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MITCHELL'S TAKE
MITCHELL SHORT: TNA Does the Right Thing With Don West Aug 18, 2009 - 8:47:37 PM
Some wrestling fans and writers need to get off TNA's back. They clearly did the right thing by dumping Don West off their wrestling shows.
Yeah, I know, Don West may well have been the best at what he does in the entire industry, in fact there's a real case to be made that he was the best of this generation.
There's no doubt that his memorable entrance in TNA, after all he had accomplished in his career previously, took the company to a new level.
But even considering all that, what was TNA supposed to do?
Don West got arrested last weekend for stalking his girlfriend. Sure, she's a piece of work. Any one who watches TNA Impact knows how women are. That doesn't mean what West did was right in violating a restraining order that was taken out on him just hours before.
TNA head Dixie Carter, who is also a woman, put her hand on the Bible and swore that her company was family oriented and wasn't going to tolerate bar fights, among her performers, much less the kind of domestic disturbance West was involved in here.
Then there are the bottles of Human Growth Hormone and syringes found in West's car. There's no place in TNA for illegal drug use. That's why Carter instituted a Wellness Policy and drug testing for her performers. She cares about their health.
Yeah, West claims he has a prescription for his HGH. What, he remembered the syringes but forgot his doctor's note? I wonder what medical reason West's doctor gave for prescribing him a drug that's commonly, and illegally, used as a muscle enhancer. assuming there even is a doctor in the first place.
Hell, West gets noticeably smaller by the month. He even wears garishly-colored shirts on the air to distract from it. Anyone who sees West limping around when the cameras are off knows he's suffering, yet somehow he can still perform during the show.
Still, Human Growth Hormone or no Human Growth Hormone, many suspect the nerve damage he's sustained through the course of his career no longer allows him to train and that he risks severe, permanent damage the longer he continues with his career in this business.
West is in severe pain every day and it's common knowledge that several performers in this business has overdosed on pain medication and died. His friends and peers are very concerned about West, and want him to take the steps he needs to take to get his health back in order.
That may mean that, as at least one wrestling veteran has publicly stated, it is time for Don West to leave the wrestling business altogether, and go into the movies, where to his star qualities he may have a real future.
Whatever the professional future of Don West, TNA and Dixie Carter did the compassionate thing by taking him off the path of self-destruction he has been on for so long now. Carter stopped making excuses for West, and now, without the responsibility of carrying TNA on his aching neck, West can finally face straight-up his greatest opponent of all – himself.
You people need to stop thinking about yourselves and get off Dixie Carter and TNA's back. Sure, you're not going to get more from Don West, one of the greatest performers of his generation. Instead of demanding West destroy himself for your selfish wants, you ought to thank West for all the hours of superlative entertainment he's given us all, and wish him good physical and mental health in the future.
Dixie Carter cares about the health and wellbeing of the performers who have given us all so much. She wouldn't have done what she did if she didn't. It's time some wrestling fans and wrestling writers started doing the same.
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