Honestly, I can believe everything he's said lately.

He sounds like a whiney bitch on the surgery. How many companies, let alone wrestling companies, would offer to loan you the money for a hip replacement surgery and say "oh btw, we'll loan you the cash for the kidney transplant too."

I'm assuming he couldn't get insurance though, so it would have been nice for TNA to pay some of it.

Here's his stance: He knows he's going to need an operation, and doesn't have the money to pay for it. He asks for a raise, and they tell him they don't have the money. They sign Angle & Christian to lucrative deals after that. Which proves that they do have the money, but not for him, and he's been with TNA for a long time. So when the time comes, they loan him the money, but they want it all back. Probably to help pay for someone like RVD or Jericho. So he quits.

I don't see that as being a whiny bitch. I see that as being under-appreciated. Especially since he helped make 3LK & LAX.

I don't think TNA had to pay for his surgery, but I do think that's part of what's wrong with this "sport." All the major companies should at least offer a base health insurance plan. To be honest, it would be smart of TNA, as it would make them even more of a destination for young talents.

I don't have an issue with the other things he said but I do take issue with the whole surgery thing. They were willing to help the guy out on that one and he's turning around and bitching about it. I know other people that will turn around and do shit like that and it's really back stabby to me. I mean, yeah they wanted him to pay it back but they weren't obligated to do shit for the guy and were willing to loan him money for two operations.

I don't agree with that at all.

They are obligated to help the guy out, he did work for them.

That would be like saying that the WWE wouldn't be obligated to help out Benoit if he needed it before the horrible incident.

I see where Mad Dog is coming from. I mean, sure it would be good business practice to help the guy out, but they weren't legally obligated. Wresatling companies have gotta come up with some way to help guys with medical expenses that is stated in the contracts, though. Until then, you can gripe all you want, but the truth is TNA didn't do anything illegal at all.

Just because TNA wasn't legally bound to help Konnan out, doesn't make it right. The wrestling business is completely FUBAR if they won't help out the wrestlers with health care issues. The very nature of the business means that all wrestlers are going to have major health issues, whether it be broken bones or kidney transplants, and this bullshit excuse of "Wrestlers do this for the love of the business, it's worth it to them" can only go so far. I would prefer that the wrestling business go extinct tomorrow before I hear stories that guys who worked hard their entire lives, like Konnan, are fucked over because their bosses don't see the worth in keeping them healthy and comfortable due to what the business did to their bodies. Our entertainment is not worth human beings being thrown out to rot without any help.

So should TNA just pay for every wredtler to fix their bodies after breaking them down in other companies? Konnan did by far most of his damage outside of TNA. That isn't to say they shouldn't lend a helping hand, but let's not pretend they are responsible in this case.

Konnan has been working with TNA for five years, and he didn't need this type of surgery or treatment until the past couple of months. I don't think it matters that he already had hip issues before, it was the work he did with TNA that aggrivated it to the point where he needs the replacement. As for the kidney transplant, I don't quite understand that contributed to him needing that, but the point is that he was a longterm employee of the company and proved his worth time and time again by establishing the fan-favorite group 3LK, and then being the driving force on the mic that established LAX, which was the hottest stable in wrestling until Russo fucked it up.

Furthermore, I'm not really saying that TNA should have helped because of the way things are now, I'm saying that wrestling should change so that the talent is always covered, without having to go into detail as to what ring injuries are accountable.

"Oh, let's see, you need knee surgery, do you? Well, it says here that you tweaked your knee 15 years ago in another company, therefore we feel we shouldn't have to cover it."

Yes, they should. It's how it works in the NFL, NBA, NHL, or MLB.

If you sign a guy that is YOUR decision. I have a funny feeling that if the shoe were on someone like Angle for example, the end result would be much different.

Umm, no offense Dk but that's not at all how those organizations work. Those all have players unions which help the players to some degree, and the players can get insurance through them, which wrestlers obviously can't. The teams have nothing to do with it, though. And if you've seen the news for the last couple of weeks, injured and retired nfl players are going after the player's union right now for doing what you just said didn't happen.

Now, you are right that TNA would probably protect different investments in different ways, and I didn't say what they were doing was great, only that they can't really be falted at this point.

No offense taken.

I know how the organizations work and they ALLOW a players union to be involved. They could have easily just thrown every player out on their ass and replaced them at some point. I know it would make them look like shit, but they easily could've made it so unions were never part of it. Of course this would've happened years ago though.

I don't see how you can't say that they can't be falted about it. Benoit is the perfect example here. Someone dies (regardless of the reason) and it reflects poorly on the company. Especially in a business that's so fuckin dirty to begin with.