Late Lance Cade Might Beg to Differ Over Whether WWE’s ‘Raw’ Belongs on Daily Beast List of TV’s Most Dangerous Shows

As noted here yesterday, pro wrestling programs aren’t listed in The Daily Beast’s ranking of the 22 most dangerous shows on television.

Tell that to the parents, widow, two daughters, and stepson of World Wrestling Entertainment’s Lance McNaught (“Lance Cade”).

In October 2008, on WWE’s Raw, McNaught was beaten down with more than a dozen steel chair shots by fellow wrestler Shawn Michaels — one of them flush on the skull. Shortly thereafter, McNaught had a seizure on an airplane from a bad reaction to high doses of painkillers. During the same period, WWE collected $315 from an Internet auction of the Michaels-autographed chair used to attack McNaught. Early in 2010, McNaught completed a WWE-sponsored drug rehabilitation program. In the spring, the company released him. In August, he died at 29 of “heart failure.”

For the full background, see “Outrageous Death of Linda McMahon’s WWE Wrestler Lance Cade: A Resource Guide,” http://wrestlingbabylon.wordpress.com/2010/08/26/outrageous-death-of-linda-mcmahon%E2%80%99s-wwe-wrestler-lance-cade-a-resource-guide/.

Connecticut’s Senator-elect Richard Blumenthal, who two weeks ago defeated WWE centimillionaire Linda McMahon for the seat he will take in January, has promised to follow up on investigations of the wrestling industry. As well as he should. The Lance Cade story was, arguably, the turning point of the campaign – whether or not wrestling shows make The Daily Beast’s bogus “most dangerous” list.


Irv Muchnick