Phil Mushnick is at it, again

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

The bottom line is that Mushnick is more on the ball about wrestling than a lot of other, supposedly more credible mainstream reporters. Dislike what he says if you want, but he's pretty much on the ball here, as he usually is when it comes to wrestling. If people were more willing to listen to him rather than let the automatic response to defend wrestling kick in, they'd realise that.

[BUTT 0]

Well, Muchnick has a vendetta and all, but sometimes he right.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

He's right here as well. But it seems like some people are having a hard time accepting it.

 

Meltzer posted this about an article Bob Ryder did that quoted what Mushnick said:

 

--I think Bob Ryder owes Phil Mushnick an enormous apology for both the misleading headline and misleading usage of his quote from his Sunday article. You know, it's bad when you take a guy who has been writing on this subject since before it was a subject, and try and make it out like he thought Guerrero's death wasn't important because he was a wrestler. In fact, his big complaint was that the rest of the media has ignored this subject because they were wrestlers and look at what the end result of turning this blind eye and being apologetic to wrestling without thinking has led to. Like him or not, he was the first major reporter to write on this subject and if there were more key people covering this story, the fact is, several of these deaths would have been averted because the pressure would have been on McMahon even more years ago. If you want to get mad at him, get mad at him for what he wrote and not twist his comments around to mislead your readers into "Isn't Phil Mushnick a horrible wrestling hating person" when there are subjects this week that he wrote about, and he's on the right side of, far more important.

 

Does anybody here know what Ryder said?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

The headline for the story on his site was :

 

MUSHNICK: "THEY'RE ONLY PRO WRESTLERS; IT'S NOT AS IF THEY'RE REAL PEOPLE"

[CanadianChris 0]

Pro wrestlers are commonly found dead in their hotel rooms. In fact, steroid-fortified WWF (now the WWE) star Brian Pillman, 33, was found dead in his hotel room in Minnesota in 1997.

 

If it's so common, why did he have to use a death from 8 years ago as his example?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Probably because it was the same city where Eddie died, trying to make the point that it's so common that it's now happened in the same city twice.

 

Other than a few (inconsequential) messed-up facts and some hyperbole, I don't see the problem with this article. It's certainly nowhere near sickening.

[Carnival 0]

So you guys are mad...because he pointed out something that was true, and a problem that was endemic to pro-wrestling?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

this man is right

[Special K 0]

Well, Ryder fucking sucks for that. And Eddie was probably gassing RECENTLY. And if Mushnick is a dumbass in general, so be it. If a monkey on a typewriter bangs out 'Hamlet', it's still worth reading.

[Guest NWO_Sucks]

SLAMJAMZ CENTRAL: AN OPEN LETTER TO PHIL MUSHNICK

by TC Kirkham @ 6:20:00 PM on 11/20/2005

 

It makes me SICK to my stomach to have to come to the defense of someone who I personally have no ill will against, but who I have virtually NO professional respect for, namely one Vince McMahon. But I'm going to do so because it seems as if no one else is willing to step up and do the job. So I'm going to.

 

To Phil Mushnick, columnist, New York Post:

 

I, along with my fiancée, have often wondered what exactly fuels your hatred of Vince McMahon, how you are continually allowed to write columns that border on libel against McMahon and others in the wrestling industry, and why you still have your job at the Post considering how many wrestling fans you have angered over the years. But today, you have sunk to an all-time low.

 

Your mindless tirade against the WWE over the past 15 years has been one-sided, full of factual errors, and it is clear to anyone who reads it that you are NOT the concerned columnist you claim to be, but a self-serving, overly righteous little man who strikes people when they are down.

 

As of the time I write this, there is NO PROOF that Eddie Guerrero was taking steroids at the time of his untimely passing one week ago. The man died of heart disease most likely brought on by years of hard living in his profession. No one - and I mean NO ONE - has claimed that Guerrero was a perfect man. By his own admission, he was NOT. But your attempt to tie his death in with your rant against steroids is premature at best, and if the toxicology report indicates otherwise, libelous at worst.

 

Many of the wrestlers that Eddie worked with have stated in public that they did NOT think Eddie was, as you put it, 'on the juice". And there is no such "industry-wide directive" to be on steroids. A close look at TNA, a federation you have NEVER to my knowledge mentioned in your columns, would show that. Many of the athletes in TNA simply do not have the "Juiced up" bodies that you claim are a necessity. Nor do they need to be. Many of the performers in TNA are on their way to becoming true superstars in the business, and most of them are looking to do so without using steroids.

