Former TNA & Current ROH Talent Defends Unprotected Chairshots To The Head

[Jack-Hammer]

A few minutes ago, I ran across a story in which Nick Jackson of the Young Bucks, formerly Jeremy Buck & one half of Generation Me in TNA, posted a comment on Twitter in which he defends the use of unprotected shots to the head with steel chairs:

"It's funny how everyone on the dirt sheets get so mad about unprotected chair shots. They say its to dangerous to the head. It's to dangerous to the head?! Obviously. But if you guys were so worried you should be more worried about a normal back bump. Falling on the mat from any type of impact is like a small car crash. R heads bounce from the mat and it's extremely more dangerous. Should we stop taking back bumps than? In my opinion it's the same impact to the head. I should know because I've taken both before. But I've never gotten a concussion from chair shots. They've mostly been from bumps on the ring mat. Everything in wrestling is dangerous. If ppl were really concerned about us wrestlers health, than wrestling all together would be banned."

So, in a nutshell, 22 year old Nick Jackson is saying that your standard back bump in pro wrestling is more devestating to the human body than having a steel chair slammed against your head at 20 miles per hour. According to Jackson himself, he's taken chairshots to the head and says that it's the same impact as a back bump. Does that mean that he doesn't have enough common sense to tuck his chin and keep his head from bouncing off the mat? In my late teens, I trained in wrestling some and tucking my chin was the very first thing I was taught.

Given what we've learned in the past half decade or so concerning the trauma that unprotected head shots have heaped upon athletes, including pro wrestlers, I find it both disturbing and laughable that someone could actually try to defend such a position.

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

It kind of goes with reports on the Bucks and subsequent interviews. They give the impression of being that touch too up on themselves.

This is pure stupidity to suggest that a back drop, which should not result in any head trauma to an experienced wrestler is remotely comparable to steel bashing against the skull. What makes it even more idiotic is that Gen-Me were in TNA when a misplaced chair shot from Jeff Hardy put Ken Anderson out with a concussion for a couple of months.

Someone needs to give this guy Chris Nowinski's number before he makes an even bigger dick of himself!

 

[Harthan]

The chair shot to the head is overrated in terms of how devastating and harmful it really is. Like any wrestling move, there's a right and a wrong way to take one. Raven has opined on this subject, and I'm inclined to trust a guy who may have taken more chair shots than anyone else in the business. He's said to the effect that you can take a chair shot as well as you can take any other move. Are you going to walk away completely unharmed? No, but you're not going to walk away completely unharmed from a ton of wrestling moves either. Now, I don't know that its less harmful than a back bump. A simple back bump can really mess you up, in the right circumstances. Just ask Shawn Michaels. Given the testimony of Mick Foley, anecdotal, to be sure, but the best I've got, I'd wager that taking a lot of chair shots to the head is a bad idea. Foley has said that he feels some memory loss from time to time, and I can't think of many head bumps that Foley was taking outside of chair shots. At the same time, chair shots aren't the only way that you can incur head injuries. The majority of concussions in wrestling that I can think of are caused by something other than chair shots, and not just since the WWE banned them. The most notorious case of head injury in wrestling, Chris Benoit, had the majority of the damage done by the Japanese strong style, rather than unprotected chair shots - not that he didn't have a share of those, too. One cannot help but cringe at the flying shot he took in his ladder match with Jericho.

I don't mean to imply that a chair shot to the head is a great idea. Should they be banned altogether? I don't believe, and nor do several wrestlers, as it seems, that they are inherently more dangerous than many other wrestling moves. Do them wrong, or do them a lot, and it's not going to have a good effect on the human body. The same can be said of countless pro wrestling moves. I think Jackson's final statement is the most telling - if you're concerned about wrestlers' safety, ban wrestling. Like all sports, wrestling is bad for your health. You can take steps to make it less dangerous, but there's only so much you can do before you've compromised the game entirely. I think the better approach to chair shots to the head is conservatism. Like any big spot, make sure everyone knows how to do it right, practice it, and keep them limited to select, high drama occasions.

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

The thing is, the WWe has completely banned them as a result of Chris Nowinski's findings. Both Triple H and the Undertaker were believed to have been heavily fined for inserting one into their match at the last WrestleMania. The thing is, do people talk about said shot? No, the most talked about moment was the Dead Man kicking out of the Tombstone.

Unprotected headshots will not bring in viewers and can cause damage to the brain, so why have them? Yes, many wrestling moves can result in injury but how many run a high risk of mental trauma?

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Wow Harthan wow. You claim and I believe you to be one of the smartest people of this forum. I remember you writing a post regarding something about how you value your brain as much as anything else in your life.

That is why I think you need to be smart enough to understand that your understanding of brain injuries and how they are likely to occur is limited. The research that is being done is relatively new and until things are figured out the best course is to err on the side of abstaining from something as graphic as unprotected chair shots.

 

[Harthan]

Wow Harthan wow. You claim and I believe you to be one of the smartest people of this forum. I remember you writing a post regarding something about how you value your brain as much as anything else in your life.

That is why I think you need to be smart enough to understand that your understanding of brain injuries and how they are likely to occur is limited. The research that is being done is relatively new and until things are figured out the best course is to err on the side of abstaining from something as graphic as unprotected chair shots.

I don't believe I said differently. Keeping chairs shots well in hand, reserving them for select moments, and making sure everyone knows how to do them correctly. I don't speak entirely from conjecture here. As I said above, no less an authority than Raven himself has said that there are correct and incorrect ways to take a chair shot. I don't claim to believe they're harmless. Even taken correctly, they're not healthy. But Nick Jackson is right. Wrestling isn't healthy.

