WWE Using Roman Reigns’ Cancer For Heat Is Business As Usual To Them

We are coming off the heels of a thunderous Survivor Series weekend, and the biggest talk of the town right now doesn’t have anything to do with the pay-per-view event. Instead, people are talking about Dean Ambrose. Not so much his current feud with Seth Rollins, but a line he uttered during last night’s Raw.

In a scathing promo against his former Shield mates on Raw, Dean Ambrose mentioned that he and the rest of The Shield were all horrible people and karma was going to catch up to them in one way or another. When addressing Roman Reigns’ “karma” – keep in mind that Reigns is currently dealing with a real life leukemia diagnosis – Ambrose said that now Reigns, “has to answer to the man upstairs” for what he did in The Shield.

Much of the wrestling community was taken aback by the quote, and were quick to complain about it being tasteless. While it is completely understandable as to why people would have a problem with this line, this isn’t the first time that WWE used a serious real life situation like cancer to further a storyline. Quite frankly, compared to what came before it, Ambrose’s comment was tame.

A few years back, Paige said that Charlotte Flair’s late brother Reid “didn’t have much fight in him.” A couple years prior, Paul Bearer’s real life death was used to further the CM Punk/Undertaker storyline heading into WrestleMania 29, starting just a week after Bearer’s passing. And how could we possibly forget how WWE addressed Eddie Guerrero’s death? We couldn’t possibly forget gems like Randy Orton’s infamous quip “Eddie ain’t in heaven. He’s down there … IN HELL!”

WWE’s exploitation goes as far back as 1972 when Ray Gunkel passed away from a previously undiagnosed heart condition coincidentally after being in a match with Ox Baker, who’s finisher was a Heart Punch. The heel Baker would continue bringing up Gunkel’s death for heat years after the fact.

We can go on and on with further examples, but the fact of the matter is that stuff like this is old hat by now. It’s gotten to a point where it’s hard to get outraged every time WWE decide to pull their shock value card out like this. Not to downplay how any fan or critic would feel about the Dean Ambrose situation, of course. Every angle affects people differently, but it’s hard to say that WWE crossed the line when the line stretches so far into the distance.

This can be more problematic than any suggestive line WWE chooses to write into their script. It begs the question when will enough be enough? Do we just accept that stuff like this is always going to happen in WWE rather than acknowledge it’s inappropriate? Is it less offensive if we knew that Roman Reigns gave his blessing for his situation to be used in a storyline, or is it still hurtful?

I don’t have the answers. This is a tricky situation, and with all tricky situations, there’s a good and a bad side to all of it. Audiences can only watch the show themselves and come to their own conclusions, but whether we love it or hate it, stuff like this is just the nature of the wrestling business. It’s been around since before we were born, and it’ll probably continue long after we’re gone.