10 Deeply Uncomfortable WWE Moments

Being a WWE fan under the Vince McMahon regime could be hard work for a number of reasons, but the world’s biggest sports entertainment enterprise made it especially difficult for their so-called Universe with some of the uneasy, distressing and downright disturbing content they churned out. 

Whether it was a vile promo, a ghastly backstage segment, or a miscalculated bit of in-ring action, certain moments have long stayed with viewers for the wrong reasons. 

These are 10 Deeply Uncomfortable WWE Moments. 

10. WWE's Tribute To Miss Elizabeth

The May 1, 2003, death of Elizabeth Hulette - better known to WWE fans as Miss Elizabeth - at the age of just 42, was another in a long line of sad wrestling tragedies. 

Given her prominence during the 1980s and early 1990s, it was only right that WWE paid tribute to Miss Elizabeth, which they did via a segment on their weekly magazine-style show Confidential. 

Paying tribute was all well and good, but WWE (in a rather desperate bid to pop a rating) decided to play the 911 call placed by her boyfriend, Lex Luger, as well. Not only that, but they also went in-depth on the substance abuse issues the couple reportedly suffered from, with Vince McMahon somehow managing to get a dig in on WCW in the process, as well as The Total Package’s recent run-ins with the law.  

It was gross that WWE hyped up the phone call during the show as a way to get fans to stick around and watch until the end, and the call itself made for deeply uncomfortable listening, with Luger at one point confiding that he was ‘scared to death’. This wasn’t informative or entertaining television. It was exploitative and unnecessary. 

9. Three Minute Warning Maul The HLA Lesbians

Hot Lesbian Action - or HLA - was introduced by Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff in 2002 and during one segment in September of that year, the buildup was excruciating but the ‘payoff’ was somehow much, much worse. 

After some in-ring touchy-feely directed by Bischoff, the two ‘lesbians’ – played by UPW performers Jennifer ‘Loony’ Lane and Sacha ‘Savvy’ Bryant – were set upon by Samoan superheavyweights Rosey and Jamal of Three Minute Warning because the segment had gone on for three minutes too long. 

Three Minute Warning proceeded to decimate the poor girls, including Jamal giving Lane an excessively stiff kick that bruised her ribs and knocked the wind out of her.

After the beating was delivered, TNN was flooded with complaints, compelling the station to release a statement noting that they took issue with the content, didn’t condone it, and would work to ensure similar scenes did not take place on their watch. Fans were then treated to Katie Vick one month later.

8. Brock Lesnar Pushes Zach Gowen Down A Flight Of Stairs

If there’s a WWE star who doesn’t need any extra help in coming across like an intimidating monster, it’s Brock Lesnar. The Next Big Thing already had the size, aura and credentials to strike fear into the hearts of fans and his fellow WWE stars alike, yet his character took a new, unhinged direction after he turned heel and aligned with Mr McMahon in 2003. 

Three weeks after he destroyed one-legged wonderkid Zach Gowen in a brutal and bloody squash match which was uncomfortable in its own right, Lesnar continued to torture poor Zach, whose one leg was now broken. 

Confined to a wheelchair and with his mouth duct taped shut, Gowen had to sit and suffer at the hands of Brock, who taunted him unmercifully and punched him on the cast before dumping him to the floor. 

He wasn’t finished, however, because for the grand finale Lesnar placed Zach back in the chair, choked him with his t-shirt and then launched him (actually a stuntman) down a flight of stairs to end a super unsettling segment that felt like it lasted an age. 

7. Eddie Guerrero's Blade Job At WWE Judgment Day 2004

The pressure was on Eddie Guerrero to deliver in the main event of Judgment Day 2004. 

Latino Heat was the WWE Champion and the man looked upon to carry a SmackDown brand light on star power, as evidenced by his opponent on the night. WWE had gone to great lengths to remake Bradshaw into a credible main event player, but the jury was still out on JBL and his first night in the headline slot could well have been his last. 

This pressure evidently got to Eddie, who hit an artery while doing a blade job following a stiff chair shot to the head. Guerrero bled a gusher, to the point that the canvas soon began to resemble an actual crime scene. 

It was a spectacular sight, no doubt, but fans watching couldn’t help but feel legitimately concerned for the beloved champion who shed so much claret that it’s a wonder he didn’t pass out in the ring. That may not have happened, but Eddie did go into shock backstage and had to be taken to the hospital afterwards. Doctors there suggested a blood transfusion (which he turned down) and ultimately had to put two bags of fluid in him.

6. Mick Foley Hit With 11 Unprotected Chair Shots To The Head At WWE Royal Rumble 1999

WWE fans knew it was going to take something severe to get Mankind to say “I Quit” when he clashed with The Rock in an I Quit Match at the 1999 Royal Rumble. After all, the WWE Champion had gotten up and kept going after being thrown off and then through Hell in a Cell in the not-too-distant past. 

Yet while those awe-inspiring bumps booked their place on the highlight reel for eternity, what Mick Foley put himself through when going up against The Great One will never be replayed. 

It was hard at the time watching Mrs Foley’s Baby Boy take unprotected chair shot to the head after unprotected chair shot to the head, absorbing 11 in total and while his hands were cuffed behind his back no less, but it is just that much worse watching it now given how much more we know about head trauma. 

It’s also harder to watch after watching the documentary Beyond the Mat, which shows Foley’s traumatised wife and kids watching the onslaught from ringside. 

