10 Alternative Views On Wrestling's Biggest Scandals

Professional wrestling is no stranger to the word 'scandal'. By virtue of this, the industry has never elected to shy away from courting controversy. The (sports) entertainment medium known as pro wrestling is pre-determined. In 2015, that's hardly a shocking statement, but there was certainly a time when it was. In 1987, 'Hacksaw' Jim Duggan and The Iron Sheik played polar opposites on WWF television. Duggan was a patriotic babyface, whereas the Sheik was portrayed as a foreign heel menace. Behind the scenes, the men were good friends and travel partners. When they were busted by police for drugs whilst riding together on the road, it caused some problems for the company that employed them. In '87, the idea of wrestling being outed as 'fake' was appealing to the mainstream media, and they jumped all over the story. Turning a negative into a positive for his company, Vince McMahon openly spoke to the media about the way his business worked. Naturally, this angered many within the wrestling industry, who were more than a little frustrated by McMahon's willingness to expose secrets. The Duggan and Sheik incident was huge at the time, and threatened to tear down walls of secrecy many had spent generations building. This wouldn't be the first - or indeed the last - time an organisation or performer would spin something potentially harmful into something more positive. The following examples prove that, for a variety of reasons, even the most shocking situations can have an impact which is often more than meets the eye.