[Resist]

We label wrestlers good or bad by the things they do in and outside the ring.

The image of a guy like Randy Orton gets tainted because of his drug use. But the hero John Cena gets a pass after having an affair and cheating on his wife.

So I'm just curious, where is the line that makes a guy good versus making a guy bad?

And as fans, do we draw those lines after we decide who we want to be a fan of?

In seriousness, given what these guys do for a living, I'm not sure using drugs or alcohol should surprise anyone. These fellas take a beating and need some relief from the pain. (unless you're Bruno Sammartino and won't even take aspirin)

I don't even see taking steroid as being that bad. These guys' lives depend on their health and recovery. And the only way to make a fast return after an injury is steroids. You can max train 3 times a day on roids and recover as opposed to max training once and then waiting days to recover. Roids cut down recovery times by 50-75%. Sound like anyone familiar? I give you a pass because you need to be healthy to do your job and get paid.

Now, given that these guys are role models to kids, I think affairs while married are a far worse thing to do. What kind of message does that send to kids? That it's ok to mistreat a woman? That it's ok not to respect people and you don't have to take vows with God seriously.

I personally don't care what anyone does. To each his own. But I'm curious why people draw lines of what's ok and what's not for wrestlers. And why do we let things slide that seem far worse than the things we hold others accountable for?

Well drug abuse cost Eddie Guerrero his life and lack of appropriate concussion treatments and measures led to the Benoit tragedy. Is Chris to blame for what he did? The guy is still one of the hardest and most dedicated workers to ever step in the ring but his entire legacy is tainted because of something that arguably is or isnt his fault.

 

[HBK65]

I personally don't care what anyone does. To each his own. But I'm curious why people draw lines of what's ok and what's not for wrestlers. And why do we let things slide that seem far worse than the things we hold others accountable for?

We're all human beings, none of us is perfect. I try very hard to not be judgmental. We all make mistakes, it's how we handle them that define our character, not that we make them. That said, as a society, I think most of us are guilty of holding our "heroes" to a higher standard than we hold ourselves to. I don't run anyone down because of decisions they've made for themselves but I find it harder to respect them. I was crushed when I learned Shawn Michaels used drugs, but I got over it. The guy worked in pain most of the time.

 

[Gandalf]

i don`t look at the wwe roster like a holy tribe of priests and nuns.

 

[FlyingBurrito]

Well drug abuse cost Eddie Guerrero his life and lack of appropriate concussion treatments and measures led to the Benoit tragedy. Is Chris to blame for what he did? The guy is still one of the hardest and most dedicated workers to ever step in the ring but his entire legacy is tainted because of something that arguably is or isnt his fault.

This is a great example. There are others that did things that might be worse - maybe they made sane bad decisions - but we don't judge them in comparison.

 

[FlyingBurrito]

We're all human beings, none of us is perfect. I try very hard to not be judgmental. We all make mistakes, it's how we handle them that define our character, not that we make them. That said, as a society, I think most of us are guilty of holding our "heroes" to a higher standard than we hold ourselves to. I don't run anyone down because of decisions they've made for themselves but I find it harder to respect them. I was crushed when I learned Shawn Michaels used drugs, but I got over it. The guy worked in pain most of the time.

Maybe we hold them to a standard because we admire them? Then we have to question our own judgement in doing so?

 

[FlyingBurrito]

i don`t look at the wwe roster like a holy tribe of priests and nuns.

I don't think anyone does. But it seems like we subtly let our perceptions of these guys and the decisions they make in life sway how much we like how they entertain us.

 

[Choke2Death]

I really couldn't care less what they do outside of their job. I only care if they entertain me at what they do. Sure, I may have a certain level of respect for them as the human being they are and obviously, it is affected by how they behave. Even if I don't respect them for who they are, I can still enjoy their work as a wrestler (or whatever their job is).

 

[HBK65]

Maybe we hold them to a standard because we admire them? Then we have to question our own judgement in doing so?

No question that we do just that. I think it's a matter of human nature.

 

[★Th0t Patr0L★]

The Cena and Orton thing isn't comparable. Doing drugs is illegal, having an affair, while frowned upon, isn't illegal anywhere in the US save for the military.

