Tom Holzerman recently posted a blog about loyalty in wrestling, http://wallsofjerichoholic.blogspot.com/2010/07/loyalty-and-wrestling.html .
By the way, if you don't read Holzerman's blog yet, go right ahead and do so. The guy is extremely good.
Anyway, in the aforementioned blog, he talks about loyalty in wrestling. This all comes on the heels of LeBronmageddon that wasted an hour of all our times last night on ESPN.
The NBA, and pro wrestling are both very similar in the regard of loyalty in my opinion. LeBron is now reviled throughout the nation for leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers in boring and arguably self absorbed fashion in "The Decision~!"
In an unrelated note, that terrible special did better ratings than WWE Raw, Smackdown, NXT, and TNA Impact combined get in a week.
LeBron James left Cleveland for the greener pastures of the Miami Heat, joining fellow superstars Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh, and of course, Mario Chalmers.
Not to mention the 7-9 other roster spots that will no doubt be filled with the best minimum contract talent money can buy.
But, knowing this, it brings up a very fair set of questions.
In basketball, is loyalty a big deal for players? I understand that the way LeBron went about announcing his decision was sickeningly terrible TV, and even worse goodwill directed to his former following in Cleveland, but was the act of leaving in the first place so bad? Did LeBron owe the Cavs more?
The answer, simply, is no.
He owes his team nothing other than to try his damnedest to win while being a part of it. That's the bottom line. There is no loyalty in sports, and even when there is, is a rarity.
Let's pretend. Let's say King James isn't the best NBA player on the planet, he's a scrub. He's never led his team to back-to-back 60-win seasons, he's never done anything, and the Cavs don't need him anymore.
Do they stay loyal to him? Do they keep him on the team because he's a hometown boy?
Hell no. He's out on his ass with a simple bit of paperwork, regardless of the contract that he signed.
That's the thing. In sports, you can simply cut a player on a whim without needing to explain yourself. Those 'contracts' these players sign mean nothing in regards to owners. They're one-way streets.
So why would any player be loyal to the owners? Why would they feel the need to stay in one place regardless of the talent around them? The organization would cut them in a heartbeat if they were unhappy with them, or they would trade them to another team, usually without consent from the player. These players are slaves to their owners with very little power over their own career.
That's why I'm a supporter of the players 9 times out of 10. NFL players holding out? Good on them, it's really the only time they can get the money they need to be able to retire when they're run out of the league at 33. Players leaving their teams, or asking to be traded? Fine. Sometimes it's annoying, and even at times unjustified, but after a player asks for a trade, it's up to the owners to trade them, or not. Still, even asking for a trade leaves very little power in the player's hands.
But what does all of this have to do with pro wrestling?
I recall during the Monday Night Wars, when top guy after top guy was defecting to WCW from the WWF, people all over were griping about the lack of loyalty. 'It's all about money!' Well, yeah. It IS all about money sometimes. If someone offered me double the money (still wouldn't be much) to quit my job outright, and take a new one, you bet your ass I would go. To not would just be stupid. It's the same with these wrestlers.
But of course, they deal with several millions of dollars while we only get mere thousands per year.
Yeah, but what's the difference between $10 million and $20 million? 10 years of retirement. Don't forget, these guys, whether they be basketball players or wrestlers, receive a tremendous toll on their bodies every year.
And why do we expect these guys to be loyal anyway? Loyalty isn't something that you just give to someone because they hire you. Yeah, be thankful for the job, but they hired you for their own benefit, not yours.
I'm loyal to my family, I'm loyal to my friends. I believe loyalty is a great quality to have, but I'm loyal to people that I love, people that I respect, and people that return the loyalty back to me. The Cav's aren't loyal to their players, the WWE and TNA aren't loyal to their wrestlers, and the players and workers should return this sentiment by looking for opportunities elsewhere when they feel they aren't being treated right.
Not saying that guys need to switch teams (or promotions) every year, or demand billion dollar contracts, I'm saying that as long as you represent your employer well, and work hard for them at all times, that's about as far as your loyalty needs to go.
All of this, and we haven't even tipped the iceberg about wrestling yet. Wrestlers aren't treated very well. They don't get health benefits, most of them pay their own travel expenses, and if they aren't needed any longer, they're thrown away.
And god forbid they get released from the WWE. They'll be labeled a "wwe reject" and smark morons will have a coronary if they see them working for any other major promotions.
Take the recent case of one Bryan Danielson for consideration. The man worked his ass off in the WWE. He did everything he was asked to do, and yet he was fired, gone from the best job he's ever had, and the most exposure he could ever dream of, because Linda McMahon wants to pretend wrestling is a Disney production.
Is that fair? Is that loyal?
How about a guy like Droz? For those that don't know, Droz was a fairly promising wrestler who was tragically injured during a match with DLo Brown. He can't walk anymore. Now, thankfully, the WWE still employs Droz in some capacity, but the fact is, they really don't have to. They still keep him around, which I give them a ton of credit for, but they could have legally just released, or waited for his contract to run out, and not resigned him.
But if a company gets injured, like WCW did by going out of business, the wrestlers must still honor their contracts. This may have been the key reason for the terrible execution of the Invasion angle pitting WWE vs. WCW, as Vince didn't spend the money to buy out important and popular WCW mainstays that would have actually made them seem credible, opting instead to trot out a team led by Booker T that also consisted of KroniK, Chris Kanyon, and of course, Shane, Stephanie, Kurt Angle, and Stone Cold Steve Austin.
What?
Never mind, let's just say, it was not good. It's wasn't good at all, and it's all because guys like Hogan, Goldberg, Nash, Hall, Mysterio, etc, etc, etc, weren't there.
Not sure about all of those guys, but I can vouch that most of them at least weren't brought in because of their AOL contracts.
So what's he bottom line here? Do things need to change? I don't know if they do or not, but until they do, I won't blame any of these athletes or wrestlers for jumping ship. Loyalty is something that is earned, and sports teams and pro wrestling companies haven't earned that by treating the guys that work for them like pieces of meat, or trading cards, and not human beings.
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