Wrestling is becoming incredibly hard for me to watch these days. No, it’s not because the build-up to the biggest show of the year in WrestleMania XXV is lackluster at best, but rather due to a cold reminder of the toll performers take in the business.

To me, professional wrestling is one of the greatest forms of entertainment. Nonbelievers can knock me all they want, but I dare you to find something that, if done correctly, can seamlessly combine athleticism, comedy, drama, and raw emotion into one.

Sure, my beloved football and basketball might give us moments like that, but wrestling is guaranteed to do that, all through the year.

You see, wrestling doesn’t have an off-season. Guys like Randy Orton and John Cena are on the road for over 75 percent of the year, most of the time wrestling.

The wrestling matches themselves aren’t cakewalks either. Predetermined or not, the average wrestler can leave a match with injuries that could have resulted in a minor car accident on a daily basis and much worse if they take a bad bump.

But the question is why do these men put their bodies on the line?

The answer is simple, yet complex. Most wrestlers love going out and entertaining hundreds to thousands to millions of fans. Much like “real sports,” not every wrestler hits the big time or main events.

Some wrestlers don’t even make it to the pros or at least wrestling promotions that could be considered that—World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), Ring of Honor (ROH), among other companies.

Unlike “real sports,” while there is money to be made in wrestling, some receive considerably less than others. A veteran like Triple H or The Undertaker may earn six figures via salary, merchandise, bonuses, etc.

Yet, a wrestler not signed to a major promotion might earn as much as a few thousand dollars to as low as a couple hundred, depending on their skills and drawing power.

Here’s something the average fan or non-fan probably doesn’t know. Most professional wrestlers, particularly WWE Superstars, do not receive health benefits.

Yes, performers who consistently put their bodies on the line in WWE do not receive any kind of medical insurance.

Now hold your horses. This column is not meant to bash WWE whatsoever. The company does pay for their workers’ surgeries, rehab, and majority of travel expenses to the best of my knowledge.

Some would argue that WWE views their performers as independent contractors due to being cheap. I wouldn’t go that far, but it is sad that wrestlers cannot receive pension, 401(k) benefits, and health insurance. Then again, wrestling, much like the music and movie industries I plan on immersing myself in are cutthroat businesses.

Whoever does not make the cut is quickly replaced, making competition that much greater, especially after the deaths of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), the last two serious threats to WWE’s stranglehold on the business.

Unfortunately, fans like me were able to overlook some of those flaws in wrestling because we’re fans. I mean who has time to worry about a wrestler’s benefits when Stone Cold Steve Austin is showering Vince McMahon with beer?

The reason I am even writing about these things is a result of something I am sick and tired of doing—watching my old tapes/DVDs and noticing that more often than not, the wrestlers featured in them are dead.

Here’s of a list of just some of the wrestlers featured in my cherished video collection that became deceased WAY TOO SOON:

• Crash Holly - 32
• Chris Candido - 33
• Test – 33
• Bobby Duncum Jr. - 34
• Owen Hart - 34
• Yokozuna - 34
• Big Dick Dudley - 34
• Brian Pillman - 35
• Pitbull #2 - 36
• The Wall/Malice - 36
• Eddie Guerrero - 38
• John Kronus - 38
• Davey Boy Smith - 39
• Chris Benoit - 40
• Rick Rude - 41
• Miss Elizabeth - 42
• Big Boss Man - 42
• Mike Awesome - 42
• Brian Adams (Crush) – 43
• Nancy Benoit (Woman) - 43
• Curt Hennig - 44
• Bam Bam Bigelow - 45
• Hawk - 46
• Rocco Rock - 49
• Sherri Martel - 49
  

I don’t know about you, but that is one eerie trend. Minus a couple people in that list like Owen Hart who died of a tragic fall, the majority of performers on that list died due to heart problems and/or drug use, whether the utilization was from the past or present at the time of the deaths. Some even committed suicide (Mike Awesome, Crash Holly).

