As we barrel into WrestleMania 40, where Cody Rhodes is set to Face Roman Reigns – but not before he and Seth Rollins face both Reigns and The Rock – we’re doing a look-back at some sheer lunacy.
Wrestling, simply put, is many things at once. Many different shades of athletic theater. And one of those hues is shock value. In fact, there was an entire period of wrestling that was designed to court controversy, back in the late-'90s during what was known as the “Attitude Era.” It was when being salacious sold and having bad taste was bold. The dick jokes flowed like wine, homophobia flowed like something more plentiful than wine, and consent was a punchline.
Of course, insane WWE moments weren’t just a byproduct of the Attitude Era. Wrestling has been bats*** on the reg. Jaw-dropping preposterousness is recession-proof. It will outlive us all. Here’s a sampler platter of some of the business’ most mental moments.
Hand In Hand
One of the most bizarre "WTF?" scenarios ever in WWE was born, literally and figuratively, because of writer's block. The May(Mae?)-December romance angle between “Sexual Chocolate” Mark Henry and septuagenarian Women’s Wrestling legend Mae Young had been a hit storyline in the year 2000, but the bombshell reveal that Mae was with child left no wiggle room. Unless you count Mae eventually giving birth to a wiggling, ectoplasm-covered rubber hand.
That’s it. No explanation was ever given for this. It would have been less confusing if she’d just somehow not been pregnant anymore and the entire thing was dropped. They might as well have written “F*** IT” on the dressing room wall, to just be there in the background for all to see. Was the hand their love child? Had it just been lodged inside her for decades? Regardless, it’s one of the things people instantly think of when someone asks “What’s the craziest thing to ever happen in wrestling?”
Reen-ICK!-ment
During a feud between Triple H and Kane, it was revealed that there was a young woman from Kane’s past named Katie Vick, and that Katie had perished in a car crash. Hunter then politely suggested that Kane, out of both obsession and carnal perversity, had sex with Katie’s corpse. Okay, so it wasn’t polite. And it wasn’t a suggestion. It was crude and nasty and Hunter even went so far as to reenact the alleged event with a coffin, a mannequin, and a Kane mask. Yes, there are insane moments in wrestling and then there’s… Katie Vick. A truly demented stain on all storytelling. A lot of things haunt us from the Attitude Era, but this remains a violent, house-shaking poltergeist.
Pain O’ Mac
More Kane hijinks here but this time it had nothing to do with necrophilia and everything to do with hooking a car battery up to Shane McMahon’s balls. This towering testament of testicular assault came outside of the Attitude Era, during the next era, known as Ruthless Aggression, and it really embodied what the Aughts in wrestling were all about: sadistically shocking other mens’ nards with jumper cables. Kane even splashed water all over Shane too, to act as a conductor. Because someone cared. Someone was like THE SCIENCE MUST BE RIGHT! Even back in 2003 they didn't want to give Neil deGrasse Tyson anything to complain about.
FU in Funeral
Late-'80s villain (and eventual hero) Big Boss Man had a second WWE run during the Attitude Era, some of which had him embodying a sort of “Worst Person Ever” gimmick. Which is funny considering how Boss Man’s burgeoning feud with Rick Rude, almost a decade earlier, was all about Boss Man being offended and irate due to Rude constantly insulting his mother.
Well now Boss Man could let his Rude Flag fly. If killing Al Snow’s dog, Pepper, and feeding it to him wasn’t enough, he went to Big Show’s father’s funeral and dragged the coffin away with his car, with Big Show riding on top of the coffin, trying to stop this heinous act. It should be said though that as morbid and tasteless as this all was, it's hard not to watch the footage and go "Weeeeee!"
I'm Blowing Up Right Now
We’ve got some more here from the Vince McMahon files of “Let’s do this now and figure it out later, except we’ll never, ever figure it out later,” but this time it's with an added sprinkle of “we’ll never figure it out and we’ll also pretend it never happened.”
In 2007, Vince walked out of the arena on Monday Night Raw and right into an explosive stretch limousine. At the time, WWE’s website was in the habit of reporting fake stories as fact and causing people to panic for realsies (remember “Jeff Hardy was found unconscious in a stairway at his hotel”?). Anyhow, they posted the flaming limo story and fans called police, the news reported it as fact, and then the f***ing stock prices fell.
People actually thought Vince died... even Donald Trump, who called to check (according to Triple H). Anyhow, like most things on this list, this was very, very stupid. If there was ever any follow through on this then maybe, I dunno, Vince would have turned into a rubber hand or something.
