From a wrestler’s perspective, Vito admits the fear is real because there’s no guarantee you’ll have the same opportunities when you return from injury. Just because a company official or someone from the creative team tells you that you won’t lose your spot, that’s not a guarantee. A lot of things can change while you’re out with an injury and even though the company might not intentionally forget about you, when you return things may be completely different.
Vito informs that wrestlers would often work together to get each other’s through injuries without having to take time off. If someone had an injured leg they could work the match around that leg to ensure that the injured performer wouldn’t have to put himself at risk of further injury.
Vito says that he was very lucky throughout his career in the sense that he was able to stay away from painkillers and alcohol. He was able to treat his pain with Aspirin, Motrin, or other over-the-shelf medication. Nowadays he wakes up every single night and is forced to take extra strength Advil just to get back to sleep because his headaches are so bad.
Speaking about drug addiction, Vito says that when someone showed up to work a match drunk or intoxicated the other performer had two options: beat that guy up during the match or protect him during the match. Vito adds that if you were a top guy the company would often protect you and ignore the drug use because they were making the company too much money.
