Vince Russo's 10 Worst WWE Ideas
4. The Downfall Of The LOD Storyline
(Content Warning: this isn't our normal MO, but if you have dealt with the issue of suicide, be it with yourself or with loved ones, we sincerely suggest skipping this.)
In Russo's defense, 1998 was a year when both WWE and WCW decided to tackle addiction in really tasteless manners. Down in Atlanta, WCW thought it would be a great idea to turn Scott Hall's real-life alcoholic tailspin into heat for the Wolfpac's feud with nWo Hollywood. This included Hall "pretending" to be drunk in promos and "pretending" to wrestle drunk. Neither company came off looking well with these.
However, it seems as though more people remember WWE's attempts at capitalizing on Road Warrior Hawk's struggles with substance abuse. Probably because they crossed the line way further than basic decency would suggest they should.
Basically, the Legion of Doom were going nowhere in WWE in mid-1998, so Vince Russo's solution? Make a storyline out of Hawk's drug and alcohol issues "ruining" the team. Part of this involved Animal introducing Darren "Puke" Drozdov as a third member to help stabilise the team. The apex of this storyline came on an episode of RAW when Hawk climbed the Titantron threatening suicide, and Puke climbed up top attempting to bring him down. Puke "accidentally" pushed Hawk off, ostensibly killing him.
With 2018 eyes, it should be clear how disgusting this is.