"I’ll Take It From Here, Nurse"
Just a brief "time out" here to mention something that was actually awesome. Ridiculous, sure, but also commendably amazing. During the height of Steve Austin’s late-'90s feud with Vince, the Texas Rattlesnake disguised himself as an orderly and ambushed the company owner in his hospital room. Broken legs were pummeled, heads were bashed with bedpans (complete with a very satisfying “bonk!” sound), and anal cavities were violated by catheters. Two enthusiastic thumbs up. I laughed, I cried, I brought the kids.
The Peen Is Mightier Than the Sword
Much like Homer Simpson considering the outstanding merits of the short film “Football in the Groin” by saying “...but 'Football in the Groin' has a football in the groin” - the same can be said for “Val Venis almost gets his d*** cut off with a samurai sword.”
Yes, Val Venis was WWE’s resident adult film performer. In an era when everything in WWE was sex, or a sexual reference, there was a mid-card porn star character who sadly ran afoul of a Japanese stable called Kaientai by sleeping with Yamaguchi-San’s Wife. Oh, did you think this was only about torrid sexual encounters? No way. Why have only that when you can also add problematic racial stereotypes! Which had been wrestling’s crucial fossil fuel for decades.
So yes, in 1998, “I choppy choppy your pee pee!” became the latest float in a long parade of racist portrayals as Raw went off the air with a cliffhanger. The following week, Val was fine, having been saved off-screen by John Wayne Bobbitt (look, kids, just Google him).
Trigger Happy
Speaking of crazed cliffhangers, one of WWE’s riskiest biscuits happened when “Loose Cannon” Brian Pillman pulled a goddamn gun on former WCW tag partner Steve Austin during a home invasion angle. Wrestlers invading their enemies’ homes has always been an icky, oogie staple of intense feuding, escalating the stakes of the rivalry to blood-boiling levels, but this was the first (and last) time someone brandished a firearm. Pillman pulled his piece, dropped an F-bomb, then the Raw feed cut out. That’s how the episode ended.
And it’s also how WWE’s contract with the USA network almost ended as the controversy drew significant heat from both viewers and advertisers. Spoilers: Steve Austin was not shot to death. Never bring a gun to a can of whoopass fight.
Operation Desert Power
WWE’s most controversial angle of the early '90s (a time when things weren’t designed to draw ire) was when Sgt. Slaughter, a decorated wrestler who’d been wrestling for years with a Stars and Stripes U.S. Army gimmick – so much so that he’d even become a G.I. Joe character, represented in both animation and in toy form – was transformed into an Iraqi sympathizer during the Gulf War.
A freshly-minted simp for dictator Saddam Hussein, Slaughter would win the WWF Heavyweight Championship to set up a big WrestleMania loss to super-jingoistic Hulk Hogan at an event that had to be moved from the 100k-seating LA Memorial Coliseum to the 5/6th smaller LA Sports Arena apparently due to security concerns over, you know, the avalanche of death threats Slaughter was getting. WWE often f***ed around but this was one of the first instances of them also finding out.
Big Daddy Death
The early '90s were filled with the (then) WWF experimenting with suspension of disbelief-shattering camera angles and cutaways.
Like the closeup shots of Jake Roberts’ cobra when he threatened Miss Elizabeth at her and Macho Man’s wedding reception or the Ultimate Warrior POV shot of the casket lid being closed on him, from inside the coffin. Well, another big one happened when Diesel saw his own body lying in an Undertaker casket, with the camera insert showing a close-up of the dead “Diesel” clearly being Kevin Nash himself.
This is the most innocuous thing on this list but we were both in need of a palate cleanser and also a reminder that wrestling can be goofy and absurd without also being thorny and/or nauseating. Yes, I said thorny, not horny. Though I suppose that applies as well.
Look Dad, I’m on TV!
In 2001, WWE bought Attitude Era rival WCW and all of its assets on the cheap after AOL Time Warner had a fire sale. Blending real life and telenovela antics, heir-apparent Shane McMahon appeared in person on the final Nitro, proclaiming that he’d purchased WCW and was planning to use it to run his dad out of business. It was one of the most vividly surreal, wall-breaking moments in wrestling history. Surpassed only by the deflating, somberly disappointing WCW Invasion storyline that followed. Never had an awesome set-up and start been so savagely mauled by what followed. Okay, that’s not true at all. Like, not even a little bit. It’s wrestling.
The only saving grace from this time was Kurt Angle in a tiny cowboy hat, which honestly should be on our currency.
There are dozens upon dozens of insane moments in wrestling, from WWE and other promotions. What are some of your favorite? Let us know below.
source https://www.ign.com/articles/the-most-insane-wwe-moments-of-all-time