RESPONSE TO NEWSDAY ARTICLE ON WWE/VINCE PAYING FOR REHAB  

As many of you may already know, I was quoted in a New York City newspaper this weekend, the New York Newsday.  The link to this article is at the bottom of this blog.

I was called Friday, 9-24-07 by the reporter who wrote the story (ALFONSO A. CASTILLO [email protected] ) and was interviewed for about 30 minutes.  Only 2 lines of the interview made it into the article, possibly resulting in my comments seeming one-sided, and definitely making them not fully representative of how I feel on this topic.

Apparently, the WWE and Vince McMansions sent out a letter offering to pay for any former (and current?) WWE wrestler's drug and alcohol rehab.  I was not familiar with the letter since I have not received one (guess they forgot me since I have been so under the radar since being canned in February 2004), so Mr. Castillo read it to me.  Following is a summary of some of the other points I made to Mr. Castillo that did not make the article.

I said that no matter what the motive, this is a good thing and should be seen and treated as such.  I said it would be just as unfair to assume this was a Public Relations (PR) move as it would be to assume Vince did it out of the goodness of his heart.  But now that WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt, who I consider the lowest form of attorney on the planet (and that is saying a lot), has made the following statement about the sending of the letter, my feelings have changed.  His statement is:   "The decision to do so was made by Vince as a humanitarian gesture, period.  It is not intended to be, nor is it ... an acknowledgment of responsibility for the substance problems of anybody."

They should have just sent out the letter and left it at that.  But once again, they take a defensive stance where none is needed.  They also pat themselves, or more accurately, Vince McMansions, on the back.  If this is really "a humanitarian gesture," and not a PR effort, than I would assume Vince is paying for this rehab out of his personal pocket.  Otherwise, he will be using company, and thus stockholders money and will be able to use the bill as a tax write-off.  Not sure how humanitarian it would be to spend someone else's money and still reap some personal benefit. 

Regardless, for whatever reason, he is doing it and it is a good thing.  But another point I made to Mr.Castillo is that I feel Vince is treating the symptom, not the disease.  And when you do this, the disease remains unaffected, and the symptoms keep coming back.  For whatever reason it is that the boys use drugs, I believe it relates to deeper problems including all sorts of mental issues and depression, some of which may be related to the multiple concussions that many of us receive inside Vince's rings, as recent findings may suggest.  If he is offering to pay for Drug and Alcohol rehab, I believe ultimately he will do more good and probably end up paying less in the long run if he offers mental therapy as well.

This would not be that big a difference.  Every time I received mental rehab, the psych patients were lumped in with the drug and alcohol patients for much of the treatment.  But by stopping short of treating the actual psychological disease which results in substance abuse, most drug and alcohol patients tend to relapse.  Add in Psych treatment, and I feel this would not be the case.

Now, the next step is for Wrestlers to take Vince up on his offer.  I would expect very few, if any, current WWE Wrestlers to do so in fear that they would be punished for doing it.  But former Wrestlers should definitely seek treatment, and the families of these wrestlers need to encourage them to do so.  And if just 1 person does receive treatment, and that leads to a better life for him/her and their family, than regardless of how we got here, and why Vince has done what he has done, at least we will be on a better path.  And for all my brothers and sisters in the wrestling business who have passed away too early, for this you deserve our thanks.

*****PLEASE, IF YOU REPRINT THIS BLOG OR ANY PART OF IT, PLEASE CREDIT    www.myspace.com/ChrisKanyon 

To see the entire article:   

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-liwwe0922,0,4361178.story?coll=ny_home_rail_headlines