The Sad Fate Of Marty Jannetty

How much of this is all total bullsh*t is another matter. Jannetty is a self-professed "goofball" who suffers from depression, towards which people should be kind - if not necessarily forgiving.

The great irony is that Marty Jannetty was the better Rocker, and he was also the bigger degenerate - so much so that he was too far gone to become part of the onscreen act. He did receive further opportunities in the 2000s, as WWE leaned on his stigma as the old sad sack partner to drive the heft of Shawn's post-2002 babyface comeback in various subplots. But he f*cked it up, time and time again, and now, he only has his ability to own the room as a value people will pay him for. Think of the ground this covers: Jannetty is becoming the most deluded of all the old carnies. The extent to which one should feel sorry for him isn't really clear.

That clichéd comparison doesn't raise the temperature as it once did. Jannetty is either an unpleasant individual, a relic, or a deluded fantasist who fantasises about committing hate crimes in a bid to stay relevant. Marty Jannetty wasn't the Marty Jannetty of the Rockers. He was an artist.

But it's rarely been quite so easy to separate one from the art.