BY WADE KELLER

This week underscores WWE's greed-driven schedule for its overworked crew of "independent contractor" performers.

First, the more timely issue is the potentially dangerous travel condition for wrestlers in New York area the last 48 hours as they traveled to New York City for the MSG show on Sunday and now have to make it to Albany, N.Y. for the live Raw tonight.

As James Caldwell detailed earlier at PWTorch.com, some fans who attended the MSG show yesterday were still stranded today due to the shutdown of the Long Island Rail Road. The crew of wrestlers and referees had to brave the weather and make it to Albany for tonight's live Raw.

Meanwhile, the NFL delayed a marquee live primetime NBC broadcast of Michael Vick and the Philadelphia Eagles taking on Adrian Peterson and the Minnesota Vikings, moving it from Sunday in prime time to Tuesday night.

I'm sure it would have cost WWE money to cancel the MSG show, and I don't know enough details to definitively say they made the wrong call on the MSG show. I'll have to hear more. But in general, WWE's track record indicates the "the show must go on" is the default policy.

More of a concern, though, is the fact that both the Raw and Smackdown crews are booked for house shows through Thursday this week. One crew had a chance to celebrate Christmas on Saturday by packing for travel to snowy NYC for the MSG event on Sunday and then consecutive days through Thursday. Both crews work Sunday through Thursday, putting them again in a position to be packing on Christmas and unpacking on New Year's Eve.

How important is it really to run house shows on Wednesday in Baltimore and Cleveland? Or house shows on Thursday in Washington D.C. and East Rutherford, N.J.?

By scheduling wrestlers for these days rather than giving them - God-forbid - a stretch of more than three or four days off from Christmas Eve to New Year's Day, it limits wrestlers' ability to spend any extra time relaxing with family that might be in from out of town, or to travel out of town for the holidays without also packing for a five day work-trip.

It just seems this was a perfect chance for WWE to tape two Raws and two Smackdowns the week before Christmas and then give the wrestlers Dec. 23 through Jan. 2 off, resuming on Monday, Jan. 3.

When WWE talks about the schedule being "easier" or "better" than in years gone by, that's not what's important. What's important is what is today's schedule relative to what the decent thing to do is for a crew that needlessly works virtually every week without a stretch of even nine days off once or twice a year, much less the the 6-8 weeks off 2-3 times a year that they should be getting off for the sake of their long-term mental and physical health.

The time around the holidays is a perfect time to send a message in the future that times truly are different and the Wellness Policy for the 2010s including giving the WWE crew a nine day stretch to kick back, relax, pig out, sleep in, get a few projects around the house done, see a few movies, and just really unwind without worrying about packing for another five day road trip immediately after throwing away the gift wrap torn off the presents.

Please Recommend or Like This Article on Twitter or Facebook

KELLER BLOG: Paul Heyman alliance with C.M. Punk - where does it go from here?

KELLER'S WWE SUMMERSLAM PPV BLOG: Results and analysis throughout the show including Lesnar vs. Triple H, Cena vs. Punk vs. Show

KELLER: C.M. Punk is not best utilized as a tweener, despite a recent reader poll; he should be all out heel

Comment on this Article Below