10 Times Vince McMahon Allowed Smoking On WWE TV
1. R-Truth
It’s truly mindboggling that R-Truth, well into the PG Era, smoked a cigarette in a sold out arena live on Raw.
Ron Killings more than once has been the most over and entertaining character in WWE. He’s an extraordinary talent who’ll one day be inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame for his versatility alone. He makes anything given to him creatively 10X better. All the way from Little Jimmy to his recent run with the 24/7 title to when he was lunatic heel Truth.
R-Truth cemented that heel turn by attacking John Morrison after Morrison had defeated him on an edition of Raw in 2011 when they were touring England. He viciously kneed John in the face and barricade. A fan/plant then handed Truth a pack of cigarettes and he lit one up to the surprise/shock of fans. Partially due to never seeing a wrestler openly smoke in the history of WWE TV and partially due to it being a public area and it being illegal. Smoking was made illegal in public areas back in 2007 in the UK so crowd chants of “That’s illegal” soon rang out. He then went over to an injured Morrison and blew smoke in his face that Morrison amazingly sold.
The only explanation as to why Vince allowed this was to get Truth over as being a despicable disgusting heel cause you know, he smokes.
There was immediate backlash after it aired. Sky Sports cut out Truth's bit with the cigarettes when it was shown in the UK and anti-smoking activist Patrick Reynolds soon released a statement chastising WWE and Truth for being thoughtless and irresponsible in front of a large audience of children. Which is probably why it hasn’t occurred since.
You can amazingly buy WWE lighters online with various wrestlers adorned on them. Whether they’re officially licensed is a different story. There’s Miz, Orton, Del Rio, Kelly Kelly, HHH, Eve and even one with straight edge CM Punk. There’s also an R-Truth lighter which for the sake of this segment should be your next necessary purchase to add to your collection of wrestling memorabilia.