 

And how DARE you sit back on your ivory column of a tabloid funded by Rupert Murdoch and pass judgment on Monday's tribute show. McMahon was not exploiting Eddie's death on that show. He was CELEBRATING EDDIE'S LIFE. McMahon's performers had to go out on stage and tape two television shows less than 12 hours after one of their closest friends and fellow performers died unexpectedly. What would you have them do? Cancel a week's worth of TV because of it? Or try to go on and IGNORE IT? Monday's "desensitizing" WWE Raw, and Friday evening's "Smackdown" were a real glimpse inside the profession. How can you sit there and claim that McMahon was exploiting Guerrero's death after watching WWE Superstar Chris Benoit try to put into words the loss he was feeling? It wasn't exploitation to ANYONE who is a true FAN of wrestling. Did YOU cry when you heard the news of Eddie's passing, Mr. Mushnick? No? Well I DID. So did my fiancée. So did the thousands of people who were at the joint Raw/Smackdown taping. And SO DID HIS FRIENDS. Including Chris Benoit. Here is one of the most respected wrestlers in the history of the sport, trying to get his own grief under control, publicly declaring the deep love he had for Guerrero, and not ashamed of bursting into tears as he struggled with the deep pain in his heart. How cold it is for you to sit back and mash 70+ people's feelings into a line or two of your column and call it "exploitation"? You are a cold, heartless, worthless BASTARD, Mushnick.

 

The FANS needed support too. The millions of fans who loved Eddie Guerrero and thought of him as a friend, even though most of them probably had never met the man. I was one of those fans. And seeing Benoit, as well as many other WWE Superstars, and the WWE management such as Stephanie, Shane, and Vince McMahon, baring their souls to try and express their feelings to the camera, because THEY KNEW that the FANS were also grieving, and in seeing the pain of Eddie's closest friends, the millions of Guerrero fans out there had someone they could relate to. Together, as painful as it was, the WWE Superstars banded together to bare all, and show their grief to the world, and in doing so, began helping the fans to heal also.

 

What kind of true courage did it take to be Chavo Guerrero Jr. last Sunday? Chavo, who had already dealt with the overly suspicious press at a press conference on the subject, who had been the one to find his uncle/brother on the floor of his hotel bathroom? Chavo braved the cameras like everyone else, and surely if someone could have been excused from doing so, it was Chavo. But he was there, because he knew that Eddie would have wanted him to. Because he knew that the fans were concerned about him too. Could YOU have done the same thing, Mushnick? I sincerely doubt it.

 

And to imply, as you did in the last five paragraphs of your column, that McMahon LIKES it when his wrestlers drop dead - you have hit an all time low, and I hope WWE Entertainment files suit against NewsCorp for your slanderous remarks, because someone needs to take the New York Post and Rupert Murdoch to the cleaners for those kinds of heinous slams.

 

What exactly IS your motivation for fifteen long years of hatred, Mr. Mushnick? Are you a frustrated pro wrestler who washed out of pro wrestling school? Are you the son of a long forgotten pro (or would be pro) wrestler who hated how the business treated your father, or how your father treated you? Did you once work for Titan Sports in some capacity and get fired for some reason or another? What the hell IS your motivation? Why do you hate Vince McMahon and all WWE-connected wrestlers, but never ever include other wrestling federations in your litigious litany of accusations and slander? WHAT THE HELL IS IT?

 

I can pretty much guarantee it's NOT because you're a "concerned columnist". Your shabby record pretty much proves that. Perhaps it's because you know you can grab a few brownie points with the boss for writing an ultra-inflammatory column - after all, you write for the worst-written, most untrustworthy newspaper this side of London's lie-filled Daily Mirror, which is, surprise, ALSO a Murdoch-owned "newspaper". Or perhaps you like to cause pain and suffering to innocent people, such as Eddie's widow and their three children, and the rest of his family - what you have to say so shortly after his passing is certainly not meant to comfort them, or offer them your sympathy. The REAL truth of the matter is this - you, Sir (and I use that term VERY loosely), and the paper you work for, are both more of a sleaze merchant that Vince McMahon could ever hope to be. You are both the kind that takes the pain and suffering of millions of people - family, friends, and fans - and uses it to rationalize your own venomous, hate-filled agenda, whatever it may be.

