What if a current star got arrested for something serious

[ChitownKnight]

We have seen top stars get duis/possession of weed and other misdemeanors, but what if a star caught a felony and got arrested for coke, domestic dispute ect. What if randy orton was caught with coke (lol) or john cena had a domestic dispute with Nikki. How would the wwe react?

[Mozenrath]

Probably either firing them or a suspension. It'd depends a lot on their relative importance, their previous history, how good an agent they have, etc.

[CATCH_US IS the Conversation]

If it was Orton, WWE would try their damnedest to cover it up and/or save face.

If it was Cena, they'd just drop him and try to force someone else in his spot. They're gonna basically try to make another John Cena.

[Deleted]

They wouldn't exactly address what happened on air but say it was Cena and he was champion, they'd start off Raw saying that there will be a tournament to see who will be the new WWE Champion and the final 2 will compete at the PPV. The winner becomes the new face.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

If he's a top star, pretend like it never happened, do an injury angle, and "suspend" him until TMZ forgets about it, which will be around 11 minutes, and carry on like nothing happened.

If he's not a top star, fire him, help the police collect evidence, make sure the best prosecutor in the world is on the case, make sure once he's in jail, Triple H personally swallows the key to his cell and make about 900 press releases about how awesome their drug policy is.

[Reflecto]

Considering that we've seen both of those things happen in the last 15 years, or at least "WWE dodged a bullet" for both, there's a chance it's not that much of a difference.

For a serious drug charge- Jeff Hardy happened to get his big drug bust a couple weeks after he left the WWE. If it happened while he was under WWE contract, he'd have likely been fired anyway for a third strike (and the chance of him being a dealer would have changed it.) By contrast- if it was Orton who was merely "caught" with coke, then he'd definitely get a Wellness Violation (and the Orton rule would make it his "second" violation)- but he'd keep his job for it unless he refused to go to rehab. If he was actually DEALING coke, like they thought in the Jeff Hardy situation...yeah, he'd be more than fired. (In addition, This is also tied into the fact that a lot more Wellness Violations than you think are for coke anyway, up and down the card- Jimmy Yang openly said his Wellness Violation was for cocaine in shoot interviews since his release, and there have been longstanding claims for a few years that the WWE roster called Smackdown "coke night" because the way Wellness testing works only has tests on TV tapings- meaning that you can use cocaine after Smackdown and have it leave your system by the next TV taping on Sunday-Monday.)

As for domestic assault- we saw that happen with Steve Austin, the week after he left the WWE. Assuming, hypothetically, Cena attacked Nikki- BEST CASE scenario, John Cena gets a long suspension to last for the determined length of "until the heat dies down" (in all likeliness, around 6 months to a year), then he's brought back as if nothing happened- similar to how Steve Austin left the company. Worst case, they do nothing about it and keep Cena on TV as if nothing happened...if not openly say in kayfabe how "that evil Nikki Bella made up stories about John Cena because she couldn't stand how the fans loved him instead of her!" (which would also tie into the other unfortunate fact about it: Good, bad, or otherwise, the second Nikki Bella were to call the cops for that alleged case, she would be BEYOND fired for it...much like Debra was when she made the charges on Austin.)

[Nic Nemeth]

I feel sad thinking we'll find out if the Slater allegations are true

[Mid-Carder]

I can't see why it would or should affect WWE negatively. They're all grown adults who can make their own decisions.

[EvenBaldobombHasAJob]

depends on who it is and the severity of the offence. honestly I don't think anyone should get fired for having drugs unless they're high while working. but that's just my opinion.

if Cena were arrested for domestic abuse Triple H would work to get Bryan/Ambrose/Reigns into that spot as fast as possible, after he's done mopping up the mess from Vince's head exploding.

[Jedi-El of Tomorrow]

Dec 29, 2014 4:27:18 GMT -5 Reflecto said:

As for domestic assault- we saw that happen with Steve Austin, the week after he left the WWE. Assuming, hypothetically, Cena attacked Nikki- BEST CASE scenario, John Cena gets a long suspension to last for the determined length of "until the heat dies down" (in all likeliness, around 6 months to a year), then he's brought back as if nothing happened- similar to how Steve Austin left the company. Worst case, they do nothing about it and keep Cena on TV as if nothing happened...if not openly say in kayfabe how "that evil Nikki Bella made up stories about John Cena because she couldn't stand how the fans loved him instead of her!" (which would also tie into the other unfortunate fact about it: Good, bad, or otherwise, the second Nikki Bella were to call the cops for that alleged case, she would be BEYOND fired for it...much like Debra was when she made the charges on Austin.)

I don't think she'd be fired for it. The WWE would be torn to shreds by the media if they were to do that, and shareholders wouldn't be happy in the slightest. Just take a look at how the media rightfully ripped apart the NFL for how they handled the Ray Rice domestic violence incident. Cena would get suspended for a long time, and Nikki would probably get some paid time off, till everything dies down. The reason I'd say Nikki would get paid time off, is that the WWE would be afraid to send her out there and get chants like "You deserved it."

