Is The WWE’s Safe Working Environment Really Any Safer?

DWI’s DPP examines the “safer” style the WWE attempts to employ.

Dan Phelan
Aug 22, 2017 · 5 min read

The current era of the WWE’s product is all about working “safe” in the ring. Vince McMahon has limited superstars’ move sets to protect the talent. We see this heavily in the cruiserweight division. When you watch Ring of Honor, and see the acrobatics that some of their wrestlers perform, you wonder why the WWE superstars can’t do the same thing. Well, it’s because they are held back from doing many of these moves by the WWE brass, in an attempt to protect everyone in the ring, and keep the talent healthy. Working smarter not harder, to sell spots more and work less. This is the WWE’s stance, whether you like it or not. And they are ok with this. WWE is not just about in ring wrestling. They are in the entertainment business. Ring of Honor and New Japan, they are in the wrestling business. There is a difference.

From what I have seen over the years watching the different products, how much safer is WWE’s style of in ring work than anywhere else? How many injuries have piled up on the roster of talent? We’ve had multiple champions relinquish their titles because of injuries. WrestleMania 32 in Dallas was plagued with missing superstars because of injuries. Cena, Orton, Rollins, Bryan, Cesaro, Neville, Harper, Sting, Nikki Bella, and Tyson Kidd all missed what was the largest attendance and revenue receiving WWE show to date.

Let’s take a look at just some of the other injuries over the past few years.

  • Bayley — Separated Shoulder
  • Dash Wilder — Broken Jaw
  • Scott Dawson — Bicep Tendon Tear immediately after re-debut from Wilder’s injury
  • Seth Rollins — Torn ACL, relinquished title, missed WM 32; Then re-injured knee before WM33, but was cleared before the event
  • Naomi — Hyper-extended knee in match winning her first Women’s Title, forced to relinquish title two days later, almost missed WM33
  • Finn Balor — Torn labrum, relinquished newly won, and first ever, Universal Title the next night
  • Daniel Bryan — Concussions, relinquished title, forced to retire
  • John Cena — Missed WM 32 with shoulder surgery
  • Nikki Bella — Neck surgery
  • Cesaro — Torn rotator cuff, missed WM 32
  • Tyson Kidd — Neck injury forced him to retire
  • Sting — Neck injury force him to retire
  • Randy Orton — Shoulder injury, missed WM 32
  • Bray Wyatt — Calf injury, missed WM 32
  • Neville — Fractured ankle, missed WM 32
  • Hideo Itami — Shoulder injury, complications caused over a year absence

Since I wrote this before the weekend, we now have additional injuries to add to the list. Big Cass looks to have an ACL injury. And the biggest one to date, Asuka suffered a broken collarbone at the NXT Takeover event this weekend.

If you remember these injuries, some of them are from routine moves in the ring, nothing that would be considered “risky.” Is this due to the workload schedule for the superstars? The brand split should have alleviated some of this pressure, and the strain of travel and wear on the body reduced. Schedules in the other companies like Ring of Honor may look lighter, but take into consideration all the independent shows these wrestlers are working during the time they are not working their main show? We have many RoH stars make the rounds here in our local independent shows all the time. Their travel and work schedule may not be that of WWE, but it’s still significant. The Beer City Bruiser himself is a head trainer and mainstay for Brew City Wrestling in his hometown of Milwaukee.

Wrestlers are certainly having more in ring action than they did 20 years ago. However, training and medicine has come a long way since then, and athletes are stronger than ever. A higher amount of gimmick matches in the current era doesn’t help as well. A higher amount of crashing through ladders and tables, and wrestling in cages isn’t going to return favorable health. And if you know me, I am not a fan of PPV specific gimmick shows. They need to be spread out more and be made more special when they are used. If you are allowed to do more in the ring, you don’t need gimmicks to make it a spectacle.

We certainly don’t need a hundred high spots every match. Some matches don’t require a high spot at all. The problem is that we start to see the same moves being performed in every match, and it gets tedious to watch. There used to be a time when you didn’t see the same move being used twice in a single event, because you didn’t want to duplicate what the other talent was doing. Now, with so many restrictions, you don’t have a choice. I’m all for a good superkick party once in a while, and a suicide dive here and there, but I don’t want to see them every match. Are we sacrificing too much in the WWE in regards to in ring action? Can’t we give some of these guys and girls a more robust move set to work with so that we can get a little more variety in the matches?

I would definitely like to see the WWE let the reigns (no pun intended) loose a little bit. Why not? Can we make some of the in ring action a little more entertaining? 205 Live is falling apart. If they would at least let the cruiserweights show some of the acrobatics they can really do, it may help elevate the brand from obscurity. Right now, NXT is the place to go if you want to watch amazing in ring wrestling, and Raw and Smackdown PPV’s are the place for entertainment and spectacle. The main shows should have both. I look forward to the Saturday NXT specials more than the PPV’s on Sunday’s because the action is better. There is plenty of talent across the board in the WWE capable of putting on an incredible, match of the year worthy, performance at every PPV.

I certainly don’t have all the statistics here, and the arguments from both sides are going to have strong meaning. Maybe it is safer overall? Maybe they’re were more injuries back in the day and we just didn’t hear about it since there was no internet, or the superstars hid it more. But the times have changed and I’m ready to give this era a chance to shine even brighter in the ring. I know they are held back, but there used to be a feeling of competition to go out there, put on a match, and say to everyone else, “Try and top that!” I miss those days. I am certainly all for safety, but at what price?

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Dan Phelan

Written by

DWI Wrestling Podcast Host

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