The Biggest Self-Destructive Wrestlers

[C.K.O.]

Over the years alot of Professional Wrestlers have took careers (some Hall of Fame worthy) and threw them down the toilets with there personal self destructive behaviors.

Some drug abused, alot of egos got in the way and even more drugs got thrown into the picture.

My question is:

Who were the GRESTEST wrestlers in Pro Wrestling history who threw away there own careers?

and..

Who will be next?

 

[ThUnDeRpHoEnIx]

idk who the Grestest wrestler to chuck there own careers is but the greatest wrestler to chuck them away was either hulk hogan or ric flair.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

For this you have to look at guys like Scott Hall or Jake Roberts

Both very talented men who have ruined their own careers through drink and drugs. It is one thing to abuse steroids (I do not agree with it, but people do it in an attempt to BOOST their careers), but these 2 prevented themselves from reaching their undoubted potential through alcohol and druge abuse. I have no sympathy for either Hall or Roberts, they are simply wasters who had all the talent but were just too far gone to recover.

On a slightly different note I would like to mention Teddy Hart. The man is an incredible high-flyer, part of the Hart family (which opened doors for him), and was the youngest guy ever to be signed to a WWE contract. However, Teddy has been fired and rehired on numerous occasions without ever making it to the main roster as he causes disruption wherever he goes, with his attitude, backstage antics and rubbing up wrestlers the wrong way, often going into business for himself in matches and no-selling finishing moves.

Hart has the opportunities, every advantage in the book and made absolutely none of it. He has never been a part of the roster of a major wrestling company, has a bad reputation throughout the business, many enemies and it is all his own doing.

Also, if we are talking about people who have destroyed their legacies, then there is only one who stands out. That man is Chris Benoit

 

[Mustang Sally]

Well, we can't have a category like this without bringing up Marty Jannetty, can we? No, he wasn't one of the all-time great wrestlers, but the opportunity to have a fine singles career was right there for him.....and he blew it with stupid, self-destructive behavior that cost him his professional standing.

I always wondered whether Marty went downhill when he and Shawn Michaels split up.....or was it while they were still a team? If it was the former, I wonder if he thought WWE was pushing Shawn at his expense; perhaps leaving him behind.....and that's what may have led to his personal downfall. Or, maybe he could have made it to the top without Shawn.

Because of Marty's bad life choices........we'll never know.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

Jannety is a great pick Mustang, he totally slipped my mind.

I think Eddie Guerrero would also have been a contender for this title if he had not managed to clean up towards the end of his life. I know his demons probably did contribute to his early death but he had achieved so much in cleaning himself up in the later years of his life. He would have died alot sooner had he not, and nearly did in that near-fatal car accident. Eddie was on a huge downward spiral, lost his job with WWE, his family and was drinking himself to death before somehow managing to fight back from all those problems and get back to the top of his profession.

Same with HBK. There were so many stories of Shawn's drug issues, but luckily for everyone he found God, was able to get back to the top in wrestling, be a good father and change his ways.

 

[mikead]

The answer for me is Ultimate Warrior. He missed years in his prime due to his personality and disappearing.

Theres also guys like Scott Hall, but Hall had a good career, he could have left before the problems started and left a nice legacy.

The same for Jeffy Hardy. His problems have kept him from the spotlight sometimes, but he has still been able to work when he wants to.

 

[Davi323]

Yeah. For me, this thread would be better titled as "Biggest self-destructive wresters NOT named the Ultimate Warrior". Hell, the WWE put out a video that's actually titled "the self-destruction of the Ultimate Warrior".

This is a guy that was on top of the world, he was the one chosen to replace Hulk Hogan as the face of the WWF, one of the few men EVER to get a clean pin on Hogan while he was in the WWF, and he was probably the single most over pro-wrestler ever. Seriously, when he had his first run in the WWF, the crowds went absolutely bat shit crazy. The Orton cheers, Cena cheers, even the cheers for Austin and Rock paled in comparison to the frenzied cheering for the Ultimate Warrior. This guy was standing at the very peak of the mountain.