 

No, Mr. Mushnick. It's NOT Vince McMahon who is exploiting the death of one of the most-talented, most-loved wrestlers on the planet.

 

You Are.

 

 

Sincerely,

 

TC Kirkham

SlamJamz Central

 

***

 

And on that note, readers.....let the New York Post and Phil Mushnick know you're FED UP and aren't going to take it anymore. You can write the editor and the publisher of the Post at [email protected]. And I sincerely hope you all do. Because Mushnik and his irrational hatred of all things WWE - owners, performers and FANS - has to STOP. NOW.

 

REPRISE THE THEME SONG AND ROLL THE CREDITS!

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

I take it that 'TC' chose to ignore that, apart from being a little vehement, Mushnick was, as he almost always is with wrestling, right on the money?

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

How much does a clue cost?

 

We should start a fund.

[The Niggardly King 0]

I hear they go for about 3 payments of $19.95 these days.

[World's Worst Man 0]

Are people so blinded by fandom that they can't admit a guy was on the juice? Seriously, what the hell? Guerrero talking steroids doesn't make him any less of a wrestler, so there's no point in getting defensive about his steroid use.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

Is Sally Struthers available?

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Are people so blinded by fandom that they can't admit a guy was on the juice? Seriously, what the hell? Guerrero talking steroids doesn't make him any less of a wrestler, so there's no point in getting defensive about his steroid use.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Wrestling fans are so used to getting attacked that it tends to prevent them from seeing that the other guy is right. Mushnick is right on this one. But you'll get few people around here able or willing to admit that.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

I thought "And there is no such "industry-wide directive" to be on steroids." was the height of the dumbfuckery.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

You actually read that crap?

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

You have no idea how hard it was.

[CanadianChris 0]

Did the poster write that, or just copy it? I want to see what level of cluelessness I'm dealing with.

[LessonInMachismo 0]

My letter to Meltzer:

 

Dave:

 

I don't quite understand the reasoning behind the ire that folks like yourself and Phil Mushnick direct towards Vince McMahon and the WWE in regards to substance abuse in WWE.  Substance abuse is a personal choice.  Brian Pillman, Eddie Guerrero and others were responsible for their own deaths.  Nobody forced them to enter the pro wrestling business and nobody forced them to take painkillers, steroids and other drugs -- especially mixed with alcohol.  The fact that the pro wrestling business is a competitive environment is a well known fact.  But it cannot be said that all top talent for the past ten years have been drug abusers.  This suggests that there is a different path.  As difficult as it may be to tread, it certainly exists.

 

Could a drug testing policy mandated by WWE have averted these deaths?  Possibly.  Should the lack of said policy be blamed for the deaths?  Certainly not.  Eddie Guerrero was fired once for substance abuse.  WWE did its job in that regard.  The Fortune 500 company that I work for would give me the same option: Get out of here until you can clean yourself up.  And clean himself up Eddie did, earning him his job back.  But the damage had already been done.  Eddie Guerrero died due to bad personal choices, the first of which was probably getting into the pro wrestling business.  I enjoyed the man's work and feel for his family, but the plain fact is that WWE canot be blamed for his death.

 

The new drug policy is probably a good idea, but to me that's neither here nor there.  WWE isn't my company and I have no personal stake in its successes or lack therof.  Neither does Phil Mushnick.  Or even Dave Meltzer.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Dave replied to your later:

 

Does the Fortune 500 company you work for offer you a gigantic financial incentive for looking like a professional bodybuilder or is it well known if you are among the best in the world at your craft (Eddie Guerrero, 1994), that your company wouldn't hire you because you don't look like such? That's where your logic falls apart. By this standard, there should have been no reason for coal mining companies to worry about the health of its employees. After all, nobody forced them to go into those mines. And as far as top talent not using drugs, name one major money making piece of talent in WWE over the past ten years who was Guerrero's size, 5-7, who was totally clean? That suggests there really may not have been a different path.

[Guest Brian]

Anyone know how close Meltz and Eddie were, because he seems to be getting more and more pissed at the WWEpolgists with every new article or letter.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Anyone know how close Meltz and Eddie were, because he seems to be getting more and more pissed at the WWEpolgists with every new article or letter.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

He was closer to Pillman than Eddie, but he was at Eddie's funeral.