My Top 5 Iconic Wresling Controversies

Hello guys. Well, Wrestlemania 30 has aired not too long ago. While a fair show in it’s own right (I didn’t watch it. This is coming on what I’ve heard), it definitely shocked the world thanks to a certain match. After hearing about this, I’ve thought about controversies past & present, and how they’ve they impacted the world of World Wrestling Entertainment. In perhaps a entertaining & informative post (As well as a surprise bonus post), I wanted to show you what I consider to be my top 5 iconic wrestling controversies. Enjoy!

5) The Montreal Screwjob

For any old-school wrestling fan, the incident known as the Montreal Screwjob is very well known, and probably ranks as the number one wrestling controversy of all time. The reason why it’s not my number 1 is because by the time this happened, I had been out of wrestling for about 4 years (I basically watched WWF when my Dad did. Once he was done with wrestling, I effectively stopped watching as well). I guess I put the Montreal Screwjob on here out of respect for the old-school fans. Hope you like the shoutout!

So what is the Montreal Screwjob? Well, in 1997, Survivor Series was hosted in Montreal (Hence the name), and the big event of that show was a match between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels for the WWF/E Championship (Take your pick). Bret Hart was actually supposed to drop the title on Raw after Survivor Series, since he was about ready to leave the company at the time. The ending of the match was supposed to be in a “schmoz” style. However, Vince McMahon had called for the bell, and Bret was trapped in his own move, allowing for Shawn Michaels to win the title. This eventually caused Bret Hart to leave the company, and there have been bad feelings between him and Vince ever since (Despite a lot of healing between Bret and the WWF/E since then).

Ironically, there were two positives that came from this. For starters, this allowed Vince to create the “Mr. McMahon” character that’s still going today. Secondly, the Montreal Screwjob was the origin of a new style of booking where the line between reality & fantasy was heavily blurred. Rather bittersweet, if you ask me.

4) Eddie Guerrero Becoming Heel

Ironically, this might not be a controversy for a lot of you. Hell, this might not even be a blip on the radar. For me, this one was a little personal, and let me explain why.

By early 2005, I had become a full-fledged wrestling fan once again. 2003 was the start, and 2004 was the buildup. When 2005 came around, I was watching Raw & Smackdown regularly. One of the first wrestlers I saw when I got back in was Eddie Guerrero. Now, I don’t know about his time in WCW, so I’m going solely on his time in the WWF/E. My first live event was a Smackdown taping in Albany, and one of the matches was a tag team between The Bashum Brothers (I think that’s who it was) against Rey Mysterio & Eddie. The match was particularly special for me was because he still used the low-rider, not to mention the hydraulics. His performance was great, and really complemented Rey Mysterio’s similar usage of speed and the ring ropes. Then he became heel, and boy oh boy was that some whiplash!

I’ll give WWF/E some credit in this regard. Before the heel turn, there was actually a little bit of buildup to it. It started out as small disagreements, and then one night it just exploded, and Eddie Guerrero became a full-fledged heel. It was actually kinda cool: he was creepy, he was sinister, and he even screwed around with Rey Mysterio & his family. He was a damn good heel, and yet, at the same time, I didn’t like him being a heel.

For starters, I thought that the heel turn was rather sudden, despite the buildup before hand. It seemed as though they needed to put it in somewhere, but they didn’t quite know how to. Secondly, there was a point where Eddie got perhaps a little too villainous. It was right about the time when they brought Mysterio’s son into the mix, and made a part of his heel period centered on the kid (There was even a match between Eddie & Ray for custody of the son...WOW!!!). Lastly, a couple months before his tragic death, they put Eddie back into the role of babyface. I was glad to see this happen: I always thought that Eddie was at his best when he was smiling, laughing, and being a skillful fighter/clown. However, I thought that the turn back to babyface seemed a little too late. The turn had to pickup some steam before he became a good guy again, and by the time he was good again, it was only a couple weeks I think before he died. It seemed like when he was good again, they had plans, but I was never really sure what those plans were. I guess we’ll never know.

