Wrestling's Painful Dark Side

The popularity of professional wrestling is undeniable.

Millions of fans look forward to annual extravaganzas like WrestleMania and pack arenas to see their favorite heroes and villains go at it in the ring. 

Since its debut in 1985, Wrestlemania has featured appearances by everyone from Aretha Franklin and Muhammad Ali to Pamela Anderson, Kid Rock and the current president of the United States, who's a long-time friend of World Wrestling Entertainment owner Vince McMahon. Fox signed a $1 billion, five-year deal with the WWE for rights to air Smackdown starting this fall.

The WWE (previously the WWF) has also proved an impressive launchpad for stardom outside the ringt, too, with WWE icon Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson now one of the highest-paid actors in Hollywood, Dave Bautista a beloved member of the Marvel Universe and John Cena proving he's a comic heavyweight, too, in movies like Trainwreck and Blockers. On the flip side, after retiring from UFC, Ronda Rousey is now enjoying a second chapter as a WWE star.

But also deniable is the fact that wrestlers, no matter how staged or carefully choreographed the action is, put their bodies at risk every time they enter the ring—as many athletes do, only with the guarantee that they'll be doing outrageous stunts.

Owen Hart was 33 when he died after an equipment malfunction caused him to fall 78 feet during his ring entrance during WWF's Over the Edge pay-per-view event in 1999.

The WWF settled a lawsuit filed by the family for a reported $18 million in 2000. Meanwhile, the show had continued, and when it was re-aired for the first time 15 years later on the WWE Network, Owen was entirely edited out of the broadcast.






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