I don't support things like Rocky hurling 11 chair shots on Mick Foley, or the guys in CZW smashing heads with chairs as quickly as they put on a wristlock. But I think it's a move that gets unfairly penalized in wrestling. Look at a guy like Nigel McGuinness. He's wasn't running around taking chair shots. He took them here and there, but rarely. All the same, he sustained multiple concussions and was essentially told by a doctor that if he didn't change the way he was wrestling, he would die. It came from working a strong style inspired, well, style, and it cost him. My point here is that chair shots aren't the only thing in wrestling that can give you a concussion and jeopardize your health. Nearly every wrestling move that even involves the head can give you a concussion. Nick Jackson is spot on. The only way to ensure, 100%, that wrestlers won't get concussions is to ban wrestling.

What I'm saying here essentially is that chair shots are in a class of all sorts of moves and wrestling styles that have a chance to give concussions. If you go and ban everything that could give you a concussion, there's no more wrestling. Someone above mentioned research from Nowitzki and his foundation about chair shots. If they've demonstrated that they have an especially high chance of inducing concussions, above and beyond things like the Japanese strong style, then I'm fine with unilateral banning. If that isn't so, though, then I look at the situation differently - as long as they are limited, used cautiously, and everyone involved in the move knows what they're doing, I don't view it as more dangerous than almost anything else in wrestling.

 

[Papa Pillman]

Like any wrestling move, there's a right and a wrong way to take one. Raven has opined on this subject, and I'm inclined to trust a guy who may have taken more chair shots than anyone else in the business. He's said to the effect that you can take a chair shot as well as you can take any other move. Are you going to walk away completely unharmed? No, but you're not going to walk away completely unharmed from a ton of wrestling moves either.

Bravo. ^^^That x1000.

First... I am admittedly not the biggest fan of The Bucks and I think that they have reached their current status in the business prematurely. With that said, they also have alot of natural talent and a very bright future if they can get their minds completely right.

Now back to the point, I want to commend young Nick Jackson for having the balls to stand up and say what he said. Pro Wrestling is a show and if wrestlers are willing to take the "sacrifice" of a shot to the head for the sake of enhancing a show- I say go for it.

No wrestler should be forced to take an unprotected chair to the head that he is not expecting or hasn't pre-approved, but if the guy knows its coming and is more-than-willing to eat it, who are we to say it shouldn't happen?

I am not too ashamed to admit that I still love to see guys take stiff chair shots to the skull. It would sadden me as a fan to see chair shots to the head completely go away.

Also, in a related way, I want to praise TNA for the Roode/Ray v. Sting/Hardy main event from Impact recently. It was incredibly refreshing to see that level of consistently near cringe-worthy brutality on a tv wrestling program in this current softer and gentler era of wrestling. Those stiff hardcore elements being incorporated in with a couple of well placed "Wows", like the stereo slingshot-crossbodies by the babyfaces(who knew Sting had it in him?), made for a match that was unarguably entertaining while being totally different from most all main events we have become accustomed to seeing lately.

I won't pretend to be a doctor, and neither should any of you. What it comes down to is that the only person whose opinion should really matter on this topic is the individual performer's opinion. I'm not a doctor, I'm a fan... and I like to see stiff chair shots- sue me.

Now let's start the countdown until someone gets on their high-horse and tells me how wrong and stupid I must be.

 

[MrMojoRisin]

It's been said that once wrestlers start hurting each other for real... then they become the marks.

There is an art to wrestling. The purpose is for two men to tell a story with their bodies, and to protect each other the entire time so no one gets hurt.

I don't know Nick Jackson, but comments like his tell me that the art is lost on the new generation.

Back bumps you can train to take. You can train your body to spread the impact, and your opponent can train to protect you as much as possible the entire way. Unprotected chair shots to the head? It's a lot harder to train to take that properly. If you take them and don't experience head trauma, chances are you can thank the guy swinging the chair more than anything.

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

Now let's start the countdown until someone gets on their high-horse and tells me how wrong and stupid I must be.

Okay then, my father is now mentally and physically impaired as a result of brain trauma. Whilst he was in a coma, in recovery and then in a comprehensive rehab facility I was also in contact with many other victims and their families. Basically, the skull operates like a grater when there is an impact great enough to cause the brain to move within it's confines.

People can argue the case that unprotected head shots run little risk of causing trauma if performed right but simple fact is, if it is allowed, a rush of adrenaline or a simple mistiming or being slightly off target can result in someone being injured. Worse though, is simple human nature, Mick Foley has stated in his auto-biography that the Rock was only meant to perform 5 chair shots in their infamous match (in front of his children) but actually hit him 11 times. If it was legalized, there would always be the temptation to one up the last OMG shot. Just look at WM - despite it being forbidden Triple H and the Undertaker still felt the need to insert one for this very reason, to get a response. Could you have seen Trips in his backstage capacity condoning this happening in one of the other matches? Not bloody likely!!

Simple fact, backdrops are a necessary part of a wrestling match, a chairshot isn't. Nick Jackson is an idiot, his comment "If ppl were really concerned about us wrestlers health, than wrestling all together would be banned." is, frankly offensive. Fans agreeing that an unsafe act be removed from the industry is the same as fans agreeing with the roughing the passer rule in American Football, I haven't heard of any Gridiron guys making similar claims.

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