10 Biggest WWE Summerslam Controversies

7. Gene Okerlund’s Outburst

Chris Jericho Brock Lesnar Randy Orton Paul Heyman WWE SummerSlam 2016
WWE.com

When: SummerSlam 1989

What Happened: God bless Gene Okerlund.

No, seriously. The legendary stickman remains WWE's greatest ever backstage interviewer, and he will never be topped - Okerlund's blend of professionalism, smooth delivery and product knowledge made him the best. Then...SummerSlam 1989 happened and 'Mean' Gene gave everybody watching afterwards a right good chuckle.

During an otherwise-rudimentary promo with Rick Rude and Bobby Heenan, a part of the SummerSlam set fell behind Okerlund and he just about sh*t his pants. "F*ck it!", the announcer yelled. Scrambling, the WWF's producers went back to Tony Schiavone and Jesse Ventura on live commentary and tried to pretend nothing had happened.

Bruce Prichard later revealed via his podcast that this promo had been pre-taped earlier that afternoon. In fact, the company had a retake ready to, but somebody stuck the wrong footage on the live pay-per-view broadcast and nobody noticed until it was too late.

"F*ck it" indeed. Hilarious, albeit controversial.

Contributor

Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.