Following his ex-wife Sable's earlier appearance on this list is the former "Wildman" Marc Mero. First hitting it big in WCW as the spot-on Little Richard impersonator Johnny B. Badd, Mero was the first big money guaranteed contract the WWE had ever issued, having their hand forced in a time when WCW was spending Ted Turner's money freely and irresponsibly. Unfortunately for both he and the promotion, he would fail to have any kind of major impact on Vince's business, ultimately lasting only three years with WWE. In the aftermath of the Chris Benoit murder-suicide, the media was frothing at the mouth to paint WWE in the most negative light possible; a steroid-fueled junkie factory that treated it's workers like cattle until they dropped dead. While several current workers were sent out to combat the onslaught (notably John Cena and Chris Jericho), Marc Mero was at the forefront of the opposition, feeding the beast with stories of rampant drug use. Appearances on shows like Glenn Beck and Nancy Grace gave Mero the platform to spread his message, one that seemed to be equal parts publicity-seeking and genuine concern. He listed off names of wrestlers who had passed to illustrate his point while choosing not to exclude those whose deaths were caused by things like car wrecks and other accidents. He also claimed that he was basically forced to take pain medication, saying "To be able to make the shows every day, you have to take some type of pain medication. I didn't even know many wrestlers that were not on some type of medication." Many current wrestlers lashed out at Mero, but to this day he's still working as a motivational speaker spreading the message of the dangers of bullying and drug abuse.
Brad Hamilton is a writer, musician and marketer/social media manager from Atlanta, Georgia. He's an undefeated freestyle rap battle champion, spends too little time being productive and defines himself as the literary version of Brock Lesnar.
