10 Most Controversial Wrestling Shows Of All Time
The shows must go off.
If WWE actually go ahead with their Crown Jewel show come November - and all the murmurings coming out of the company suggest they will - then it'll go down as surely their most problematic pay-per-view of all time.
And to think, they only set the last record back in April. That's a level of bungling ineptitude that's almost admirable.
It's not like everybody outside of Riyadh didn't warn WWE of the potential pitfalls of their partnership with the Saudi General Sports Authority either. Even before the full, grim picture materialised during the female-free Greatest Royal Rumble agitprop, commentators made clear the risks the company was taking in become paid mouthpieces for the repressive regime.
Now the proverbial's really hit the fan, and anything but a full withdrawal from the deal will result in brand suicide. Perhaps it won't matter. $450 million is probably enough to prop a business up even without any consumers.
Depressingly, we all know which way they'll go. Crown Jewel will soon become the jewel in the crown of the shows where they just should have said "no". These are the ones it beat into first place.
10. Great American Bash 2006
In June 2007, WWE's underwrought wellness policy was placed under enormous scrutiny when Chris Benoit killed himself and his family and police investigating his Atlanta home discovered a drug prescription sheet as long his arms were short.
It set the second half of the company's year into a tailspin as fines and suspensions were dished out to try and make good for the bad that had already occurred. WWE, as has often been the case, should have been more in front of it beforehand.
A year earlier, the policy went largely ignored after coming to life in the wake of Eddie Guerrero's November 2005 death. All until Great American Bash time, in which half the card seemed to go missing with an otherwise unheard of ailment. The Great Khali, Super Crazy and Bobby Lashley were all pulled from the show late with "Elevated Liver Enzymes". Though never outwardly confirmed (especially when WWE didn't even need to), most made assumptions about steroids that were anecdotally hard to argue.
The cloud over the show grew larger when an injury to Mark Henry resulted in a fourth match being changed before showtime. It was a challenging evening from a promotional standpoint, but the catastrophic events it eerily foreshadowed cast an even greater shadow.