Former WWE Doctor Discusses Vince McMahon’s Attitude Towards Well-Being Of His Wrestlers
On a recent episode of The Wrestling Inc. Daily, Wrestling Inc. Managing Editor Nick Hausman sat down with Dr. Frank Romascavage. Dr. Romascavage was a WWE doctor from 1993 – 2006, and he explained what his primary role was during that time.
"They would call me up and say, 'Hey Romascavage, we want you to do this and that or whatever. We need you here for a pay-per-view or In Your House or something like that,' and I would never say no," Dr. Romanscavage recalled. "The McMahon family was always good to myself.
"I remember one night, we were in Providence, RI, and we had to get a whole bunch of physicals done, so they would always send a limousine to the back door of my office. Take me right up to Rhode Island and I would take a couple of nurses. I would take my family, and we would do all the physicals and get it all done for them.
"It was a good relationship. Always had a good time with those guys, very, very superb organization. They treated us like royalty. I have nothing but the best accolades to say about the whole McMahon family."
Hausman asked Dr. Romanscavage what Vince McMahon's attitude towards the wrestlers' well-being was like.
"I know Vince, his wife, his daughter and his son. It's all about business," Dr. Romanscavage said. "It's a business proposition all the way down the line. Vince expects the best. Guys make a lot of money. They have good careers. They make a lot of money, and that's more power to them, but they're talented people. Nobody really appreciates the stamina that these folks have.
"They're on the road 300 to 350 days out of the year, and they're never around their families. It's just unbelievable. They have to be able to talk. They have to be able to do the walk. They have to look physically great. They have to look just right for the cameras, and they have to do their whole role as designed. That's how it has to be. I always tell people, these guys have to have a mega amount of talent to be a member of WWE, but Vince, he's a business guy. I've never seen him ever demean anybody, or hurt anybody or say anything nasty.
"He just expects a certain thing, but the guys and the girls all know that it's part of the life. It's how it is just like when you play for the NFL. You're you're going out there. You're beating yourself up, and there's consequences at the end of your career. Most people say, 'I know that,' and wrestling is no different. They take a beating. People can make all the derogatory comments about if it's choreographed, planned or whatever, but man, when you hit a chair, or you fall off that ladder, guess what happens?"
Dr. Romanscavage then talked about having wrestlers at his local practice, and he revealed the effect it had on his patients.
"I was an ER doctor in Philly for a while. I got a great wife, and I got two great kids who were always a part of the routine with wrestling organization," Dr. Romanscavage stated. "And the McMahon's have always treated them well too because they like the family structure. We would always put all these guys up in my place. I have a big place here, and they would stay here at my place. We would go to New York. We would go to Wilkes Barre, PA. We would go to Jersey. We would go out to Hershey, PA, and the central point here was my office here in Broadheadsville, PA, but I live right where I practice.
"I have a big place and a lot of rooms. I would have Owen Hart here. I'd have the British Bulldog here, Sean Waltman. I'd have up to say seven to eight different people that would stay here for three, four days, and my wife would feed them all and all their wives were happy because they knew where their husbands were at night. It was such a good feeling. I go to work every day, and my hours always start at 6:30 – 7:00 in the morning, so if I would go all over the country red eye back at a pay-per-view, I'd be back in the office next morning seeing patients.
"The best thing was is the fact that I would get people that were in my office sick or not feeling good and I would say to my patients, 'Did you ever meet a wrestler?' The patients would say, 'It's fake, or they're nothing.' They'd always be a little bit derogatory about it, so I said, 'Today, I'm gonna make your day.' All the guys would come out, and they'd all come into my office and then everybody got better just by seeing these guys show up.
"What happened is the fact that everybody would taking pictures. 'Oh, I love wrestling!' We had more people going nuts about just meeting wrestlers at my office, and they would come and it was just unbelievable. The commitment that these guys had to helping out ordinary people on a one-on -one basis, unbelievable, really good."
You can find Dr. Frank's full The Wrestling Inc. Daily interview via the embedded players below.
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