USAToday reports that WWE has committed to donate $1.2 million to former WWE superstar Chris Nowinski’s Sports Legacy Institute.
The donation is to further research aimed at developing a treatment for Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, a brain disease that is associated with repeated concussions.
WWE COO Triple H told USA Today that WWE has gone to great lengths to protect their performers from the dangers of head trauma. “Obviously, I think it’s such a huge concern for everybody right now in sports and in the military. As we learn more and more about concussions and what can become of it, I think it’s a problem for everybody.”
“We still hit people with metal chairs, just not in the head anymore. We took out the things that … caused the most concussions and the most head impacts.”
Triple H says concussions are being less common in WWE, but there’s still a lot more work to do:
“In 2011, we had 25 concussions of the 150 talent (wrestlers) on the road all year long. … In 2012, we only had 11. If you’re in the NFL, your goal is to try to hit the other guy as hard as possible. … The goal in what we do is the exact opposite. The goal in what we do is first and foremost … protect your opponent. Without him you have nothing. … Our whole goal is to make something look as devastating as possible and as impactful as possible with as little impact as possible. It’s really the art of what we do. We really work on that with talent. If John Cena and I are in a story line together and I hit John Cena hard and he gets injured, and he’s out, it hurts me as much as it hurts him. He’s out; now my opponent that I’m in a story line with is gone and my storyline just ended.”
