Recent trend of wrestlers dying young disturbing, sad

December 5, 2005 —

On November 13, World Wrestling Entertainment superstar Eddie Guerrero was found dead in his hotel room. The cause of death was acute heart failure - likely the result of overwork and past drug abuse.

His death was unexpected, as he had cleaned up his life in recent years and was in the prime of his career.

His death was tragic because he was one of the most popular wrestlers in WWE, in and out of the ring.

But a more disturbing thought comes to mind after the death of Latino Heat - more and more wrestlers are dying at an extremely young age.

In the past ten years, wrestling fans have lost Owen Hart, the British Bulldog, Mr. Perfect, the Big Boss Man, Road Warrior Hawk, "Ravishing" Rick Rude, Crash Holly, Yokozuna, Chris Candido (better known as Skip from the Bodydonnas), and even Miss Elizabeth.

The oldest of those listed was Hawk, who was 46 at the time of his death. That is 10 years younger than the active Intercontinental Champion, Ric Flair.

So what is causing all of these wrestlers to die so young? With the exception of Yokozuna, these were not the typical overweight, heart-attack-waiting-to-happen wrestlers that were so common in the early nineties.

And only one death, that of Owen Hart, can be attributed to an in-ring accident.

The next logical answer would be drugs, and a quick look at autopsy results proves this to be true in most cases.

As I already mentioned, it was well known that drugs ruled a portion of Guerrero's life. At least six others had similar problems that contributed to their deaths.

This raises another question - why do so many wrestlers turn to drugs? Is it because of the wear on their bodies? Or is it, perhaps, the amount of time they must spend on the road? A recent interview with Christian revealed that spending nearly 300 days a year on the road contributed to his departure from WWE. So maybe the typical wrestler's schedule is just too much to handle - or at least, too much to handle without drugs.

Of course, cocaine and other drugs of that nature are not the only substances being abused by wrestlers. One look at a picture of the British Bulldog will tell you that steroids likely played some part in his death. Hawk was also an admitted steroid user. And Crash Holly choked to death on his own vomit, but that's another story.

The point is that the life expectancy for professional wrestlers is getting lower and lower. There was a time when wrestlers lived long enough to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. Wrestlers like "Classy" Freddie Blassie and The Sheik lived well into their seventies. Mike "Crash Holly" Lockwood died at 32.

So while I sit and watch Smackdown! on Friday nights and remember all of the great Eddie Guerrero matches I have been lucky enough to see, I will also be secretly worrying about which of my favorite superstars will be the next to go.

Instead of enjoying a classic Funaki interview, I will be thinking, "Should I get attached to Ken Kennedy?" Instead of watching Match 3 in the best-of-7 United States Championship series, I will wonder, "How old is Booker T again?"

Eddie Guerrero will certainly be missed. I just hope that his death is the last in a series of tragic losses in the wrestling industry.