The Undertaker is happy about the positive direction pro-wrestling is going in terms of safety.
The Deadman spoke on this topic during a recent interview on the Six Feet Under podcast, where he compared WWE’s current safety protocols to that of the NBA and the NFL. Taker is old school, and admits that it was hard for him to accept all the help at first because he thought it was making the business soft. He later explains that wrestlers being taken care of is what is best for business.
It’s amazing now, all the protocols that are in place. We’re treated, today, like NFL players, NBA players, Major League Baseball guys. There are a list of protocols that you have to clear once you get injured before you get back in the ring. Back in the day, we didn’t have trainers that traveled with us. If somebody had a roll of white athletic tape, that was the trainer because he had something that you could possibly use. Nowadays, we have two or three trainers that travel, we have doctors that travel, concussion protocols. I have to be honest, for me, it was hard to accept that at first because it was ‘ah man, everything is getting soft now.’ I appreciated that badge of honor, as silly as that sounds. It was hard for me to accept that. ‘Man, our business is getting soft.’ It wasn’t getting soft. It was getting smarter. I’m glad that I was part of the generation that led into that because, today, you see the referee and they throw the X up, you know something bad has happened. You’re not going to get a bunch of blood in the ring. If someone is concussed or injured to a point, the match is going to stop and the athletes are going to be treated the way they need to be. Even with all that going on, the wear and tear and the risk of injury is crazy.
Elsewhere in the interview, Taker spoke about his relationship with Vince McMahon and how the former chairman once paid off a debt to him in pennies. You can read about that here.
(H/T and transcribed by Fightful)
