10 Mind-Blowing Real-Life Wrestling Reinventions

Professional wrestling is tough, exhausting industry that has aged performers decades beyond their years and in extreme cases, taken lives.

The endless travel schedule alongside a physically damaging competitive quest for supremacy in a predetermined sport has lead many to rely on artificial highs that dropped them to unthinkable personal lows.

In the decade that has passed since the Chris Benoit double murder/suicide, WWE as an organisation has made public the attempts to aid performers past and present with any addiction issues they encounter in part thanks to the rigours of Sports Entertainment.

In truth, the outreach was long overdue. Vince McMahon was callously pragmatic during late 2007 questioning from the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection, and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

When asked why now he'd chosen to extend the offer of paid rehabilitation, he responded 'Two words: public relations. That’s it. I do not feel any sense of responsibility for anyone of whatever their age is who has passed along and has bad habits and overdoses for drugs...It is a magnanimous gesture.'

Despite the cynical motives, the WWE-sponsored treatment has aided the recovery of several major stars over the years. There have also been those who have rebounded without the McMahon munificence. Through religion, discipline or the tireless work of a certain former colleague, these men have completely reinvented themselves and remain on this mortal coil against the odds.

Hammering out their hedonism for good, here are 10 mind-blowing real-life reinventions.

Generally considered a pillar of dignity and respect amongst fans and fellow performers alike, Sting spoke openly about the struggles with drugs and alcohol that lead him to a religious reawakening in the late 1990s.

Referencing the hedonism of the industry during the company's most commercially successful years, Kevin Nash once suggested that the WCW locker room had become the new face of excess in entertainment.

Noting how the stereotype of 'partying like rockstars' was supplanted by musicians themselves trying to 'party like wrestlers', his and other testimonies paint a picture of a scene completely out of control. Steve Borden was unfortunately no stranger to the lifestyle.

Despite working less dates as per his outcast 'Crow' reinvention, he'd never been a hotter commodity. He developed a dependency on prescription painkillers and muscle relaxers, all usually washed down with dangerous levels of alcohol.

In later years, he spoke publicly of the addictions almost destroying his relationship with his wife and young children, but like Ted Dibiase before him and Shawn Michaels in later years, 'The Icon' turned to God for cleansing.

Embracing faith, Steve Borden and his wife Sue both became Born Again Christians in 1998, with Sting crediting his religious awakening for saving his life, marriage and career.