WWE is a major brand and there are many images that the current PG era version of the product needs to adhere to. The infamous ‘Pillman’s got a gun’ angle where Brian Pillman brandished a gun on Stone Cold Steve Austin was too much for the attitude era – and would be even more so today.
With Superstars feuding with each other in storylines, WWE tries to maintain kayfabe – most of the time. When Lana and Rusev’s engagement picture came out in the midst of their feud, WWE pulled the plug immediately.
There are also former WWE stars who have taken up professions that are not PG – The company wouldn’t want Sunny or Chyna’s pictures to be associated with them in the present scenario.
This list takes a look at 5 pictures WWE doesn’t want its fans to see.
#1 Raw in memory of Chris Benoit
On that fateful night of 24 June 2007, Chris Benoit was scheduled to wrestle CM Punk for the vacant ECW Championship at the WWE PPV: Vengeance. However, Benoit no-showed and was later found dead at his Georgia home alongside his wife and son.
On learning the news the next day, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon pulled the brakes on a ridiculous angle involving his own death and dedicated Monday’s Raw to the memory of Chris Benoit. The original set of matches were cancelled and a tribute show for Benoit aired.
However, before the night was over, it became clear that Benoit had murdered his wife and son before committing suicide. WWE immediately did a volte face and Benoit was denounced – any mention of his name was barred and one of the greatest wrestlers of his generation was never heard of on WWE TV again.
The tapings from that June 25 edition of Raw is something the WWE wants no one to see, ever again.
#2 Trish & Vince
When you are the owner of a billion dollar company, I guess you can get away with anything – which is exactly what Vince McMahon did on a March 5th 2000 edition of Raw.
Vince had a storyline affair with Trish Stratus and he had grown tired of the Canadian Diva. So Vince, Stephanie McMahon and William Regal found different ways to humiliate Trish. Vince’s choice of poison – force Trish to strip to her bra and panties in the ring and bark like a dog.
It seemed to be an abject act of bullying and something the PG era WWE Creative will never think of in the present day.
#3 Vince and Chyna
Chyna was one of the most popular stars of the attitude era – Vince initially pushed the ‘Ninth wonder of the world’ to the skies so much that she was made part of DX, became the only female to hold the IC title and beat several men in the ring.
She dated Triple H and was known to be a difficult person to work with in the ring. Everything changed after the entry of Stephanie McMahon.
‘Vince’s baby girl’ and Triple H started an affair and when a livid Chyna found out about the same, Vince McMahon merely shrugged. Chyna was sent home from the WWE tapings that day and was eventually released.
She would not set foot in a WWE ring again and would dabble in porn, making the above pic with Vince a big no-no for the family friendly WWE of the current era.
#4 ‘Piggy James’
The Divas title feud between Mickie James and Laycool (Michelle McCool and Layla) featured a controversial angle as LayCool made fun of James’ weight. A number of awful skits aired – awful because of the content as well as the pathetic acting of LayCool.
They would call Mickie ‘Piggy’ and produced photoshopped pictures of Mickie’s face on a pig. The angle was in bad taste and Mickie finally got the best of Michelle with a title victory over her in 20 seconds.
WWE doesn’t want this feud to come up now that it doesn’t really match up to the anti-bullying campaign that they so rigorously promote nowadays – Just look at the pic above.
#5 Lesnar beats up an amputee
2003-04 was a pretty interesting time for a Brock Lesnar fan. In an age where Lesnar proved he did have a tongue not named Paul Heyman, the Beast was the monster heel WWE Champion calling the shots on SmackDown.
Allied with Vince McMahon to get one up on Kurt Angle, Lesnar became embroiled in a feud with Vince’s nemesis, Zach Gowen. Lesnar would kayfabe break Gowen’s leg on SmackDown and push a wheelchair-bound Gowen down a staircase the next week.
Oh, Did I mention that Gowen was an amputee and had just one leg? Way to go, Brock!!!
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