8 Damaging Ways Pro Wrestling Tackled Mental Health Problems

2. The Addicts Are The Heroes

Numerous times, the WWE, in an attempt to 'go edgy' have exploited wrestlers' real-life addictions for storyline purposes. The Hawk incident has already been covered, but one other example deserves talking about. The Jeff Hardy/CM Punk feud was one of the hottest of 2009 because it was rooted in a lot of uncomfortable truth. CM Punk, with his straight-edge, no-drink no-drugs lifestyle proclaimed himself to be the moral superior to Hardy who was a famed drug-user, who had previously been fired for, amongst other things, substance abuse and refusing to go to rehab. Punk played the holier-than-thou villain, and Hardy the resilient babyface, but the trouble is, the issue is more complex than typical WWE good vs evil. Regardless of how he does it, Punk promotes cleaner, more healthy living, whereas Hardy's career and personal life have both tangibly suffered as a result of his drug use. Yet Hardy was the hero, whose justification was that 'he chose to live his life a certain way'. His lifestyle was painted in a heroic, free-spirited light, which is a pretty terrible message, especially for kids. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyv6KMEDQv0 "The WWE Universe will be living in the moment with me, Jeff Hardy." This is not to suggest that recreational drug use is evil, not at all, but substance abuse shouldn't be celebrated as a lifestyle choice either (even when, to be fair, Hardy calls out the moments of substance abuse as mistakes). The WWE's reliance on simplistic, good vs bad storytelling means that complex issues like addiction and 'living in the moment' really don't have a place in a wrestling angle, regardless of how authentic it is.