In an amendment to his first “Foley Files”, Mick Foley talked about WWE not mentioning Umaga’s passing on broadcast televsion.
“I guess I sure picked a bad time to post that initial “Foley Files”. I had no sooner put it up when I found out that Umaga had died. I was shocked and saddened and my heart goes out to his family. My wife used to mention what a nice face he had underneath all the make-up. She was right; he was a nice guy. But in that ring, he did wonders with a character that at first looked like it was going to be limiting. I know WWE has to protect themselves from a public relations standpoint, but from a human standpoint, they really should be doing a better job then just the three sentence standard, which always includes the date the deceased was terminated from their contract. I worked there a long time – I know that they’re not heartless. But they sure sound that way in cases like this.”
In relation to all this, it’s been said that the family of Umaga was backstage at a recent Smackdown! taping, and several wrestlers are quoted as saying that the ‘E and everyone associated went out of their way for them.
As for what I think—who cares? They made mention of it in their press-release, so it isn’t like they’re acting as if he never existed. In the minds of people, wrestling companies, the ‘E especially, can NEVER Do right when paying homage to a wrestler who’s passed away. Either the message at the beginning wasn’t enough, or the show they used was just a fluff piece for themselves, blah blah this, blah blah that. These obnoxious nerds who paint WWE as Satan’s first company to go public are always trying to find some facetious agenda within the E’s actions regarding a dead wrestler. Bah.
CREDIT: Mike Johnson at PW Insider.