Foley readily admitted that the match’s finish went too far afterwards.

5. Stephanie McMahon Accuses Vince McMahon Of Pimping Her Out

Few storylines in WWE history have been as bizarre as the feud between Vince McMahon and his daughter Stephanie. The psychosexual Freudian nightmare played out over the course of several agonising months, culminating in a disturbing I Quit Match at No Mercy.

The visual of Vince choking the Billion Dollar Princess with a lead pipe is what most remember, but the saga was full of eyebrow-raising moments. Such as on the June 20, 2003, episode of SmackDown, when the blue brand’s General Manager interrupted her father’s rendezvous with Sable and cut a promo where she accused him of, essentially, pimping her out to business associates when she was just 17. 

An emotional Stephanie claimed that Vince would send her out on dates with these associates on the promise that she would do certain things, which she did, and now felt ashamed about.

Not only did this plot twist come completely out of left field but, due to the serious allegations levelled against Vince in recent years, it has aged terribly. Not that it was easy to sit and watch at the time, of course. 

4. WWE Mocks Jim Ross' Bell's Palsy Condition

Some in WWE’s higher circle seemingly got off on the ritual humiliations of Jim Ross, which often took place in the commentator’s beloved home state of Oklahoma. 

While you can argue about value (or lack thereof) when it comes to stuff like Dr Heiney or Ross joining Mr McMahon’s Kiss My Ass Club, nobody will defend the indefensible, which is exactly what the on-air incidents mocking JR’s Bell’s Palsy condition were. 

The first is little remembered, but took place on the March 14, 1999, episode of Sunday Night Heat, when Million Dollar Man wannabe Tiger Ali Singh plucked a ‘fan’ (actually WWE creative team member Ed Ferrara) out of the crowd and paid him to impersonate Ross who, it should be added, wasn’t announcing at the time since he’d experienced another debilitating bout of Bell's Palsy a few months prior.

Thankfully, Dr Death Steve Williams (flanked by JR) ended the segment by suplexing Ferrara onto his neck. Fans weren’t so lucky when Vince McMahon unleashed his lamentable JR impression on the world during an episode of Raw some 13 years later. 

3. Reid Flair's Death Used To Gain Cheap Heat For WWE Divas Title Match

Mixing a bit of reality into a storyline can be a rather effective tool, but WWE have every now and then gone way too far by incorporating actual tragedy into their fictional television show, such as when Randy Orton told Rey Mysterio that Eddie Guerrero was ‘in hell’ or when Nikki Bella told her twin sister Brie that she wished she had ‘died in the womb’. 

These were bad, yes, but one particularly awful line spoken in the pursuit of cheap heat had fans turning the channel, not sticking around in the hope of seeing the babyface get their revenge. 

In the closing contract signing segment of the November 16, 2015, episode of Raw, Paige invoked the name of Charlotte Flair’s late brother Reid – who passed away of a drug overdose in 2013 – saying that he “didn’t have enough fight in him, did he?”

The backlash was swift, including Reid’s father Ric Flair publicly saying that the line made him cry while revealing he wasn’t given a heads-up about it beforehand. 

WWE soon put out a statement, noting that personal subject matter is only approved with the advocacy of talent involved, while conceding that they as a company are ultimately responsible for what airs on their television shows.

2. Vince McMahon Interviews Melanie Pillman Following Brian Pillman's Passing

Just a few hours before he was scheduled to wrestle at the 1997 Badd Blood pay-per-view, WWE star Brian Pillman was found dead in a Minnesota hotel room at the age of just 35. 

A day after the untimely passing of The Loose Cannon, WWE, in their infinite wisdom, decided to interview his widow Melanie live on Raw. Pillman’s wife was clearly grieving as Vince McMahon asked her a bunch of questions about the nature of her husband’s life and death. 

The tone of the questions also barely disguised WWE’s ulterior motive, which was to absolve themselves of responsibility, as Vince asked Melanie what she thought about aspiring athletes misusing painkillers. 

Astonishingly, Vince even asked her what she would do next and how she intended to support her children, the horrible, soulless monster

We’re sure WWE were thrilled when the show’s ratings peaked during the interview – which they promoted throughout the show – and we hope it was worth putting an emotionally devastated woman in mourning (who already had reservations about doing it) on the air. By all accounts, Melanie was far from perfect, but she didn’t deserve to have to go through this.

1. Eric Bischoff Forces A Kiss Onto Linda McMahon

WWE really didn’t waste any time in humiliating Eric Bischoff when he came on board as an on-screen character in 2002. 

Vince McMahon seemed to derive great pleasure in crafting embarrassing scenarios for Bischoff, yet he also greenlit segments that saw Easy E lock lips with both his wife and daughter. 

When Bischoff kissed Stephanie, it was weird, both because he was dressed up like her father at the start of the segment, and because her father was actually in the room directing it (in a rather animated fashion according to the former WCW Senior Vice President). 

Weird, yes, but not nearly as strange and off-putting as the time Bischoff burst into the McMahon family residence and very forcefully kissed Linda. Though Vince wasn’t physically present in the room for this one, he did give specific pre-filming instructions about how aggressive and un-romantic he wanted the kiss to be, before watching his former enemy swap spit with his wife from a monitor in another room. 

In the storyline, Vince would later admit he let Bischoff into the house in order to carry out the assault, adding another despicable layer to this risible scenario.