprano which then necessitated their usage of Xanax, for example. These individuals obviously made several erroneous decisions in their lives along the way to becoming addicted to prescription drugs. In other words they used their own real life issues to provide them a reason to use certain drugs to which they intended to abuse from the get go.

As with any contact sport, the sports entertainment entity of pro wrestling is not going to be without injuries. Injuries require care that includes prescription meds, surgeries, rehab, etc. However, no where does it say that people have to constantly seek the eternal “buzz” via prescription medication by using the “business” as their on-going crutch.

I thoroughly believe that the business in general isn’t the enemy to those that personally choose to become wrestlers. Yes, the travel is extensive but it is far better today than in years past. Yes, the physicality inside the ring is challenging but the rings themselves are much more wrestler friendly today than they were in previous generations. High flying styles can be conducive to more frequent injuries but some of the higher risk maneuvers are not necessary or required to be a star. The medical care provided wrestlers has improved amazingly over the years with certified trainers and fully licensed physicians at every event, at least that is the case in WWE. The best surgeons in the world are made available to repair any injury. Talent are given time off when they request it and they should request it more often. I know…. here comes the worn out and predictable line that if someone requests time off that it will adversely affect them with the higher up’s. I think that is a total misconception that has been perpetuated by some wrestlers over the years who used their schedule as the reason for their addiction. They just need to look in the mirror and be honest with themselves. I provided hundreds of talents with days off and I never kept a record of who was taking days off IE a score card so I could some how, in some perverse sort of way, “get even” with these individuals. Smart management will make sure that their talents are afforded time off especially in a business that runs 12 months a year. People need time to “recover” from long tours, injuries, etc plus being able to be more involved with family activities helps everyone involved with the process. Talents that are happy at home are generally happy at work was always my philosophy. The genre will never have a “season” as long as it is required to produce first run TV programming 51 or so weeks a year but the schedule is manageable nonetheless if focused on and made a priority.

Point is, some wrestlers, as do millions of other human beings from every walk of life, enjoy “getting high.” They find various ways to accomplish their respective highs and some even facilitate doctor assisted “highs.” I hope that every wrestler who abused drugs of any kind in the 80’s, etc for any company for which they worked will do what ever it takes to get complete physicals and make sure that they are healthy, especially their cardiovascularly. I also hope that these wrestlers and their predecessors will seek the help that they need to stop abusing prescription medication and start using these meds not for their intended usage and not simply as a vehicle to “catch a buzz.” The WWE has a program in place to assist their alumni with on going drug and alcohol issues but it still takes the on going efforts of the individual to affect their own much needed change.

I don’t know where Andrew Martin fits in this soapbox-like, anti drug rant but one can only assume he fits in it somewhere. Andrew was a very social guy. He was an individual who was easy to connect with and in which to converse. He was sharp and intelligent with a great sense of humor. I also think Andrew realized his limitations inside the ring and that fact frustrated him. Andrew knew that he would never be a star like Bret Hart, for example, a fellow Canadian who taught Andrew a great deal of in ring fundamentals. Andrew was certainly skilled enough to contribute positively to any wrestling card but Andrew was a role player whose name was never going to be above the title ala the star of the show. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that role that is unless one is only be happy being THE “star.” Perhaps Andrew needed to be a star to be happy. I don’t know. I do know that, at times, he was frustrated regarding his career and that he apparently sought refuge with unhealthy means. This was his personal choice and one that I wish I could have dissuaded Andrew from if only I had known that Andrew had an on going problem. Those of us that knew Andrew Martin will always regret not being able to do more to help him with his issues.

Andrew had a wonderful aura about him and attracted others to want to be around him. He was the envy of the locker room when he dated Stacey Keibler and he took a fair amount of good nature joking from his jealous peers. I never remember having to speak with Andrew about his work ethic or passion for the product. Andrew Martin was a good person whose apparent frustrations about his professional life seemingly ate away at him and he sought solace in a place that would apparently and eventually take his life.

I wish I could have done something to intervene and perhaps some day when all is said and done I will be able to have a conversation with Andrew in a far better place.

– You can check out the full blog entry here.