[Reflecto]

Dec 29, 2014 10:22:54 GMT -5 Jedi-El of Tomorrow said:

Dec 29, 2014 4:27:18 GMT -5 Reflecto said:

As for domestic assault- we saw that happen with Steve Austin, the week after he left the WWE. Assuming, hypothetically, Cena attacked Nikki- BEST CASE scenario, John Cena gets a long suspension to last for the determined length of "until the heat dies down" (in all likeliness, around 6 months to a year), then he's brought back as if nothing happened- similar to how Steve Austin left the company. Worst case, they do nothing about it and keep Cena on TV as if nothing happened...if not openly say in kayfabe how "that evil Nikki Bella made up stories about John Cena because she couldn't stand how the fans loved him instead of her!" (which would also tie into the other unfortunate fact about it: Good, bad, or otherwise, the second Nikki Bella were to call the cops for that alleged case, she would be BEYOND fired for it...much like Debra was when she made the charges on Austin.)

I don't think she'd be fired for it. The WWE would be torn to shreds by the media if they were to do that, and shareholders wouldn't be happy in the slightest. Just take a look at how the media rightfully ripped apart the NFL for how they handled the Ray Rice domestic violence incident. Cena would get suspended for a long time, and Nikki would probably get some paid time off, till everything dies down. The reason I'd say Nikki would get paid time off, is that the WWE would be afraid to send her out there and get chants like "You deserved it."

Believe me- I would HOPE, in 2015, you're right and that would happen- but again, my points weren't about "what would happen today", but rather "what has happened, in the past, when those two exact problems mentioned did happen." I'd like to hope that the WWE is more enlightened- or the stockholders would demand they BE enlightened, to have what you said there happen in 2015- but the facts are the same: In 2002, Steve Austin did get arrested for domestic violence, shortly after he had just walked out on the company- and when that happened, Debra was never seen again in the WWE after it occurred. Hopefully, the 13 years had changed things for the better, but the precedent was still out there.

[Mayonnaise]

Domestic violence of any type is an automatic suspension until the case is resolved, that was announced a month or two back and just used in the Nash case. From there it all depends on the outcome of the case. Major stars would probably be ordered to counseling as well if they could return.

Drug possession is a Wellness violation so it would all depend on where you are in that program though WWE would probably require rehab no matter which violation they're on. Someone like Cena probably gets pushed down the card before getting a redemption storyline.

[Deleted]

Considering Vince's past, if anyone gets arrested for beating their wife then their career is probably O-V-E-R.

[RadcapRadsley]

Dec 29, 2014 12:33:41 GMT -5 @knapp said:

Considering Vince's past, if anyone gets arrested for beating their wife then their career is probably O-V-E-R.

Hasn't Randy Orton had like 8-10 different wives? I am sure some of them had "unfortunate accidents" WWE knew about.

[TOK Hehe'd Around & Found Out]

Dec 29, 2014 4:27:18 GMT -5 Reflecto said:

Considering that we've seen both of those things happen in the last 15 years, or at least "WWE dodged a bullet" for both, there's a chance it's not that much of a difference.

For a serious drug charge- Jeff Hardy happened to get his big drug bust a couple weeks after he left the WWE. If it happened while he was under WWE contract, he'd have likely been fired anyway for a third strike (and the chance of him being a dealer would have changed it.) By contrast- if it was Orton who was merely "caught" with coke, then he'd definitely get a Wellness Violation (and the Orton rule would make it his "second" violation)- but he'd keep his job for it unless he refused to go to rehab. If he was actually DEALING coke, like they thought in the Jeff Hardy situation...yeah, he'd be more than fired. (In addition, This is also tied into the fact that a lot more Wellness Violations than you think are for coke anyway, up and down the card- Jimmy Yang openly said his Wellness Violation was for cocaine in shoot interviews since his release, and there have been longstanding claims for a few years that the WWE roster called Smackdown "coke night" because the way Wellness testing works only has tests on TV tapings- meaning that you can use cocaine after Smackdown and have it leave your system by the next TV taping on Sunday-Monday.)

I thought the deal with Hardy was that he wasn't as much dealing himself, as he was buying so much that he was charged with intention to distribute. US drug laws are really weird for so many reasons, one being that if you get caught with over a certain amount you will automatically get charged with Intent to Distribute even if everything was intended for personal use.

And the idea that Smackdown is "Coke Night" is probably the funniest thing I've ever heard. Explains why Orton was on Smackdown for so long.

[Professor Chaos]

Only person I don't see them firing in the case of a felony is Cena. He would overcome the law and come back stronger than ever for redemption following a short hiatus.

[Surfer Sandman]

Dec 29, 2014 12:38:31 GMT -5 RadcapRadsley said:

Dec 29, 2014 12:33:41 GMT -5 @knapp said:

Considering Vince's past, if anyone gets arrested for beating their wife then their career is probably O-V-E-R.

Hasn't Randy Orton had like 8-10 different wives? I am sure some of them had "unfortunate accidents" WWE knew about.

He shat in their bags and they left when he threatened to go to the papers.

[nisidhe]

Dec 29, 2014 12:38:31 GMT -5 RadcapRadsley said:

Dec 29, 2014 12:33:41 GMT -5 @knapp said:

Considering Vince's past, if anyone gets arrested for beating their wife then their career is probably O-V-E-R.

Hasn't Randy Orton had like 8-10 different wives? I am sure some of them had "unfortunate accidents" WWE knew about.

I'm convinced that the Ortons have some serious shit on Vince (possibly related to Barry O's allegations re sexual misconduct in the back); that's why they've bent over backwards to keep Randy Orton near the top despite his conduct and wellness violations. However, and history has born us out on this, Vince would not tolerate an incident of domestic abuse, _especially_ if it involved children. John Cena would be buried on a level three stories below Benoit if he was hinted at doing anything similar.