“when it comes crushing down and it hurts inside”
Such a great title not only for my own life, but for what I want to discuss today! First off I want to thank those for being patient with me as I’ve been fairly ill for the last 3 weeks, and missed writing last week. It’s great to see that there’s so much talent at WR that no matter what there’s always something good to read, so I don’t feel too guilty except for disappointing my 2 biggest fans! (I love you mom and dad)
More to the point, I chose this subtitle after seeing a video of former Rocker member Marty Jannetty hit former ECW legend Balls Mahoney (yes, ECW legend) at an indy show with a controversial chair shot to the top/back of the head. If you have a chance, please watch the video on YouTube. Balls asked to get hit, taunts Jannetty a bit then bends over to take the chair shot. It seems Jannetty hit directly in a really bad spot on the head without having Balls’ back take some of the brunt. To me it doesn’t sound any different than a normal chair shot, nor does it seem to be any different from any shots that Mick Foley himself took directly to the head with no blocking. The blow ends up having really bad effects on Balls, which is obviously more evident after the match. The crazy thing to me is Balls eventually wins with the roll-up. Afterwards he is clearly out of it and can’t control himself, which results in puking outside of the ring splashing the crowd and staff. Balls doesn’t just puke once, but he keeps puking. He’s trying to give a promo and I’m pretty sure I even hear him say “Good job, Marty…I’ve never puked from a chair shot before” but that could just be my ears. Like I said if you have a chance please watch it as this will make much more sense.
Personally, I do think the chair shot was a bit careless and I’m not sure if Marty was just trying to be cool for the crowd or what, but I know it seems like a pretty irresponsible thing to do. Accidents do happen but let’s not forget, Marty is a seasoned veteran and should know how to give a chair shot. More than likely Balls might have even taken worse in his life, but at this point in his life I don’t hitting him in that fashion was necessary, especially at a small show.
What hit me the most was that a friend of Balls, The Pope ended up going on Facebook and ranting about how it was a horrible chair shot and Marty should know better than to hit like that. Also Pope mentioned that Balls had children at home, something more important than trying to hit a crazy chair shot. I completely agree with The Pope and agree there is a spot for chair shots in the business and much like WWE I think it’s time to move away from the head. Even when a chair is cracked onto the upper back, with the right camera angle it usually looks like it taps the head as well. Direct chair shots have been banned in the big leagues since sometime after Chris Benoit’s incident, and I personally think this should be an industry standard. The ways concussions affect the brain aren’t pretty, especially after repetitive hits.
The Pope is on a mission now to ban Marty “Chairnetty “. Obviously it could have just been a mistake and Marty hadn’t thought he hit him that hard or directly on top of the head, but to me it didn’t look like a mistake at all. Marty clearly knew what he was doing in that ring, which is a little frightening when you look at his years in the business. Obviously Balls is a big man and can handle extreme, but let’s not forget Balls isn’t in his prime anymore. He might be in good shape and everything, but when you’ve been a part of original ECW, no matter what you must have some sort of damage to your head/body.
The reason I wanted to write about this subject was to be able to hear other wrestling fans views on chair shots to the head, as well as this situation with Marty Jannetty. Do you agree or disagree Marty is in the wrong with that he did? Do you agree or disagree that chair shots to the head should be banned industry wide? Most of us all went through the “Attitude” era and remember WWE going to the extreme especially a handcuffed Mick Foley getting smashed in the head by The Rock. Of course we miss some of the extreme fun, but is something like a chair to the head really worth the entertainment? Is The Pope just overreacting towards Marty? Voice your opinion.
James Bones
@violentshadows
violentshadows@hotmail.com
Ringsidehustle.com 
I do think chair shots to the head should be banned. At the Wrestling promotion I work for, someone took a chair shot to the head and bleed for real. Thankfully, he was alright but it could’ve been a lot worse.
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Holy crap, is it just your regular steel chairs too? That’s shitty it happened but lesson learned for everyone else I guess.
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Yeah it was a regular chair.
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They’re kind of a touchy/controversial subject. Overall my opinion is they should not be banned. Chair shots to the head used to be a landmark for a gimmick match, it showed the match was serious. Now you know they purposely aren’t going to bash each other in the head with it. Their is far more dangerous weapons used in WWE than chairs. They also had a huge development on wrestlers’ such as Edge.
