10 Most Controversial WWE Ruthless Aggression Storylines
Most controversial storylines in the WWE Ruthless Aggression era
The Attitude Era is often looked at as being the most controversial time in WWE history, where the envelope was not just pushed but set on fire and soaked in beer and urine, as the company embraced crash TV in a bid for ratings supremacy.
It worked like gangbusters but, ultimately, ran its course, as the times and WWE’s audience changed.
Still, it took WWE a while to properly shake their controversy-courting habits, and the Ruthless Aggression era – especially in the beginning – is full of contentious characters, moments, matches and storylines.
The Attitude Era may have been in the rearview, but Vince McMahon and co. were still peddling a product that frequently bordered on the insensitive, offensive and downright nasty.
It may have been a time for transition, but WWE still knew (or thought they knew) what would pique viewers’ curiosity and get people talking, whether the reaction was positive or negative. Storylines centred around sex, violence, race and a host of other hot-button topics were fairly common and are very rarely remembered fondly today.
These are the 10 Most Controversial WWE Ruthless Aggression Storylines.
10. JBL At The Border
Injuries to Big Show and Kurt Angle and the departure of Brock Lesnar meant that WWE Champion Eddie Guerrero didn’t have any top-line heels to work with following WrestleMania 20. So WWE decided to create a new one, disbanding the APA and transforming Bradshaw into JBL.
The Texan needed heat and needed it quickly, so he and WWE went the cheap route, just a couple of weeks into the character’s life. On the April 8, 2004 episode of SmackDown, JBL was shown at the ‘Mexican border’, chasing off supposedly illegal immigrants who were trying to cross over.
Now, it wasn’t actually the US/Mexico border, but rather a ranch that belonged to Bradshaw’s family friend, but the segment was still shocking. JBL continued to rail against Mexican people in his promos after, too, in a bid to goad Latino Heat.
An unapologetic heel who was willing to try anything possible to draw interest and make sure the character worked, JBL continued to up the ante and court controversy in the weeks that followed, goose-stepping at a German live event and causing Eddie’s mother to have a ‘heart attack’ at an El Paso house show.
You can’t say these stunts and storylines didn’t work because JBL soon became a long-reigning WWE Champion, but they certainly weren’t in good taste.
