10 Most Controversial WWE Shows Ever

Of the tens of thousands of shows that WWE have produced over the decades, there are a few that stick out as being particularly controversial.

Whether this was due to some circumstance surrounding the show, something that happened on the show itself or something that happened as a consequence of the show, the mere mention of these events - which include pay-per-views, televised shows and even house shows – are bound to stir up some strong feelings.

These are the 10 Most Controversial WWE shows ever!

10. ECW December To Dismember

There's a reason they only did one standalone ECW pay-per-view after rebooting the brand full-time in 2006. Going into December to Dismember, only two matches had been announced – the Extreme Elimination Chamber for the ECW Title and a tag team match pitting MNM against The Hardy Boyz.

The rest of the show was padded with obvious filler, while the headliner was altered on the night when Sabu (who had heat with management) was taken out of the Chamber and replaced with Hardcore Holly. Fans hated that, but they hated handpicked WWE prospect Bobby Lashley winning the ECW Title even more.

The mastermind behind the original ECW, Paul Heyman, also didn’t like what he was seeing, having originally pitched CM Punk walking out as champ. That, along with the general presentation and promotion of the pay-per-view, led to a huge blow-up between Heyman and Vince McMahon, each blaming the other for the show’s shortcomings.

Heyman was removed from the creative team and sent home immediately after, forced to sit out as his contract expired. ECW originals Tommy Dreamer and Stevie Richards were so upset with the state of things after the show that they asked for (and were denied) their releases.

9. Madison Square Garden House Show - May 19, 1996

The May 19, 1996, live event at MSG was set to be Kevin ‘Diesel’ Nash and Scott ‘Razor Ramon’ Hall’s final nights with WWE before they departed for WCW.

Following the WWE Title cage match main event between Big Daddy Cool and fellow Kliq member Shawn Michaels, Hall and Triple H – who had just competed against each other in the semi-main – entered the ring for a big group hug, as they all posed together in what came to be known as The Curtain Call. Even though it was not televised, someone’s trusty camcorder did record the send-off.

Wrestlers and road agents backstage were incensed that The Kliq – who were generally not well-liked as it was – had gone into business for themselves in such a flagrant display of kayfabe breaking and they let Vince McMahon know about it. Since Hall and Nash were on their way out and Michaels was WWE Champion, Hunter took the brunt of the punishment, which included having a planned King of the Ring tournament victory taken away from him.

8. Monday Night Raw - November 4, 1996

One of the most bizarre, controversial, and ridiculous endings to an episode of Monday Night Raw came in 1996 as WWE were trying to blur the lines of realism and create an edgier product, but the segment featuring Brian Pillman and Steve Austin almost got Raw kicked off the air.

The basic gist was that The Loose Cannon was hiding out in his home, aware that Stone Cold was on his way to hurt him, with a camera crew and Kevin Kelly there to report and capture whatever went down.

What ended up going down was a home invasion-style scene in which Austin attempted to break in. Pillman pulled out a gun, dropped an F-bomb and fired a couple of shots as the show faded to black, with Kelly urging someone to call the police, while Jerry Lawler on commentary repeatedly called for someone to take the weapon away from Pillman.

The resultant controversy forced the USA Network, as well as Pillman and Vince McMahon, to apologise for the angle.

7. Hell In A Cell 2019

Hell in a Cell 2019 was going along just fine until the main event. It hadn’t been a perfect show, but there had been a couple of decent matches and it was perfectly acceptable as it was. When Seth Rollins and The Fiend stepped inside the steel structure for their Universal Title match, however, everything blew up in the worst way imaginable.

The match itself was bad, taking place in the dark while bathed in a distracting red light, but the finish, which saw Rollins get disqualified, was simply unforgivable. The crowd in the arena rightly turned on such a cop-out, chanting "refund", "restart the match", and "AEW" in response.

Online, the memes started quicker than you could say "A DQ in Hell in a Cell match?!?" as #CancelWWENetwork trended. It was, whichever way you look at it, a complete disaster, and the post-match angle designed to get Bray Wyatt’s alter-ego his ‘heat’ back and prolong the feud didn’t do anything to help.

Rollins has gone on record with his displeasure at how the match turned out and admitted that he had to be held back from ‘strangling’ Vince McMahon when he got backstage.

6. Armageddon 1999

Scantily clad ladies were a common sight during the Attitude Era, but actual, honest-to-goodness nudity had been restricted to Jacqueline’s ‘wardrobe malfunction’ at Capital Carnage 1998 in the UK.

Things were different in the United States, especially towards the end of 1999, with the Parents Television Council breathing down WWE’s neck and successfully encouraging advertisers to drop their sponsorship due to the promotion’s risqué content. In spite of – or perhaps because of – this pressure, WWE opted to pull a little stunt at Armageddon 1999.

Following her Evening Gown Pool Match title defence against Jacqueline, BB, and Ivory, Women’s Champion Miss Kitty took off her bra and very briefly flashed her breasts (before Sergeant Slaughter covered them up with a towel).

A day later, WWE sent out a press release apologising for the ‘unauthorised’ exposure, as well as editing that part out of cable replays of the show. For what it’s worth, Stacy Carter later claimed the camera was supposed to be filming her from behind, not from the front.

