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VIP EXCLUSIVE COLUMN - Early-release from PWTorch Newsletter #1011...

"McNeill Factor"
Newsletter Headline: "The Concussion Crisis"
Originally published: February 18, 2008
From Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter #1011

"Head Games" by Christopher Nowinski: Some of you may remember Christopher Nowinski for his stint as a contestant on the first season of WWE's "Tough Enough" reality show. Nowinski, a Harvard graduate and aspiring indy worker, made it to the finals in 2001, when he was passed over for a WWE contract. Nowinski's pro wrestling career could have ended there, but it didn't.

"Harvard Chris" persevered. He began taking independent dates while working for Les Thatcher's Heartland Wrestling Association in Cincinnati. In April 2002, Nowinski was called up by WWE. He debuted on Raw two months later as a sidekick to William Regal, in front of an audience that remembered him from his time on MTV. On July 6, 2002, Nowinski won the WWE Hardcore title at a house show in Frederick, Maryland, holding the semi-prestigious strap for about a minute before taking a big lariat from John Layfield. At the end of 2002, Nowinski was named "Newcomer of the Year" by WWE's own Raw magazine, a sign that Harvard Chris had the potential for a bright future with his new employer.

What happened after that led to Nowinski writing a 195 page book entitled "Head Games: Football's Concussion Crisis." The book, published last year by Drummond and featuring a forward by Jesse Ventura, came out before the Chris Benoit murders. Much like Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was called the book that launched America's Civil War, Nowinski's book about head injuries in American football has sparked the debate over WWE's responsibility for the health of professional wrestlers.

Nowinski's book primarily deals with youth football, how doctors need to be better educated about the effects of concussions, how trainers need to learn how to diagnose concussions, and how football helmets don't always protect youngsters from the damage of helmet-to-helmet impact. But there is a section of the book that pertains directly to wrestling, and that is the section about the long-term damage from concussions.

The first chapter of "Head Games" is where Nowinski talks about his first documented concussion. On June 21, 2003, Nowinski was teaming with Rodney Mack against the Dudley Boys at a house show in Hartford, Connecticut. Nowinski took a boot to the head from Bubba Ray Dudley that put his lights out. He somehow finished the match. The doctor on site told Nowinski he might have sustained a concussion. Nowinski showed up the next night in Albany, New York and wrestled again, with a different doctor telling him the same thing. A third doctor finally confirmed the concussion, and Nowinski was told to take some time off.

Three weeks later, Nowinski returned for a series of house shows in the Midwest, teaming with Mack against Tommy Dreamer and Rosey. Dreamer laid out the matches to minimize the number of bumps Nowinski was taking, but the Ivy Leaguer was still suffering from severe headaches. When Nowinski showed up for a third night, the trainer and road agents pulled him out of the match. Nowinski went back to the hotel room of girlfriend Jessie Ward, who was working the loop as a stage manager. During the evening, while suffering from a nightmare, Nowinski leaped out of bed and crashed through a glass nightstand in his sleep. Chris documents the (very real) concern for his well being showed from his fellow wrestlers, road agents, talent relations coordinator John Lauriniatis, and even from Vince and Stephanie McMahon.

While taking time off from World Wrestling Entertainment, and while still suffering the after effects from his injury, Nowinski put his education to use learning about concussions, head trauma and post-concussion syndrome. WWE also arranged for Nowinski to be examined by specialists in the field of sports medicine. Nowinski finally met one of the experts in the field, Dr. Robert Cantu, chief of neurosurgery at Emerson Hospital in Concord, Massachusetts. What Nowinski learned scared the hell out of him.

For all the recent talk about concussions in professional wrestling, most people don't understand what concussions. Those of us who have played or followed collision sports think of a concussion as a knockout blow, something that causes a person to lose consciousness or be knocked senseless. But the medical definition of a concussion is an "alteration of awareness or consciousness." That includes anytime an athlete "gets his bell rung" or feels dazed, stunned or mentally foggy. When Nowinski learned that, he recalculated a total of six concussions sustained during his college football and wrestling careers. Later, Chris's MRI would show five distinct areas of tissue damage within his brain. Five concussions.

Nowinski wasn't the only wrestler who had to reevaluate his concussion history in light of those developments. One of the wrestlers Nowinski talked to after revising his definition of a concussion told the Harvard graduate that he had sustained more concussions than he could count. That wrestler was the late Chris Benoit...

The rest of this feature article from PWTorch Newsletter #1011 is available exclusively to PWTorch VIP members. For info on becoming VIP, click here.

Pat McNeill of Fairfax, Va. has been a PWTorch Columnist since 2001. Listen to his weekly Torch VIP Audio Show, "The Real Deal with Pat McNeill," every mid-week at PWTorch.com/members where he analyzes the Hot Five Stories of the week, answers reader questions, and cuts promos on the rest on civilization.

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