By Bruce Mitchell, PWTorch columnist

What happened on that airplane with Lance Cade was sadly predictable.

Anyone who read his blog a few weeks ago knew he was in danger, following the same pattern so many like him had over the years.

That, and he was a model WWE employee.

In Lance Cade's own words on his blog, just a few weeks before he was summarily fired:

One thing that irritates me more than anything is when certain individuals in the media or a former wrestler or some stupid ex-wife complains that wrestlers work too hard of a schedule. This isn't World War II or Vietnam. The WWE or this business in general doesn't have a draft forcing anyone to do this line of work.

I have no college education. And when I started making money in this business and was taken off my parents' health insurance policy, I realized that, hey, this is something I NEED even if it prevents me from getting something I WANT. Big difference there. This is the greatest line of work someone could possibly be in. I'm thankful everyday that I get to just pass my wrestling bag and look at my boots and know that I get to do this for work! Not to mention the most important thing, my two daughters - a five year old who starts kindergarten in two weeks, and a seven month old who's already pulling herself up and standing - get to enjoy a damn good quality of life because of this business.

So why am I so upset this weekend? Because I was forearmed in the nose last Saturday night and broke my nose in five different spots and got a few stitches for it. The injury doesn't bother me. Not being on the road this weekend because of that irritates me more than anything. Vacation is one thing. And I've never asked for one day off in this business. Being forced to stay at home when you want to work flat out sucks.

I love being on the road and doing what I do. But, I declined to get it fixed and I will be at Monday Night Raw tomorrow night. Same goes with my dislocated shoulder that happened December 28, 2007. Doctors wanted me to get it fixed. But, I took five weeks off and have been back ever since. I'll probably get in trouble for saying this but sometimes the truth hurts. A certain "top guy" had a shoulder injury, much less severe than mine, and he took eight months off and took his ball and left. That's fine... He had no passion for this business. I won't take time off unless I'm forced to.

Lance Cade was willing to do whatever it took to make it in sports entertainment, anything it took to show his toughness and reliability in the face of major injuries and the most brutal schedule in all of sports or entertainment. He knew he might be pumping gas if he didn't have this opportunity and he meant to make the most of it.

His tenacity and loyalty, his will to work through a major shoulder injury, those all were rewarded when Cade was picked by the man who trained him, wrestling legend Shawn Michaels - who also toughed his way through some major injuries, and the hottest heel in the business - Chris Jericho, to become part of the feud of the year.

Lance Cade is exactly the type of independent contractor WWE values. Witness the promotional videos hyping the return of their biggest moneymaker, John Cena. The first one was more about Cena's inhuman dedication to working WWE's schedule, both wrestling and public relations appearances. It celebrated Cena's "amazing" return in one day from major spine surgery.

There was a strong message there, and it wasn't primarily pointed at the paying customers, either. WWE Superstars go to work, no matter the obstacle.

The only problem is the injuries don't really heal without proper medical attention. The pain worsens. It's harder to get the rest you need. In the end something has to give, no matter how tough and driven you are.

No one, after all, was tougher or more driven than the Wolverine, Chris Benoit.

From Jim Ross's October 15th blog: "Lance Cade was dismissed from the WWE because, like many humans, he made a major league mistake while utilizing bad judgment that cost him his job. This included Lance having a seizure on an airplane and having to have emergency medial care."

The NFL is as tough and as physical a profession as there is, and players face some of the same challenges as professional wrestlers do, but this kind of incident doesn't seem to happen to them.

WWE wants the likes of Lance Cade, right up until that toughness becomes a liability. The truth is, both Lance Cade and the company are lucky things on that plane weren't much worse.

10/20 RAW THOUGHTS

This was about as listless a wrestling show as you could find in the modern era of professional wrestling. I'm beginning to think both TNA and WWE found a list of wrestling match stipulations (in no particular order) on the internet and they're just working their way down the list week by week. That three man gauntlet thing went nowhere, slowly. Santino Marella selling washed up Superstars three at a time to the modern John Cena audience isn't getting it.

Bruce Mitchell has been PWTorch columnist since September 1990. His feature-length columns occasionally appear in the pages of Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter in place of his shorter Mitchell's Memo columns. He and Torch editor Wade Keller discuss current events, wrestling history, and answer listener questions every weekend for about two hours at PWTorch.com/members in what is often referred to as the best wrestling audio show (podcast) in existence. He also posts VIP Raw commentaries every Monday night.

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