Shannon Moore On Helping Others Attain Sobriety, His Own Troubled Past
On a recent edition of the “Developmentally Speaking” podcast, WWE alumni Shannon Moore discussed helping people overcome issues with their sobriety, his own troubled history with substance abuse, and more.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On his current work helping people with their sobriety: “I got so much going on now because I work with pro athletes now whenever it comes to helping them get sober. I work with other wrestlers. I work with the NFL, Major League Baseball. I’ve worked with all kinds of different clients [like] doctors and lawyers, but I focus on athletes just because I feel like until I hit a bad point in my life, I defined myself as a pro wrestler because that’s all I knew. I pigeonholed myself and I feel like a lot of people do that.”
On the difficulties of being in the wrestling industry: “Whenever it comes to the business, we’re taught, especially in the era that I came up in, that you eat, breathe, and sleep pro wrestling. It’s like there’s nothing else that should matter to you and pro wrestling comes first … Financially, wrestling was great, but as far as growth as a man, I feel like the business can sometimes eat us up and define us as pro wrestlers. [Then when] you get fired, you go through this identity crisis where you’re like, ‘Who am I? I’m not WWE Superstar Shannon Moore or WCW Superstar Shannon Moore, so what do I do now?’ … I had to learn a lot of hard lessons like that because I was a kid. I was in this journey that was basically teaching me to be a wrestler; how to act as a wrestler, but I never grew as Shannon Moore because I was a wrestler and that’s all I cared about. And I just wish I knew then what I know now.”
On his own substance abuse issues: “If there’s anybody out there that’s struggling, get a hold of me. I went through it myself. I went through the whole substance abuse deal where I was physically addicted. I couldn’t wake up every day and feel normal unless I took some sort of substance and I didn’t know how to get help. I didn’t know how to reach out for help.
“Now if I’m out wrestling, [I’m] letting people know you have to ask for help if you’re going through this because that’s the only way you’re going to come out on the other side of this. We’re losing way too many people that just – they feel like there’s no hope … And I’m not talking about just wrestlers or pro athletes. Most people think that somebody has a choice to wake up every day and take a substance or not. But when you get physically addicted where you’re dealing with some mental illness, you have to treat that … I can’t say it enough: Ask for help and like sooner than later.”
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