WWE's "Wrestlers Are Just Addicted to Playstation" Talking Point: Valid in 2011?

The otherwise universally praised ESPN E:60 profile of Scott Hall (viewable on YouTube) has been widely criticized for a statement about the current generation of wrestlers by reporter Shaun Assael at the start of the piece.  In the context of WWE re-instituting random drug testing in 2006 and the current generation of wrestlers theoretically being completely clean:

"These days, you look around, the biggest addiction for most wrestlers is Playstation."

Regardless of what you feel is accurate, it's disappointing to see a mainstream reporter buy into a transparent oft-used WWE talking point like "wrestlers don't even drink now, they just play video games," much less phrase it so offensively.  It becomes mind-boggling when you realize that Assael is the author of a pretty scathing book about WWE, an ESPN Magazine article about the Congressional investigation into WWE and a book about anabolic steroids in sports.

WWE would be a lot better off if they didn't try to distort the truth so much.  I guess they feel that anything closer to the truth indicts them or pro wrestling in general too much due to the nature of bump taking.  As it is now, it's not hard to poke holes in that defensive corporate speak that Assael embarrassingly bought into.

Now, I want to make something clear: This article is not about blaming WWE for wrestlers' drug problems.  My points are:

1. WWE needs to stop pretending that recreational substance abuse and addiction has completely disappeared among the wrestlers who have worked for them in the last decade or so.
2. Shaun Assael should know better.

Anyway, we could argue all day about when the "current generation" of wrestling started.  I suppose that fair line in the sand would be the sale of World Championship Wrestling's assets in March 2001 to the company now known as WWE.

When WWE bought WCW, they decided to fire the majority of the developmental wrestlers in Memphis Championship Wrestling and cut ties with the promotion.  The WCW wrestlers not being used on the main roster and the remaining six Memphis-based wrestlers were sent to the Cincinnati, Ohio-based Heartland Wrestling Association, which replaced MCW as in the developmental hierarchy.

The six wrestlers who weren't cut were Russ and Charlie Haas, Kimo (Matt "Rosey" Anoa'i), his cousin and tag team partner Ekmo (Eddie "Jamal/Umaga" Fatu), Lance Cade, and Steve Bradley.  A decade later, only Charlie Haas and Matt Anoa'i are still alive.

Russ Haas had a heart attack six months after the sale and died after another one three months after that.  It's generally believed that a previously undiagnosed and long-standing heart problem was the cause.  His brother Charlie, Fatu and Cade found his body and went on to become best friends.

Bradley was a New England independent mainstay who was signed in 1998 and considered the best wrestler in the developmental system for pretty much his whole stint there.  Kurt Angle even credits him as one of the wrestlers who taught him the most.

For whatever reason (some say he was to be WWE's Rob Van Dam and got lost in the shuffle when Van Dam was signed in Summer 2001), Bradley was never called up to the main roster and was released in 2002.  He went back home to open up a wrestling school and promotion, but they eventually failed.  On Dec. 4, 2008, he committed suicide by overdose in his car while it was parked in the lot adjacent to the school.

Exactly one year later, Eddie "Umaga" Fatu died of multiple drug toxicity from the combined effects of carisprodol (Soma), diazepam (Valium), and hydrocodone.  He had been fired from WWE about six months earlier when he failed a drug test and refused to go to rehab.  WWE had been looking to rehire him even though he had reportedly been in bad shape when working on the Hulkamania Tour in Australia a week or so earlier.

Lance Cade died of a drug overdose about eight months later on Aug. 13, 2010.  He had been fired from WWE twice in less than two years for drug-related issues.

In October 2008, Cade was let go after having a drug-induced seizure on an airplane.  After 11 months in American independent promotions and Japanese comedy promotion Hustle, he was re-signed and reported to Florida Championship Wrestling.

While in FCW, Cade tried to detox himself from painkillers and found that he was unable to without taking sleeping pills.  Once he was off the painkillers, he became addicted to the sleeping pills and voluntarily approached WWE about going to rehab.  He successfully completely a 30-day program in February 2010 and was fired two months later.

Cade felt that contrary to WWE policy, he was punished for asking for help. He said in interviews that he was lectured about how he ruined his chance and would never get re-hired when he was given the news about his release.  He died four months later on August 13 from complications of multiple drug toxicity.

Two thirds of this group of six friends and colleagues is dead.  Only one death has been determined to be due to natural causes; the others due to various forms of overdoses.  It doesn't stop there.

Andrew "Test" Martin's body was found Mar. 13. 2009, after he died of an oxycodone overdose the previous day.  He was a WWE mainstay for years, with runs from 1999 to 2004 and 2006 to 2007.

His first run ended when he was fired while recovering from spinal fusion surgery, an unusual move in a company where wrestlers are rarely fired while recovering from injuries.  It could be argued that his firing sent a message that could encourage dangerously early returns from injuries and excessive painkiller use among the wrestlers.

Plenty of living wrestlers of this generation had severe substance abuse problem:

• Kurt Angle and Carlito Colon were both reportedly fired by WWE for refusing to go to rehab for painkiller addiction.  Both denied it publicly, though Angle did admit to having a drug problem.
• Randy Orton recently admitted in a radio interview and on his DVD release that, as had been rumored for years, he overdosed on sleeping pills in 2006.  He tried to hide it, but by chance, it became known in the wrestling business.  Officially, WWE investigated it and couldn't find anything conclusive.
• Jeff Hardy was arrested on drug charges two weeks after he left WWE in 2009 when he accepted a package sent to him by a fan who offered to send him painkillers when they met at a WWE event.  Drug abuse was the suspected cause of the erratic behavior that got Jeff's brother Matt fired by WWE last year, and that was effectively confirmed when Matt admitted he had a problem and entered rehab after a string of recent arrests.
• Chris Jericho and Gregory Helms got into a drunken fight in Kentucky in January 2010, leading to their arrests.  Helms was fired a month later.  Jericho had been arrested for drunk driving in between his WWE runs and was forced to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
• Way too many younger WWE wrestlers (usually based in Tampa, Florida, home of developmental promotion Florida Championship Wrestling and a big party scene) have been arrested for drunk driving.  The most recent was Jimmy Uso.
• Travis Tomko, who worked for WWE from 2002 to 2006 and 2008 to 2009, was arrested a week and a half ago for robbing three bottles oxycodone from a pharmacy.  According to the police report, he was found in a Chili's Restaurant restroom with blood running down his arms after he melted down and injected 178 of the stolen pills.
• Dave Meltzer reported this week that at one point in recent years, Tuesday, the night of Smackdown tapings, was referred to by many in WWE as "coke night."  A group of wrestlers big enough for the nickname to catch on (but far from a majority of the crew) was using cocaine then since drug tests are generally at TV tapings and cocaine clears the body in three days.
• On a related note, on and off WWE wrestler Jimmy Yang admitted during an interview with Highspots (during which he constantly sniffed and scratched his nose) that his June 9, 2008 WWE Talent Wellness Program suspension was for failing a drug test for cocaine.  Yang explained that he partook in use of the drug while celebrating his birthday.  His birthday, May 13th, was on a Tuesday that year.

I think that's enough for now.  There may be more I'm forgetting, but you get the point.  Wrestlers today are not all clean-living kids who have no vice bigger than video games.

WWE has absolutely done some good in offering free rehab to all formerly contracted wrestlers and referees, among other things.  They have also acted questionably, like when they didn't discipline Jeff Hardy after he was refused boarding on a plane while drunk, among other things.  It's not black and white.

As for Shaun Assael...I have no idea what else to say other than that he should know better.