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The history of WWE is replete with controversial and unforgettable moments. Some of them became famous while others were awkward, to say the least. WWE is known for coming up with any gimmick to entertain its audience. The professional wrestlers are more than happy to put themselves in such situations to get applause and fame.
Some moments were disconcerting, and they hit the company image hard. Being a public company, it had to cater to the brand image. The Chairman himself had been embroiled in some of these controversial storylines both in front of the camera and behind the scenes.
Vince McMahon built a career out of controversies, but today we take a look at those five moments, which were difficult to handle by WWE and the Chairman himself.
#5 Trish Stratus Barks Like a Dog
This happened on March 5, 2001 episode of RAW, when Trish Stratus was forced to bark like a dog. During that time, Vince and Stratus had entered into a love relationship, and he had begun to treat her with utter disrespect.
In that episode, she begged for his forgiveness, but The Mac Daddy was in no mood to relent. As she persisted, Vince asked her to speak in "in dog language" to convey her apologies. He made her crawl like a dog, which she did. Paul Heyman cheered the whole time from the commentary box.
This was a new low in the history of WWE. Stratus was a legend and did not deserve to be treated with such disrespect. Such was the impact of this segment Senator Chris Shays took potshots at U.S. Senate frontrunner Linda McMahon in a debate, held at the University of Connecticut. He said, "I think when you force a woman to take off all her clothes in an arena, and get down on the ground and bark like a dog, I think that's assault on women."
#4 Jeremy Piven Tries to Ban Miz from SummerFest
Actor Jeremy Piven and his co-actor Ken Jeong made a special appearance on WWE RAW on August 3, 2009, to promote their film 'The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard.' From the very start, it seemed they were not fans of WWE and looked completely out of their depth.
For a segment in the ring with The Miz, Piven kept mentioning SummerSlam as SummerFest number of times. It was a minor mistake, but fans were in no mood to spare him. Piven then tried a stunt where he jumped off the top rope to land in John Cena's arms.
He tried hard to entertain the crowd but clearly looked embarrassed.
#3 Triple H Says He Drugged Stephanie McMahon
The bond between Triple H and Stephanie McMahon was not amorous initially. In 1999, she was all ready to marry Test when The Game intruded the ceremony and revealed he drugged, abducted and married her at a drive-thru wedding church in Las Vegas.
It was revealed later that this was a part of a grand plan for them to get back at Vince. But that did not take away the seriousness of the situation where essentially cheating was done to marry a woman.
#2 Fake Diesel and Razor Ramon
In 1996, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall joined WCW for a lucrative contract. This was a major loss for WWF as both of them were highly popular wrestlers. But they responded by announcing they have secured the services of Razor Ramon and Diesel, and they would join back in a few months.
The fans thought it meant the return of Hall and Nash back in WWF. However, when Jim Ross presented the new recruits as Razor Ramon and Diesel characters, the fans felt cheated. They wanted original wrestlers and not some fake talent.
This became a major failure for the company, and they were mocked by the fans for years.
#1 The LaVar Ball Segme
Lavar Ball has always been a controversial figure known for making bold statements. Ball had once claimed he could beat Michael Jordan in a basketball game. He once appeared on a WWE Raw episode with his sons - Lonzo and LaMelo during a segment on MizTV.
When things got heated between A-Lister and the elder ball, LaMelo abused him racially into the live mic. Vince was aghast with this slur. Since then, The Balls have never been invited back in WWE.
