Infamous Montreal "Screw-Job"

I originally wrote this short article in response to an article Bret Hart wrote for the Calgary Herald a few years ago. It was, of course, rejected. Now, to be fair, I did take Vince's side in the so-called Screw Job, but the underlying message of the article was for the promoters to take better care of their talent. Even so, rejected...and rather rudely too if my memory serves me.
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First things first. The "Montreal Screwjob". I think both men did wrong. Bret shouldn't have expected Vince to let him go out the Champ and Vince should have been a man and a boss and just TOLD Bret that he will drop the title in Montreal. That being said, I have a great quote here that puts my thoughts into a much shorter version.
"Vince McMahon has always had the mentality about treating wrestlers as circus performers. All these wrestlers that have broken their backs for years making this living are left with nothing when it's over. Then they sorta take you out back and put a slug in the back of your head and then dump ya out with the rest of the garbage. That's the life of a professional wrestler."
Bret Hart
I've read Ric Flairs book, Shawn Michaels book, Stone Cold's book, watched Bret Hart's "Wrestling with Shadows", hell, I even read Classy Freddy Blassie's book and I'm more convinced than ever that a sanctioning body needs to implement some basic medical & psychological regulations on wrestling in general, but mostly World Wrestling Entertainment and it's parent company Titan Sports Entertainment. To what end?
It's quite simple. Let's put asside wrestlers off contract and deal with the tragedies of Owen Hart, Eddie Guerrero and now Chris Benoit. All three men had choices to make and all three of them made the wrong choice quite obviously. Had there been a strong policy in place and not some weak random drug test every six months perhaps Eddie would still be alive. If there were safety precautions in place, perhaps Owen wouldn't have fallen to his death. If there was an on-staff psychiatric doctor perhaps Chris Benoit would have had the help he seems to have been willing to give others; a shoulder to cry on when things were getting to be too much to handle.
Perhaps this sanctioning body wouldn't have saved these men's lives. But at least then we could have known that ALL that could be done, was being done. Maybe, just maybe, some stricter policies on "sports entertainment" and "wrastlin" in general would ensure that more of these performers get to see their grand-children.
It's a crazy thought I know, to expect a company to take care of it's employees....but who knows? Maybe, just maybe, some accountability and an ounce of prevention could keep these situations from happening.