Random Pro Wrestling Controversies That Left People Outraged (12 items)

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  (#12) A Doll Modeled On Al Snow's Act Was Accused Of Promoting Violence Against Women

  In November 1999, Wal-Mart pulled a doll that depicted a wrestler carrying a female mannequin's head from its shelves due to complaints that the toy made light of violence against women. Written on the doll's forehead was the phrase "help me." The decision to stop selling the toy was prompted by complaints to Wal-Mart from two college professors.

  The doll was modeled after WWF wrestler Al Snow, who was known for carrying a female mannequin's head into the ring before his bouts.

  Jim Byrne, the WWF's VP of marketing, claimed they had not had any previous complaints about the toy and that Al Snow's act with the mannequin head "is as silly as it gets."
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  (#7) Hulk Hogan Choked Out A TV Host Live On Air

  The first WrestleMania event took place in 1985. It pitted the team of "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff against the team of Hulk Hogan and television star Mr. T. To promote the event, the participants made appearances on talk shows across the country.

  On March 27, 1985, Hogan and Mr. T appeared on Hot Properties, hosted by Richard Belzer. According to Belzer, the appearance got off to a rocky start even before they started taping the show when a representative for Mr. T called the host saying the actor would not appear on the show unless there were at least 50 children - preferably disabled ones - in the audience. A call went out to a local school, and the producers were at least able to get a bunch of kids to attend.

  During the interview, the host directed most of his questions to Hogan, and the appearance went smoothly - until Belzer asked to be shown a wrestling hold. Mr. T turned the request down, but Belzer persisted until Hogan put him into a front chin hold that resulted in the host falling unconscious. Hogan then dropped him, causing Belzer to hit the back of his head on the floor. After the host crumpled to the floor, Mr. T tried to reassure the audience that he would be alright, that he was "just sleeping." 

  Belzer quickly regained consciousness but was bleeding from where he had hit his head. He was taken to the hospital, where he received nine stitches to close the wound. 

  "[Hogan said] 'Signal me if it hurts,' right? So I try to signal, [Hogan] ignored it," Belzer revealed in a 1990 interview with Roy Firestone. "Now here, I’m trying to signal, and I have no strength, I’m limp, I’m gone."

  Although Hogan apologized, saying he was used to working with professional wrestlers, Belzer ended up suing Hogan, Mr. T, Vince McMahon, and the WWF before settling out of court for $5 million in December 1989.
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  (#2) Triple H Simulated Necrophilia In The 'Katie Vick' Storyline

  One of the strangest and most controversial storylines in WWE history occurred back in 2002 and involved the wrestlers Kane and Triple H, as well as a woman called "Katie Vick."

  It all started on the October 7, 2002, episode of Monday Night Raw when Triple H confronted Kane backstage and asked if the name "Katie Vick" meant anything to the other wrestler, implying he knew Kane had a secret involving the woman. On the following week's episode, Kane revealed Vick, a high school friend of his, had died but "it was an accident." The wrestler stated they had gone out one night and he offered to drive Vick home because she had had too much to drink. Unfamiliar with driving a stick shift, Kane crashed Vick's car when an animal jumped in front of them. Although Kane was okay, Vick was killed.

  But Triple H didn't buy that story - or at least not all of it. After he implied Kane had also been too drunk to drive and needled his rival about his supposed unrequited love for Vick, he then accused Kane of having sex with the dead woman - an accusation that caused Kane to leave the venue. If that wasn't controversial enough, on the October 22 episode, Triple H - wearing a Kane mask - was shown trying to seduce a mannequin that resembled Vick lying in a casket. The storyline finally concluded the following week.

  Reportedly, the "Katie Vick" storyline was originally meant to be comical, but WWE boss Vince McMahon wanted it to feel more like a soap opera. This wasn't well-received by staffers - in fact, several reportedly quit because of their distaste for the storyline. Triple H was also supposedly uncomfortable with the story's direction - he had wanted to make it much more comical.

  Years later, David Lagana - a former writer for the WWE - tweeted that the lowest price ever for WWE stock ($7.10) occurred in October 2002 - or at the time of the Katie Vick necrophilia storyline. Coincidence?
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  (#11) The WWE Aired A Tribute For Chris Benoit Before The Details Surrounding His Death Came Out

  On June 25, 2007, police discovered the body of WWE wrestler Chris Benoit - along with the bodies of his wife and the couple's son - in the family's home in Atlanta, GA. The cause of the 40-year-old wrestler's death was given as suicide by hanging. Benoit was a two-time world champion in professional wrestling and allegedly had been set to win a third world title in a match scheduled for the night of his death.

  That night's episode of WWE's Monday Night Raw had been scheduled to be a tribute to Vince McMahon, who had faked his own death in a limousine explosion. But that plan was scrapped, and a tribute to Benoit aired in its place. In announcing the special episode, the WWE released a statement that read:

  World Wrestling Entertainment is deeply saddened to report that today Chris Benoit and his family were found dead in their home. There are no further details at this time, other than the Benoit family residence is currently being investigated by local authorities.

  This episode backfired on the WWE when - just hours after it aired - it was revealed that Benoit had murdered his wife and 7-year-old son in the days before killing himself. Wrestlers that had just paid tribute to Benoit quickly attempted to distance themselves from him, and the WWE followed suit. On June 26, McMahon appeared on television to announce that Benoit's name would no longer be mentioned in conjunction with any ECW (Extreme Championship Wrestling) events or TV shows.
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  (#10) The Wedding Of Billy And Chuck Angered The LGBTQ+ Community

  In 2001, star professional wrestler Chuck Polumbo left World Championship Wrestling (WCW) for its biggest rival, the WWE. He was almost immediately paired up with veteran WWE star Billy Gunn. They became a very popular team, twice winning the World Tag Team Championships. As their partnership developed, the two wrestlers started showing romantic interest in each other. They both bleached their hair blond and even started wearing matching red wrestling uniforms.

