Shining a Spotlight 9.24.09: Travel

Posted by Michael Weyer on 09.24.2009

Examining the rather overlooked travel issues and how they can affect wrestlers who deserve respect for putting up with the grind.



While I've been down on TNA a lot, I have to admit that recent events are encouraging me a bit. Letting Samoa Joe have the X Division title promises a rebuilding of that into the high-impact showcase that helped put TNA on the map. Even better is how they give AJ Styles, a TNA mainstay who can deliver in the ring with great matches. Maybe there's still great hope for this company after all.
　
A busy week for me as I'm getting ready for a family vacation to London. Only a couple of days over the weekend but it's still a big deal getting passport ready, packing and getting set for a fourteen-hour flight. I'm not a guy who travels often so it's a major thing for me although my dad is quite experienced at it with his business and my mom goes with him on a lot of trips.

It did get me to thinking on how travel is a major issue for wrestlers and one that's often overlooked by fans. It contributes a lot to training as well as drug and alcohol that affects performance. That's not to mention how the companies have to make room for it in their budget and handle the demands it places on others. I do think the travel aspect of wrestling is something that deserves examination as it explains a lot of some behavior you see.

　
The Grind

The thing about wrestling that people outside it fail to get is just how much travel guys put in. For legitimate sports, baseball is the only one with such a tight schedule of guys traveling cross-country but even they get five months off between schedules. Wrestlers, of course, have no off-season and thus the schedule can be even harder on them. Plus, wrestling is not a team sport, they don't have one organization willing to pay for every single guy to go together. While kayfabe is dead and thus you can have heels and faces traveling together, a lot of guys have to fend for themselves on the road which can be hard.




It really hits you how stressful this can be. My dad is a businessman who's experienced but I can tell the grind of flying back and forth across the country gets to him. Even for someone who's in good athletic shape, this constant travel has to get to them. Of course, it's not like it's a new issue for wrestling at all as touring has been a major part ever since the business started.

The old territory days had it a bit easier in many ways since there wasn't as much distance for some guys to go. It was mostly by car everywhere with guys traveling together although a lot of promoters insisted on the heels and faces staying apart to keep up kayfabe. Some guys would take that to extremes like when Tim Woods was injured in the plane crash with Jimmy Valient and Ric Flair. Despite those injuries, Woods went right out and wrestled as Mr. Wrestling II rather than have fans wonder why he was traveling with hated rival Valient. Of course, you can understand how some guys would want to avoid stuff like when Hacksaw Dugan and the Iron Sheik got arrested in 1987 for drug possession while driving together despite being feuding at the time.

For the most part, things were okay as guys stuck to the local markets for driving and handling things. There were differences like Stampede, where road trips could literally be matters of life and death as the Canadian wild had icy roads with little to no lighting at night. Throw in how rowdy and hard drinking these guys could be and it was a recipe for disaster, which actually occurred several times over the years. The fact is that you put a bunch of guys together for long distances, sooner or later there's going to be tension. Add in how those guys are, by the nature of their jobs, an egotistical bunch and that danger becomes even more likely.

Even today, that pops up now and again. People still talk about the "plane ride from hell" in 2002 where a batch of WWE guys got into a mess in flight with drinking leading to a brawl on the plane that nearly got the FBI called in. WWE has done their best to avoid that sort of mess now but you still get guys in some transport troubles now and then. At least WWE has it a bit better with guys using planes while the older days utilized cars a lot, especially the Crockett area. Magnum T.A. had his sure-to-be superstar career cut short by a horrible car accident that might not have occurred today as you wouldn't have such a top-level guy driving on his own somewhere. It's one of several reasons promoters have to adjust the costs of travel.
　

The Costs
　
The cost of running so many guys around does pile up of course. That really changed with the coming of the Monday Night Wars. Before, you could spread it out a bit with guys doing house shows and TV tapings at small arenas for the weekend TV shows. But when fans began to expect all the major stars to be at one show, WWF and WCW had to adjust and have them all here. Of course, WCW would go an extreme level as they'd have literally 150 guys flown to every single "Nitro" even if they were only going to use 40 of them for the show. Yes, they paid for a hundred guys to fly city to city when there was nothing for them to do. And you wonder why this company got themselves in the hole so fast.

WWE may have a bit more cash but three prime-time shows and the weekly syndicated one, they have a lot to handle travel-wise with their large number of workers. One might wonder if that's a reason you've seen more inter-brand stuff lately, cutting down on how many guys to use. Still, it's a handful, especially in the current economic climate, paying for so many guys going cross-country and beyond all the time. It's because of that they have guys driving a bit more but that too can have its consequences as it's not just the fiscal cost of travel, it's the mental one as well.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who gets rather irritable after spending hours on a plane or a long car trip. When you endure that sort of thing several times a week, it can wear you down, even if you are in good athletic condition. Having to go through a six hour car ride and then go right into wrestling that night can wear you down majorly and thus a lot of guys will need something to "pick them up." It's an old story, sadly and it's not like wrestling is immune as legitimate sports players use the same stuff for the same reason. But add that in for guys with short fuses and long egos and you've got the potential for blow-ups and major problems like making mistakes in the ring leading to injury. It's always been a risk for the business but in today's climate, with outsiders still focusing on WWE following the Benoit tragedy and ready to pounce on any sign of trouble to rip into McMahon, it's no surprise WWE is anxious to avoid that sort of thing as much as they can.




The Smaller Companies

I've always felt one of the absolute best selling points TNA has is the fact it offers a much lighter schedule than WWE does and nowhere near as much touring. That's a major reason why so many guys up there in age and not as great condition like Angle, Nash, Booker and Foley have chosen to go there. TNA should be offering that more, not just to veterans but younger guys too. It's a great way they save money and allows them to build that Orlando base into a backbone to help themselves out.

For ROH, it's a bit different as they rely on touring a lot more but in a smaller market than WWE. Their budget is much smaller than even TNA so guys have to handle their own transport a lot which leads to potential of accidents or other problems that can mar the product a bit. It's the same problem for a lot of indies although ROH is on a higher plateau than them with their fame. Still, handling travel issues for guys notable for their short tempers is a risk and a lot of promoters might be willing to let some guys go rather than put up with those costs. Little guys always feel the pinch when the economy gets rough and that comes up for travel a lot.

That all adds up to what I always feel is one of the biggest things the mainstream fails to give pro wrestling credit for. It takes a special mentality to put yourself through so much constant travel, away from family so much of the time and still be able to give their all entertaining fans. They deserve a lot more respect for putting themselves through that as the monetary gains may not fully offset it and it adds to the temptation to get into drugs to dull things down. It's a testament to the mentality of wrestlers they can manage to handle the pressures as well as they do despite the lack of respect they get for it.
　
　
Summation

It's overlooked a lot how big a deal travel is to wrestling. The rigors of the road can get to a normal person, let alone someone forced to endure it on a constant basis. That more than anything leads to the burnout so many wrestlers experience. It's also a major reason so many of them turn to drugs for a way to keep themselves on top and take away some of that pressure. The costs of the endeavor can affect some companies in different ways as, even though it's necessary, they'll try to cut some costs as much as they can to the detriment of workers. It's a damn shame as these guys really deserve props for what they go through in all this. It's an old problem of course but one that doesn't look like it'll ever fully go away and we can hope it improves as things go.

　
A shorter column than usual, I know but like I said, preparing for trip. For this week, the spotlight is off.