- 1 minute ago
Wrestlers Who Ruined Their Own Legacy
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00You don't have to have ascended to the top to fall from grace anyone can do it
00:05Fond memories can be tarnished by mistakes and some things are enough to ruin your entire public
00:10perception and if you are on the top when you fall well you're in for a long climb back into those good
00:15books after all the phrase if you've done something right then nobody will know you've done anything at all comes to
00:20mind if you've done something wrong people will be sure to let you know about it every chance they get
00:25I'm cypherwhatculture.com and these are 10 wrestlers who ruined their own legacy
00:2910.
00:30John Bradshaw Layfield
00:31Despite popularity as a member of the Acolytes John Layfield
00:35true renaissance came in 2004 when his character unexpectedly shifted completely
00:40into an egocentric money obsessed American patriot it worked so well that he climbed the car
00:45to the wwe championship many people remember jbl more though for his presence on w
00:50wwe commentary for the better part of 10 years stories about Layfield working stiff
00:55which have always been rumored but it was around 2017 that the allegations of bullying became much more vocal
01:00fans called for the man to be fired from TV and many got sick of hearing him commentate after reading
01:05the accounts of his victims Justin Roberts the former wwe announcer said in his autobiography
01:10that jbl had stolen his passport and many ex wwe stars also described Layfield
01:15as a bully in April 2017 NXT announcer Mauro Ranallo left the company
01:20and whilst he claims it wasn't the case many viewers felt the comments jbl had made on air about
01:25Moro had affected the commentators mental well-being jbl was forced to make a statement claiming that he
01:30had pranked many stars but that the wwe had addressed his actions years ago in september of the same
01:35year with the wrestling community sick of the sound of him Layfield opted to leave the company to pursue others
01:40interests number nine perry saturn many forget that during the late 90s perry saturn
01:45saturn was a valuable commodity starting off as an important part of ecw's early tag division saturn
01:50saturn moved on to WCW and became a member of the severely underrated stable Raven's flock
01:55when the faction dissolved he was the lead babyface of the story in 2000 saturn and so
02:00some of his WCW friends jumped over to the WWF as part of the radicals in one of the most
02:05talked about moments of the monday night war a match taped for WWF jacked was where it all
02:10started to go wrong after being dropped on his head following a botched arm drag by jobber mike
02:15saturn flipped and legitimately started throwing punches at his opponent the match became a
02:20fight and mike bell was also dropped on his head during the ensuing scuffle it's generally believed that
02:25saturn's next gimmick change was punishment for these actions and the star found himself playing a brain damaged
02:30Tesla who fell in love with a mop saturn's hard work and commitment got the gimmick over and so as
02:35WWE do with those who organically get over they killed off moppy and ended the character
02:40sooner than perhaps they should have with nothing left him creatively WWE booted saturn in November
02:452002 if saturn had kept his cool with mike bell one has to wonder what could have
02:50been number eight abdullah the butcher larry shreve better known as abdullah the butcher
02:55made a name for himself being one of the most sadistic men in the pro wrestling industry his extreme no
03:00holds barred and obscenely bloody matches split opinions some were curious and some were disgusted
03:05and this divide made abdullah the stuff of legend abdullah had no issues blading himself into a bled
03:10bloody pulp and more often than not did the same to his opponents sometimes whether they wanted it or not
03:15always a controversial figure amongst both fans and peers it was in 2012 though that shreve was brought before
03:20a court and sued for damages to one of his former opponents Hannibal Devon Nicholson
03:25Nicholson claimed that in 2007 he participated in a match with abdullah where he had been repeated
03:30easily cut open without his consent with a blade hidden on the butcher's finger most importantly he claimed that
03:35the sharing of blood had caused him to contract hepatitis c the knock-on effect of this diagnosis
03:40had caused the wwe contract that he had worked so hard for and finally earned in 2000
03:452009 to be rescinded and Hannibal was forced to retire from wrestling because of it
03:50the court found shreve guilty of negligence assault and battery and he was sued for 2.3
03:55million dollars number seven Hannibal Devon Nicholson oh
04:00that's awkward having wrestled only on smaller stages such as stampede wrestling it was the dream of
04:05Devin Nicholson as with many to be hired by the wwe a dream that was shattered by his
