Professional Wrestlers Are Dying to Entertain Us

Why do so many professional wrestlers die young? Why does WWE not seem to care?

Many pro-wrestlers die at the height of their careers.

It’s a sad reality of the “Sports Entertainment” industry.

The heavy knocks on the body, doing multiple shows a week year-round, the steroids and recreational drug abuse living like a 1980s rockstar…

This lifestyle often results in performers dying young — many of pro wrestling’s biggest names have passed away in their 30s, 40s, or 50s.

In this article, we explore why so many pro-wrestlers die young.

I also list some of professional wrestling’s biggest names that died under the age of 40 or 50.

If you grew up watching pro wrestling, you might be surprised as to how many of your childhood wrestling idols have passed away at a young age.

The high mortality rate of pro-wrestlers

Pro-wrestling is a multi-billion dollar industry.

Some of its biggest stars became household names across the globe, earning them millions of dollars and the hearts of millions of fans.

However, it comes at a price.

It’s an occupational hazard to be a pro wrestler.

One very sad instance comes from 1999, when WWE wrestler Owen Hart died in the ring live on air (off-camera) after a stunt went horribly wrong, sending him falling 50 feet from the arena rafters into the ring.

Death by accident is just one of the multiple causes of the premature death of pro-wrestlers. Other common ways pro-wrestlers die young are drug overdoses, heart issues, suicide, and even murder.

A 2014 study from the University of Eastern Michigan looked at the data from 557 regularly employed male professional wrestlers active between 1985 and 2011. They examined the mortality rate, finding that the mortality rate of professional wrestlers was up to 2.9 times greater than that of men in the general United States population.

“Wrestlers between the ages of 25 and 49 were 4.5 times more likely to die than the general population.” — Herman et al., 2014

In a 2014 article, blogger Benjamin Morris compiled the stats of pro wrestler deaths and compared them to the general population (statistics from the Social Security Administration). The death rates of wrestlers were much higher than you’d expect — for some age groups, the mortality rates were over five times higher.

In a follow-up blog by Benjamin Morris, he compared the WWE’s Death Rate to that of the NFL and other US-based pro leagues using ESPN’s athlete bio database (baseball, basketball and hockey). The sampled athletes must have competed in at least five seasons.

The mortality rate for professional wrestlers was significantly higher than the pro sports athletes.

He found that of those wrestlers aged between 50 and 55 years in 2010, 20% of them had died. In comparison, fewer than 5% of athletes from pro sports in the same age group had died.

A dangerous industry

Although choreographed with pre-determined outcomes, pro wrestling is very physical, taking a hefty toll on a professional wrestler’s body throughout their career.

There is no off-season for wrestlers, meaning they wrestle year-round. Many wrestlers also have a very high workload, often working 1–2 shows a week or even more, meaning that 100–200 shows a year isn’t uncommon.

Thus, there is regular wear and tear on wrestlers’ bodies and no real recovery time.

As well as the physical damage to wrestlers’ bodies, there is a lot of mental damage to wrestlers. Many turn to drugs and alcohol to help them deal with the aches and pains, the constant life on the road, and their high-profile public image.

“The premature deaths in active professional wrestlers result from adverse health behaviours including the abuse of performance-enhancing drugs, the abuse of prescription and non-prescription drugs, and obesity that may be related to the duties performed and injuries sustained.” — Herman etc al., 2014

Because of this nature of the wrestling business, you’d think that pro-wrestling organisations would look after their stars? Nope.

Wrestling organisations such as WWE often employ wrestlers as independent contractors. Thus, they don’t receive company-funded health insurance benefits or annual paid leave.

TV personality John Oliver hit out at the WWE in 2019 for this stance of hiring their performers as independent contractors instead of employees, yet making them sign exclusive contracts meaning they are not allowed to work for any other company.

A culture of steroid abuse amongst pro-wrestlers

There is a well-documented drug culture in pro wrestling. WWE in particular has a very checkered history with performance-enhancing drugs.