If used properly, then they’re not dangerous.
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I remember chair shots straight to the forehead to the point where you could see where the guy had bladed right across his forehead to sell it. I remember Big Show being one of the worst. He would always have a straight cut like across his forehead. lol!
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*Pukes worse than Balls.
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ice article man, I know we discussed this on Twitter but there’s no harm in commenting!
I agree & disagree. Marty knew what he was doing & The Pope is right in what he says too. But Balls, in my opinion, was an ass for even suggesting a chair shot. Especially after his career of hardcore wrestling, he’s probably had a shit load of concussions in his career, so to risk something like a chair shot is quite stupid in itself. Also, I’ve seen some of the chair shots Balls has delivered to people in ECW & they seemed a lot worse, people even called them death shots lol! So in a sense, Balls has no moral ground to stand on, as such. Cos he in a sense does the same things, albeit (am I using that word correctly?) In a “safer” approach.
As for banning chair shots. Nope I disagree. ALTHOUGH the chair shots we see now a days are weak as fuck. Before the chair goes anywhere near their head the arms are up & the chair hits the arms but they still sell it, as do the commentators. THEY AIN’T PULLIN’ THE WOOL OVER MY EYES. Then again, that’s the only real way to do chair shots safely, maybe? Chair shots are so effective in matches I feel. I’d hate to see ’em gone altogether.
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Yeah honestly I didn’t see one complaint from Balls. I don’t think he cares at all really because he has given/taken worse. So far The Pope seems to be the only one who has been angered by it. That chair shot was nothing really compared to what he’s taken, so I have no idea why it affected him like that. lol. He almost seems proud when he says whatever he says to Marty. Like good job for making me puke. LOL!
Now, with today’s technology, why the hell isn’t there chairs made out of strange metal that sounds hard but is weak? WWE just wanting to avoid head shots due to PG content, Benoit almost killing the business. lol.
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I’m glad he didn’t complain because it would have been double standards then, but he took it like a man and the crowd members took theirs like girls! LOL! Yeah, The Pope is furious about it, I guess he just cares for Balls.
I heard a rumour that he was on drugs. Everyone said that he shouldn’t have been badly affected by it but because he was they have started saying that he may be high on drugs and shit.
Yeah, you wonder dontcha? They’ve got the tables more or less sorted, they’d just need to figure out the chairs now lol! I get why WWE aren’t allowing chair shots, and in a way I respect them for it, but when you have huge matches like Taker’s Mania match or The Rock/Cena, Punk/Jericho it’s annoying not to see them used as prominently as they used to be. Chair shots add loads fuel to the already gigantic fire.
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Should be up to the individual; if they want to take that risk, so be it.
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If there was a like button, this would get a huge click. I like this idea and think it would work out well, just as long as the company doesn’t pressure them in or give out a bigger pay day for it.
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~cough~ TNA
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Ok first of all. LOVE this article mate. Very nice work and a fantastic read on a very hard subject.
Now what I disagree with is giving a worker the option to be allowed to do this. I think you have to factor in that some people (like balls, clearly) are too stupid to resist and need the promoter to step in and save them. If someone had stepped in gets ago then Chris Benoit and many other may still be alive today IMO.
Regardless of that, nice thought provoking article buddy.
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Thank you very much! I agree with you that some talent would for sure need to be saved, especially if they got paid more to take the hit. It would almost become an addiction, and characters like Hardy and such would probably do it for the thrill.
I don’t see if ever happening, because I guess if they give them the choice to hurt themselves with a chair, the fight could start with some saying “why can’t we have the choice to do drugs?” or “why can’t we have the choice to do steroids if we want to?” I guess across the board regulation is the only way to keep a standard. Violators will be prosecuted.
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Yeah it’s pretty nifty! It does annoy me how it includes the banner and the Captains Quarters photo though 😦
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Fuck I posted this in the wrong article! So sorry 😦
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Hahhah! It’s alright, we aren’t at war….yet.
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LMFAO! hell, it’s gonna be the Wrestling Rambles War between Bones & Wilson. Bring it on bitch, I’m ready. I’ll send your ratings down to the floor! 😉
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Oh, you’re already trying, Mr. Commentmuch. #pipebomb
It seems you’ve now surpassed me on the list. It’s on. LOL
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I’m for a ban. To me, safety trumps an unnessessary spot.
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