10 Disturbing WWE Storylines That Got Way Too Dark
5. Heidenreich & Michael Cole
Heidenreich was never a particularly exciting wrestler, but his failed WWE run owes as much to misbooking as his own shortcomings.
The big man was handed some of the weirdest gimmicks in modern WWE history throughout his run, and it started with a split-personality character in 2003. Heidenreich was seemingly under the control of a possessed doll named Little Johnny, but the gimmick was canned after a few months, and Heidenreich went back to OVW for further training.
He returned to SmackDown the following year. Paul Heyman became his manager, and Heidenreich took on a psychotic new persona that saw him interfere in random matches, assault fans, and recite poetry. It was extremely odd, and peaked during a particularly disturbing segment with announcer Michael Cole.
The angle saw Heidenreich attack Cole, then drag him into a backstage bathroom. Pinning Cole to a door, the implication was that Heidenreich was sexually assaulting Cole, and the announcer’s pained moaning only made the situation all the more uncomfortable.
WWE would be rightly crucified for airing a segment like this in 2017, but really, 2004 isn’t all that long ago. It’s one of the worst ideas that the company have ever let leave the writing room, and the grimmest moment of either man’s career.