5. SmackDown - July 7, 2005

The angle on the July 7, 2005, episode of SmackDown, which saw The Undertaker attacked by five masked men and garrotted with piano wire before Daivari was carried off like a martyr, probably would have been controversial on its own due to its terroristic overtones and similarity to the real-life beheading of American hostage Nick Berg.

What kicked things into overdrive is that on the same day it aired, the London Bombings occurred. The coordinated terrorist attack on the UK capital’s transport system ended up taking 52 lives and causing 784 injuries. Since SmackDown had been taped three days earlier and aired many hours after the bombings, WWE faced intense criticism from the media for not editing it out of the show.

The negative reaction was swift and WWE did alter the version of the show that went out later in international markets (including the UK). The bad publicity forced WWE to change plans for the masked terrorists to appear on further episodes of SmackDown, while UPN went one better and demanded that Muhammad Hassan never again appear on their network. WWE acquiesced and Hassan was written out of storylines following his loss to ‘Taker at The Great American Bash, which was his last appearance for the company.

5. Survivor Series 1997

Heading into his WWE Title defence against Shawn Michaels at Survivor Series 1997, Bret Hart believed it would end in a big ‘schmozz’, with members of the Hart Foundation and D-Generation X running in to cause a disqualification. The Hitman assumed he would then be allowed to vacate the title the next night on Raw, before heading to WCW.

Vince McMahon – incensed that Bret wouldn’t drop the title to The Heartbreak Kid – had other ideas and engineered the infamous ‘Montreal Screwjob’ to take the belt away from the champ without his prior knowledge. It’s one of the most controversial nights in WWE history and has essentially made any talk of the pay-per-view (which wasn’t exactly notable otherwise) centre around The Excellence of Execution’s unceremonious exit.

Because, after all, Hart had been a model employee for WWE for over a decade and had always conducted himself his business with class – and would have dropped the title to Michaels, if HBK wasn’t acting like such a… well it is well known how Michaels was back then. The controversy didn’t subside with McMahon’s subsequent ‘Bret screwed Bret’ speech, or the release of the revealing Wrestling with Shadows documentary.

3. Crown Jewel 2018

WWE’s multi-year deal with Saudi Arabia was controversial to begin with due to the Kingdom’s poor human rights record, treatment of women and minorities, and for its role in the civil war in Yemen. Some commentators recoiled at WWE accepting hundreds of millions of dollars to run shows in the country and pointed to it as a prime example of Saudi Arabia trying to ‘sportswash’ their reputation.

The relationship was put under a bigger microscope prior to WWE’s second show there, due to the killing of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi a month prior. While some WWE stars were outspokenly in favour of working the show (as a means to promote change), John Cena, Daniel Bryan, and Roman Reigns (who ultimately couldn’t work the show anyway due to a leukaemia diagnosis) all told Vince McMahon that they would not be getting on the plane in response to Khashoggi’s death.

In the face of staunch criticism, WWE went ahead with the event, but removed all references to the show’s location in the run-up and publicly cited a ‘contractual obligation’ to the General Sports Authority as the reason for their failure to boycott the country.

2. Over The Edge 1999

The Over the Edge 1999 pay-per-view was perhaps the darkest day in WWE history. Owen Hart, a man beloved by fans and fellow wrestlers alike, fell to his death while (as The Blue Blazer) preparing to make a superhero-like entrance from a catwalk almost 80 feet above the ring in Kemper Arena.

Despite attempts to resuscitate him, Owen passed away shortly after, with Jim Ross given the unfortunate task of informing those watching around the world of his passing. The incident itself caused controversy, with many questioning whether proper safety procedures had been followed.

Vince McMahon’s decision to continue with the broadcast as scheduled, despite wrestlers – many of them close friends of Owen’s – having to work in a ring stained with his blood and being noticeably shaken, also attracted condemnation. The backlash was sudden, and WWE did not air an encore presentation of the event, nor did they ever release it on VHS or DVD. In addition, the Over the Edge name was discontinued.

Owen’s widow Martha sued WWE on behalf of her, her children, and Owen’s parents, ultimately settling out of court for a shared $18 million. Given the horrific nature of her husband’s death, she has refused to allow WWE to promote Owen in any way since.

1. Chris Benoit Tribute Episode of Monday Night Raw

On June 25, 2007, news broke that Chris Benoit, his wife Nancy and their son Daniel had been found dead inside their family home. The episode of Raw that was planned that night – which was originally scheduled to be a ‘eulogy’ for the Mr. McMahon character – was scrapped and a tribute show to their former World Heavyweight Champion was presented in its place.

Highlights of The Rabid Wolverine’s famous matches and moments played, while Vince McMahon and the announcers spoke about Benoit from an empty arena. Interspersed throughout the night were emotional testimonials from Benoit’s colleagues, including Steve Austin, John Cena and Triple H.

Not too long after the show had gone off the air, the horrific truth of the Benoit family tragedy began to emerge and reality set in: WWE had just paid tribute to a man who had murdered his wife and son before killing himself.

Some condemned WWE for running the show without knowing all the facts first, while others have speculated that WWE knew – or at least had an inkling about – what had happened in that house before Raw went on the air. The show – like Chris Benoit himself – has now been permanently erased from WWE history.