10 Times WWE Used Real Life Misery For Storyline Gains

5. Road Warrior Hawk’s Alcoholism

hawk droz legion of doom
WWE

Few tag teams are as respected as the legendary Road Warriors. Hawk and Animal spent years smashing all in their way, bruising their way to championship wins and proving that tag team wrestling can be a legitimate needle mover, headlining shows across the country. When people are listing wrestling’s most important tag teams, LoD is always in the discussion.

But time waits for no man, even if that man is wearing face paint and spiked shoulder pads. The Attitude Era passed the team by, and years of hard living had taken their toll on the duo, Hawk in particular. The legendary brawler’s well-documented battle with alcoholism was out of control.

WWE decided that the best way to deal with the issue was to make it a part of the story. Droz had been added to the Road Warriors unit as Hawk spiralled out of control, leading to an immensely regrettable segment in early 1999. Hawk’s issues became too much, and the street clothes-clad icon climbed the Titan Tron and threatened to commit suicide. The Attitude Era was just about as tasteless as it gets.

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Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.