Quintin Jardine's blog

Here’s a question put to her audience by the elfin guide on a Toronto harbour tour that I took a couple of months ago. ‘Which sporting event set the record attendance at the Skydome, now known as the Rodgers Centre?’ Guesses included hockey, basketball, baseball, Gridiron football, rock concerts . . . none of them right. The highest, and second highest crowds ever logged in the arena were for . . . Wrestlemania, the annual headline event of the World Wrestling Entertainment. As the little guide put it, ‘Grown men in tights, pretending to fight.’ (I knew the answer all along, but I was too embarrassed to admit it.)

Yes, sports entertainment is huge. It’s made its leading magnate and promoter into a supposed billionaire, it’s prompted his wife and business partner to run for the US senate, it’s spawned video games and all manner of products, and it’s even made a few people believe that it’s for real. Recently, the WWE and Sky TV announced a long-term deal to continue showing the programming on satellite TV.

 Now let me ask you all another question. Do the following names mean anything to you? Richard Rood, (40), Brian Pillman, (35), Rodney Anioa, (34), David Smith, (39), Curt Henning, (44) Elizabeth Hulette, (42), Michael Hengstrand, (45), Michael Lockwood, (32), Hercules Hernandes, (46), Ray Traylor, (41), Eddie Guerrero, (38), Scott Bigelow, (45),  Sherri Martel, (49), Brian Adams, (44), Edward Fatu, (36). You’ve probably never heard of any of them, but they were all WWE ‘superstars’, and those are the ages at which they died, either from heart or drug problems. You may have heard of Chris Benoit, (40), who killed himself, after strangling his wife and son. Post-mortem examination suggested brain damage due to repeated concussions. It must be pointed out that the WWE takes a strict line with performers who are found to have taken prohibited drugs, but still, it’s a hell of a body count for something that describes itself as part of the entertainment industry.

So, should you ever tune in to Wrestlemania, or something similar, even as you’re being thrilled or amused by the ‘grown men in tights pretending to fight’, spare a thought for all of those who didn’t make it to fifty.