Although the ante was upped during the attitude era of the late 90s, controversial or un-PC angles were no stranger to the wrestling business in the years before then. For decades promoters have been presenting raunchy, racist, homophobic or otherwise offensive angles in the hope that controversy will create cash or, at the very least, some mainstream publicity. In the world of professional wrestling there is no such thing as bad publicity even if Vince McMahon can often be found launching tirades against the evil media. Vince and company have given the media plenty of firepower in this perceived witch-hunt against WWE and their past indiscretions undoubtedly harmed Linda McMahons two failed bids for a seat in the US Senate in 2010 and 2012. As former CEO of WWE, Lindas opponents delighted in bringing to the attention of the wider population some of the questionable content WWE has featured on its TV shows, several of which involved husband Vince or other members of the McMahon family. It may be hard in todays sterile, almost-too-safe PG environment to believe some of the angles and storylines that were given the greenlight before the switch to TV-14 in 2008. WWE and wrestling in general presents a much cleaner and more kid-friendly product than it has since the end of the cartoon era of the late 1980s and early 90s. But for a time, WWE was one of the foremost practitioners of shock TV. Sometimes during these halcyon days WWE went too far.
