10 Times WWE Broke Your Heart And Didn’t Even Care

By Michael Hamflett / June 23, 2018

When Triple H joined his friends Shawn Michaels, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall for a mid-ring cuddle in 1996 that inadvertently transformed the career of Stone Cold Steve Austin, he was blissfully ignorant to the punishment he'd face in the aftermath.

His main event buddies had been given the permission slip from Vince McMahon - a concession that included him despite his relatively low position as a heel on the pecking order. When the locker room nearly revolted in the aftermath, McMahon's forced punishment had to come down on the future 'Game'. He was instructed that day to "eat sh*t and learn to like the taste of it", a command McMahon has apparently dished out directly or via stooges over decades at the helm of his empire.

The Chairman clearly got too comfortable with the concept when he began extending it to his audience.

It was once imperative that the audience emotionally and financially invested in WWE's output, though this has changed to the point where within a few years the company will earn less from the customers than they do cash-heavy television networks vying for something - anything - that retains eyes on the night rather than on DVR the next day.

This is a new development though. As of right now, customer satisfaction is still king, despite McMahon's current indifference to the particular cause. Only Vince himself would dare attempt to get away with using the N-word on a pay-per-view in the modern era. Negging isn't half as big a crime.

10. A One-Legged Man In An Ass-kicking Contest

Bullies always win in WWE.

From Bobby Heenan dishing out killer barbs about The Big Boss Man's mother and never seeing the Intercontinental Title ripped from his 'Family', to LayCool taking back the Women's Championship from 'Piggy James', to Roman Reigns calling Samoa Joe a 'fatass' with the same intonation Alexa Bliss used when body-shaming Nia Jax. Before she too took back her Raw Women's Title from the 'Irresistible Force'.

It was Brock Lesnar's turn to be an unrelenting sh*thouse in 2003 after WWE introduced the 'right' one-legged wrestler to the roster first as a friend of Hulk Hogan and later enemy of Vince McMahon.

Despite having toughest performer on the roster Stephanie McMahon on his side, Gowen eventually took kicking after kicking as the company conspired to not harness what could have been the most remarkable sympathy. He became a figure of gallows humour, yet another case of The Chairman using his television product to see just how low he could go.

The answer for Gowen was to the bottom of a stairwell. Brock sent him hurtling down concrete steps in a wheelchair to show McMahon he was emotionally ready to batter Kurt Angle in their upcoming title match. Gowen never got a revenge pin over Brock, Vince or even jobber-to-the-stars Shannon Moore before he was given his hopping papers in 2004.