Wrestling News Media: February 2010

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

WWE's "The Undertaker" Gets Burned by Pyrotechnics, by Greg Tingle

WWE's "The Undertaker" Gets Burned by Pyrotechnics; Bad timing for WWE, by Greg Tingle

St. Louis, MO - According to the Associated Press, a pyrotechnics mishap is to blame for burning professional wrestler The Undertaker during a Sunday performance in St. Louis.

Officials say pro wrestler Mark William Calaway only suffered minor burns to his chest and escaped serious injury. Fire officials in St. Louis continue to investigate the incident.

According to World Wrestling Entertainment spokesman Robert Zimmerman, The Undertaker continued to wrestle Sunday night and still appeared during a Monday performance of WWE's Raw.

Calaway usually enters the wrestling ring as fireballs explode, but a timing mistake caused the wrestler's jacket to catch fire. The Undertaker threw down the jacket and title belt before he was treated by a ringside physician.

Doctors say that the wrestler's chest was red and appeared to be about as serious as a sunburn. According to WWE officials, the pyrotechnics overseen by a third party that is contracted with the wrestling group.

The majority of wrestling insiders, fans and media analysts believe that this latest WWE incident it likely to have some negative impact on former WWE CEO Linda McMahon's political campaign.

Media Man hopes this is a further wake up call for the WWE and the professional wresting industry in general. Minds go back to when Owen Hart died at a WWE PPV whilst performing a stunt on the way to the ring, rather than a basic professional wrestling move. As pro wrestling living legends such as Bret "Hitman" Hart and Mick "Cactus Jack" Foley has gone on record with, "Pro wrestling is more real than you think". That may be so, however does the WWE need so many "highspots" like pyro if it adds what could be seen as unacceptable risk to the performers, and potentially, fans? Roddy Piper, who currently appears for the WWE from time to time, along with Hulk Hogan (TNA Wrestling) have been campaigning for extra health benefits for professional wrestlers.

Perhaps something good may come from the latest WWE (real life) accident to The Undertaker.

The Undertaker is widely regarded as a living legend of the professional wrestling industry and has been contemplating retirement in recent years. He has been scripted into WWE WrestleMania storylines in recent weeks and it is unknown as this time if today's incident will effect the WrestleMania line up or angles.

Rest in peace, although we're not certain all WWE top brass will tonight.

*The writer has a b2b agreement (website b2b) with World Wrestling Entertainment, as they do with dozens of companies in the media, new media and entertainment sector.

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