Top 10 Most Surreal Moments in Wrestling History

Pro wrestling is no stranger to controversy and we’ve all come to accept the insanity that it brings us. When does it go too far, though? Read on as I countdown the top 10 most surreal moments in the history of wrestling!

10.) The Mass Transit incident (ECW house show, November 23rd, 1996)

Extreme Championship Wrestling was the promotion for the anarchists. Instead of the clean, mass produced, cartoony world that was pro wrestling in the early-mid 90’s, ECW was known for their shoddy production values, blue collar, fouled mouthed characters, and bloody violence. While the company didn’t receive national recognition until the late 90’s, there was one incident that plagued the extreme organization right before their biggest exposure.

In 1996, ECW ran a live show in Revere, Massachusetts. One of the scheduled matches was D’von Dudley and Axl Rotten taking on the team of New Jack and Mustafa Saed, collectively known as the Gangstas. Rotten failed to show up for the card sending ECW owner, Paul Heyman, in a panic. Just then, a 17-year-old kid named Eric Kulas approached Heyman lying to him about his age and experience in an attempt to live out his dream of competing in a pro wrestling ring. Heyman, worried about his show, reluctantly agreed and sent the underaged teen to the ring.

Kulas, who was untrained and weighed over 300 pounds, debuted as “Mass Transit”, a transit worker character complete with a bus driver’s uniform. Kulas did not know to blade (wrestling term for causing yourself to bleed by slightly cutting open your forehead with a concealed blade) during his match so New Jack administered the tactic for him causing him to bleed uncontrollably. The Gangstas continued to beat on the helpless Kulas while blood flowed from his faucet like a faucet. Medical attention was sent out immediately while New Jack, known for being a roughneck outside the ring, showed no remorse. Kulas’ father screamed “he’s only a kid!” from the audience towards his son’s beating. This event thankfully wasn’t televised but made the rounds due to footage being recorded on a fan’s camcorder. The video is very graphic so viewer discretion is advised:

Kulas and his family later sued New Jack but lost the case when he kept lying about his story. Kulas would later pass away in 2002 due to weight problems at the age of 22.

9.) Pillman’s Got a Gun (WWE Monday Night Raw, November 4th, 1996)

Nothing like this had ever been done on pro wrestling television before or since.

In the mid 90’s, Brian Pillman transitioned from being one of the best light heavyweight superstars in the world to a short-tempered madman. Always creating controversy during his appearances, Pillman was the perfect choice to oppose another outspoken star in WWE, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin.

The Fall of 1996 saw the feud between former tag team partners, Pillman and Austin, resulting in the latter breaking the former’s ankle. During an interview on Monday Night Raw with Pillman and his wife at their home, Austin attempted to break-in and finish the job but was met with Pillman’s friends and Brian brandishing a 9MM handgun. The camera feed pretended to scramble out several times over the course of the broadcast to add realism to the segment. WWE brass thought the word “shots” was too intense so the word “explosions” was used instead. Once Austin made it inside the Pillman residence, Brian’s friends restrained him while Brian pointed his gun at him. Both men screaming obscenities to each other led to Pillman dropping an “F” bomb. Really, it all looked like a bad episode of “Cops”.

Why was a gun used in a pro wrestling angle? Wrestlers use chairs, not firearms! Needless to say, WWE and even Pillman himself apologized for the segment. It did however set a precedent for the Attitude Era which would kick off less than a year later.

8.) Jerry Lawler calls Goldust a “fag” live on television uncensored (WWE Monday Night Raw, May 26th, 1997)

Out of all the ridiculous things the WWE have done over the years, outright homophobia wasn’t one of them. Sure, there have been gay characters in wrestling before. Yes, they were mostly portrayed as heels but terms like “gay” and “queer” were seldom used on television to describe them. That all changed during a live Monday Night Raw from 1997. During an interview hyping his upcoming match with the flamboyant superstar known as Goldust, Jerry “The King” Lawler outright calls Goldy a “fag” live on-air. What’s even weirder is that the language wasn’t censored at all so millions worldwide heard Lawler homophobic slur loud and clear.

The shocked reaction of the crowd said it all. To this day, I still can’t believe Lawler was allowed to say something like that and that the USA Network, which carried Raw, didn’t bother to censor it or had any problem with the word being used. Lawler was brought up wrestling in Memphis territories where that word was probably commonly used, sadly.

This promo was never aired or referenced again and for good reason.

7.) The Undertaker aka the Devil (WWE Monday Night Raw, January 11th, 1999)

This was just plain weird.

