My Take On 7.10.06: The CsonkaMania FAQ Episode 2: RVD and Sabu
Posted by Larry Csonka on 07.10.2006
Tons of questions, statements and my opinions on this huge story!
Introduction~!
Welcome to the latest edition of My Take On. This past week I have been slammed over this RVD/Sabu situation. Apparently my opinion is far from the popular one, and as always there were a few assholes in the mix. Now while I don't have to explain myself, I figured that this would be a fine time to do so. Without doubt this is the biggest story of the year, and one of the biggest stories involving a world champion being arrested. Since I got so many emails on it, and I honestly couldn't reply to them all, I figured this would work pretty well for the answers. This will be sort of like the Q&A from last week, only focused entirely on the RVD/Sabu situation.
What do we have?
RVD and Sabu have been doing extreme wrestling for years. Their bodies hurt and if a little pot and some "unidentified drugs" take the pain away for a bit, let them. While that may be the cool stance to take, it's idiotic. Yes they have put their bodies on the line in insane matches for years. Yes the WWE asks them to go out there 3, 4 or 5 times a week and put tier body on the line, but the WWE isn't holding a gun to their heads. These men love the business, they chose the business and they are the ones diving through tables and such. No one made them do this. Once again, this idea of "well if they just do a little pot and some other stuff" it will keep them away from abusing other stuff. But the fact is abusing "smaller" drugs so to speak is just as bad as abusing the big bad drugs and it takes a toll on the body and mind just as much. Glorify pot use all you want, glorify the wrestling business all you want but the facts are this. What they did broke the law and the Wellness Policy; and at the end of the day the inside of the wrestling business is still pretty shitty, whether you choose to see it or not; and that's just the way it is.
Dude, it's only pot. Oh yes, this has been the biggest one that I have received. Apparently I have pissed off the REEFER loving crowd. While to you it is "only pot," I think that there is something that people still don't realize. Marijuana is illegal in the Unites States. Let's take the state of Ohio where they got pulled over for example. RVD got pulled over with 18-Grams of Marijuana, in the State of Ohio that is considered a "minor misdemeanor," requiring no jail time and a $100 fine. The common thread here is the fact that it is illegal, hence the fine and term of "minor misdemeanor."
There was also some Paraphernalia in the vehicle, and Paraphernalia possession in Ohio is considered a "misdemeanor," carrying a $750 fine and 30-days in prison. Of course lawyers and such can always barter this down in court, but that's the law. Also, "Any drug conviction causes driver's license suspension for 6 months to 5 years." Just some food for thought here. And then there is the fact that RVD was driving all smoked up. That is a DUI kids and he is lucky that he didn't get cited for that. That's the shit that personally pisses me off. I HATE people that drive all messed up; whether it is on pot, other drugs or alcohol. Use some responsibility for God sake.
The other argument I have is that some of the people that emailed me do the, "It is only pot" crap and mean it. Fine, your opinion, but in my opinion marijuana is in fact a gateway drug and marijuana can ruin lives. I have seen it first hand, so saying it is "just pot" to me is like saying "it's just a gun pointed at your head."
WWE doesn't care about pot. And again you would be wrong. While they don't test for Marijuana in the regular testing, it is not something they endorse. Example: Tests for violation of this Policy for alcohol and marijuana shall be on the basis of reasonable cause only. So while they have it as a low priority ala Alcohol, it is something that they are concerned about. And why are they concerned about it? Because you don't want someone coming to the ring totally high or drunk that's why. What some people fail to understand is that when you go into that ring, you are under a verbal contract with the other person to protect each other. It is an understanding that you keep each other safe at all times. If you are under the influence of marijuana, alcohol or God knows what else, not only are you personally at risk, but so is the person that you pledged to protect.
What is it with you and your opposition to the legalization of Marijuana? This is a great statement. Apparently people "assumed" after reading my stance on their bust on Tuesday that I was "anti-marijuana." To tell you the truth I don't give 2-shits if you smoke it, bake it or candlestick make the shit in your spare time, it's your choice. I also really have no preference if it is legalized or not. I don't use it now, and I don't care to use it in the future. Now if there is some crazy disease that will make my dick fall off and the only medical treatment is medical marijuana, then we'll talk. Until then, if you do it do it responsibly and keep it away from me.
Why does everyone assume that the pills Sabu had were something bad? I would think that this is an obvious one. First of all, Sabu is an admitted "recreational drug" user. Secondly, it wasn't all that long ago that he was in the hospital, next to death due to an infection caused by a dirty needle. Whether he was shooting up for fun or steroids it was never publicly known. Thirdly, the man has been through thousands of death matches and is scared up all over, there is no way he isn't using pain killers or other fun drugs to feel good and to be able to walk in the morning. Forth take all of the injuries and his age into effect and he looks damn good for his age, too good to be honest with you. If you think about it like that, there is your reasoning for people jumping to conclusions about the pills.
I bet Sabu made RVD do it. This is quite possibly the stupidest statement I have received all year. Yeah, Sabu duct taped the pipe in RVD's mouth because he has never touched the stuff before, I can see it now. Here is a newsflash for the uninformed, for well over 10-years RVD has been an admitted pot smoker. He has been in "High Times" Magazine and has packed a "bowl" live while doing a radio interview. RVD isn't some young impressionable youth, he is the master of rolling a one handed fatty while driving down the roads. Don't blame Sabu in all of this they are equally to blame.
RVD got punished way to harshly! No he didn't. RVD was one of the top men in the company, and he got caught with Marijuana. As if it wasn't bad enough that the small newspaper and Internet were all over it, the story was then picked up by both the New York Post and the Associated Press. That is major publicity, in the bad kind of way. WWE is a publicly traded company, and the Wellness Policy is known to be active. If they did nothing, there would have been a backlash from the media, the Internet and from the shareholders. They couldn't afford that, and since RVD was such a public figure he had to be punished in the fashion, from the business perspective that is.
Sabu got off easy! Basically, compared to RVD, yes he did get off easy. $1,000 is a drop in the bucket really. Considering Sabu is making close to $150,000 a year, if he would have lost a month of pay he would have dropped $12,500. Sabu is probably scared to death right now and is probably willing to do about anything to keep the job. As evidence by the fact when he was hospitalized, he isn't in the greatest financial situation so he will do what is needed to keep his job, even if he has to talk on TV. I honestly though they would scapegoat Sabu and fire him, and they didn't; so he did get off easy.
What do you personally think about the punishments overall? Well let's see what happened.
RVD: 30-Day Suspension without pay (approximately a $27,000 loss) and dropping both the WWE and ECW Title. RVD is one lucky bastard. Sure he had both titles taken off him in back-to-back days and is suspended, but the fact of the matter is he could have been fired
Sabu: Fined $1,000. I think that he got off way to easy. As I wrote above, "Paraphernalia possession in Ohio is considered a "misdemeanor," carrying a $750 fine and 30-days in prison." That is a worse crime than the simple small possession that RVD had, but since RVD was so high on the card he had to get the harsher punishment in the company's eyes.
Just remember what the WWE's own policy says:13. DISCIPLINE FOR VIOLATION OF LAW: Any Talent who is arrested, convicted or who admits to a violation of law relating to use, possession, purchase, sale or distribution of prohibited drugs will be in material breach of contract and subject to immediate dismissal.
It could have been much worse.
Overall, how do you feel they handled taking the titles off of RVD? Overall they handled it very well. RVD has been a fighting champion, so it played into that well. Also the segments with Paul E before these shows fit right into line with what they did, as he had been warning RVD not to keep defending the title on "their turf on their terms." The way they took the ECW title off of RVD worked because Paul can explain next week that he was right, and RVD ruined things when he lost the WWE title, showing Paul that he couldn't trust him. So he went to an old charge in Show to have Him be his champion. Tuesday's finish was an obvious screw job, so that when RVD comes back he can be right back in the mix and battle Paul and Show. He lost the title on raw facing 2-men in a totally believable fashion. The most important thing is that they didn't embarrass or bury him in anyway. They could have ran squash matches or other things to make a fool out of him, so the fact that they didn't seems to indicate that he will still be a major player, with ECW at least, when he returns. So in that aspect they did a very good job.
They had to take those titles off of him considering the major press that they got. They had to at least attempt to make the Wellness Policy look like it works, and they did send a message to the roster. Fuck up and you are fucked, no matter who you are. Also, I will say that RVD was a total professional out there. He busted his ass and did his best to make the matches good. He took the pin in the three-way which was important to do, so overall things were planned and executed well.
My Take On:
So there it is. 10-topics that have been slamming the CsonkaMania email box since I first posted the story here at 411 (who was the first site to have this posted I may add.) I think that these 10-topics should give you my full stance on the subject, and now hopefully we can start to focus on some other happenings in the world of wrestling. Thanks for reading.
If you have any wrestling related questions, on anything really, hit me up with an email and I'll throw together another FAQ style columns, since people enjoyed the first one so much and I hope you enjoyed this one as well.
