10 Things WWE Wants You To Forget About 2017
5. The Rich Swann Episode
A sensational story broke a few weeks back, at which Rich Swann found himself in a ghastly storm.
Swann is alleged to have erupted in fury during his critique of wife Su Yung's in-ring performance. He purportedly dragged her into his car with a headlock, kidnapping her against her will, before presumably continuing his tirade. As one witness statement (and Yung herself) has it, she became so terrified that she risked harm by removing herself from the moving vehicle.
WWE, to their credit, dealt with the issue swiftly and effectively, by indefinitely suspending Swann - but this dealt a hammer blow to the perception of the modern WWE star as a genial, unassuming, video game-playing man removed entirely from wrestling's wild man past. The new breed of sports entertainer grants wishes for terminally ill children and discourages bullying on Twitter. They do not plunge their employers into a furore of abuse. A moment of madness, or the inevitable boiling point of a deeply troubled and problematic man?
It's much too early to judge, if we're even qualified to judge at all - but WWE, certainly, hopes this story goes away.