5 WWE Superstars that were victims of serious crimes
Pro-wrestling, at least up until the early 90s, had quite a sticky image in the mainstream sphere. It was an industry that was stereotyped as a cesspool of drugs, promiscuity and unnecessary violence.
The WWE – the industry’s largest promoter – has tightened up the ship since then by implementing the in-house Wellness Policy and the no-blading rule, apart from attempting to rectify public image through a number of social outreach campaigns.
Today, WWE is viewed as an upstanding athletic endeavour thanks to these efforts, and its Superstars are the last ones who you would associate with criminal activity. However, a fair few of them have been on the wrong end of the same.
Here then, is a lowdown of 5 WWE Superstars that were victims of heinous acts of crime.
#5 Wade Barrett
We kick off the list with a former employee of the WWE and one of the Superstars that the company was most guilty of underutilising, Wade Barrett.
The Englishman’s Nexus run could well have ended with the WWE Championship around his waist, but the theme of disappointment that was then sparked off by him jobbing to John Cena would go on to set the tone for the rest of his career in the WWE.
But I digress.
Wade Barrett’s background before he began honing his craft in NXT was one of bare-knuckle fighting in the streets of England and elsewhere in Europe.
During one such ominous expedition to Budapest, Barrett was jumped in an alleyway by an assailant with a knife, in the hope that he could rid the Englishman of the 20k that he had just earned by virtue of rearranging his opponent’s face.
And although the thief gave him an ugly looking scar, stretching from his upper back to right triceps, Barrett managed to stave off the robbery attempt and fought his way out of the situation.
The police weren’t called to the scene later on, but they really didn’t need to be.
In Barrett’s own words, “ If I’ve ended up with a 12-inch scar on my body, just imagine how the other guy ended up looking”.