 

[tducey]

Outside the ring I don't care what these people do. Sure some of it may be frowned upon but it doesn't matter to me what goes on with these guys when they're not wrestling.

 

[Queendom9617]

I think it reaches a point of being ridiculous when we allow their mistakes to taint the talent they have.

Like Lita for example, obviously one of my favorite performers of all-time, I think it was ridiculous that fans turned on her for cheating on Matt and let that dictate how they felt about her inside the ring.

Week after week these guys/gals put their body on the line to entertain us, whether they're "good" performers or not, that should be what we look at and appreciate.

Why hate people like Triple H and John Cena, two very good performers, because of any alleged "politicking" they may have done or still do?

That's when it becomes a problem.

 

[Japanese Puroresu]

I think it reaches a point of being ridiculous when we allow their mistakes to taint the talent they have.

Like Lita for example, obviously one of my favorite performers of all-time, I think it was ridiculous that fans turned on her for cheating on Matt and let that dictate how they felt about her inside the ring.

Week after week these guys/gals put their body on the line to entertain us, whether they're "good" performers or not, that should be what we look at and appreciate.

Why hate people like Triple H and John Cena, two very good performers, because of any alleged "politicking" they may have done or still do?

That's when it becomes a problem.

Well, Lita does have herpes.

Real talk, it's not just Matt. She's slept with basically the entire roster of everywhere she has worked. She's disgusting. She could be a good person, but she'd be a good person who would try to sleep with me if it could further her. So no thanks.

 

[Queendom9617]

Well, Lita does have herpes.

Real talk, it's not just Matt. She's slept with basically the entire roster of everywhere she has worked. She's disgusting. She could be a good person, but she'd be a good person who would try to sleep with me if it could further her. So no thanks.

Where is the proof of this? Seriously? I've never heard anything like this before.

 

[eskymi]

Well of course it must be true about Lita. Doesn't every DIVA sleep with every guy on the roster. And every top tier person politics to get their way and buries those below them. Isn't this all factual.

As for making mistakes...1 mistake yes, do it again, no. IE Orton makes a mistake and gets suspended for drugs...fine, but he was suspended twice, nope can't forgive him. It's too easy in the US to fail and use the "we are all human" crap. Well I am human and never cheated on my wife, did drugs, drunk drove, killed someone, raped a woman, assaulted someone, nothing like that. So the we are all human crap doesn't work for me.

 

[Zig-Kick.]

The Cena and Orton things are incomparable IMHO.

Nearly everyone who finds themselves in social situations often enough has done drugs at some point or another, he didn't even do recreational ones according to his wellness violation.

Cena on the other hand, did the thing that we as people judge as the lowest thing you can do without commiting some kind of serious crime. What he did was unforgivable, but she got a shitload of money from him, so i'm sure she's cool with it.

 

[FlyingBurrito]

The Cena and Orton things are incomparable IMHO.

Nearly everyone who finds themselves in social situations often enough has done drugs at some point or another, he didn't even do recreational ones according to his wellness violation.

Cena on the other hand, did the thing that we as people judge as the lowest thing you can do without commiting some kind of serious crime. What he did was unforgivable, but she got a shitload of money from him, so i'm sure she's cool with it.

I was really just trying to come up with different examples of things people do in their personal life and looking at how we perceive these entertainers as a result.

How bout we take the example of Stone Cold getting divorced vs John Cena?

Seems more ok for the Stone Cold character to end up divorced than the perfect Cena. How does it fit in the context of his character and the fact that they market Cena primarily to kids?

If we want to compare Cena and Orton, let's compare Cena's roid usage (everyone's logical guess) to Orton's recreational usage. Which is ok?

Granted Cena has claimed to never use steroids, but his recovery from injuries appear superhuman and impossible without some help.

I'm not trying to judge anyone in any of this. I personally don't care what these guys do outside of the entertainment. But I think the majority do use these issues to decide how much they like a guy. Even if we're not right in our guesses.

 

[The.Rockbottom]

Bit of a ridiculous thread, they're wrestlers, why should they be held to huge standards? Obviously if its something huge like the Benoit thing, I see why that effects peoples opinions.

That said, Bryan coming off as such a nice guy in real life definitely makes it easier to get behind him while Cena's nice guy act doesn't seem nearly as genuine which makes him even less likeable.