Rikishi Can 'Relate' To Steve Austin Not Believing In CTE

One of the bizarre moments of Netflix's Mr. McMahon docuseries featured "Stone Cold" Steve Austin revealing that he doesn't believe CTE is real.

"I worked for a long time. I got dropped on my head one time, I got concussed there. Other than that I can't remember having too many concussions in the business of pro wrestling. My take on that has always been if you were just wrestling and you got a bunch of concussions you're probably doing something wrong. I'm not a CTE guy. I just don't believe in it," Austin said while discussing if CTE affected Chris Benoit in his later years.

Rikishi has since chimed in on the matter and admitted he can 'relate' to Steve Austin not believing in CTE.

"Ain't that part of the game? Being in football or any sports, full-contact sports? We get hurt but when you come from the old school. I don't even know or remember did I ever get a concussion, and if I did back in the day, I'd just shake it off and keep going because out of sight, out of mind means no paycheck on the weekly, and you already mentally prepared to put your body through it," Rikishi said on his Off The Top podcast.

"If it takes me, I guess getting a concussion and keep going to get that paycheck to feed my family and put food on the table... we're talking 25-something years ago. I'm talking $30 a payday a match. So, I might've got a concussion before I got to WWE and didn't know it, but I feel great. I'm sure if I did have a concussion I would damn sure would notice by now. But we come from that old school so I kind of relate to what Steve was talking about. Now, I can't say I don't believe in it because I do believe in injuries."

While Rikishi can understand Steve Austin's point of view, chronic traumatic encephalopathy is a real disease. The NHS summarises CTE as a "brain condition thought to be linked to repeated head injuries and blows to the head. It slowly gets worse over time and leads to dementia." Symptoms include mood changes such as suicidal thoughts, personality changes, behaviour changes such as aggression and mood swings, short-term memory loss, confusion, problems with movement, and difficulty with planning and organisation.

H/T Wrestling Inc.