By the late 90’s, WWE mostly did away with their light hearted, child-targeted image for more edgier programming with what was dubbed the “Attitude Era”. This period is considered by many fans to be the company’s hottest period. While it was their most financially successful, the era is characterized by constant bizarre storylines and gimmicks. How strange? Let me tell you:

During this time, head WWE creative writer, Vince Russo, attempted to shock all audiences and leave no sensitive topic untouched with what he called “Crash TV”. The topic? Religion. The Undertaker has been one of the most popular wrestlers in the company since his debut in 1990 mainly due to his spooky character which was unlike anything that was done at the time. After playing the “wrestling zombie” for so long, Russo thought it would be better to freshen up Taker’s character and turn him into a satanic cult leader.

The seeds of this new character were planted in late 1998. While feuding with Steve Austin, Taker was able to get the upper hand and with the help of his goons, tied Austin to his logo structure, which resembled a cross, and elevated him a in a mock crucifixion reminiscent of the equally controversial Raven/Sandman crucifixion angle from ECW. The announcers were weary of calling it a “cross” so they settled on calling it a “symbol”. The segment no doubt upset people everywhere.

That wasn’t good enough for Russo and the age of the Attitude Era. After already recruiting wrestlers, Bradshaw and Faarooq, for his “Ministry of Darkness”, Taker took matters into his own hands by kidnapping Dennis Knight, a wrestler who previously competed in WWE under the identity of pig farmer, Phineas Godwinn. On an episode of Raw in early 1999, Undertaker and his allies staged a religious ceremony “sacrificing” Knight which included Taker speaking in tongues, slitting his wrists, pouring his blood into a chalice, feeding it to Knight, carving his logo into Knight’s flesh which a knife, and renaming him “Mideon”. The segment closed with the newly christened Mideon levitating while Taker’s logo structure was set ablaze.

Why was this happening on a wrestling program? In Russo’s thinking, the wackier, the better. Many fans such as myself were left baffled on what they had just seen. Even the commentators calling the event were bewildered. Why were religion and dangerous cults being played up on pro wrestling? Why was a wrestler INTENTIONALLY SLITTING HIS WRISTS AND FEEDING HIS OWN BLOOD TO HIS COMRADES? You’ll see later on that this actually was not the worse angle that pro wrestling has done on religion.

Russo would then attempt to shatter all kayfabe with Undertaker in the proceeding months by having people address him by his real name, Mark, on-air and claim that he’s a nutcase who believes he’s the character he portrays on TV. Confused yet?

Oh yeah, and he also staged a lynching of the Big Bossman. This is the era of the Undertaker that most people like to forget.

6.) “We’re Shootin’ Here!” (WCW various 1999-2000)

The year 2000 was the point of no return for World Championship Wrestling. Even though the company was bleeding money like crazy with guaranteed, big money contracts for people who didn’t warrant them, expensive, unnecessary stunts, and nonsensical storylines, they just never learned. WWE head writer, Vince Russo jumped ship to WCW in 1999 and proceeded to run the company into the crowd with awful booking and creative ideas. One of these genius angles was when he tried to convince audiences that what was happening in front of them wasn’t part of the show and was unplanned. There are three glaring examples of this:

a.) During a live episode of Monday Nitro in 1999, superstar Buff Bagwell wrestled luchadore, La Parka. Bagwell layed down for Parka and was pinned, intentionally throwing the match. Bagwell then grabbed a headset from the nearby commentator’s booth and proclaimed “did I do a good enough JOB for you, Russo?” Eyes rolled worldwide.

b.) Kevin Nash comes out on a live Nitro and addresses Vince Russo and WCW president, Eric Bischoff, candidly while the commentators state “we’re shootin’ here”. Headaches were felt from viewers right before Nash was attacked by the debuting Mike Awesome. Oh, so now it’s a show again.

c.) During a triple threat match between Bill Goldberg, Kevin Nash, and Scott Steiner, Goldberg “intentionally” walked out prompting the commentators to cover of him proclaiming that “Goldberg is not following the script” and that “Nash has to improvise a new finish”. Stupid.

It’s really lame and insulting to try to advance storylines by trying to convince your audience that what you’re watching isn’t planned. I’ll give Russo credit, he was partly responsible for WWE’s most lucrative period but he also had Vince McMahon with him to filter out his more stupider ideas. Once he came to WCW though, there was no filter and Russo just threw whatever he thought of at the wall to see what stuck. Nothing ever did and WCW sadly closed its doors in March of 2001.

5.) Pro Wrestling terrorism (WWE Smackdown, July 7th, 2005)

WWE really got themselves in hot water for this one.

