10 Wrestlers Who Were Drunk On The Job
One, Two, Three Sheets To The Wind.
A word first on some joy ahead of discussing some rather painful periods - though these entries will feature wrestlers intoxicated, incapacitated, unprepared and unprofessional, they are also not representative the end of their respective roads.
Both a cardinal sin and an occupational hazard, being drunk or otherwise-impaired with your own or someone else's body on the line can have fatal consequences - in the moment and in the years that follow. Yet, drink, drugs and medication have so often provided the ups, downs and shortcuts required to keep particular wrestlers from going insane in their ludicrous line of work, shared in great detail like war stories whenever said soldiers fortunately find a happy ending. With the exception of one Giant, every other legend of the ring listed has seemingly emerged through the worst of their problems and lived to tell the aforementioned tales.
The lifestyle outside of the life to this day presumably remains the best friend and worst enemy of the lonely, isolated or exhausted amongst the ultra-tough men and women that fill locker rooms the world over. Like a scripted pro wrestling storyline itself, the ending that first appears may not always reflect the actual closing of a character arc. Even in the most extreme cases...
10. Jake Roberts
An infamous p*ssed up performance from an infamous industry p*sshead, Jake Roberts' Heroes Of Wrestling turn was a darkly amusing glimpse into the darker path 'The Snake' was still confined to before he finally defeated his demons.
Ostracised from all major organisations for his spiralling drink and drug addictions by 1999, Roberts was still a huge name for the bonkers blockbuster in Las Vegas, but was in no fit state to even cut a promo, let alone get walked through the planned singles match that had to follow his less-than-wise words.
Not long before Beyond The Mat laid bare the extent of the damage he was doing to himself, the WWE icon exposed himself in more ways than one - he was fortunate at least that show was poorly bought and attended.
Almost serving as a broken tribute act to himself, Jake catastrophically blew his gambling analogy (in a manner far better watched than written about - see above), before taking to the ring and pretending to masturbate with his snake before his bout was turned into a tag match just to ensure everybody got through it unharmed.