10 Controversial WWE Attitude Era Moments You Totally Forgot About

2. Hank The Angry Drunken Dwarf Turns The Airwaves Blue

Shawn Michaels Sunny
WWE Network

The Oddities, portrayed as ostracised physical aberrations (one was really, really tall and one had a few tyres on him), did not catch on as intended. It was a focus group-transparent bid to do something (else) controversial, and it reeked of an exploitation too cruel to register with even the base fandom that arrived at the college campus arenas with tents in their pants and homophobic abuse daubed on their placards.

Introduced by the Jackal on May 25, 1998, it was left to Howard Stern regular Hank The Angry Drunken Dwarf to articulate the M.O. of the group by sharing his torturous life experience. Bashful, he at first laughed along with the notion of being voted the 'World's Most Beautiful Human Being' by People Magazine Online. He then descended into a very real-feeling, expletive-laden non-sequitur in which he claimed his life had been ruined. The mic was promptly ripped away from him.

It wasn't remotely in the vicinity of anything that passed for a good time in 1998: there was no fire brawling, it wasn't funny, and there were no t*ts involved, with the obvious exception of Vince Russo. T*ts were actually introduced to keep the act afloat, like a life preserver of sorts, in the form of Sable. But it went nowhere.

Ultimately, because WWE is such a magnificent place that literally exists to "put smiles on peoples' faces," the Oddities started to love having fun. They waved their hands in the air like they didn't care...

...about a lifetime of abuse and scorn!

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!