Brian Pillman's 'loose cannon' character was one of the most unique and realistic in pre-Attitude Era WWF. Pillman honed the character in WCW and then ECW and was involved in several 'worked shoot' angles that blurred the line between reality and fantasy. Pillman got Bobby Henan to swear live on air, called Kevin Sullivan 'bookerman' on the microphone and generally weirded everyone out with his irrational behaviour. Pillman was dedicated to getting the character over and would go to extreme lengths to prove that he was really 'crazy' and unpredictable. The most notorious (and realistic) of the Pillman 'Loose Cannon' escapades came on the November 4th 1996 episode of Raw. Pillman and his former Hollywood Blonds tag team partner Steve Austin had been feuding for several weeks. Austin, after injuring Pillman, decided to pay him a visit at his home. Austin turned up and proceeded to beat the crap out of some of Pillman's 'friends' who were there to protect him. Upon entering the home, Pillman pointed a gun at Austin and screamed for everyone to 'get out of the f***ing' way when the feed suddenly cut out. Of course Austin wasn't shot and killed or anything like that but the angle did generate a tonne of controversy and many complained to WWE and the network for showing it. The WWF and Pillman both apologised for the angle but, almost twenty years later, it remains one of the most realistic and intense angles in WWE history. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_s-CKQzPmM
