American Indy Scene’s Fate Tied to…Roger Goodell?

This past week, Congress took time off from continuing a 228 year tradition of doing everything it can to screw over its own nation to focus some of its attention on…the National Football League.

The topic at hand? Long term ramifications of multiple concussions and other high impact head traumas on players and whether or not the NFL knows anything about it, and whether or not they’re going to do anything to alleviate the situation.

To be honest, the entire proceeding was short (bureaucratically speaking) and thoroughly interesting. Congress pressed NFL Commissioner Goodell on what the league knows about the long term effects that the repeated high impact, head-to-head collisions so commonplace in the sport of American Football have on its players.

Goodell Image Credit: SI.com

Playing “Company Man” as best he could without trying to take on the U.S. Government, Goodell gave in when Congress essentially strong armed him into releasing the medical records of its retired players, and then began pleading the fifth as best he could. The jist of Goodell’s defense? The League has not done any sort of proper medical study on the matter, and neither has any university done one on any football players to the league’s knowledge.

On a purely technical stand point, Goodell is perfectly right. While there is an awe inspiring amount of empirical evidence compiled to support the claim that long term effects are devastating (a fact he halfheartedly, kind of, sort of, admitted to), there has never been a study done by the NFL on its players, nor has any reputable–or even irreputable for that matter–medical establishment ever done an independent study of league players in conjunction with the league (nor has the NFL ever had any reason to do one or cooperate with an independent one).

Ladies and Gentlemen, that will change, but just how in the Sam Hill does this editor of The Wrestling Daily plan to tie any of this in with the American Independent Wrestling Scene?

For one, all any of these people have to do to get a great starting point is go to any wrestling promoter who has any sort of a spine his body and say “Do wrestlers often suffer long term damage from repeated head trauma?” Assuming they are both moderately informed about the physical ramifications of their own business and are not exceedingly massive liars, their answer will be a blunt “yes.”

From there, all one needs to begin researching long term effects of repeated massive head trauma on humans is to have access to Google and the ability to type “wrestler head medical study” into the search prompt to begin pulling up results of studies on the very subject at hand from world renowned institutions ranging from domestic locations like West Virginia,  to major national research centers in countries like Japan. The point is that thanks to years of wrestling have to already investigate this problem the information is already well under way of being researched, Goodell just got off on a technicality.

What’s important to note is that now that Government is involved, the boys with the helmets are going to be forced to admit their players’ brains get turned into a fine puree after a while; if you don’t believe that statement, just ask Verne Gagne if that’s what happens over time. The point is that when that day comes: Law suits will happen, and reparations will be getting paid.

Yes, friends, even though one might think it would be understood via common sense that repeatedly headbutting another large, angry man for a minimum of 16 hours a week for an average of 5 years just isn’t the safest of occupations, the NFL is going to get studied, going to get investigated afterward, and is going to pay out massive amounts of money. Bank on it.

That’s where the real gaze of the American Independent scene should be affixed, because law suits like the one the NFL is going to get slapped with are funny in that they tend to spread and in this case it won’t be hard to do so. Once one group of people figures out that using your head as a battering ram causes severe damage, it won’t take long for a second to pick up the proverbial torch. In this case, that second group is wrestling.

After lawyers are done carving up the NFL, they can and will go after the wrestling promotions–which by the way, have the exact same history of head trauma and symptoms as football. There will be carnage.

A Massive Independent Wrestling Turnout (Image Credit: The Snake Man Devin Michaels)

However, it is at this point that the similarities between Indies and the NFL end. You see, the NFL is a multi-gazillion dollar global behemoth that could buy baseball if it really wanted to and still be well above the line of economic solvency.

In stark contrast to that, most independent promotions in the United States are lucky to draw a few hundred fans–that’s if they’re a major indy–and even bounce checks to their own employees, sometimes with an astoundingly high frequency of occurrence.

When those suits spread–and remember, it is a matter of when and not if–the wrestling world had better get ready.

WWE will survive because it has the assets.

TNA will probably come out ahead because it just doesn’t have the history required to have more than one or two legitimate cases.

ROH is in essentially the same boat as TNA.

Independent promotions are a bit different. Many have been around for some time now, and many have had wrestlers spend significant portions of their careers in them. When the suits come, indies better be ready for one hell of a storm, because they can and will be hit from all sides.

Granted, some of the suits will never make it to court. Some will get thrown out, and a few will go to a verdict, but in favor of the promoters. However, it’s those few that will go in favor of talents that–mark my words–will have a great chance of killing the independent wrestling scene as we currently know it in America.

What their survival hinges on is if the Supreme Court decides that the NFL can have a structured, long term, pay out plan or not. (Yes, this is where this is most likely headed, and yes, that is the decision most promoters should be hoping for.)

Is any of this going to happen right away? Probably not, but it’s going to happen and it’s going to happen soon…more than likely within the next 5 years.

Promoters who want to prepare now will probably survive the ordeal. Those who want to hide behind their often flimsy contracts and stick fingers in their ears aren’t making a counter point, all they’re doing it proving they’re not man enough to take their heads out of the sand, and face what’s going to eventually come for them.

Ray Bogusz is the editor of The Wrestling Daily and is 1/3 of the group formerly known as “The Mega Jerks.” He thinks you should follow TWD on its Facebook page and on its Twitter.