While the sex scandals meant bad publicity for WWE, the steroid conroversy just a year later actually led to the cover of the New York Times and a trial in federal court. Vince McMahon was accused of distributing steroids to his wrestlers in the wake of the arrest of Dr. George Zahorian, a physician allegedly on WWE's payroll to provide the juice for the company's top stars, which earned him the nickname "Dr. Feelgood". So worried was McMahon that he would be doing real time that he brought in Memphis promoter Jerry Jarrett and began grooming him to take over in his absence. Despite the fact that the government attacking Vince was on par with 9/11 - at least according to Stephanie in her infamous quote from 2011 - the WWE boss managed to escape the trail with an acquittal. This is the closest the company has ever come to suffering a fundamental change in leadership, and had it happened it's hard to imagine Jarrett's brand of booking would have been able to sustain the business as successfully during his absence. Jerry Lawler as the WWE champion during the New Generation era?
Brad Hamilton is a writer, musician and marketer/social media manager from Atlanta, Georgia. He's an undefeated freestyle rap battle champion, spends too little time being productive and defines himself as the literary version of Brock Lesnar.