In the past, the company has tried to capitalize on the war on terror. In the early 90’s during the Gulf War and Saddam Hussein’s reign of horror, longtime American patriot, Sgt. Slaughter turned his back on his country, aligning himself with Hussein during his feud with the American Made, Hulk Hogan. Slaughter when as far as to provide doctored photos of himself chumming it up with the evil dictator himself in an attempt to further aggravate audiences. Hogan won in the end, getting the duke for the United States of America and helping Slaughter see the light and show his true colors, reverting back to his pro-American image.

Fast forward over 10 years later in 2004, in a post 9/11 world. Enter Marc Copani, a wrestler who had been developing his skills in WWE’s farm system, OVW. Copani was soon brought to WWE to portray the Arab-American grappler, Muhammad Hassan. Vignettes began airing on television portraying Hassan as a wrestler who’s been treated unjustly since 9/11 and that he should be judged on his wrestling ability and not the color of his skill. The character was interesting because it was a commentary on the real life prejudice that Arab-Americans faced after 9/11.

Eventually though, someone got the bright idea to turn Hassan’s character from a professional wrestler who just happens to be Arab-American to full-on terrorist and it led to one of the most tasteless segments in wrestling history.

On July 7, 2005, a fatal terrorist bombing hit London injuring hundreds of people and even killing several others. On July 4th, WWE taped an episode of Smackdown set to air on the evening of the 7th. On the program, Hassan’s lackey, Daivari, was scheduled to face the Undertaker (far removed from beast Satan mode thankfully). After making quick work of Daivari, Hassan was shown on the entrance ramp, kneeling, and praying to the sky. Suddenly, five ski-masked men jumped Taker from behind and choked him with wire. After laying the boots to the Deadman, the masked men carried Daivari back to the locker room like a martyr. What was originally thought to be a simple pro wrestling beatdown drew eerie comparisons to a real-life terrorist attack. The WWE had no knowledge of the attack in London prior to filming this segment and had no time to edit it out of the broadcast in the hours between the two events.

The segment caused a whole mess of trouble for the company. UPN, who was airing Smackdown in the United States, ordered that the Hassan character be removed from television. Many media outlets criticized WWE for airing the segment the same day as the London bombings.

In an attempt to save face. Hassan came out in front of a live crowd during another taping of Smackdown in an interview that was exclusive to WWE.com. Hassan, who in real life is Italian-American, criticized New York Post writer Don Kaplan for incorrectly referring to himself as as a terrorist and that the beating on Undertaker was reminiscent of a terrorist attack.

This unfortunately was not enough. All future plans for Hassan’s character were scrapped (including a possible future world title reign which he would have won in America’s capital, Washington D.C.) and Hassan was given a chance to go back down to OVW until the controversy dies down. At that point, Copani had enough and simply asked for his release from the company, never to be seen on television again.

The entire experience has soured Copani on the wrestling business and to this day, has barely made any further appearances in the wrestling world.

Author note: Copani was recently approached by a user on Reddit about doing an AMA about his wrestling career but he politely declined hinting that he doesn’t look back on his WWE career very fondly. Poor guy.

4.) Vince McMahon vs. God (WWE Backlash, April 30th, 2006)

Vince McMahon has been at the helm of the largest wrestling promotion in the world, WWE, for over 30 years. He is a billionaire who made his company the huge conglomerate that it is today. He even played an integral role in one of the biggest feuds in wrestling history (Austin vs. McMahon). In a way, you can say that Vince is bigger than Jesus himself. Ah, damnit…

In the beginning of 2006, McMahon entered a rivalry with Shawn Michaels playing off the infamous “Montreal Screwjob”. After Michaels defeated McMahon at Wrestlemania 21, Vince wanted to prolong the feud challenging HBK to a tag team match that would pit Vince and his son, Shane, against Shawn….and God?

Shawn Michaels was known to be a bit of a hothead in the 90’s and had a very dark past with drug abuse. Prior to returning to active competition in 2002, he got his life back in order and became a born-again Christian. McMahon took the opportunity to mock his faith in a fake wrestling storyline.

Skits would air in the weeks leading up to the big showdown with the McMahons in a church proclaiming that a new religion is being started called “McMahonism” poking fun at Shawn in a sacrilegious manner. In the week before the match, Vince tried to attack HBK with a chair only to be almost struck by a (poorly constructed) bolt of lightning, insinuating that the lord almighty was protecting poor Mr. Michaels.

The big night came at Backlash, throughout the night, the McMahons would parody different religious practices such as Vince using his “powers” to heal large breasted women while they achieve orgasm. The whole thing was pointless and just served to stroke Vince’s already huge ego.

