10 Most Infamous WWE Ruthless Aggression Era Controversies
1. The Endless News Of Wrestlers Dying Young
Was WWE and the wrestling industry itself to blame for the gruesome, never-ending series of deaths in the 2000s, or was this the cumulative effect of poor personal choices?
A controversial debate engaged in between the industry and a media who suddenly took an interest in it - and it was surely impossible not to demonise the industry.
An unregulated sh*t-show in a which a massively chemically-enhanced physique was the minimum qualification on the curriculum vitae on 99.9% of aspiring wrestlers in the 1990s, steroid culture in and of itself wasn't solely to blame; while the drug enlarges and damages hearts, certain, demonstrably juiced stars of that era remain with us to this day.
Combined with the recreational drug culture, the mortality rate in wrestling was staggering. The average life expectancy of the professional wrestler who starred in the United States across the 1980s and 1990s was below any other occupation in the land - the mortality rate, as of 2015, was 2.9 times greater than the wider male population.
Wrestling's culture and lack of regulation and offseason converged to create a racket of death. They were rock stars and athletes who never stopped partying or competing, and the toll was brought into tragic focus during the 2000s.