By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

Former WWE wrestler Chris Nowinski spoke out against WWE in an interview on New England Cable News last night. Nowinski specifically addressed the death of 29-year-old Lance Cade last week and how it relates to former WWE CEO Linda McMahon's U.S. Senate campaign in Connecticut.

Nowinski's quote from the interview that is grabbing political news headlines this morning is his suggestion that McMahon's comments about Cade on Tuesday were like "kicking dirt on his grave."

On Tuesday, McMahon was asked by local reporters about Cade being the latest "early wrestler death" in the wrestling industry. To reporters, McMahon's response came across defensive with her statement that WWE should not be held responsible, she doesn't know why people have addictions, and she "might have met him once."

"When I read that, it's one of the reasons I agreed to talk about that," Nowinski said on NECN. "Considering this is such a health and wellness issue for the guys I knew and her quote in the paper was, 'I might have met Lance once.' That's just kicking dirt on the guy's grave. They have an environment where it's absolutely unsafe to work in that ring."

Nowinski claimed, "WWE rewards the guys who use (steroids). They absolutely know it's going on; they're testing guys for steroids. They encourage steroid use, just look at the champions they've had lately. It (abuse of steroids) gives you an enlarged heart, which is why guys are dying of heart failure, and they're taking painkillers because they're working 200 nights per year."

Nowinski has remained quiet during McMahon's Senate campaign despite his research team at the Sports Legacy Institute being heavily involved in concussion research, which relates to the "WWE health and wellness" issue that has come up repeatedly during McMahon's campaign.

Political news outlets have covered Nowinski's interview, as it relates to McMahon seemingly being defensive about Cade's death rather than outlining WWE's attempt to help him clean up.

TheHill.com, an influential political blog, wrote today: "Linda McMahon's association with the WWE has again become a political issue for the Connecticut GOP Senate candidate: A former wrestler has accused the ex-World Wrestling Entertainment CEO of reacting callously to the recent death of a 29-year-old wrestling star and said the company encourages steroid use."

Politico, another influential political news outlet, reported: "Nowinski is a credible voice on the topic of injuries and on the WWE - he left the company on good terms after retiring from a concussion, and doesn't normally weigh in. He did so after McMahon, the Connecticut Senate hopeful, was asked Tuesday about Lance "Cade" McNaught's death."

Nowinski was on the show to respond to McMahon's comments on his former colleague and also to discuss this week's big news in concussion research related to Lou Gehrig's disease. Nowinski was part of a study that found concussion and head-like trauma can be masked as ALS, which is why NFL players are six times more likely to be diagnosed with ALS the the average person.

Caldwell's Analysis: McMahon's comments to reporters on Tuesday only made things worse, opening up an opportunity for the highly-credible Nowinski, whose entire career is studying the effect of head trauma to pro athletes, to use his platform this week to speak out against WWE. McMahon could have outlined WWE's attempt to give Cade the rehab help he needed, she could have outlined how they followed the Wellness Policy, and how they tried to make sure he was okay, health-wise, after being released from a developmental contract in April. That would have helped her come across caring and considerate of the health of wrestlers. Rather, her responses came across defensive, following the pattern of WWE not wanting to be held responsible for any wrestler deaths outside of their immediate circle.

VIDEO: Nowinski's complete interview can be found in the video below.



Video URL: http://www.necn.com/pages/landing?blockID=293081

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