The tag bout came and “God” was characterized by a spotlight in Michaels’ corner. Of course, the McMahons won the match with Vince scoring the pinfall proving that even God couldn’t hang with the wrestling kingpin.

I wasn’t offended by this angle and I know Vince is crazy but to outright mock religion on your program and try to sell people that you’re bigger than the Lord Almighty is pretty brave and can alienate your fanbase. It’s also pretty screwed up to poke fun at the beliefs of one of your biggest stars. I remember watching this storyline play out and the whole time thinking “Huh?”

3.) Fun with Necrophilia (WWE Monday Night Raw, October 21st, 2002)

Necrophilia is an awful, disgusting act of sexual abuse. Don’t you think pro wrestling would stay away from a topic like that? Hell no!

In 2002, Triple H was awarded the World Heavyweight Championship. He didn’t have to compete in a tournament or anything, he was just given the title. With the WWE champion competing exclusively on Smackdown, HHH was handed the belt to serve as the world champ on Raw. One of his first contenders was the monster, Kane. Kane has never set rings on fire (no pun intended) with his wrestling ability so creative thought their feud needed a little more zest. What did they think of?

HHH came out on Raw one night and claimed that Kane had sexual intercourse with a woman named Katie Vick after she had been killed in a car accident. Sound grating yet? Well, they took it one step further.

They filmed a vignette of HHH entering a funeral home in a Kane mask and seeing a mannequin doll in a cheerleader’s oufit lying inside of a casket. Hunter proceeds to feel up the inanimate object then hop up inside the coffin. We then flash forward and see a NUDE Hunter grabbing a fist of hamburger meat exclaiming “Katie, I screwed your brains out!”. HHH had a good laugh about the segment after it aired while the crowd booed in resentment.

2002 was, in my opinion, the worst year for the WWE following the Attitude Era. Crap like this contributed to that opinion.

2.) Melanie Pillman Interview (WWE Monday Night Raw, October 6th, 1997)

This was one of the more despicable things WWE has ever done and that covers a lot of ground.

On October 5th, 1997, tragedy befell the wrestling world when the talented Brian Pillman was found dead in his hotel room the day he was scheduled to compete at the pay-per-view, Badd Blood. The next night live on Raw, a classy move was shown when the entire locker room emptied to pay tribute to the late Pillman in a 10-bell salute.

Vince McMahon then had the genius idea to interview Brian’s widow, Melanie, live on the program keeping in mind that her husband died in his sleep a mere 24 hours ago. McMahon conducts a classless interview while Melanie is still clearly in shock with tears coming out of her eyes. Vince bluntly throws subjects at her such as Brian’s drug use and how she’s going to support her kid’s now that their father is gone. Melanie also tells us of her two kids from Brian’s previous relationship whose mother killed herself two years before (wait, what?).

I’m not too sure what the company was thinking but the interview was insanely uncomfortable for anyone to watch. You probably never even knew it happened because it’s never been replayed or brought up again since that night.

1.) The Death of Owen Hart (WWE Over The Edge, May 23rd, 1999)

The most crushing scene to ever happen at a WWE event.

May 23, 1999 is a day no wrestling fan will ever forget. That night at the Kemper Arena in Kansas City, one of the most talented professional wrestlers of all time, Owen Hart, fell to his death right in the middle of the ring. Under the guise of the “Blue Blazer”, Hart was set to be repelled to the ring from the rafters for his scheduled Intercontinental title match against The Godfather at the “Over The Edge” pay-per-view event. Before his entrance music even hit, the camera cuts to live shots of the crowd before commentator, Jim Ross, worriedly says “we’ve got big problems here”. They then awkwardly cut to an interview the Blazer conducted earlier in the night. When the camera returns to the live show, Ross explains that something went horribly wrong and Owen’s harness was prematurely released, sending him crashing down into the ring. After about an hour of uncertainty, Jim Ross had the unfortunate task of announcing Owen’s death live on pay-per-view.

The show continued after the incident which Vince McMahon still receives a lot of criticism for to this day. All the workers in the matches following the accident were visibly shook up and understandably didn’t work to their full potential.

The pay-per-view’s replay was cancelled and the show was barely referenced after its original airing. It wasn’t until the WWE Network was launched this year that the event was available to view again, with footage of Owen and everything referencing him obviously omitted.

Owen’s widow, Martha, was embroiled in a heated lawsuit with WWE for years over the incident and the right to use Owen’s likeness on television and just recently settled out of court putting the entire issue behind the company.