10 Most Shocking Revelations From WWE In 2019

2. The John Oliver Segment

"Morally subterranean". That's what talk-show host John Oliver called WWE. He did so live, on his show, one of the most-watched weekly segments in American television. The company could muster no greater response than to dispute his claims and invite him to WrestleMania.

However, it wasn't the Saudi shows that Oliver was taking aim at. Oliver specifically went after Vince McMahon who, he asserted, was a billionaire on the broken backs of his non-employees. Specifically, his issue is that WWE's wrestlers aren't technically employees, and they’re still considered “independent contractors” despite signing exclusive deals with the company.

The lack of an offseason, plus what the show described as “astonishing clauses” in said contracts, formed the bulk of the segment. They revealed that WWE has the right to terminate one if a wrestler is sidelined by an injury for as little as six weeks, and that anyone who signs has waived the company’s responsibility for injury or death even if it’s “caused by the negligence of promoter”.

Finally though, the genuinely harrowing trend of wrestler's associated with the company dying untimely deaths - most as a direct result of their wrestling careers - is the one thing WWE categorically never wants bringing up in the public sphere. An accepted cost of the industry for most fans, this was a huge eye-opener for the general public.