The life of a professional wrestler is different than that of most athletes. Despite being in an industry which is hugely taxing on the body, wrestlers don't adhere to the same disciplined lifestyle that other athletes do.
From partying to alcohol, drugs, and much more, performers from around the world, including the WWE have a reputation for living life on the extreme. In addition to all this is the one vice which is heavily frowned upon in every other athletic competition: smoking.
A number of WWE Superstars have been regular smokers over the years. This was, of course, most apparent during the Attitude Era and despite the company's strict PG stance on things now, there is a different scene behind the curtain.
With the lifestyle that wrestlers lead, it's hardly surprising that they smoke so without any further ado, here are 5 WWE Superstars who smoke:
Honourable mention: Randy Orton
It’s not just the cigsm but The Viper even likes to smoke marijuana once in a while. While he may have cut down presently, there was a time when he was nototrious for his smoking habits.
#5 The Big Show
Everyone's favourite wrestling giant, The Big Show has been a known smoker since his earliest days in the business as The Giant in WCW. In fact, during his run as The Giant, he used to walk down the ring with a cigarette in his mouth.
Even after making the jump to WWE, Show did not relent with his passion for cigarettes as he recalls an incident that nearly landed him in a world of trouble with Vince McMahon himself.
Here's what Show had to say about the incident:
“[St.] Valentine’s Day Massacre, right? We’re in Memphis [Tennessee]. So I’m sitting there with Jack Lanza and Pat, first day. I had a t-shirt with a pocket and my Marlboro Lights were in it. Jack goes, ‘oh, you smoke?’ Pat goes, ‘oh, you smoke!’ I’m like, ‘yeah, oh yeah.’ I said, ‘have a cigarette.’ Yeah, so they light up and I’m just sitting there, puffing away, thinking, and we’re talking. And Lanza’s talking to me and Pat takes a couple of puffs, goes over to the toilet and flushes it, sits down. Pat starts talking to me. Jack takes a couple of puffs, goes over to the toilet, throws it in the water, and flushes it. I’m puffing away and Vince walks in a whole room full of smoke [and] I’m the only one smoking. I didn’t want to be a stooge and tell on them because I’m not a stooge. I went, ‘I’m sorry, sir. I didn’t know.’ At the time, I’m like, ‘I’m not going to rat my buddies out.’ And then, later, I was like, ‘them sons of b—–s set me up!'”
Although there haven't been any major incidents since then, a number of people have reportedly seen The Big Show light up outside the ring and it doesn't look like the big guy will be stopping anytime soon.
#4 R-Truth
R-Truth is a bit of a strange cookie. And, no I'm not just talking about the strange angle where he was nuts. As someone who made a name for himself as the first-ever black NWA World Heavyweight Champion, the man formerly known as Ron Killings has been relegated to a comedy act in the WWE.
Light of Truth's smoking habits came to the fore on an episode of Raw when as part of an angle for a heel turn against John Morrison, he for some reason smoked a cigarette. You can see a clip of it here:
Truth made no apologies for his behaviour and said he didn't see what all the fuss was about considering he smoked in real life as well. It was definitely strange to see WWE give the green light for this angle considering their PG alignment.
#3 Jack Swagger
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Despite his All-American persona, Jack Swagger is actually quite the party animal away from the squared circle. Through his years in the WWE, starting with his monster push as one of the worst World Heavyweight Champions of all time to his inane new stuff, the one thing constant in Mr Swagger's life has been his partying.
A large part of that partying is smoking. Making no discrimination between marijuana and cigarettes, Swagger has been pictured lighting up on his nightly sessions out on the town, on several occasions.
Regardless of where he is on the card, Swagger's partying has become legendary and probably played a part in ensuring the company never trusts him with a World Title run again. Then again, with his terrible wrestling ability, it wouldn't matter much even if he was a model citizen.
#2 Chris Jericho
This one shouldn't really come as a surprise when you consider that Chris Jericho is also a rock star. In case you didn't know, Jericho is the front man for a rock band called Fozzy which has been another passion of his along with wrestling.
Hence, it's pretty obvious that Jericho would be more prone to the party lifestyle that rock stars and wrestlers are both famous for. Despite his older age, the first WWE Undisputed Champion is always up for a good night out and has been pictured more than once with a cigarette in his mouth.
The one thing to be said about Jericho, though, is that he seems to be one of those people who only smokes when he's out having fun and not on a daily basis.
#1 Shinsuke Nakamura
Okay, I'll come clean with this one. There is no official story about this and there is little photographic evidence of Shinsuke Nakamura's smoking but almost everyone within the wrestling community universally agrees that he is a chain smoker.
The common story is that the former NJPW legend is someone who smokes to relieve the stress of being a professional wrestler and to be honest, looking at his persona, it really does seem likely that he has a love for cigarettes.
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