During a recent NFL game between the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals, play was stopped to attend to Bills safety Damar Hamlin. Hamlin went into cardiac arrest on the field of play, and was taken away in an ambulance. The incident moved Ric Flair to comment on the insensitivity of the pro wrestling business.
Speaking on Booker T’s Hall of Fame podcast, the sixteen-time world champ discussed the brutal nature of pro wrestling, and said that wrestlers themselves are why no unions exist. You can read highlights of his comments below:
What makes wrestling so insensitive as a business: “The other night we witnessed a real tragedy with a football player, and the NFL made the most awesome call I’ve ever seen watching the NFL. They stopped the game .. and they actually gave that young man so much respect and his family, and they made themselves look good. In our business, when guys are jumping off a goddamn top rope on tables, ladders, chairs, somebody gets hurt, show goes on. It’s the most insensitive business in the world.”
Why there aren’t any wrestling unions: “We would’ve been replaced, number one. Then blackballed, number two. Don’t think you can’t be replaced. Everybody could be replaced. It’s our own fault we don’t have that. But I mean, it’s not one person that makes these decisions. We have ourselves to blame for it.”