Then he threw it all away by trying to blackmail Vince for more money before a PPV. And that was that. Vince fired him, he completely lost all of his mojo, and the Ultimate Warrior was finished. He did return to the WWF eventually, but the magic was completely gone. The fans moved on. I am not even going to mention what a disaster the OWN was in WCW.

 

[tablekorner]

Jeff Hardy kind of ruined his WWE career, and if he keeps it up he could destroy his entire career. But lets just all hope that doesn't happen.

 

[SpoodBeest]

I would like to say personally Jeff Hardy is my choice not because it was the biggest self destruction of all time but it was very disappointing when it happened. Jeff Hardy left the WWE for a few years in 2003. He experimented with the independents and TNA during this time period than finally when he found his passion again in 2006 he resigned with the biggest wrestling company in the world: the WWE once again.

Hardy's return brought him straight to the top of the upper mid-card competing in matches against WWE Champion Edge and having title matches with IC Champion Johnny Nitro (Morrison) and within his first month back won the title and continued the feud with Morrison into 2007. Throughout that year the crowds would get more and more into him as he added a few more IC title reigns to his credit. Soon Hardy's crowd reactions were getting him to the point where he seemed to big for mid-card and he would defeat Triple H at the end of 2007 to earn a WWE title match at the 2008 Royal Rumble pay-per-view, which he lost. Hardy would also lose another WWE title opportunity one month later at No Way Out.

After this he seemed to primed to win MITB at WrestleMania 24 however the demons caught up with him and he failed the Wellness Policy for the second time giving him two strikes on his contract. He then made a return, got drafted to SmackDown and that is where Jeff Hardy really started to shine. Having a major rivalry with Triple H for the WWE title throughout the end of 2008 and by the end of that year became WWE Champion.

In 2009 minus his lame feud with his brother, Jeff Hardy was basically main eventing for SmackDown on pay-per-views and television shows. He ended up winning two world titles during his feuds with Edge and CM Punk respectively. He had made it to the top of the WWE and was basically as huge as John Cena in terms of being a draw, crowd reaction and merchandise sales. Then all of a sudden Jeff throws all of this away because he needed "time off" and was able to get out of his contract.

Then a few weeks afterwards gets busted for drugs, which would have been his third strike in WWE (can't blame him for dodging that bullet) and then months later he ends up in TNA. But lets not bull shit and compare being a top guy in TNA to being a top dog in WWE. This guy was among a very few amount of superstars who stood at the top of the WWE mountain but decided to throw it all away because of his own drug problems. The story of Jeff Hardy is nothing short of a heartbreaking tale.

 

[Jason Scene]

I would say Hardy, but hes already been said like three times so I'll alter the trend.

To a certain extent, although he went on to have a very good career and has a long lasting legacy, I'd have to say Tom Billington, a.k.a Dynamite Kid.

He was a great wrestler, he is probably from what the wrestles always say when reminicing about him back in the day, the toughest wrestler of all-time but drugs and alcohol got the better of him and effectively ruined his career and a bit of his legacy. He used to have a serious addiction to steroids, Bret Hart said he would use about two syringes of them before every workout, he had a problem with cocaine and he even once injected himself with horse steroids which is crazy.

Might have a legacy, but if it wasn't for steroids, his bad attitude, antics and such he'd have a much better one.

 

[Lucha-Libre is wrestling]

I have to go with Kerry Von Erich. He was the real total package, he had the looks, body, mic skills and a hell of a wrestler. It's sad he ended his life at 33yrs of age, I remember when he debuted in the WWF in 1990, he received pops louder than Hogan and Warrior. Just imagine the type of career he could a had if it wasn't for the drug addictions.

 

[achromat666]

A very interesting and necessary question to ask. A couple come to mind aside from those mentioned:

Lex Luger: Not unlike Ultimate Warrior was given the big spot to run with but never quite connected with the fans and as a result of a lot of really bad personal choices never got back on track.

