Marty Jannety On If WWE Should Be Held Accountable For Former Wrestler's CTE Issues
John Oliver's scathing comments on WWE from last month are still reverberating and it seems as though everyone has an opinion on them. Marty Jannetty is no different and as a longtime former performer for WWE, he has a unique insight.
Jannetty joined our WINCLY podcast to discuss Oliver's piece and his ongoing lawsuit against WWE.
"I heard about it. I didn't see it but someone sent me a link to it? Here's what I can explain, and I'm hoping my attorneys won't go 'Damn, why'd you do that?' But I'm in a lawsuit against WWE so there can't be a Hall of Fame [induction]," revealed Jannetty. "Even though it's working out real good where Shawn has been in twice. Bret has been in twice. Flair's been in twice. Shawn would be the only three-timer as a Rocker and everyone's telling me, 'Next year, behave. Behave.' If I was gonna behave the way people wanted me to behave, I would have been the world champion. I'm just being real on real."
Jannetty is part of the class action suit against WWE which alleges that he suffered traumatic brain injury and that WWE concealed the risks of injury.
"About CTE, the attorneys that got me, they did [a lawsuit] against the NFL and they won," said Jannetty. "There is no bigger thing than the NFL and they won on the CTE thing which is if you get so many traumas, you become crazy. I started out [crazy] so I didn't need no damn concussions [laughs].
"With wrestling, it's considered entertainment which gets Vince out of so much stuff. But we do get slammed on the floor and our heads bounced on the floor. There have been so many times when I get up and didn't remember how a finished the match, and I wasn't even drinking."
He then talked about being knocked out in a match with Kevin Nash and when he came to, he was seeing three Kevin Nashes.
"It took me a while to figure out where I was and what I was doing," stated Jannetty. "But that's the point, we get knocked out so many times in what we do. WWE, WBO, NFL, any of them?we know what we're doing, but y'all do to. We're making y'all money and you're not gonna help us when we can't function anymore?"
Jannetty said he started to really feel the pain 12-14 years into his career but continued on for the fans.
When asked if WWE should take more accountability for its performers' health, Jannetty reiterated that the "entertainment" part of WWE and of sports entertainment creates a loophole for them.
"The entertainment factor gets them out so much sh-t and I don't even care about any of that," said Jannetty. "What I care about now is I'm walking through life f–ked up and they're still making money on me.
"We get royalty checks and it's itemized as to where they made it from. I'm looking at the thing and see you made a million last quarter but can't spend $40,000 to get my damn ankles fixed?"
Jannetty says he's reached out to WWE who has put many former wrestlers through rehab, but he doesn't need rehab, he needs surgery.
Many of his health issues will be documented in a book he's been working out which should be released shortly.
"I got a book we're working on. It should be done next month," revealed Jannetty. "They tell me to 'limit, limit, limit' because they don't want the book material out."
When asked if he wrote the book himself, Jannetty admitted he lacks the focus to do that.
"I've got ADHD to the max. I'll write like two sentences and be like, 'Man. Where's a girl?' That's been a problem with my career ? girl crazy," Jannetty said before adding that Vince McMahon made him a "Rocker" based on his real life, just with the volume turned up.
"Being a Rocker my whole life ? I hate to say this but sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. I'm older now, so we just leave out the sex [laughs]. No I'm just kidding ? we leave out the drugs."
Wrestling Inc's full, exclusive interview with Jannetty was included in a recent episode of our WINCLY podcast. It can be heard via the embedded audio player at the bottom of this post. In it Jannetty discusses his infamous match with Kurt Angle on Smackdown, his current relationship with Shawn Michaels and more.
You can check out past episodes of the WINCLY here. Subscribe to Wrestling Inc. Audio on iTunes or Google Play. Listen to the show via Spotify here or through TuneIn here.