Should we honored wrestlers that did bad things

Sorry for the awful title but it didn’t know how to name this thread.

Anyway, the whole moolah debacle got me thinking, can today’s fans accept that wwe honors a wrestler based on what they did in the ring only or is it too late for that and a lot of wrestlers won’t get the recognition they deserve because of what’s being reported in the dirt sheet and other internet sites.

Moolah was a interesting case because as far as her in ring career is concern, she truly deserve to get honored by wwe but because all theses allegations surface on the internet and in other forms of media’s, they pretty much have to black list her now.

Same goes for guys like Chris benoit and hulk Hogan. Benoit is understandable because of how his life ended but Hogan said a couple of out of context racist remark and now he’s pretty much blacklisted by wwe and fans.

So who’s next, chyna? Jimmy snuka? Lex Luger? The list goes on and on of guys and girls that did bad or horrible things outside the ring and will someday be expose on the internet by the Dave Meltzer’s of the world. Will the fans turn on them as well if WWE decide to honor any of them?

Time will tell, personally, I would love to see any of those guys and girls gets honor for their in ring career without having to deal to their outside indiscretion, but in today society, I doubt this will ever happen

These allegations didn’t suddenly just surface, they had been around for years. Here’s a post on Reddit’s Squaredcircle detailing every allegation w/ sources from either interviews or books or whatnot on what she did: https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/84b2fe/in_light_of_the_controversy_surrounding_the/

Her actions out of the ring are what allowed her career to flourish in the ring.

Same goes for guys like Chris benoit and hulk Hogan. Benoit is understandable because of how his life ended but Hogan said a couple of out of context racist remark and now he’s pretty much blacklisted by wwe and fans.

Racist comments are racist comments, and Hogan has a history of a being a bad guy behind the curtain in order to further his career

So who’s next, chyna? Jimmy snuka? Lex Luger? The list goes on and on of guys and girls that did bad or horrible things outside the ring and will someday be expose on the internet by the Dave Meltzer’s of the world. Will the fans turn on them as well if WWE decide to honor any of them?

Many fans think Chyna deserves more recognition than she gets and find it a shame she is not in the Hall
Snuka has a very dark history
Meltzer himself is being a heinous dude

How exactly is doing porn on par with with taking people’s lives?

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One really happened, the other was is only bases on allegations

By baseless do you mean the many personal accounts?

Didn’t know doing porn was a crime.

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it’s not a crime but it’S still not look upon as a great thing. Anyway i feel like everybody as miss the point of this thread. The point was to discuss if we should accept it when WWE or anybody in Wrestling wants to honored somebody that’s done horrible things in wrestling.

I feel like we as fans should be able to differentiate professional side of wrestling and the personal lives of those same wrestlers and being able to honored them for their in ring contributions even through they were horrible person outside the ring.

That was the point i was trying to make and was trying to get you guys opinion on this.

So we should punish people because of others prejudice?

Slippery slope.

The problem with this defense (Separate art from artist) is often it’s applied to instance where people’s career gains came from how they acted outside of their art. Snuka and Moolah both were able to have the careers they did in the ring because of their actions outside of the ring going unchecked. That’s the big problem here.

It’s really easy. We don’t respect them despite how great their in ring work was. Hell I met Benoit and he was one of the coolest guys on the planet. But I can’t overlook his actions. I wouldn’t include Chyna in this conversation though. That’s just my opinion.

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I think that is a fair stance to make, some of us can overlook things while others cannot.

Though what about those who suggest that in Benoit’s case the head injuries, mixed with drug abuse led him to his actions? Is there leeway there?

I think the only fair thing to do is judge on a case by case basis. Wrestlers are not beacons of virtue, they make mistakes and sometimes do some pretty outrageous things. Austin was accused of domestic abuse by two of his ex-wives for example and we still pop for him.

But I also think there are opportunities for a wrestler to redeem themselves and their image.

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I don’t understand WWE’s logic to not have Chyna in the HOF but Sunny, it’s OK.

Chyna will be in the HOF within 5 years I bet. It is a loaded topic though like MrMulligan said. Should we consider head injury? Are we throwing out the baby with the bathwater if we don’t? I seriously don’t know. I just have the opinion Benoit should never be celebrated even though he’s one of my favorite wrestlers of all time. But it’s just an opinion

She did porn after the award…still a silly reason for anyone to dismiss her contributions.

Should just admit it’s because it’s awkward to honor an ex after a messy breakup.

Sunny is a bad bad person. Just listen to Bruce Prichard’s podcast on her wrestling and life story. She has done some awful stuff.

Cheating on your spouse with multiple partners and doing drugs isn’t the same as killing someone or pimping others out.

Having consensual sex isn’t a crime.

I think the oversight of Chyna is two fold:

  1. Her history with Trips and Steph are a bit muddy
  2. Porn isn’t PG

I know you could argue many “Divas” of the same era did Playboy and some still are in the HoF but porn still has a stigma attached to it.

Seeing her in promo packages during the Raw 25 gives me hope she will be included. I sure hope she is. I know a lot of superstars look up to Trish Stratus and with good reason, but Chyna was the first mainstream female who rolled with the boys and even held a men’s title.

She broke ground in as many ways as Trish, Lita, Mickey, Luna etc. She deserves a place in the HoF.

This is not just a challenge that WWE is dealing with. Sports leagues around the world are trying to figure out what to do with active and retired players who cause trouble by breaking their leagues rules or breaking the law. And unfortunately the punishment for either typically doesn’t fit the crime. I doubt we are going to solve this problem on a message board. But here are my two cents:

  1. In America people have the right to live their life or run their business however they want and especially their freedom of speech is protected by the constitution.
  2. But there are still consequences to a persons decisions when it reflects badly on them, their employer, their family, etc. even if its not breaking the law.

I believe WWE (or any company) should be allowed to do whatever it wants to protect its brand and not want to associate with or provide a platform for former employees which might embarrass the company. They can hire or fire whoever they want when they see it being warranted. And there is nothing stopping WWE from embarrassing itself when they make poor decisions to associate themselves with the wrong people like Moolah. They took a PR hit and upset a sponsor for their decision.

I think the Moolah incident will create a new precedent in the company and wouldn’t be surprised to see them be more politically correct in the future. This may be the last year of the Warrior award before the same social media backlash happens. And there is no way they can induct anyone controversial in the HoF anytime soon. And maybe that’s for the best…

They have a great roster of very social-media savvy people right now. Maybe WWE should spend more time focusing on them as the future of the industry and less on the very seedy history of the business.

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I think the reason that Chyna has been blacklisted from WWE is due more to your first example, with the whole Trips and Steph drama, than the porn career. Granted being a porn star wouldn’t sit well in the whole PG-era.

If we are going to look at people’s history outside the ring then how can we not look at Flair and the many times we have heard of him flashing him self on airplane, hotel parties, and other places. I am sure there are other examples that I am not thinking of right now. If he was doing these things today he would be arrested for some type of sexual assault or deviance. At what point do you draw a line and say this is OK but that is not, or if it happened before 1990 its OK but after its not? (1990 was just thrown out has a random year)