Macho Man Randy Savage: The truly sad thing is that he managed to get a truly huge following in the WWF in the age of Hogan but obviously issues with hogan led to many other issues that had him only reach moderate success in WCW and never come back to the WWF to make the impact a man of his in ring talent and widespread fandom should have been able to.

Scott Steiner: A case where becoming huge opened doors and shut many of the same doors in my mind. A performer whose in ring ability dwindled as he got bigger and whose backstage antics often made enemies.

Juventud Guerrera gets a mention for being very gifted but apparently quite notoriously difficult to work with.

There's a laundry list of guys who for numerous reasons never quite made it (Billy Gunn, Perry Saturn, Raven, Christian, etc) but had the talent and charisma, but that's a separate list.

Jake Roberts and Scott embody this topic, but Sean Waltman deserves a mention for no other reason than having the talent, being at one point very over with the fans, but never really going anywhere. I don't know how much of it was purely self destruction, but drug abuse and depression have over the years played their part. Hanging with a group of guys where such abuse (Scott Hall, Sean Michaels) was prominent did him no favors.

 

[PowerHouse]

WOW Kerry Von Erich now there is a name i havent thought of in a long time and one of the best while he was alive. He is def up there as one of the biggest self destructive wrestlers ever. Ultimate Warrior still the #1 though he threw away his career due to his crazy comments and not knowing how to turn off the Warrior character that he now lives his life as. The guy is brilliant but absolutley crazy.

 

[Post]

Many, many possibilities...

I'll go with the Dynamite Kid (Tom Billington). Dynamite had substance abuse problems that led him to completely fuck up his existence. I'm not going to list all of the wacked out things he did, but if you want, pick up Bret Hart's autobiography. It gives a very good picture of things.

Besides the drugs and booze, Dynamite completely ignored every warning sign that it was time to stop wrestling...and his body quit on him. He is now bound to a wheel chair, is a shell of his former self, and has been described as "practically skin and bones" (wikipedia).

I'm not sure what is worse, being dead or living with constant pain and restrictions.

The saddest thing about Dynamite is his outlook on everything. "Billington has gone on record as saying that he regrets nothing from his career, and has stated in his autobiography that he would do everything the same way all over again" (wikipedia).

No regrets? He'd do it all the same way again? Very sad.

 

[Davi323]

I have to go with Kerry Von Erich. He was the real total package, he had the looks, body, mic skills and a hell of a wrestler. It's sad he ended his life at 33yrs of age, I remember when he debuted in the WWF in 1990, he received pops louder than Hogan and Warrior. Just imagine the type of career he could a had if it wasn't for the drug addictions.

I formally withdraw my nomination of the Ultimate Warrior and officially change it to Kerry Von Erich. I cannot believe I forgot about him. I watched him in WCCW, I saw him in the WWF as the Texas Tornado, I watched the numerous DVDs about WCCW, and for whatever reason his name never popped into my head, and it damned well should have. I would dispute the pops being louder than Hogan or Warriors part, but Kerry Von Erich's drug use and subsequent suicide should be the textbook definition of what a self-destructive wrestler looks like.

 

[papahut420]

i know this probably doesnt fit here although he was driving. but i would have loved to have seen what would have happened if magnum ta did not get in that car wreck. i live around the old nwa/midatlantic stomping grounds and the biggest reactions i have ever heard, even topping the rock and stone cold were the cheers for magnum. i know he was primed to be the new face of the nwa before the accident.i still keep in touch with him through e-mail and he is a genuine nice guy. like i said i know he doesnt belong in this list but he is my greatest what if.

 

[thedukeofpearls]

Brian Pillman, Scott Hall, Buddy Rose, Rick Rude and Adrian Adonis.

These were guys that paved the ways for high flyers, charasmatic wrestlers and innovative wrestlers. Scott Hall really looks like crap now; but will always be known for his great matches in the 90's as Razor Ramon.