That’s pretty damn sad. Within the last five years or so, I’ve lost some of my favorite wrestlers growing up—Eddie Guerrero, Curt Hennig (Mr. Perfect), British Bulldog (David Smith), Bam Bam Bigelow, and the now-infamous Chris Benoit. That’s pretty rough.

Don’t believe me?

Imagine all your childhood heroes outside family and friends dying years later. Imagine Superman or Batman passing away and tell me you wouldn’t have a bittersweet taste in your mouth every time you revisit your childhood.

Chris Benoit’s death was particularly tough for me because not only was one of my all-time favorite wrestlers dead, but now known as a murderer who I can never think fondly of for as long as I live.

Professional wrestling can be a deadly business. Performance enhancing drugs combined with painkillers, narcotics, and a wild lifestyle equal a deadly combination for wrestlers.

Some learn from their dangerous ways and change like “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels. Others change, but not before the damage has been already done (Eddie Guerrero).

WWE has taken steps to clean up the wrestling business with their Wellness Policy established in 2005, in addition to paying for ex-superstars rehab stays to those who need it. The company could have done more years ago, but then again, no one could have expected that wrestling could create a deadly epidemic.

No one could have also predicted that Chris Benoit, a man well-known within wrestling as a class act would murder his wife and young son, then proceed to kill himself. Steroids playing a part to Benoit’s rampage are still not accepted across the board nor should they be. Perhaps, fans and colleagues didn’t know the real Benoit.

What we do know is that after a study done on Benoit’s brain, it was discovered that his was equivalent to an 80-year-old Alzheimer’s patient. That doesn’t excuse the man from the inexcusable, but maybe if he didn’t take so many shots to the head during his matches, I would not be writing this at the moment.

The bottom line as Stone Cold Steve Austin would say is that as great of a form of entertainment professional wrestling is, it is an industry that can still improve.

Darren Arnofsky, director of The Wrestler and Requiem for a Dream, has even stated that wrestlers should be part of the Screen Actors’ Guild (SAG) since they are technically entertainers. Not a bad idea, Darren.

It is just sad to continue to hear about a wrestler dying. Personal responsibility should be exercised, but often times is not. Wrestlers, including those deceased that have been previously mentioned, have been willing to put their health on the line for money, fame, and superstardom.

After finding out about ex-WWE wrestler Andrew “Test” Martin’s death at the ripe old age of 33, I paused for a minute. He was the same wrestler that went on MySpace following Eddie Guerrero’s death in 2005, declaring that wrestling needed serious changes and that he would not be the “next to die.”

I didn’t blame him for going off back then. I mean the guy was released by WWE just two months after neck surgery. He also made very valid points. I was surprised when he was not only rehired in 2006, but released again in 2007—for a drug violation. Needless to say, I was a Test fan and shocked to read about his death over the weekend.

Sometimes I feel like I shouldn’t be shocked anymore. There are times when I feel afraid that I will become desensitized to all these deaths, even though I don’t want to be.

It is deaths like Test’s that make it hard for me to enjoy wrestling as much as I used to. I can’t help but wonder if this generation of wrestlers will end up like the last.

I hope for their sake they don’t. For every great wrestling moment I relive on video, there is a sense of sorrow, wondering why so many men and women in the primes of their lives died. I don’t have all the answers and neither does WWE.

Congress does have important things to worry about, but if 60 NFL players dropped dead in a 10-year span, then perhaps this would be on their list of investigations.

No matter what, it still comes down to personal responsibility. Wrestlers know what contracts they sign—and what is put into their bodies.

Malcolm X once said the price of freedom was death. I don’t think that should be the price of fame.

Fred "The F-Bomb" Richani is a columnist for The Sports Courier , 411Mania.com, and everythingyntk.com. Richani founded The Sports Courier in 2009. His work has been featured on CBS Sportsline, Pro Wrestling Torch, GOOGLE News, and USAToday.com . He has also interviewed Platinum-selling bands Blue October and OneRepublic. Richani currently resides between New York City and Philadelphia in Freehold, NJ.