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Amid the global panic regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, WWE and AEW remain some of the last forms of sports entertainment still able to operate. Major sporting promotions around the world like the Premier League, Indian Premier League, Australian Football League, and even the Olympics have been forced to re-evaluate their plans in the face of the growing pandemic.
Obviously, at a time like this, perspective is important and stopping this disease from killing more people than it already has should be a top priority. At the same time, the fact that the two biggest wrestling promotions have found a way, at least for the moment, to continue providing entertainment for people around the world is commendable.
This has undoubtedly affected the wrestling industry, with WWE and AEW performing to no crowds with minimal wrestling and other wrestling promotions temporarily stopping operations as a result of the coronavirus. It is important to remember that professional wrestling in general, and WWE specifically, have faced a variety of catastrophes before and made it through to the other side.
The following are five events that almost took down WWE, and significantly shaped the wrestling landscape.
#5 WWE concussion class action suit
WWE and Vince McMahon have been the subject of many lawsuits over the years. In 2014, lawyer Konstantine Kyros launched a lawsuit on behalf of wrestler Billy Jack Haynes which claimed that WWE was aware of the brain trauma and chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, caused by professional wrestling but failed to take it into account. At the same time, major sports leagues in America were also dealing with the fallout from the discovery of damage done to the brains of top athletes in the NFL and NHL from repeated brain trauma and concussions.
Before long, Kyros and Haynes were joined by former and current wrestlers who had their lives impacted by brain trauma and CTE in one way or another. Some of the names on the list include the likes of Jimmy Snuka, Paul Orndorff, Ahmed Johnson, One Man Gang, Marty Jannetty, King Kong Bundy, Chavo Guerrero Jr, and his father Chavo Guerrero Sr.
On September 2018, the case which had dragged on for almost four years, was dismissed by a federal court judge. The lawsuit, had it have gone the other way, would have not only caused massive financial damage with the 50-plus plaintiffs seeking millions of dollars to cover medical bills but would have caused independent promotions to close as a result of their culpability in concussions.
#4 Owen Hart's death in a WWE ring
Owen Hart was the youngest son of Stu Hart, and alongside Bret was one of the few members of the Hart family that made a career in wrestling for WWE. Owen wrestled for a variety of promotions around the world, such as New Japan Pro Wrestling, WCW, WWF, and his father's Calgary-based Stampede Wrestling Promotion.
Hart is probably best remembered for his fantastic feud against his brother which saw him challenge Bret for the WWE Title. Owen challenged his brother for the title on the European tour in 1994 following WrestleMania X but was never able to win the title. Their feud continued until SummerSlam of the same year where Bret once against defeated his brother, this time inside a Steel Cage. Owen would later cost his brother the title at Survivor Series after he convinced his mother to throw in the towel on Bret's behalf.
Following the Montreal Screwjob, Owen was the last remaining member of the Hart family left in WWE. Owen would later align himself with the Nation of Domination and then teamed with Jeff Jarrett and returned as the Blue Blazer gimmick. At Over the Edge 1999, Owen as the Blue Blazer was set to take on the Godfather for the Intercontinental title. However, as Owen was being lowered into the ring, Owen unintentionally triggered a quick-release mechanism causing him to fall 24 meters to his death. The following night on RAW is War, the WWE held a tribute episode to Owen Hart with several wrestlers talking about Owen Hart out of character.
The WWE decided at the time to continue the show despite the tragic event, a move that was later criticized by members of the Hart family. In the weeks after the Hart family launched a lawsuit against WWE over the death. The case was eventually settled with WWE paying the Hart family $18 Million as a payout. Owen's widow Martha would later sue the promotion for unpaid royalties, and that case was also settled for an undisclosed amount.
#3 The first WWE WrestleMania
In 1985, WWE hosted the first-ever WrestleMania event which featured the likes of Ricky Steamboat, Andre the Giant, Hulk Hogan, Roddy Piper as well as celebrities Mr. T and Cyndi Lauper. The event now has over 30 years under its belt, having run every year since 1985. The event also saw The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff beat the US Express to win the WWE Tag Team Titles.
Elsewhere on the card, Andre the Giant defeated Big John Studd in a Body Slam Challenge and Wendi Richter defeated Leilani Kai for the WWE Women's Championship. Richter famously had rock star and wrestling fan Cyndi Lauper in her corner. However, all the attention was on the main event of the evening. Not only did the tag team match feature WWE Champion at the time, Hulk Hogan, but Roddy Piper, Jimmy Snuka, and Paul Orndorff were all at the top of the card.
