10 Steps WWE Took To Become The Most Toxic Wrestling Company Ever
9. Self-Loathing, Outward Loathing
This mindset was shared and fostered by the reclusive Kevin Dunn, whom wrestling apocrypha has it gained power and influence within the WWF by rescuing hundreds of hours of invaluable footage from a burning car. He secured a job for life in the process as production head honcho - which angers fans to this day, for wrestling apocrypha also has it that the man actually hates wrestling. And southerners. And women.
Poor ol' Jim Ross was a constant target of Dunn's fondness for the General American inflection - or, if Jim Cornette is to be believed, a misophonistic hatred of the southern accent. McMahon shared this hatred. Again, the root of all toxicity is insecurity; it's no coincidence that Jim Crockett Promotions and WCW acted as his biggest competition for years. This mentality often manifested itself onscreen. Jim Ross was a constant victim of geographical bias; ditto Jim Cornette. It mattered little - nothing - that both men were genius wrestling minds, nor that they safeguarded the future of the company, under their own volition, with the conception of the initially smash-successful developmental system. They were southern. And World Wrestling Entertainment isn't wrestling.
When D-Generation X invaded WCW, Triple H had a whale of a time hamming up his impression of a hick. "This mission will start at the Norfolk Scope, with dubya see dubya wrasslin'." This for years was the WWF's code name for the competition - and far from the first publication of it. What's insane is that, in order to win said war, the WWF could have done with attracting southern fans, instead of belittling them. That they did underscores just how bright the star power shone at the time.
Consider the manner in which AJ Lee celebrated her first WWE Divas championship win for proof of Dunn's hatred of both women and the idea of wrestling acting as a personal accomplishment. She marked the realisation of her dream by tattooing the time served - an ink job for which she was annihilated from higher orders.
For further proof of Dunn's hatred and objectification of women, watch virtually every minute of every woman's segment between 1998 and 2015 - and read the damning widespread reports of Dunn's aversion to the Women's Revolution's concepts of meritocracy, body diversity and actual #Women'sWrestling.