3) Owen Hart Dies During Entrance at WWE Over the Edge & The Show Continued To Air

Another incident in which I wasn’t watching wrestling, the death of Owen Hart was a shocker to any wrestling fan. One of the great ironies about Owen Hart’s death was that he was a clean wrestler: meaning that he never took steroids, or any other drugs for that matter (Performance enhancing or otherwise). I digress, however.

Working his Blue Blazer gimmick, Owen was supposed to wrestle The Godfather for the Intercontinental Championship. The way that Owen was supposed to enter the ring was by repelling down from arena rafters, giving it a superhero vibe. However, he got released from the harness line early in a equipment malfunction, causing him to fall more than 70 feet into the ring, killing him instantly. While this is definitely tragic, what happened afterwards made the situation worse.

After Owen’s body was carted off, WWF/E continued the event, despite what just happened. This resulted in the Hart Family sued WWF/E (Which WWF/E settled out of, paying them 18 million), Martha Hart distancing herself from the company, future Over the Edge events were cancelled (Over the Edge 1999 was never released on video or DVD, but recently was put on the WWE Network, minus Owen’s death), and Owen Hart’s very well deserved spot in the WWE Hall of Fame has never been filled (Perhaps because of the possible legal ramifications from the Hart Family).

2) Undertaker Losing At Wrestlemania 30

You all knew this one was coming. Hell, the beginning sentences kinda revealed that this one would be here. The Undertaker. The Phenom. The Deadman, and The Streak. They’ve all finally been struck down. People at the arena or at home were practically stunned by what happened in the ring. It may have only been a couple days ago, but there has since been a buzz of information & controversy coming out of Wrestlemania 30 about this match. You might be wondering why. Why did he lose? Why did it have to be a rather standard opponent? After hearing that a damn good chunk of you said the match sucked, and looking up some info, I’ve narrowed it down to 4 points. They are:

1: Brock Lesnar
- Now I won’t quite bitch about this as much, since it was recently revealed that Undertaker picked him. Okay, fine, I’ll go with that. Still doesn’t mean I won’t bitch!
- I will say this: Brock Lesnar is a tank. He can run over anybody with those legs of his, and his fists can practically punch holes in people. His finishing move, the F5, is one of the most devastating finishers in wrestling history. He’s definitely a presence in WWF/E, and his place in the company is deserved (Although many will argue he doesn’t need to be around, and I agree to a tiny respect), but there’s really nothing to him. He’s almost like all of the other tank-style heels in the WWF/E, in that he’s just a mix of muscle & douchebag. I say he’s almost like the other tank-style heels, because he’s being managed by Paul Heyman, and Heyman’s smarmy, slimy attitude complemented Brock Lesnar’s more simplistic, brutish personality.
- Even though taker picked Lesnar as his opponent, Lesnar really wasn’t the right choice. Say what you will about CM Punk from last year, at least he had some kind of depth, some kind of personality (Yeah, he was with Paul Heyman at the time, but he still effectively had his own character), and at least the buildup between Punk & Undertaker had some kind of bite to it. True, a lot of it was clumsily done, but there was something with CM Punk. Brock is kinda boring, kinda stale, and really doesn’t have any personality outside of being a brutish thug.
 
2: The Buildup
- I remember before their match the months of buildup, and it was very lackluster. There was a lot of stalling, a lot of delaying, and it didn’t quite have as much of a zing as previous Undertaker matchups at Wrestlemania. Not only that, but for a good majority of the buildup, it was Undertaker having the upper hand against Brock Lesnar. It really wasn’t until the week of Wrestlemania where Brock Lesnar managed to get an edge in, thanks in part to giving the Undertaker an F5 on Raw of said week (I didn’t see Smackdown on Wrestlemania week, so I don’t know what happened there). The one thing I’ll give WWF/E credit in this regard is that it was the first time that they’ve ever brought Undertaker’s age into question, and into the storyline. It was a couple weeks prior to Wrestlemania where the Undertaker turned 49 years old, which is pretty significant in any wrestler’s career. So they played up on Undertaker finally becoming older, and maybe a little weaker. Kudos on that!

