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What's the story?
Long-standing wrestlers and WWE Superstars Mick Foley and Jeff Hardy have agreed to donate their brains towards Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy research after their deaths so that scientists can study the effects of repetitive impacts to the heads of wrestlers.
In case you didn't know...
Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy or CTE is a fairly new brain condition found in many athletes who have a history of concussions or taking multiple hard hits to the head. It is thought to lead to dementia, trouble swallowing, smelling, aggression, irritability, and motor impairment amongst other things.
The heart of the matter
The news was broken by Bloomsmag where they announced both Hardy and Foley's intentions to contribute to the gathering of research. Hardy stated his plans to do so during an interview with Ring Rust Radio
“My wife read where Kevin Nash announced that and I said, ‘Oh my God I have to do that.’ I for sure will do whatever it takes and I would love to be a part of that. It’s a huge serious issue in wrestling. I’ve rung my bells so many times especially back in the day when chair shots to the head were legal. My goodness, I took so many of those.
Luckily, I’m only aware of about two or three concussions that I have had but there’s really no way of telling how many overall. When Nash announced he was doing that I was on board and I didn’t know that RVD did as well. That really inspired me to do the same thing.”
Hardy, of course, mentions that Kevin Nash and RVD, two more high profile wrestlers who were around when chair shots to the head and Pile Drivers were commonplace, are also donating their brains for the cause.
Mick Foley actually announced that former WWE wrestler Christopher Nowinski, who founded the Concussion Legacy Foundation, convinced him to donate his brain way back in 2016, but it's just getting picked up now.
What's next?
The WWE's treatment of concussions and blows to the head have changed considerably since the discovery of CTE with chair shots to the head now banned and anyone who is diagnosed with the concussion given plenty of time off to rest or not allowed to compete at all.
Daniel Bryan is a famous example of someone with a history of multiple concussions and a possible brain lesion who is no longer allowed to wrestle for the WWE.
Author's take
I think this is a great thing to do. Hopefully, more wrestlers step forward and contribute to this research so a better understanding of CTE can be learned.
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One of Samoa Joe's colleagues had harsh words for him HERE
