One of the problems with being a famous professional wrestler is that you are subjected to quite a few of the same problems that mainstream celebrities are subjected to, including being pestered whenever they are in public, having to deal with paparazzi, and on the odd occasion, death hoaxes.
For those of you who are unaware of this, there is a weird trend in today’s age of social media where false reports are published about the death of someone famous and these fake pieces of news tend to go viral as people love sharing articles without actually checking to see if the information is coming from a reliable source.
These death hoaxes have affected celebs from all walks of life and WWE superstars are not exempt, either. Over the years, a number of them have been subject to false reports claiming that they have passed away. It’s crazy what professional wrestlers have to deal with these days.
So, without any further ado, here is our list of 5 WWE superstars who were victims of a death hoax:
#5 The Big Show
Everyone’s favourite giant, The Big Show was randomly killed off by a fake wrestling news website back in December of last year when they published reports that he had passed away in a car accident. While no one else was able to corroborate the story, the news spread thick and fast.
There was no word from anybody in a position to comment officially though and two weeks after the hoax was published, Big Show took to Twitter to post an image of him working out and preparing for Wrestlemania 33.
The WWE’s official Twitter account retweeted that tweet and the rumours were put to bed once and for all.
#4 Hulk Hogan
Hulk Hogan’s been having a pretty rough time lately. Following the whole fiasco with Gawker which led to the WWE ending all association with The Hulkster, he was subjected to a rather strange death hoax in 2014.
A news website called MediaMass.net claimed that he had passed away and encouraged people to pass on their condolences by liking their Facebook page. It seemed like an ill-devised attempt at garnering some social media publicity and not one that worked out very well.
Hogan remained active on Twitter mere days after the news broke but did not deign to address the rumours himself directly.
#3 The Undertaker
Leave it to the media to fake the death of even a Deadman. The legendary Undertaker also found himself on the wrong end of a death hoax in 2014 when an article from Empire Sports claimed that he had passed away.
The disgusting part about this whole business is that the fake news is still up on the website and they even generated a fake quote from Taker’s wife, Michelle McCool about the whole fiasco. You can see the quote they attributed to her below:
“Being totally honest, I was going into the bedroom feeling completely in the mood. I saw that he was sleeping so I went to wake him and nothing. Not even a hint of him waking up. So I got worried and tried shaking him and shoving him and even hitting him across the back with a folding chair. Nothing working. I checked him breathing and there was a very short breath every few seconds. I called 911 and by the time they got here there was no breathing at all. They fought to bring him back and nothing”
It is one of the more blatant attempts at a death hoax and one that thankfully didn’t spread too far.
#2 John Cena
Even The Face that Runs the Place isn’t immune from fake death, it seems, as John Cena was the victim of a death hoax in 2012 when fake news website Global Associated News who claimed that he had passed away in a car crash.
Neither the WWE nor Cena himself responded to the hoax but Jim Ross confirmed Cena’s good health on Twitter when he was questioned on the matter by a fan. This same piece of news made a return to the internet in 2016 when TMZNewsOnline.net – not associated with the actual TMZ – republished the news.
Cena again didn’t address the rumours but tweeted out something else shortly after the news came to light.
#1 The Rock
Well, I suppose it’s a little more understandable that someone with the crazy mainstream success of The Rock would be the victim of a death hoax. Not that it makes it any better but that it should at least gain more public attention and that’s exactly what happened.
When this piece of fake news came to light in 2011, The Great One had a scathing response on Twitter:
It’s safe to say that The Rock doesn’t stand for any nonsense.