In the early 1990s, WWE owner Vince McMahon stood trial for steroid-related charges after the US government accused McMahon of steroid distribution amongst his wrestlers to build up their physiques and thus, make them more appealing to audiences. McMahon was eventually acquitted.

Many pro-wrestling stars from the 1980s and 90s have admitted to taking steroids to build their impressive physiques, such as arguably their biggest ever star, Hulk Hogan.

“I would tell kids to train, say their prayers and take their vitamins. But it wasn’t just vitamins I was taking…” — Hulk Hogan

Fellow former WWE star, The Undertaker, spoke out about the culture of pro-wrestlers using steroids, saying that there was a lot of pressure on the performers to look as huge and ripped as possible.

Other high-profile WWE wrestlers implicated with steroids include Jesse Ventura, The Ultimate Warrior, The British Bulldog, Kurt Angle, Batista, Brock Lesner, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Roman Reigns, and Randy Orton. These wrestlers either admitted their use later, were caught in drug tests, or were implicated in the busts of steroid rings.

Two of those stars Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit suffered tragic deaths in the mid-2000s.

Eddie Guerrero died from acute heart failure. Later ruled as heart disease, enlargement of his heart due to prolonged steroid usage complicated the toxicity.

Chris Benoit died in a murder-suicide of his family in 2007. The brain damage from years of heavy head knocks and steroid abuse contributed to his deteriorated mental state.

After Guerrero died in 2006, the WWE introduced a ‘wellness program’ to monitor the health of their performers, including drug testing.

However, shortly after these deaths in 2007, WWE experienced another significant steroid scandal.

In the so-called ‘Florida Raids’, US Government agencies busted a network of wellness centres, “anti-aging” clinics, doctors, and pharmacies for conspiring to fraudulently prescribe and dispense steroids, human growth hormone and other performance-enhancing drugs.

Benoit and Guerrero were two of the 14 wrestlers implicated as being clients in the steroids ring. In the case of Guerrero, the pharmacy sent him drugs two weeks before his death.

For 25 WWE steroid users, you can check out the article below.

A list of notable pro-wrestlers that died under the age of 40

Sadly, the death of pro-wrestlers dying in their prime is nothing new. There is a long list of over 100 performers that died under the age of 40.

Some of the notable names from the large wrestling organisations (WWE/WWF, WCW, ECW, AWA) include:

• “The British Bulldog” Davey Boy Smith (39)
• Chris Candido (33)
• Owen Hart (34)
• Eddie Guerrero (38)
• Umaga (36)
• Yokozuna (34)
• “Test” Andrew Martin (33)
• Andy Kaufman (35)
• Anthony Durante (36)
• Big Dick Dudley (34)
• Brian Pillman (35)
• Crash Holly (32)
• Chase Tatum (34)

A list of notable pro-wrestlers that died under the age of 50

An even larger number of pro-wrestlers died in their 40s.

According to wrestlerdeaths.com, 483 pro-wrestlers in total have died before the age of 50.

Some of the notable performers include:

• Chris Benoit (40)
• “Mr Perfect” Curt Hennig (44)
• “Ravishing” Rick Rude (40)
• Andre the Giant (46)
• Bam Bam Bigelow (45)
• Balls Mahoney (44)
• Big Boss Man (41)
• “Big Daddy V” Mabel/Viscera (43)
• “Grandmaster Sexay” Brian Christopher Lawler (46)
• Chyna (46)
• Chris Kanyon (40)
• “Crush” Brian Adams (43)
• “Dr Death” Steve Williams (49)
• Sean O’Haire (43)
• Road Warrior Hawk (46)
• Peter Maivia (45)

In the aforementioned 2014 study of 557 pro-wrestlers between 1985 and 2011, of the 62 wrestlers, 49 died before the age of 50. Moreover, 24 of those 49 died before the age of 40.