Hogan's partner in the main event, Mr. T, was in the midst of his run in the popular TV show The A-Team as B.A Baracus. However, Mr. T wasn't the only celebrity involved in the main event of the evening as WWE went all out to make sure that WrestleMania was a massive wrestling event. The event saw Liberace as the special guest time keeper and championship boxer Muhammad Ali as the outside guest referee.
According to one of the organizers of the event, Vince McMahon spent large amounts of money to make sure the event was as big as humanely possible. McMahon had told people that if WrestleMania was not successful it would likely have caused his financial ruin and the end of WWE as a promotion.
#2 Vince McMahon's WWE steroid scandal
In the 1980s and 90s, WWE was filled with larger than life Superstars and many wrestlers used steroids and other performance drugs to maintain those physiques. Many of these drugs were being passed to wrestlers and the promotion's CEO Vince McMahon himself by a doctor called George Zahorian. According to the memoirs of Roddy Piper, Zahorian supplied many wrestlers with any drugs that they needed, including a variety of steroids and PEDs.
In 1988, US federal prosecutors began investigating Dr. Zahorian as steroids began to fall under stricter laws. Prosecutors were able to record Zahorian selling steroids to power-lifters, body-builders and professional wrestlers. After being convicted, Zahorian was pressured by prosecutors to provide them with names of people who he supplied. In 1993, McMahon was indicted under charges of distributing steroids to the wrestlers after receiving them from Dr. Zahorian. In 1994, federal prosecutors circled in on McMahon with four key testimonies, two from former wrestlers, one from a former secretary of WWE, and a former booker for the promotion.
The secretary, Emily Feinberg, testified to how McMahon routinely organized shipments of the drugs while working at WWE's corporate headquarters. The former booker, Anita Scales, testified how she warned both Pat Patterson and Linda McMahon of Zahorian's record with drug sales. However, it was the testimony of the two wrestlers that were the most telling. The first testimony, that of Hulk Hogan, admitted to steroid usage while performing with the company, but stopped short of implicating McMahon.
The second was former WWE Superstar Nailz, who testified that Vince McMahon not only gave him steroids but pressured him into using them. According to former Nailz's testimony, the wrestler claimed that McMahon told him he needed to start taking steroids. While the wrestler states that he never followed the CEO's directive, his testimony was picked apart by the lawyer for the defense. While testifying, the lawyers representing Vince McMahon got Nailz to admit on the stand that he hated McMahon.
As a result of the testimonies of Hogan and Nailz, McMahon was acquitted of all the charges and allowed to return as the head of WWE.
#1 Chris Benoit's murder-suicide, WWE's reaction
Prior to the tragedy in which Chris Benoit ended his life, he was considered one of the best in-ring wrestlers. A technically gifted wrestler that matched the levels of Bret Hart and Kurt Angle, the latter of whom considered Benoit one of the three best technical wrestlers of all time. Benoit was a top champion in both WCW and WWE, as well as winning the inaugural Super J-Cup in NJPW.
Benoit got his start in wrestling after receiving training from Stu Hart in the legendary Hart Dungeon. Benoit wrestled for the Hart family's Stampede Wrestling promotion before touring Japan. Benoit would eventually wrestle for both ECW and WCW, becoming a part of the reformed Four Horseman stable alongside Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, and Brian Pillman.
In January 2000, Benoit would win his first WWE World Championship after defeating Sid Vicious, but he would vacate the belt a day later and would sign for WWE alongside Perry Saturn, Dean Malenko, and Eddie Guerrero. Later that same month, Benoit and the others appeared in the front row of an episode of RAW is War. In 2004, Benoit would win his first and only WWE World title after defeating Shawn Michaels and Triple H in the Main Event of WrestleMania XX.
In 2007, Benoit was set to become the ECW Champion at Vengeance but missed the lead up to the event as a result of a family emergency. After missing further events, WWE requested the police check up on Benoit and they discovered the bodies of Benoit, his wife Nancy, and his youngest son Daniel. With the details of the event unclear, WWE programming ran a tribute to the former World Champion on Monday Night RAW.
However, once it was made public that Benoit had murdered his wife and child before killing himself, WWE quickly erased Benoit from their records and are yet to mention his name on a single broadcast since. WWE has also gone as far as removing Benoit's name in any listing on the WWE Network.
