WWE Name Says ‘Hyper Masculine Environment’ Of WWE Developmental Led To Them Not Speaking About Mental Health Issues

WWE

A WWE name has spoken about how the ‘hyper masculine environment’ of developmental led to them not speaking about their mental health.

Former WWE Champion Ettore ‘Big E’ Ewen is set to release his first autobiography soon titled ‘How I Got Over: Healing from Depression and Psychosis to Find Joy In and Out of the Ring’.

While the book will cover his WWE career, it will primarily focus on E’s battles with mental health in his early life leading him to where he is today.

Big E Believed He Was Unable To Speak About Mental Health In WWE Developmental

In an interview about the book with Front Row Report, Big E opened up on coming up in a ‘hyper masculine environment’ in both college football and WWE developmental in FCW.

He noted that he thought he would never open up about his mental health because, while nobody ever told him outright not to, he got the vibe that it would be a burden on his career.

He said:

“Oftentimes it’s not someone saying ‘this is not something men do’. Sometimes it’s you being in these hyper masculine environments where you perceive that this is something men don’t do, we don’t talk about our feelings.

“Especially when I was in FCW in Tampa, I’m trying to get pushed, I’m trying to get to the main roster, I want to get pushed, the last thing I need them to hear is ‘oh this is someone that was in a psych ward, who struggles with depression, he might not be reliable, who knows what he does on the road’. So all these things are very real fears.

“When you’re in so many of these settings, I got to Iowa to play football. I wasn’t here to go to therapy or have all these troubles, I wanted to be a contributor on the field. Same thing in WWE, I wanted to be someone who drew money, I wanted to be someone the company was like ‘what a worthwhile investment. We took a gamble on this dude who was not six feet tall, doesn’t come from a wrestling background, came in with two torn ACLs, broken right patella, torn left peck.

“They had so many reasons to not give me a chance, and if they didn’t give me the chance, I truly don’t know if I’m alive now. I certainly don’t have the life I have because the idea of going to the indies or somewhere else, that was not it. It was I’m gonna give this thing with WWE a shot, and if they give me a contract, cool. If not, I’m going back to grad school to figure out what I’m doing for the next 40 years of my work life and beyond.

“Though I can never point the finger at anyone that said ‘don’t talk about mental health, we don’t do this here’, but when I got to FCW we didn’t even have a training room, and when we did, you’d get side-eyed, people would say things if you put a bag of ice on your knee, if you just did that to take care of your body.

“So I was in this hyper masculine world where I truly felt this is not something we do, we don’t admit we’re vulnerable, we don’t admit we’re struggling, we don’t even put ice on when we’re sore. So that definitely influenced a lot of the way I thought about navigating my mental health and whether I’d ever be outspoken about what I went through.”

If you use this transcription or any portion of it please credit WrestleTalk.com and link to this page.

To make sure you stay up to date with all the biggest wrestling and WrestleTalk news, follow us on Threads by clicking this link!

• wwe
• big e

Share this article with friends