3: The Match
- Given that I didn’t watch this year’s Wrestlemania, I’m only going of what’s been seen & told about the match. Forgive me on this.
- The thing I’ve heard & read the most about this was that it was really just another ordinary Undertaker Streak matchup, and thinking about it, I’m not surprised. A match for the streak has a very set formula to it: Undertaker would do a couple of his moves, his opponent would do a couple of his moves, they both would kick out, then Undertaker would win. Given the stakes (Considering they’ve finally factored in Undertaker’s age), you would expect that there would be something to spice things up, apart from the obvious.

4: The Mystique Is Gone
- When the referee hit the 3-count, the entire arena, and just about everybody at home, probably had a heart attack. Nobody could believe that The Streak, which has been untouchable & pristine for just over 2 decades, was finally struck down in a moment that nobody saw coming, much less believe could happen. While the loss was undeniably shocking, it’s really gonna be the fallout that cause harm. What I mean is that because of this defeat, the mystique of the Undertaker is effectively gone. He’s not quite so threatening, he not so scary, and when (Really more like if) he comes back to Wrestlemania, people will only know him for his broken streak. It’s tragic, really.

1) The murder/suicide of Chris Benoit & his family

One could argue that there have been disturbing incidents before this, and you’d be right. One could that there were incidents since then, and you’d also be right. What makes this my number 1 moment of wrestling controversy is just how shocking, sick, and downright terrifying this incident was. Even how I found out was a little tragic.

My friend at the time, Dennis, called me up out of the blue, and in a panicked voice told me to switch the channel to Monday Right Raw. When I asked why, he said “You’ll see”. I switch the channel, and what I saw was shocking. Vince McMahon was in the ring (Ironic, given that he faked his death in a running storyline at the time), and was talking about Chris Benoit. Between his segments, there were some of his old matches playing, along with segments from the Chris Benoit DVD that was out at the time. It was strange, however, that there weren’t any details being released on the show (Another ironic twist: When Eddie Guerrero died in 2005, details got released not long after). Unfortunately, when the details began coming out, people were horrified by what they saw & heard.

It turns out that before he died, he had killed his wife & 7-year old son, before he killed himself through the use of a weight machine (He did it by hanging, if I remember correctly). As if that wasn’t horrible enough, it turns out that he had multiple drugs in his system (Including steroids), and had severe brain damage (He had some form of dementia, and his brain resembled that of a 85-year-old Alzheimer's patient according to the surgeon). It was apparent that some knew of the brain problems, and it was rumored that WWF/E knew about it as well.

This incident sent shockwaves throughout the WWF/E. Soon after this, any merchandise related to Chris Benoit was taken off of the shop, wrestlers & announcers no longer spoke about him, and the company backed away from him completely. The great irony of this is that all of his matches, both on Raw & Smackdown, not to mention any specials he was on, are airing once again on the WWE Network. Before each episode with Chris Benoit in them, a warning is issued. While I find this to be a little silly, in hindsight I completely understand why WWF/E would do this.

Even more ironic was the scandal that happened afterwards. After discovering that Benoit got his drugs & steroids from a Florida pharmacy, an investigation began. The end results of said investigation determined that multiple wrestlers had actually gotten their stuff from the pharmacy as well, including Kurt Angle, John Morrison, Batista, Edge and Booker T. The scandal & subsequent investigation also resulted in Booker T leaving the company in 2007, though he would eventually return a couple years later.

Since his death, Chris Benoit has become something of a boogeyman in the WWF/E. He’s never talked about, past footage & pictures of him haven’t been shown on WWF/E’s website or other sources, and all-in-all, has become persona-non-Grata in wrestling.

Well, these were my top 5 iconic wrestling controversies. I hope you’ve found it interesting, and maybe caused a little controversy in the process. Until next time, stay Otaku!