Why are so many pro-wrestlers dying young?

There are several reasons that pro-wrestlers die young.

According to a 2014 study by Herman and colleagues, the leading cause of death of pro-wrestlers is cardiovascular-related such as heart attacks (38% of total deaths).

“Among wrestlers, the leading cause of deaths based on CIF was cardiovascular-related (38%). For cardiovascular-related deaths, drug overdose-related deaths and cancer deaths, wrestler mortality rates were respectively 15.1, 122.7 and 6.4 times greater than those of males in the general population.” — Herman etc al., 2014

According to Wrestlerdeaths.com, more than 265 pro-wrestlers have died from heart-related issues (27.83% of the total deaths).

Premature death from heart-related issues is also prevalent amongst professional bodybuilders.

Heart problems are a common side effect of the prolonged use of anabolic steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs. Like any other organ and muscle, anabolic steroids cause the heart to grow. A larger heart has to work harder and therefore can lead to it expiring early.

A 2017 study from the American Heart Association compared the hearts of anabolic steroid users to non-users and found that the steroid users had significantly weaker hearts than those who had never used steroids.

Moreover, the steroid users had significantly worse plaque build-up in their arteries and the longer they reported taking steroids, the worse their arteries were.

According to the wrestlerdeaths.com database, other leading causes of the deaths of pro-wrestlers include:

• 180+ from cancer (19.31% of the total deaths)
• 90+ in/from wrestling accidents (8.31%)
• 45+ committed suicide (4.88%)
• 40+ from a stroke (4.15%)
• 30+ from pneumonia or lung-related causes (3.43%)
• 30+ were murdered (3.43%)
• 25+ from a drug overdose (2.91%)
• 15+ from other brain-related injuries (1.87%)
• 15+ from kidney failure (1.66%)

Something that I find staggering is that more pro-wrestlers have died from murder than from a drug overdose!

“You get into a cycle where you need something to get you to bed at night, then something to get you up in the morning, then something to pick you up during the day, then something to bring you down at night.” — Former Pro-Wrestler, Carlos Ashenoff (Konnan)

Dying to entertain us

Professional wrestlers are dying young. Not just a few of them, but a large proportion of them as suggested by the stats we’ve discussed.

World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is the world’s most prominent professional wrestling organisation in the world, generating $930.2 million in revenue in 2018.

There’s a lot of money involved and the whole industry is focused on putting on a show for its audience.

An audience that expects hard knocks, crazy stunts, and muscular larger-than-life performers.

Although the industry has made some effort to weed out steroid use, it's clearly still prevalent and wrestling organisations aren’t doing enough for the well-being of their performers.

The WWE has seemingly done the bare minimum with introducing its wellness policy. It was basically forced upon them after the high-profile deaths of some of their performers put the WWE under severe public scrutiny. It seems to be little more than a corporate social responsibility policy and public relations strategy to keep them in the good books of the general public.

Meanwhile, current and former professional wrestlers will continue to die young and the WWE will ignore them and the roles they previously played within the company (WWE is very picky about what wrestlers' deaths they tribute).

Conclusion

Pro-wrestlers are far more likely to die young than the general population and other athletes. Many performers are dying in their 30s, 40s and 50s.

In this article, we’ve explored the reasons why the mortality rate of pro-wrestlers is so much higher than that of the general public.

The hard knocks on the body and consistently having to work shows without a break lead many of the performers to go down the road of drugs to deal with its toll on their physical and mental state.

Many pro-wrestlers also abuse steroids to gain their superhuman physiques, coming with many side effects on the body and mental state.

I listed some of the notable wrestlers who have died under the age of 50 and if you followed wrestling at any point over the past few decades, no doubt many of these names are very familiar.

May they rest in peace.

Thank you for reading.

If you enjoyed the content, you might be interested in this read about why former WWE star The Rock Dwayne Johnston is the poster boy for Hollywood’s steroids obsession.

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