4 times real-life incidents were used in storylines

Over a decade ago, the WWE decided to turn its programming to more family friendly content. This, of course, meant the company losing its edge because of the way pop culture had shifted from the dark, grungy decade of the ’90s to the more clean and pure 2000s.

A decade that idolized the anti-establishment had faded and the WWE changed with the times. Without being able to use sympathy by way of being battered and bloody as a crutch for building a babyface, the WWE has had to rely more on its core storytelling fundamentals and they’ve not always done well in that department.

In a company where the heels say and do the cool things and the top babyface is force-fed lines like “sufferin’ succotash”, as an insult no less, it’s no wonder the heels are always cheered.

But when the heels try to really do their job and get people to hate them by way of words, people get uncomfortable. Wrestling is at its best when it is believable, or maybe even “real”. Suspending disbelief is a key part of truly loving pro wrestling.

Let’s look back at some moments where this imaginary line of morality, reality, and kayfabe was crossed for better, or worse.

#4: Jerry Lawler's Heart attack

In September of 2012, Jerry Lawler worked a tag match with Randy Orton where he fought CM Punk and Dolph Ziggler. Following the match, Lawler returned to ringside where he collapsed and was immediately transported to a nearby hospital, later diagnosed as suffering a heart attack.

Lawler put partial blame on the repeated jumping elbows that Dolph Ziggler hit Lawler with just minutes before suffering the heart attack. Years later, Smackdown found itself in Memphis, Tennessee where Lawler is from. Jerry held a promo segment called “The King’s Court” with Ziggler as his guest. Ziggler remained silent as he has been for the past couple of weeks no matter how much Lawler tried to goad him into speaking.

Finally, Ziggler decided to bring up the marking of Lawler’s heart attack, showing a clip of the elbows that supposedly had a hand in causing the traumatic event. The segment ended with Ziggler superkicking Lawler right in the heart.

Given Lawler’s old-school nature, it's almost too easy to assume that this was his idea. The segment was really well done and gave Ziggler heat in the perfect way as we got closer to the Road to WrestleMania, where more eyes are on the superstars than any other time of year.

#3: Paige bringing Reid Flair's death

With Charlotte as "the face" of the Women's division and Paige being hot on her heel run, they had a contract signing in 2015, to put their coming matchup in ink.

Through the whole promo, Charlotte looked like she was ready to break down into hysterics, even when she wasn’t really saying much to get emotional over. She was basically just saying how much she idolized Paige and each close up showed her straining to hold back the tears.

As the promo went on Charlotte brought up her little brother Reid, who died of an accidental drug overdose. The hard-hitting one-liner of the segment came when Charlotte said that her family had been fighting their entire lives and she was going to do the same, and Paige fired off a brutal “You’re wrong because your baby brother didn’t have much fight in him,” before Charlotte attacked Paige.

This incident was met with so much backlash that the WWE dropped the angle immediately, and have not mentioned it since. Ric Flair went on to say that no permission had been given by him to run that line and that only went further to make the WWE look bad.

This was still when the fans needed to be told the “Divas Revolution” was a thing every single time the women were in the ring so basically, the division still had to be improved. I can see the outrage as reasonable, especially if no one allowed it.

#2: Jeff Hardy and his real life

9 years ago, the WWE pitted the much-loved duo of Matt and Jeff Hardy against each other for the first time since they had reconnected for tag team success in 2007. From there Jeff Hardy found his way to the top of the mountain in the company, some would say his popularity even soared over John Cena at this time.

For Matt Hardy? He had been working on the much-maligned ECW brand as the champion and had just lost the title to Jack Swagger. Matt turned on Jeff at the Royal Rumble and of course, the feud relied on the two brothers’ differing career paths to stoke the fire. In one promo, Matt brought up the burning of Jeff’s house while he was suspended.

It didn’t stop there, though, as Matt even had the dog collar that belonged to Jeff’s dog that got killed in that fire. That’s a reality. Well, maybe it wasn’t the actual dog collar.

Even with the sub-par promo abilities between the two, the reality made the feud passionate to the viewer. Later that year, Jeff got embroiled in a heated feud with CM Punk.

If there was a machine to handcraft human beings and you wanted complete polar opposites, you’d make CM Punk and Jeff Hardy. One is straight edge almost to a fault, one has a career marred by substance abuse issues. One is known for his risk-taking in the ring, one is known for his technical abilities and smooth talking on the mic… and a lot of smooth talking CM Punk sure did on Jeff Hardy.

Always one to bring up how dissatisfied he was at the fact kids idolized Jeff despite his past and not him, Punk’s greatest dig at Jeff came after Jeff had left the company. The week after ousting Jeff from the company in a loser leaves WWE Cage match, Jeff’s theme music hit and as the crowd roared for his shocking appearance, out came CM Punk donning Hardy’s trademark face paint and mocking his unorthodox entrance.

The last time Punk noted Jeff was when WWE released his DVD and Punk proceeded to throw it in a trash can in the centre of the ring. The feud was riddled with hatred, but was it real? Who’s to really say? Truthfully, despite their difference in lifestyles, I think they have a mutual respect for each other. At the end of the day, it definitely wasn’t Punk’s last believable feud.

#1: CM Punk's Pipebomb

2011 was the year CM Punk left his mark on Pro Wrestling forever. Punk cut what might be the most famous promo in WWE history when he sat down at the top of the entrance ramp after John Cena had lost tables match to R-Truth.

Punk did everything that at the time was so extremely foreign to the WWE fans. He broke the fourth wall when he referenced Colt Cabana. He complained about the backstage politics that allowed guys like Cena and The Rock to keep their spots at the top of food chain instead of letting new talent cycle in and out of the main event scene.

Punk ranted on how little he was promoted as a star in the company, he bemoaned The Rock being in the Main Event of Wrestlemania the following year even though the most recent Wrestlemania at the time was only two months removed. He held his expiring contract over the heads of the WWE and John Cena like bait, teasing his foes with the notion that he could win the WWE Championship and just walk right out of the company forever. CM Punk was going to take the title, his ball, and go home.

Punk was very clever, and though he was the very person the crowd needed at the time to break up the monotony of Cena running the show, he didn’t let the fans go without getting their share of heat from him either.

He was very clear that he knew their love for him was feigned and they’d forget about him the minute he walked away forever. Everything CM Punk said in that promo was so spot on. The promo was perfect then, the promo is perfect now. It will likely forever be the standard bearer of mixing reality with kayfabe and blurring the lines.

The list of examples could go on and on but It’s always important to take a step back and wonder if the moment had the desired effect on you.

Did you feel bad for Charlotte when Paige spoke about Reid like that? Did you feel your blood boil a little bit after Ziggler bragged about causing Lawler’s heart attack and then superkicked him in the chest?

If yes, then it all worked as planned. If you feel a little uncomfortable, then perhaps, it’s okay to question whether or not something was approved by the talent involved or if the shock value was really warranted given the build up in the feud prior to that moment. At the end of the day, controversy garners publicity.

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