'Embarassed' WWE Must Publicly Apologise For Becky Lynch's Ozzy Osbourne 'Joke'

Ozzy Osbourne sadly died at the age of 76 of a cardiac arrest on July 22 after suffering from coronary artery disease and Parkinson's disease. The WWE Hall of Famer made sporadic appearances for the promotion, including managing The British Bulldogs at WrestleMania 2.

WWE visited Ozzy's hometown of Birmingham, England, for Monday Night RAW this past week, and Becky Lynch used the legendary rockstar's death in one of her promos. She said in a back-and-forth with her Clash in Paris opponent, Nikki Bella:

"You can have your match, but in Paris at Clash, because I'm not wrestling in Birmingham. The only good thing that came out of here died a month ago. But in fairness to Ozzy Osbourne, he had the good sense to move to LA, a proper city. Because if I lived in Birmingham, I'd die too."

Ozzy Osbourne's daughter, Kelly, posted a response to those comments on her Instagram story. She wrote:

"You are a disrespectful dirtbag! Birmingham would not piss on you if you were on fire. Shame on the WWE for allowing such things to be said about my father and his home."

Bryan Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio has given an update into WWE's reaction to the criticism Lynch's promo received. He said on the podcast: "I was told WWE is embarrassed, and they’re probably gonna do an apology. They may not, but if you look back at how many times WWE has actually apologised for something, it ain’t many. And there’s a discussion about doing a public apology. I know they’ve talked about doing a private apology."

The promo didn't just offend the Osbourne family, who are mourning the death of a husband and father, but also fans around the world who looked up to The Prince of Darkness. It went beyond the concept of trying to get a reaction from fans in attendance in Birmingham and instead made WWE look ridiculously disrespectful.

WWE Need To Stop Using Real-Life Death in Storylines or Promos

Ozzy Osbourne isn't the first to have their death used in a promo by a WWE superstar to try and garner heat from fans. One of the most controversial examples came back in 2006 when Randy Orton cut a promo on Rey Mysterio and told him his best friend, the late great Eddie Guerrero, wasn't up in heaven but instead "down there in hell".

There was also the hugely uncomfortable rivalry between Big Boss Man and Big Show, which was fueled by the death of Paul Wight's real father. Boss Man crashed the "funeral" of Big Show's father, who had passed away years earlier.

Those are just two of several times WWE has got in hot water over the distasteful use of death to try and further storylines or give a character more interest. A person's passing shouldn't be used in any other fashion in WWE, except to pay tribute, especially if they were associated with the pro wrestling business.