A SmackDown! Superstar came under fire this week when speculation suggested he either faked or overplayed an illness to get out of doing a clean job at Tuesday’s SmackDown! taping.
While most with an understanding of the situation felt the speculation was off base–as a midcard wrestler, one is conditioned to expect to do jobs from time to time and would be very unlikely to pull such a political stunt–it nonetheless did appear intriguing that a wrestler who showed up in good condition Tuesday afternoon had to leave for flu-like symptoms after learning about the match plans.
That wrestler, Shad Gaspard, took to MySpace to explain his side of the story; the statement is posted below. As an additional note, F4WOnline.com says that Shad has been in touch with colleagues explaining that he has no problem doing jobs and that he was not, in fact, fine upon arriving at the show and must have been doing a good job of acting like he was in a position to perform.
Ok before this thing gets out of hands let me set the record straight. This past Monday I got sick while traveling from Mexico to the US. On Tuesday my symptoms increased drastically to body pains, headaches, vomiting, diarrhea, and nausea. I tried several over the counter medicines that temporarily worked, but didn’t help in the long run.
Finally I went to or WWE doctor who prescribed to give me a shot of Phenergan, which should have worked. Unforchantly it made me drowsy and brought on cold chills. The office thought it best I leave than try to perform. I spent Tuesday night in my hotel room vomiting and dealing with bad diarrheaa all night (Trust me no one ells was near or around me). When I got back home I dealt with the same symptom all day as my girl helped me get better bye taking what our family physician prescribed, and getting rest…..
I’ve never let being sick ever keep me from performing, I’ve worked sick, hurt, and injured before on live events, TV tapings, and Pay Per Views, I just never let no one excluding my partner know how I felt or what I was going through. I apologies to my tag team partner, the participants in my match and the WWE universe, I should have found out all the information about what was given to me before I took it, and prevented my self from getting sick in the first place.
I take full responsibility for what happened and I’m sorry. In our industry there is a tradition that the show must go on no mater what, and I feel I have betrayed that tradition bye not performing last Tuesday. The greatest joy in my life is performing in the WWE (Win, Lose or Draw), I love what I do, and I will never let something like this happen agene.
Sincerely
Shad Gaspard