10 WWE Moments So Awful That They Made You Stop Watching Wrestling (Until You Started Again...)
'Just when I thought I was out... they pull me back in'.
When the 'WWE Universe' showed unprecedented rebellious force of will in fiercely insisting that Daniel Bryan be included in the WrestleMania XXX main event, it created a curious knock-on effect that appears to have irreversibly altered how fans engage with the product at large.
Bryan's placement in the match was, objectively, the right thing to do at the time, which is perhaps why Vince McMahon relented to the stubborn protests of the audience and wove months of relentless burials of the 'Yes Man' into a 'Show of Shows' title pursuit.
2014 had already started tumultuously, with a Royal Rumble pay-per-view so controversial it threatened to sever the company's tight relationship with their core audience at the worst possible time. The WWE Network was set to launch in February, but the group's baseline subscribers were still livid at the treatment of Bryan at the expense of returnee Dave Batista, as well as the exit of fellow internet darling CM Punk.
The audience's victory over WWE proved pyrrhic. Punk didn't come back, Bryan was crocked into retirement less than two years later, and the volume of rage that had previously appeared online after questionable booking decisions got gradually lower as Network subscriptions crept up.
Wrestling works much the same way as smoking - hook people young, and you'll hook them for good. Every fan is capable of binning off wrestling when pushed too far, but few kick the habit forever. Addiction is disease, and sticking with WWE could often be considered quite the sickness.
10. 'Semen'
Inarguably the most disgusting storyline WWE has ever concocted, the Triple H/Kane necrophilia angle is sadly a corpse as frequently revisited as Katie Vick's controversial cadaver.
Again, like the late cheerleader herself, the angle has simply not been allowed to die peacefully, thanks to the continued intent of an audience unwilling to let the company forget that they crafted something so disgusting that it lowered the bar for offensive content beyond even any Attitude Era excess.
To recap for recapping's sake, Triple H somehow got wind that Kane hadn't been locked away under Paul Bearer's control all his life, but had in fact been going to parties like any other teenager. Kane (the babyface) was a bit tipsy driving the drunk Vick home one night, and wasn't too handy with a gear stick. The car crashed, Katie died, Kane survived, and then (according to Hunter's reveal of medical reports that 'The Big Red Machine' didn't actually dispel) may or may not have raped his deceased passenger after traces of his semen were found in the body.
Driving the point home (you know, because 'mind games' or something), 'The Game' dressed as his rival in a staged reenactment of the corpsulation, sexually assaulting a mannequin in a funeral home.
All of this was a necessary evil, of course. Triple H and Kane's match was only to unify the World and Intercontinental Titles. That sort of thing really needs more of a hook.