Not everyone in professional wrestling can be a saint. In an industry that depends on getting oneself over to ensure maximum success, performers obviously have to play a few backstage tricks to curry favor with promoters, which may not sit well with some of their peers.
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However, an arrest is something else entirely, unless it is part of a storyline. Even just one can kill a career, or at the very least cost someone a significant push. With wrestlers being on the road so often, perhaps the lifestyle just leads tob bad habits forming, which can lead to a run-in with the law. Many former wrestlers have once found themselves wearing cuffs on their hands for one reason or another, but this covers only those active ones.
10 Brock Lesnar
Believe it or not, Brock Lesnar has been arrested before.
It was 2001. "The Beast" was still a raw prospect in OVW, WWE's developmental territory at the time. One day, police suddenly accosted him, claiming that he was carrying illegal steroids. While he was being detained, the bag's contents were analyzed and, to his relief, were proven to not be PEDs.
But here is the somewhat ironic part. Fifteen years later, Brock fought Mark Hunt at UFC 200, winning by unanimous decision. And then he was found to have failed PED tests.
9 Chris Jericho
Chris Jericho is often hailed as one of the greatest wrestlers ever, even if his world title reigns are, to put it mildly, not as memorable as initially perceived. However, his wisdom and intimate knowledge of locker room chemistry have made him a highly-esteemed veteran mentor everywhere he goes.
Well, back in 2010, he almost broke that image after being arrested alongside Gregory Helms for public intoxication. Fortunately, he realized the error of his ways and paid a $120 bond. Then he resumed his career as if nothing had happened.
8 Moose
Today, Moose is best known as one of most enduring veterans of Impact Wrestling. But back in May 2009, he was still an offensive lineman looking to make it big in the NFL.
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Then he was arrested for allegedly attacking his then-wife after an argument over one of his female Facebook friends. The NFL suspended him for the first game of 2010, and that arrest would hurt his viability to WWE, who passed him up for a contract when he became a free agent after his Ring of Honor tenure. WWE would make him an offer later in his career, but by then, he had settled into the Impact Zone.
7 Nick Gage
Nick Gage. The Deathmatch King. The man who put Game Changer Wrestling on the map when it comes to the mainstream. (More knowledgeable fans may also remember his long body of work for Combat Zone Wrestling, aka the long-time home of Jon Moxley/Dean Ambrose).
But back in December 2010, he was arrested for robbery in Collingswood, New Jersey. He had written the teller of a PNC Bank a note demanding money under threat of death - he and his girlfriend gambled the $3,000 that he received. He was sentenced to five years behind bars as part of a plea deal.
6 Emma
Emma is one of those female Superstars who could have been a relevant presence in the women's division, but was ruined by Vince McMahon's failure to realize her potential. But maybe in his eyes, one controversy ruined his perception of her.
On July 2, 2014, the wrestling world sat in stunned silence as mugshots of the Australian emerged. It transpired that she had supposedly been caught shoplifting an iPad case in Hartford, Connecticut - which turned out to be huge misunderstanding, as it was later clarified as a case of "I have no idea how this self-checkout machine works". She was initially released, then rehired after much backlash.
5 Matt Sydal
Remember Matt Sydal? The man who, as Evan Bourne, defied gravity in WWE and did breathtaking shooting star presses - the first since Brock Lesnar notoriously botched the move?
After his 2014 release from WWE, Sydal embarked on a stint in New Japan (among other promotions), most notably winning the NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Championships with Ricochet and Satoshi Kojima. But all that came crashing down in 2016, when he was caught attempting to smuggle liquid marijuana at Kansai International Airport. He was briefly imprisoned, then deported back to America.
4 Jack Swagger/Jake Hager
Remember that tidbit about arrests costing someone a major push? It applies here.
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Despite fan antipathy towards his feud with Alberto Del Rio, Jack Swagger (aka Jake Hager) was all set for a major push in 2013. With Zeb Colter as his manager and carrying a Tea Party-esque gimmick, he, by all accounts, was going to defeat the Mexican aristocrat to become World Heavyweight Champion for the second time in his career.
Unfortunately, the plans were scrapped after he was arrested on his way from a SmackDown taping for multiple offenses: speeding, driving while under the influence of a controlled substance, and possession of said substance.
3 Rob Van Dam
Speaking of speeding, driving while under the influence of a controlled substance, and possession of said drug, Rob Van Dam has one of the worst-timed arrests in the history of professional wrestling.
It was July 1, 2006. RVD was at his creative peak, holding both the ECW and WWE Championships - a rarity. That night, he and Sabu were heading to Philadelphia after a show in West Virginia when an officer stopped them. His dream scenario crumbled then and there.
WWE had to do damage control, and booked Edge and Big Show take the titles off of him while an investigation occurred. He was eventually suspended for a month.
2 Jimmy Uso
Is it no wonder why Jimmy Uso was made the heel when WWE decided that he and Jey were no longer to be a tag team? For those who cannot get the hint, it is because he has hints of a "rockstar" lifestyle: he has a famous wife in Impact Knockouts Champion Trinity (fka Naomi in WWE), and he seemingly cannot stop getting in his own way.
Fives time in his career, he has been arrested for DUI: once in 2011, once in 2013, twice in 2019, and once in 2021. The last one generated much controversy, as he was a Tag Team Champion involved in the biggest storyline of the decade so far - and not much action was taken, because WWE did not want to thwart the Bloodline's momentum.
1 Jeff Hardy
Jeff Hardy, the Enigma, Brother Nero, Willow... notorious addict? Unfortunately, that has been the tale for most of his career.
The man has been through so many substance-related arrests that it is a wonder that companies are not burning their bridges with him. Remember when he single-handedly tanked TNA/Impact with his "trafficking operation" (and that is not to mention the Bound for Glory main event controversy with Sting)?
And who can forget AEW taking him in, only for him to commit another drug-related offense while teaming with his elder brother Matt? WWE diehards often think of him as a legend, but that is only because they are willing to overlook his personal problems.
