- Smith Hart has posted a new column discussing CM Punk’s recent appearance on The Art of Wrestling podcast. Hart defended Dr. Chris Amann over Punk’s claim that Amann was negligent and lazy in dealing with a MRSA infection and said it was “unnecessary” for Punk to attack Amman over it. Check out an excerpt below:

I’ve been asked repeatedly about commenting on CM Punk’s recent record breaking diatribe concerning his release, so instead of individual messages, I figured I would issue a blanket commentary, covering the wholeness of his claims. Spending the entirety of my life in or around this business I have a true old school perspective of everything said as opposed to Phil, who claims to be old school, but I feel has apparent lack of understanding of what that really means. Although there were many things that I agreed with during his 2 hour spiel, there were also many things I disagreed with. I understand burnout. No matter how much passion one feels about what they believe this business to be, the grueling nature of the beast including road schedules, incessantly bad creative and politics do wear away at everyone over time in particular in the WWE. The manner with which it is handled is truly the question.

The first issue I wanted to confront was Phil’s claims about his health and well-being. I’d like to start by saying that I know Dr. Amann. He has worked on me in the past even when I wasn’t working with WWE and he is a credit to his profession. I’ve never found him to be lazy and I do consider him to be a very good physician. I felt it was unnecessary for Phil to attack our good doctor knowing from first-hand experience how hard he works and how much of a blessing he has become to today’s locker room. How many lives would still be here if WWE/F had someone like Dr. Amann 20-30 years ago? I think Jerry Lawler would personally attest to the value of Dr. Amann in the locker room and I know many others have been blessed by his presence. In terms of the concussions, Phil readily admitted that he fought his way through them. How can Dr. Amann, be held accountable if Phil is fighting his way through trying to prove to himself he is the best in the world. Concussion testing is still in its infancy, so if there are holes in the testing process, that doesn’t escape the fact that at least an effort is being made to prevent them and if Phil was so hell-bent on time off, he should have simply not played tough. Dolph Ziggler is a clear-cut example that no matter which rocket you are on, if you are proven to have a concussion you are taken off the road. In terms of the drug-testing, you’d think Mr. Straight Edge would be proud to piss in a cup. Unfortunately for every new drug test or screening that exists, there is equally a new drug that is screen-proof.