As you likely have heard, Enzo Amore was injured during WWE Payback when Simon Gotch of the Vaudevillians threw him out of the ring. It was a freak accident and Enzo ended up hitting his head pretty hard and almost broke his neck on the ropes (you can watch the slow-mo video here). Steve Austin on the most recent episode of his podcast, had some words of wisdom for Gotch and any up and coming wrestlers about the accident.
Here was Austin’s advice to Simon Gotch (I would like to note Austin said Gotch was a great in-ring technician and just made a couple mistakes here, is not trying to bury him):
“My thoughts on that are, Gotch, when you’re throwing a man through the ropes at that short of a distance, you back off the horsepower. You threw him in with way too much force. I know it was unintentional [and] I know you were excited, but when you’re that close, you’ve got to slow the horsepower down, and, basically, you just kind of guide him. Give him a little bit of momentum, but you threw him so hard, so close, he couldn’t control anything that resulted in that wicked bump. And, one more mistake: you went and picked him up by his head when he was really in a bad position [and he] looked bad. You’ve got to be able to sense that. So, two messages. Don’t use that much horsepower that close to the [ropes]. It’s dangerous. And don’t pick a man up by his head if you have an inkling that something went wrong” (Source: Steve Austin Show, H/T WrestlingINC).
I think Austin’s comments are fair. I want to emphasize that Austin wasn’t trying to bury Gotch he was trying to use it more as a teaching moment. I don’t think anyone blames Gotch but I am guessing he is feeling bad about what happened!
Totally fair critique from Austin. The man has suffered some horrible injuries in botches, had a great career, and loves the business. I would take no umbrage if I were Gotch. Gotch is a good worker and mistakes happen.
Stone Cold trying to guide these youngsters.