Top 10 Wwe Superstars Who Benefitted from Controversy
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Top 10 WWE superstars who benefitted from controversy
10 The Rock The Rock was a highly controversial character during his initial run, and that ended up benefitting him in a major way.
His initial run, during which he was named ‘Rocky Maivia’, he was booed vociferously, much like how Roman Reigns is booed now.
That controversy led to Rocky realizing that his ‘blue chipper’ gimmick wasn’t working and that he needed to take advantage of those controversial reactions. So he dropped that babyface gimmick, became ‘The Rock’ and the rest, as they say, is history.
He ended up becoming one of the biggest babyfaces in history and without a doubt the best speaker in WWE history; yet this wouldn’t have ever happened if the Rock hadn’t taken advantage of the controversial reaction he got when he first debuted.
9 Stone Cold Steve Austin ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin was a controversial character for quite some time, even though he was so wildly popular.
Austin’s anti-authority gimmick, a penchant for flipping people off and on-screen alcoholism made him the perfect antihero through which millions of fans wanted to live vicariously. But those things also made Austin quite controversial among some of wrestling’s more noted critics.
Various parents’ groups and family organizations were highly critical of WWE during its peak years, and Austin was one of their most frequent targets for criticism.
Of course, WWE turned this controversy into something of their benefit and presented Austin as even more of an anti-authority badass that didn’t give a damn about what others thought of him.
8 Triple H Triple H has been a magnet for controversy for many years.
From his association with D-Generation X to his involvement in the Montreal Screwjob to marrying Stephanie McMahon to his ‘reign of terror’ between 2002 and 2005, to his constant appearances with the Authority, controversy has surrounded Triple H for almost the entire length of his 20-year-plus-long career.
However, Triple H has managed to either ignore that controversy for a long time or has embraced it.
When playing up the evil authority figure for many years, Triple H channelled the real anger some fans have towards him and turned it into a stronger reaction to anything he did on-screen.
7 Jinder Mahal Jinder Mahal has managed to become a highly polarizing figure among wrestling fans. His main event push and World Title reign were both issues that led to immense and passionate debate among wrestling fans.
His supporters argue that he’s a fresh face in the title picture that had been previously dominated by a select few and that his presence therein adds some much-needed diversity to it.
These same people also argue that he looks like a top star and he will be necessary to WWE in the future as the company seeks to expand into international markets, especially in India.
His detractors, on the other hand, argue that Mahal is a major step down in terms of every asset other than his physique.
His promo skills are said to be subpar, his charisma is believed to be virtually nonexistent, and his wrestling skills are said to be far less-developed than those of other, more established stars.
6 Edge Edge caused immense controversy during his singles run. Not only did he get WWE some much-needed attention when he promised his ‘live sex celebration’, but he also gained thermonuclear heat when his real-life affair with Lita became a storyline.
Once it became common knowledge that Edge and Lita had formed an extramarital affair, fans turned on Lita hard and began to boo both of them vociferously.
While people were very much buying into his heel character, he soon started getting far more vicious boos because his real-life actions resonated with people in a real way, which made them hate the man and by extension, the character.
5 Goldust Goldust was one of the most controversial characters in all of the wrestling during his prime. His character was so over-the-top and boundary-pushing that many people began complaining about him on a frequent basis.
But Vince McMahon was very much of the mind that ‘any publicity is good publicity’, and so the Goldust character was doing its job perfectly.
By getting people to react so strongly to his character, Goldust was bringing more attention to WWE’s product, even if that attention led to some people getting angered.
4 Hulk Hogan Hulk Hogan has caused a lot of controversy over his decades-long career. He was the centrepiece of WWE’s initial golden era when they transcended into the mainstream for the first time.
During the 1980s, Hogan was everywhere: doing commercials, acting in films, making appearances all over the world, and wrestled in the highest-profile matches. But things weren’t always so rosy for Hogan.
He has long been reviled as a masterful backstage politician who changed things to benefit him. He also exercised immense creative control to ensure that he made his way to the top in virtually all rivalries and storylines.
Why else do you think WrestleMania IX ended with Hogan winning the WWE Championship without actually being in the match. 3 Roman Reigns Roman Reigns has been a magnet for controversy for almost three full years.
WWE’s attempts to push him to the top of the company while silencing any and all critics have only added fuel to the fire, leading Reigns to being labelled one of, if not the single-most, controversial and despised babyfaces in the past three decades.
But despite all of that controversy, Reigns has actually achieved greater benefit than punishment. People still tune in to watch him, and those who hate him still watch his matches, albeit with the hope that he loses.
2 Shawn Michaels Shawn Michaels was an instrumental figure in WWE pushing its programming in a more adult-oriented direction.
Through his D-Generation X stable and increasingly raunchy storylines and promos, Michaels became a magnet for heat both from fans and from outside observers criticizing WWE for its content.
But Shawn benefitted immensely from this creative direction, as WWE became the more popular wrestling brand with its adult-oriented themes and crass humour.
These things allowed Shawn – and by extension, the whole of WWE – to gain a major advantage over WCW, whose management was taking that promotion in the opposite direction at the time.
1 Vince McMahon In the end, no single person has benefitted more from controversy than Vince McMahon himself. Vince firmly believes that any reaction, positive or negative, is better than no reaction at all.
As a result, he took advantage of the controversy he has caused with his booking decisions over the years to create a sports entertainment empire that remains unmatched to this day.
Vince capitalized on controversy many times over the years, from pushing wrestlers that fans rejected vocally to playing a role in controversial segments like the Montreal Screwjob.