04:10interactions with abdullah the butcher the wrestling community rallied around Devon's pursuit of justice
04:15until he won his court case after he was cured of hepatitis Hannibal returned to the ring in 24
04:2014 working for his own company great north wrestling as well as making appearances elsewhere
04:25in december 2021 at a world-class pro wrestling event a horrible incident occurred involving
04:30nicholson and referee lando del toro following his match with carlito nicholson as his
04:35character blood hunter was booked to kayfabe attack the ref with a spike who would then bleed
04:40roll out of the ring and leave what happened instead was nicholson knelt on del toro's back
04:45and repeatedly stabbed him with the spike severing an artery and causing del toro to nearly pass
04:50out reports are mixed on the true version of the events that led up to and followed this nicholson
04:55made a statement of about six different excuses as to what went wrong but others claimed he was unhidden
05:00smelling like booze before the match and even carried on his attack backstage either way
05:05nicholson shamefully retired from wrestling for a second time and any goodwill he garnered with his previous
05:10struggles was tarnished forever number six sean michaels the heartbreak kid finished
05:15off his perfect career with a spectacular performance at wrestlemania 26 against the undertaker
05:20following this and the first of two hall of fame inductions at wrestlemania 28
05:25and take a resisted triple h to the back to end the show a beautiful moment that's too many
05:30truly showed the end of an era michaels managed to resist ruining this moment for oh so long
05:35so fans were shocked and largely dismayed in late 2018 when hbk unexpected
05:40jumped from promoting a match between triple h and the undertaker to being physically involved
05:45that lucrative saudi arabia deal had come knocking and it demanded a brothers of destruction
05:50versus degeneration x nostalgia match a crown jewel that november michael's put
05:55in an awful performance in what was a no-win situation the match was largely agreed to be an
06:00unwatchable mess that demonstrated what past your prime truly means kane's master
06:05fell off triple h got injured and michaels looked understandably out of his depths hbk
06:10has since said that he regrets coming out of retirement for in his words a glorified house show
06:15at the time saudi arabian wwe shows were largely inconsequential and considered non-canonial
06:20but it doesn't change the fact that michaels put the boots on went to work and ruined the sanctity
06:25of his previous retirement number five enzo amore for a time enzo amore
06:30and big cass were the most over thing on wwe tv quickly jumping from nx
06:35to the main roster enzo's mic work instantly engaged the audience and absolutely
06:40everyone in every arena was chanting along that being seven foot tall was not something that
06:45one could teach after breaking the tag team up as is wwe's want in this era
06:50enzo started a successful solo run that saw him get a hold of the cruiserweight championship three
06:55months into his second reign however he was suddenly fired from the company allegations appear
07:00that enzo had sexually assaulted a woman in a hotel in phoenix arizona amore found himself
07:05under investigation which was hot water for the company and they immediately took action whilst enzo
07:10swore that he had no idea that such a thing existed the wwe terminated his contract on the ground so they
07:15were not informed of the investigation even though said investigation went cold due to insufficient
07:20evidence enzo's public perception was further ruined by the man's actions when he tried to make a scene
07:25in the crowd at survivor series 2018 by standing on his seat instead of patiently waiting to be
07:30forgiven he tried to grab the spotlight out of vince mcmahon's hands this saw him banned from w
07:35wwe events for the future and since then his independent bookings have been minimal at best
07:40number four sunny tammy sitch is an example of someone who is more well known for her struggles out
07:45outside rather than her time within the wrestling industry from 1992 to 2000 she
07:50bounced around various promotions most noticeably the wwf for three years positioned on screen
07:55as the beautiful blonde girl next door described by the company as the original diva sonny was
08:00meant to signify a change of roles for women within the company beautiful but also smart and deadly
08:05behind the scenes however she was gathering a reputation for causing issues everywhere she went
08:09she
08:10she left the wwf after no showing events and apparently becoming addicted to painkillers and a feud in east
08:15cw was interrupted by her being arrested for violating a restraining order her lo-
08:20the same year in wcw ended with her leaving the company surrounding rumors of drug abuse in 20
08:2512 sunny's path of destruction intensified with being arrested five times over the course of
