Sting was nearly 56 years old at Wrestlemania 31 when he battled Triple H; my question is their an age limit on any wrestler who wants perform until he 55 or older? ... I'm thinking of that today.

Lawler still occasionally wrestles and he's in his 60s.  Flair is 70 an was still wrestling in his 60s.  Lou Thesz wrestled his last match at age 74.

It really depends on the guy.  Thesz could go, up  through his 60, then was mostly just making appearances, before the match with Masahiro Chono.  In his book, he said his hip gave out and he fell into a heap and that was it.  Now, the book was somewhat kayfabed, so that might have been a planned spot.  However, old wrestlers usually had joint issues, in the days before everyone was destroying their bodies with high spots, concussions, steroids and recreational drugs & alcohol.

Flair was still going well in his 60s; but, as we see, is now paying the price of his lifestyle (especially the booze).  Hogan was having issues by WCW and wasn't doing much bumping in his matches.  He made an effort for his WWE return and di F-all in TNA; but, his knees are shot and his back required surgery.

For the generation that came in before the 80s, most were still competitive through their 50s, depending on how well they saved their money.  Their bodies were fine, other than maybe knees and hips, and they didn't do stupid things.  As Cornette has talked about, they knew they only had so many bumps in their body and they used them sparingly, for big shows.  They also weren't messing up their bodies with chemicals (other than alcohol).  Move into the 80s, when steroid use becomes a thing and now you have guys dying by their mid-40s, of heart attacks.  Cocaine is a big deal, alcohol, ant-depressants and sleep aids.  Guys of that generation are dying or killing themselves when the previous generation were at their peak, settling into the veteran role.  It accelerated in the 90s, when everyone is on juice, using pils and booze, and taking stupid bumps every night or worse, with garbage wrestling.

In Sting's case, I think he was fine; but, he did have to be hospitalized after the match.  I think he tried to do too much, for his age.  Steamboat had a similar problem with his match against Jericho.  They tried to up the ante to hang with younger guys or crowd expectations and their bodies weren't up to it.

The problem you have is that, with Vince going to commissions and saying it's a work and getting deregulated, no one is overseeing what's happening to them, apart from the WWE's "Wellness Policy," which has very fluid enforcement.  CM Punk talked about how he was pressured to wrestle while he was injured and had a major infection.  It's part of why he walked.  However, the commissions did nothing to really protect the wrestlers.  They collected their fees, checked blood pressure before matches, and had a commission doctor at ringside (the one who took the blood pressure).  That was it.  Now, the health department in Indiana shut down an Ian Rotten show because of hepatitis, recently.  Still, no one is looking out for the boys,except themselves and they are miserable at it.

Sting I understand, he wanted one go at a Wrestlemania, after being the WCW franchise player.  I still think he was better off going with Vince than TNA; but, I understand why he sat out the remainder of his WCW contract.  It was more than Vince would pay and he would have had to take a py off, like DDP did, to join (and DDP was buried) and why do that, with a family?  After?  I don't know.  He and Flair were the two guys who could have meant something to the Invasion angle, though Vince never wanted the WCW contingent to look competitive.

On Vince not wanting to make the WCW 'invaders' look competitive: I am still angry about that!

I mean, didn't DDP stalk the Undertaker's wife for fame? WTF? What kind of storyline is that? WCW fans would have been watching WWF (I was). Why would it make sense for DDP, whose profile had risen in WCW, to seek fame?

I know the WWF couldn't acquire the likes of Goldberg, Scott Steiner, Hulk Hogan and others immediately due to them sitting out their Turner contracts (nice work if you can get it!). But he hired them eventually, anyway. If he had bought them out, and they'd accepted, well the invasion storyline could have been so different. I hated that the WCW invasion storyline seemed to revolve around Shane and Stephanie McMahon, two people who hadn't been in WCW. What a crappy storyline/feud it was.

