10 WWE Gimmicks That Pushed The PG Era To Its Limits

9. R-Truth (Heavy Smoker)

"Would somebody please think of the children?"

Those were the words of one female fan on the 18 April 2011 edition of Raw when R-Truth attacked then-tag partner John Morrison and sparked up a cigarette live on air. His actions were a surprise. Smoking had barely been seen (if at all) during WWE's Attitude heyday, so it was shocking to watch someone proudly puff away on a PG show.

Later, Truth's love of cigs was played into his matches. For a brief spell, he'd wheeze away and take water breaks after fast-moving sequences or big moves. The whole thing was bizarre, didn't fit in with the kid-friendly portfolio WWE had worked so hard to present and seemed to glorify smoking culture.

Elsewhere on WWE programming, fans had grown accustomed to John Cena's childish antics, Santino Marella's goofy comedy and superhero-like masked characters like Sin Cara. It was a marked departure from that presentation when Truth whipped out the Marlboro, lit up and violently assaulted Morrison as he merrily toked.