Most Controversial WWE Wins Of All Time
The WWE is full of controversial victories. It is all part of the intricate storylines laid out and most of them rely on shock value in order to entertain the audience.
Most of these wins consist of the heel winning after breaking the rules or generally being dirty. While these wins are shocking, they are usually very entertaining.
However, there are a few fights in the history of the WWE that are truly controversial. They can greatly affect the plots laid out and impact sports betting lines in unpredictable ways.
In this article, we cover some of the most controversial victories in WWE history. Each of these fights is controversial for a different reason and is ordered by date in order to avoid bias.
1988 The Main Event
In the inaugural fight of The Main Event, Hulk Hogan went up against Andre the Giant.
After Andre pinned Hogan he broke out at 1 but the referee, Dave Hebner, called it at 3 declaring Andre the victor. It was revealed that Andre was working with Ted DiBiase and had been paid off. This included the referee who was actually Dave Hebner’s twin brother Earl Hebner.
Andre then handed the title to DiBiase. It would soon be stripped from DiBiase with a new tournament being held for the title but it still sucks that this was Andre’s only experience with the title.
The tournament for the title would later be won by Randy Savage.
1993 WrestleMania
This match was between Bret Hart and Yokozuna. Yokozuna was a professional sumo wrestler. Hart used his technical skills whereas Yokozuna used his size in the fight.
It was a relatively even match with Yokozuna coming out the victor. But the real controversy started in the impromptu second part of the main event.
Hulk Hogan came into the ring declaring he wanted to fight the winner. The fight happened immediately with Hogan pinning Yokozuna and winning the match and title in 22 seconds.
1994 WWF Championship
This championship title between Kevin Nash and Bob Backlund was seen as a mockery of the title. This is because the match lasted a colossal 8 seconds with Nash being named the victor.
1997 Montreal Screwjob
Even non-wrestling fans have heard of the Montreal Screwjob. Unlike the other entries on this list, this match was controversial because it was real.
Bret Hart was the current WWF Champion but was planning on leaving to join the WCW. Vince McMahon didn’t want him to leave the championship so decided for him to lose it to Shawn Michaels.
Hart and Michaels had real-world beef so they decided it would be decided by disqualification after Hart refused to lose to Michaels in his home country.
McMahon, Michaels, and referee Earl Heber then conspired against Hart. They planned to screw him over by immediately calling the bell after a pin even though Hart didn’t submit.
The confusion on Hart’s face was genuine and his rage against Michaels was demonstrated when he spat in his eye. Michaels walked away from that fight with the championship title.
1999 WWF Championship
This match is the first and only time Vince McMahon got the championship title. It was in a match against Triple H and while it was obvious that Triple H was dominating in the first half of the match, Stone Cold Steve Austin would interfere.
His interference led to McMahon being called champion despite not even being a wrestler. He would only hold the title for a week before losing it.
2005 Royal Rumble
This was a matchup between Batista and John Cena and the crowd was excited to see Batista win.
Both competitors went up to the top rope with the plan being for Cena to fall while Batista held on. In reality, they both fell at the same time and land on the ground. There was no definitive winner and McMahon stormed out in a rage to sort it.
He came back in such a rage that he caught his knees on the rope apron and ended up tearing his quads. He was unable to stand up and demanded that the fight restart.
The fight did have a redo with the proper ending of Batista winning.
2014 WrestleMania
The 2014 Wrestlemania match between Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker is seen as one of the greatest upsets.
This is because Lesnar managed to break The Undertaker’s 21-victory streak.
When Lesnar managed to get The Undertaker in an F-5, everyone expected him to break out of it. When he didn’t the entire crowd was in shock.
There was such a shock that Lesnar’s victory music didn’t immediately play after his victory.
Final Thoughts
Each of these fights left a large impact on the overall storyline and even created some new ones.
These kinds of matches can negatively affect the perception of a wrestler no matter how many other matches they take part in.
Of course, most of these fights had no lasting effects on the real-life relationships between the wrestlers so it’s hard to say exactly how controversial these fights were overall.