08:30four weeks for the next decade she would routinely be a footnote on wrestling news sites and it was
08:35terrible that it became normal to hear that she had yet again received a dui it would be impossible
08:40to list every legal issue that such has been embroiled in but the most important thing is that in march 2020
08:452022 her drunken conduct behind the wheel took the life of a 75 year old man in a party
08:50parked vehicle sunny at the time of writing faces up to 26 years in prison
08:55number three rick flair a lot of younger wrestling fans probably know rick flair is the man who has
09:00bought soup jackets enthusiastically yells out a single syllable and gets involved in awful pregnancy
09:05stories that thankfully never resolve but for a time in the 1980s rick flair represented the heart
09:10the heights of wrestling counterculture flair's 2008 retirement storyline matched with a
09:15hbk and subsequent farewell address with the stuff that any wrestler would dream of flair
09:20went out on his own terms in a match of the year winning belt and was lauded for it 18
09:25months later he ruined it all by wrestling at an roh show against hulk hogan most notice
09:30to be flair's ensuing stint in tna was a blemish on his previous swan song that ended in a second
09:35far less impactful pun unintended retirement against long-time rivals
09:40stint despite him vowing to never return to the ring after jerry lawless terrifying on air heart
09:45attack in 2012 here we are a whole decade later with flair at 73 years old
09:50gearing up for one last match on the independent scene his original retirement seems a world
09:55away now tarnished either by flair's boredom or an unresolved need to prove himself
10:00there is no way no matter who the opponent is that a geriatric flair will be able to
10:05focus on a good match this summer since his perfect retirement is gone the most we can hope for
10:10is something safe number two hulk hogan if you went back to the 1980s
10:15and told a wrestling fan that there would come a time that the immortal hulk hogan was so shamed that the
10:20ww would ignore his existence picture them trying to imagine what it was that he could do so
10:25wrong whatever you think of his twilight years in the ring hulk hogan ruined his legacy via some
10:30pretty awful comments made in his personal life a very personal part of his personal life
10:35in 2015 a leaked sex tape hit the web recorded eight years prior featuring
10:40the holster and this would be cause for alarm regardless but hogan's choice of bedroom conversation
10:45was bizarre and horrid expressing his dissatisfaction that his daughter brooke was dating
10:50a black man and admitting that in his words he was racist to a point
10:55in the fallout wwe removed all references to him from their website his position as
11:00judge on the upcoming series of tough enough was revoked and his merchandise and the wwe 2k
11:052015 dlc for the character was taken down from sale
11:08three years later wwe
11:10began to rebuild the bridge for hogan's return to the company and their history and he since
11:15hosted wrestlemania and had his second hall of fame induction the damage to his legacy however is
11:20still felt garnering a feeling of unease whenever he's on wwe tv
11:25number one chris benoit there almost certainly isn't a worse way to ruin your own legacy
11:30than this and i want to state now that that is not meant to be a light-hearted jab chris benoit
11:35mental health issues that led to two murders and his own suicide absolutely rocked the sports
11:40world and the effects of it are still felt to this day unlike hogan able to come back from his
11:45horrible displays of bigotry benoit remains the wrestling name that is the furthest from ever being made
11:50mentioned again in the 15 years since the incident wwe has done their best to ignore the contribution
11:55of chris benoit not just cutting around him in video packages that look back on great mo
12:00but whilst content that features him was on the original version of the wwe network it would offer
12:05and be preceded by a vague discretion message with peacock editing controversies out of
12:10wwe programming on their surface you have to imagine benoit's name has come up in conversation
12:15your own personal opinion of it may vary some can separate the art from the artist and
12:20appreciate chris's career highlights culminating in a wwe championship win at wrestlemania 20
12:25others however cannot bear to look back and celebrate a man who did what he did whatever
12:30you personally think the wwe will never acknowledge chris benoit and his ruined legacy
12:35ever again and that's the list let us know what you thought of this video down in the comments
12:40below and any other wrestlers that ruined their legacy sadly there are plenty more
12:45we couldn't fit into this list make sure you like this video share it with your friends subscribe and hit
12:50that notification bell i've been si from what culture and have a good week
12:55you
Comments