In American Indie Wrestling, Bodies Are Cheap And Healthcare Is Not

June 5, 2023 5:59 AM

This is the gamble every wrestler makes: that someday he or she might be the one flat on their back watching the world collapse upon them. Everyone knows this. Everyone’s seen it. Nobody stops working. (archive.today link)
posted by Etrigan (3 comments total)

As a Canadian, I can confirm that while for the most part our healthcare system does not result in people ending up with huge medical debts, you can often be waiting a long time to get non-critical care.

This fact is exploited by politicians as part of their rhetoric…with the predictable result that our single-payer system never seems to improve.

As a casual wrestling fan who was really into it in my late teens and early 20’s, it never crossed my mind back then that they ended up seriously injured EVER. Ignorance is bliss. It was all fake, right?

As a side note, my family doctor in the early 1980’s led organized protests against the full control of reimbursement of medical services by the Ontario government. If my memory is correct she eventually closed her practice and started a private health organization outside of the single-payer system. She was the only doctor I had ever seen come to a house when my dad suffered a horrible work injury (blew out 3 discs in his back).
posted by grmpyprogrammer at 7:44 AM on June 5, 2023 [2 favorites]

I feel like we're living through a boomlet in articles examining parts of American society that are just completely broken through the lens of pro wrestling, and I am totally here for it--thanks for posting!
posted by box at 8:29 AM on June 5, 2023 [2 favorites]

This was a pretty depressing read, and reminded me a lot of Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler, which was also about someone who was working these small-time indie circuit shows, and whose body was breaking down.
posted by Halloween Jack at 10:14 AM on June 5, 2023