Just Blame Vince McMahon: An Assessment of the Media Treatment of Pro Wrestling

(Photo by Jeff Gentner/Getty Images)

Steroid scandals. Liability lawsuits. Predatory condemnations by the Parents Television Council. 

Cold, hard statistics on the number of professional wrestlers who have died are referenced and exploited by media sharks honing in on the bloodied eye of a profitable branch of the entertainment industry.

The easy response to the latest tragedy is to censure Vincent Kennedy McMahon, World Wrestling Entertainment Chairman; to decry the so-called barbaric schedule that the business demands from its performers and deplore the content of professional wrestling.

Yet, it is questionable as to how the blame and the criticism can be laid solely at the feet of one man. 

Provided facts, statistics, and context, can Vince McMahon truly be convicted as the perpetrator of the ills and misfortunes of professional wrestling?

Further, is professional wrestling an island unto itself in the tumultuous sea of immoral content and tragic losses?

Mick Foley, known in the wrestling world as the Hardcore Legend and a New York Times best-selling author on multiple occasions, does not believe that the negative media attention is fully warranted, nor is Vince McMahon deserving of the vilification he often receives.

Neither do I.

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