10 Times WWE Attempted To Use A Real Life Situation To Their Advantage (And Failed)

The Attitude Era opened the floodgates for more adult storytelling in WWE, for good and, more often, for ill. For every smack talking Rock promo or Stone Cold’s feud with his boss, there was something like the Legion Of Doom revival, which used Hawk’s much publicised battle with addiction to push a mid card angle that no one wanted to see.

The Road Warriors/L.O.D will always be over thanks to their look, stiff style, and history. There’s no need to bog them down by getting into their personal lives. If you do insist on giving them a story, though, it doesn’t get more tasteless than having Hawk show up to matches as though he’s inebriated, and then work a long angle about his suicidal thoughts in the wake of his battle with addiction.

It turned out new L.O.D member Puke was enabling Hawk’s drug intake so as to kill him and take his place, piling attempted murder onto a regrettable story about a real man’s real problems. The angle didn’t sit well with Hawk or partner Animal, both of whom soon left WWE - for good, in Hawk’s case. He died in 2003 - depressingly, this was his final mainstream run.