10 Times WWE Completely Misunderstood Sexuality

Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever.

Sable Torrie Wilson
Playboy

It was perhaps the most infamous verbal flub of Kurt Angle's career.

Midway through a uncomfortable 2005 storyline in which he'd all-but confirmed he wanted to sexually assault Booker T's wife Sharmell, Kurt Angle was cutting another maniacal promo in which he admitted having a vice for 'gutter sluts' and dreaming of 'perverted sex...bestiality sex' with wife of the former 'Five Time WCW Champion'.

Whether he misspoke or simply didn't know the key difference between bestiality and bestial, the lesser of two evils was still pretty bloody evil considering how unnecessary it was to make a bonafide Olympic Gold Medalist into a rampant sex offender in the first place.

It was abhorrent content presumably sieved from the sexual contraflow of Vince McMahon's garbled brain, but it regrettably wasn't the first nor last time such an evocative subject matter was twisted or subverted from the norms of reality into the confused canon of WWE.

There's of course a place for such tales in a world so dependent on soap opera tropes facilitating weekly churn, but for an organisation in perpetual search for credibility, it's astonishing how often they miss the mark on matters of the heart.

10. AJ Lee & Paige

Sable Torrie Wilson
WWE.com

The ultra-talented folk at OSWReview.com coined the phenomenon 'lesbian pollen' to succinctly describe wrestling's weird obsession with women catching feelings for other women out of thin air as a normalised trope.

A notable second case will feature elsewhere in this list, but the most laborious case of instant affection occured in the summer of 2014 as Paige and AJ Lee tried in vain to reboot the main roster's Women's Division in the same image as NXT's burgeoning scene.

Migrating from the developmental brand the night after WrestleMania, Paige was expected to refine some of the skills shown in her run as the maiden NXT Women's Champion within WWE's barren Divas division, but her feud with one of the only other credible competitors got sucked into the company's substandard sinkhole.

Under the catch-all excuse of 'mind games' (more on that later), the two kissed wrists, longingly stared and tenderly embraced during their largely dull trades of the fading Divas Title.

Not only did it hamper Paige's initial progress right out of the gate, but it grossly devalued the work Lee was doing to reestablish the league nearly a full year before the company-mandated 'Revolution'. The 'feelings' went nowhere, and the pair were a team in time for a 2015 WrestleMania 31 victory over The Bella Twins.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 30 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz", Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 50,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett