It's a great movie, with an understandably high score at Rotten Tomatoes, but it's got a big flaw.
A digression:
One of my favorite customers (a bartender) has said that the first bar you work at is the last bar you work at. It's what Randy is dealing with as his health diminishes; he's now working in the small venues where he probably started. But this time around, these small venues are even worse because of the changed expectations of the crowds. Throughout the movie, there is the explicit comparison of wrestling to stripping, but the implicit (and more accurate) comparison is to porn. And as with porn today compared to porn of yore, the crowd's tastes are very jaded. They don't want doggy-style; they want bukkake and maybe "Two Chicks, One Cup." As such, the "match" just prior to Randy's chest-cracking is grotesque and hellish. Because he doesn't have much choice and is generally game, he'll accept the staple gun and the barbed wire, but it's probably not where he expected his career to end up.
But here's my real point: Randy is too good and sociable a person to be so isolated from everyone.
I'm not talking about his daughter. Their relationship would always be tenuous because when she was young he was a no-good, absentee father. I'm not talking about Pam who's fighting the reality that the best man she may be able to pull after a lifetime of poor decisions is the crass, broken (but charming, considerate, 80s obsessed) Randy. (But she gets it by the end.) I'm talking about the hundreds/thousands of co-workers, promoters, and fans who can't even be bothered to show up at his hospital bed. Now, there's no way that the grapevine would not lead to many of these unlikely ingrates knowing about his situation. And there's no way that none of them would find some way to help him.
A Picture Of Randy -- Two Lists Of Characteristics:
High time-preference
Not-high IQ
Forgetful
An industry-common drug habit
*****
Kind
Unarrogant
Considerate of others' welfare
Physically strong
Open to new experiences
Professional
Humorous
A willing leader and follower
The good hugely outweigh the bad. Randy forgets some of the details outside the ring, but he goes out of his way to please his fans and he improves every wrestler around him (who are best viewed as beefy drama geeks in the same troupe.) He's basically a lovable alpha male at the end of his career. Although he headlines the shows, he's not a threat and wants to see the youth succeed. In fact, in the wrestling world, every single person he comes across smiles and has a kind word.
But beyond just the hospital SNAFU: no job for Randy? Not one of the legion of people happy to see him notice his trip to the emergency room, age, scars, joints, and that he might need a job as a bouncer? Sure, they're not rolling in dough and he doesn't whine about his pains, but I can't think of anyone I've known who was as broadly popular as Randy, and I can think of plenty who received a LOT more care from their community.
The traits that make him endearing to the viewer would make him endearing to almost everyone around him. Unless you can swallow that they would all be ungrateful, inconsiderate, and clueless, they would support him and stop his self-destruction.
*****
Finally, his adaptation to working the deli counter was quick and awesome. Clearly, he could tolerate prosaic work by turning it into a silly drama, and if he'd had any kind of emotional support he would have given to the fan who precipitates his bloody, ridiculous, careful-not-to-hurt-anyone meltdown an autograph instead of a fit.
