Rant #1,664: As Real As It Could Be

Yes, professional wrestling is as fake as a $3 bill.

The outcome of matches is predetermined to enhance story lines, the wrestlers generally portray characters, and most of the movement in the ring is staged.

Well, that doesn't mean that wrestlers don't get injured, because they do, and anyone who watched the WWE "Payback" pay per view the other night saw what potentially was one of the most horrific injuries in memory.

This particular story became so big that even legitimate news organizations gave it coverage in the mainstream news media, so even if you aren't a wrestling fan, you might have heard about it.

Happily, it ended up OK, but it didn't first appear to be so.

Wrestlers Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady were wrestling the Vaudevillians to see who would be the No. 1 contender for the tag team title.

Early in the match, one of the Vaudevillians, Simon Grotch, threw Amore through the ropes in what one had to surmise was a planned move.

However, what then happened was not planned.

Either Gotch was too close to the ropes when he did this maneuver, or Amore was too close to the ropes--probably both--but Amore's head latched onto the ropes, spun his head back, and he landed with a thud on the ground, not moving at all.

With all that pro wrestling is,  most people probably thought that the move was part of the canard, but having watched pro wrestling for more than 50 years, I knew that this was not anything scripted.

The WWE, as is its practice when something like this happens due to the large amount of children watching, veered away from Amore being on the ground, but at the corner of the screen, you could see the referee put up the "crossed arms" signal, meaning that having checked with the wrestler, he determined that medical attention was necessary.

So Amore was put on a stretcher, and whisked away to a local Chicago hospital. The match was obviously suspended, and you could see the wrestlers standing around, and the pain shown on their faces was not phony, not one bit.

The WWE barely showed Amore being put on the stretcher, and veered away to the announcers and film. The night went on, but updates were given on Amore's condition, that he was moving his extremities and that he appeared to be OK.

At the hospital, it was determined that he had a concussion, and later that night, he was released from the hospital, seemingly OK.

Look, with all of the phoniness of pro wrestling, these are athletes, and athletes do get hurt in competition. Occasionally, with all the mayhem in the ring, a wrestler does get seriously hurt, and there have been instances where wrestlers have actually died of their injuries.

It happens. And it isn't planned.

This time, Amore was very, very lucky, but it just goes to show that sometimes, even things that are planned and rehearsed can go awry, and things can happen that are off script.

Happily, this one had a happy ending.