WWE Wellness Policy - 6 Wrestlers Badly Derailed (And 4 That Prevailed)
Health is a state of body. Wellness is a state of being. WWE is just a bit of a state.
Over 12 years on from the death of Eddie Guerrero, and over a decade since the Benoit family tragedy, the Wellness Policy has become a key fixture in WWE's modern makeup.
Though Vince McMahon himself has gone on record as confirming the Programme's continued presence within the organisation is as much for PR as anything else, it's fair to say that on the surface as least, gradual improvements in wrestler health and well-being are starting to show.
Whilst it's impossible to assess how strictly the Policy is imposed within company walls, there have been significant drops in the number of wrestler deaths from the mid-2000s heyday, where many 80s and 90s Pay-Per-Views became living graveyards of the company's failures to effectively tackle drug and alcohol abuse and misuse.
Undeniably though, impact of the Programme has been felt, with numerous Policy violations over the years playing significant parts in the on and off-screen lives of some of WWE's top-level performers.
So why not forget to take your next urine test, and instead have a read about 4 big winners and 6 even bigger losers from the WWE Wellness Policy generation.
10. Prevailed - Kurt Angle
The Olympic Hero was an extremely high-profile early offender, failing a Wellness Test in July 2006 after the Programme was officially rolled out in February of that year.
In line for a renewed push (of sorts) in ECW as Paul Heyman's handpicked killer from the Main Roster, Angle looked set to lead the new brand as its top star, along with new ECW Champion Rob Van Dam (more on him later). The test failure immediately halted that and brought to light several serious issues he was going through.
Agreeing mutually to part ways (so Angle always claimed) in order to get his health in order whilst off the road, he shocked the wrestling world with an immediate switch to TNA. Though initially appearing reckless on Angle's part, he has since made several mentions of the reduced schedule with TNA eventually saving his life both mentally and physically.
Kurt's fierce competitiveness had him working through multiple neck surgeries on a cocktail of drugs and alcohol which had seen off many of his peers in the preceding years. But that first violation in 2006 had a butterfly effect on the Gold Medalist. By merely still being around to entertain fans at the level he always has as Raw General Manager - let alone have any semblance of health to speak of - Kurt remains a success story for the Programme.