8 Damaging Ways Pro Wrestling Tackled Mental Health Problems

8. Lunatics Are Celebrated

This is an issue that has to be looked at cumulatively, rather than on each individual case, because there's nothing inherent wrong with Mankind, Dean Ambrose, Sycho Sid, Luke Harper, Erick Rowan, Bray Wyatt, The Oddities, Kane, Snitsky, or Heidenreich as individual acts (ok maybe not those last two) but the pure number of 'insane' wrestlers could be a problem. It has always been a reliable personality gimmick for wrestlers to assume, and their 'unpredictability' is often lauded. Case in point, the 'Lunatic Fringe' Dean Ambrose is wrestling for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship this Sunday, and the people love him. It's understandable; there's something very compelling about watching someone who is likely to snap at any moment, whilst also having the speed and strength to do some major damage. It's morbidly fascinating. The problem is that the more than the audience are used to see 'unhinged' characters the less they actually empathise with the mental instability of others. It's subconscious, (and when you stop to consider it, it's ludicrous) but watching people achieve success whilst being ker-razy, when being nuts becomes an asset, then it chips away at the audience's empathy for people with actual problems, when instability moves beyond eccentricity.