Regarding the WWF being deregulated, here's a related issue: how on earth has the federal government let wrestling promotions get away with the "independent contractor" thing for so long? How are they independent contractors? To me, an independent contractor (during, say, the Attitude Era) could have gone to Vince and said, "You're not using me at WrestleMania on Sunday, so I called WCW - and they're gonna let me wrestle on their show." How can an 'independent contractor' be subject to a 90-day no compete clause? Or have their dress code dictated? Never made sense to me.

And I am an independent contractor in a sense. True, cab drivers in the UK work for a brand (taxis are the world-renowned black cabs, minicabs/private hire vehicles have company names or are Uber/Ola/Lyft). But we're independent contractors. I sort out my own taxes. I can not take a fare if I wish, e.g. a drunken fool wants to travel minutes after vomiting on the streets. I wouldn't be an independent contractor if a company said, "You work for our cab company from 9am to 5pm. You take the jobs we give you and no-one can hail you."

Although wrestling is neither fish nor fowl, I always thought Freddy VS Jason was a good template for any battle between titans, whether wrestling, sci-fi, etc. Both characters looked strong in that film. Freddy was allowed to beat the crap out of Jason for some of the film. Jason got to beat the crap out of Freddy for some of the film. Both looked strong, and it led to that final battle. True, the movie came out 2 years after the WCW/ECW crapfest invasion storyline, but that's how McMahon should have done it.

At the time, I even argued that if it had been done properly, there might have been mileage in bringing the nWo in as "mercenaries for hire", battling both WCW and WWF guys. WWF VS WCW vs nWo might have had 8-12 months of mileage. Would it have worked? It's entirely hypothetical, but I would have preferred that. By the time the nWo did join the WWF (February 2002, I believe), I just didn't care about the nWo as a concept anymore.

On "independent contractor status", you're right. I just would have thought the federal government might have stepped in (pre-Trump at least) of their own volition without the need for a court case. I doubt I'd have lasted long as a wrestler. I'd have been too cheeky, e.g. I'd have told John Laurinaitis where to stick his dress code. Interestingly, here in the UK, some taxi drivers (not my city) are battling with the council who want to impose a dress code on them, but taxi drivers, who are always up for a fight against bureaucracy, are using the "self-employed" status (we don't really use the term "independent contractor" here) to rally against that. How can the council tell us, in any city, what to wear when we are self-employed?

One could apply it to any profession. A plumber would not be an independent contractor if a millionaire was giving him numerous jobs, but saying, "Oh, but I don't want you working on this person's house - and I want you available on Sundays 3-4 times a month." No, he'd be an employee.

Wrestlers do protect their spots, and I doubt there will ever be a wrestling union, but it'd be fun if, at some point, these so-called 'independent contractors' had tried to get work with WCW or whomever. If they weren't being used at a WWF PPV, why wouldn't these 'independent contractors' be free to wrestle a match for WCW or ECW for one night?

Mae Young 76 Years Old








She and Fabulous Moolah were a tag team battling Ivory (She was the WWE Women Champion) and they got together a handicap Bra and Panties match that's unbelievable.

On a wrestling forum I was a member of years ago, there were still people who believed there'd be a wrestling union one day. Never say never, but I don't see it. I think there's more chance of the Yeti showing up in my cab!

I have been in unions. It's all about collective bargaining. And unity. I don't see how a wrestling union would see every wrestler joining it.

Example: suppose there'd been a wrestling union in the 80s, fighting for better rights, more spotlight, etc. Would Hulk Hogan have joined it? I doubt it. I like Hogan, but in an old magazine interview, the late Dynamite Kid said that Hogan didn't care if you earned pennies in your match as long as he got his big bucks.

What if there'd been a union in modern times? Would the likes of Triple H have joined it? What incentive is there for big wrestlers to join? Why would they give up their spot to join a union?

It's different from some professions. One union I was in was trying to get better pay, pensions and rights for all of us. A wrestling union would no doubt feature a conflict of interest. What could Bret Hart and Hulk Hogan have seen eye to eye on if they'd both been members of a wrestling union in 1993?

I just don't see it happening.