  In September 2002, Billy accepted Chuck's proposal to become life partners. On September 12, 2002, their commitment ceremony was broadcast on SmackDown! - but during the ceremony, the two men revealed their relationship was a hoax, nothing more than a storyline to promote the WWE. They also stated that neither of them was actually gay.

  The deception infuriated GLAAD, as the organization had worked closely with the WWE on the storyline and even helped to arrange for it to receive mainstream media coverage. GLAAD spokesperson Scott Seomin released a statement that said in part:

  We supported the representation of Billy & Chuck, NOT the called-off wedding. The WWE lied to us two months ago when they promised that Billy & Chuck would come out and wed on the air. In fact, [Seomin] was told (lied to) the day after the show was taped in Minneapolis that the wedding took place and all was well. The WWE also lied to The Today Show, The New York Times, and other media outlets. Many have contacted me to express their disdain for the WWE's unprofessional marketing machine.

  In a June 2021 interview with Metro, Polumbo stated that while he wasn't gay, he had a great time playing the character, and that, despite the controversy about his relationship with Gunn being a hoax, he thought the characters were still a primarily positive representation of the LGBTQ+ community:

  I remember going to the ring every night, and there were kids dressed up like us! I remember one time, we had these college kids dressed up like us - grown men! It was outlandish, it was silly, but the audience, the viewership saw us having fun... I think that is what made it. They saw us having fun, being two bros and having a good time, joking around. They were like, “Oh my God, these guys are having a blast!” That’s why that character worked.

  Polumbo did say some of his fellow WWE wrestlers judged him for playing a gay character. "Some of the guys were like, 'Why would you do that? Tell them you don’t wanna do that!'" the wrestler remembered. "[But] I’m not living my gimmick. A lot of the guys unfortunately start to believe their character."
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  (#1) The Montreal Screwjob Is Still The Biggest Backstab In Wrestling History

  In 1997, Bret Hart was arguably the biggest name in professional wrestling. Having worked for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) since 1984, Hart reluctantly signed with the rival World Championship Wrestling due to contract issues and disagreements with WWF head Vince McMahon; his new deal was set to begin in December 1997.

  Hart was the reigning WWF champion when he faced his bitter rival, Shawn Michaels, on November 9, 1987, in a pay-per-view event called the "Survivor Series" in Montreal, Canada. McMahon needed Hart to lose his crown before joining the WCW, but Hart - a Canadian - refused to lose to Michaels in his home country, as he believed that would majorly damage his reputation.

  In the lead-up to this scheduled match, alternatives were suggested - Hart could instead lose his crown to Steve Austin, or he could drop his November 6 match to Michaels in Detroit. But McMahon and Hart couldn't come to an agreement on any of the alternate ideas. This disagreement resulted in what is known as the "Montreal Screwjob." About one week before the scheduled November 9 match, Michaels took part in a phone conversation with McMahon and another WWF executive to come up with a secret plan that would result in Michaels taking the title away from Hart.

  Michaels and Hart met up with producer Pat Patterson before the match to discuss how it would go down. In a 2019 interview with ESPN.com, Michaels spoke about how he felt about his involvement in the secret plan to basically stab Hart in the back:

  [It] was just an uncomfortable day knowing what you know, [how others] assume it's going to happen, and then you having to be the one to orchestrate it all... It's one thing to make the decision to do this. It's a whole 'nother thing to actually have to be the person to make it happen and not have any idea about how you're going to go about doing that. And then, even if you are successful, it's absolutely going to be the worst thing that could ever happen to you... From a professional standpoint, reputation standpoint, even though I wasn't the most lovable guy back then, it was still just an absolute miserable day, [a] very uncomfortable day.

  The plan that Hart was aware of was meant to go like this: Referee Earl Hebner would be knocked down, Michaels would slap on the sharpshooter - which was Hart's signature finishing move - a second referee would enter the ring, and then the Hart family and another wrestler named D-Generation X would start a melee.

  But that's not what actually went down. Instead, after Hebner got knocked down, he rose slowly to his feet as Michaels executed the sharpshooter, and as soon as the wrestler had the move locked in, the referee called for the bell, signaling that Hart had lost the match - and his WWF title - to his bitter rival. 

  Hart quickly realized he had been betrayed by his soon-to-be former boss. Backstage, Michaels - as directed - acted as if he hadn't been involved in the plan. Although it was McMahon, not Michaels, who ended up getting punched by Hart, the wrestler told ESPN.com that he had been prepared to have to take on Hart or his family after the match, and that he wished he had been able to tell the truth about his role in the plan.

  Hart's relationship with McMahon was badly damaged; the two men did not speak for more than five years. In 2019, the wrestler, who essentially retired in 2000 due to a head injury (he did appear in a few matches in later years), revealed that the two men began their reconciliation in 2002 after the WWE boss called Hart in the hospital while the latter was recovering from a stroke. Hart was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2006 and resumed working for the organization in late 2009. 

  On December 28, 2009, Hart was the guest host for Monday Night Raw. On that episode, he and Michaels seemingly settled their long-running feud.

  "My impression was that (Michaels) was actually pretty sincere," Hart told the Calgary Herald in early 2010.  "He apologized for a lot of what happened... I think it was like a million pounds off of his back... There was a couple of times when it looked like he was going to start crying. There was a lot of real emotion in that little segment... I think it was a surprise to him as much as to me."

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