10 Steps WWE Took To Become The Most Toxic Wrestling Company Ever
7. Enablement Of The Lunatic Asylum
The company's commercial downfall, in the early to mid 1990s, enabled the backstage Kliq faction of Shawn Michaels, Diesel, Razor Ramon, the 1-2-3 Kid and Hunter Hearst Helmsley to run roughshod backstage. They savaged promising careers out of spite and paranoia; Dean Douglas, Bam Bam Bigelow, Jean-Pierre Lafitte were all victimised by the politicking clan.
Of course, this cut-throat business was hardly the preserve of the WWF. It's as much a part of the wrestling fabric as the ring skirt - though most observers, even Michaels himself, suggest that their power was as disproportionate as it was destructive. These men and their locker room successors tapped into the essence of the company and curried favour with those at the top of it. Despite overturning its ailing commercial fortunes, this new branch of the culture was entrenched.
Perhaps it was mere coincidence that, following The Kliq's reign of terror, those who enjoyed the seniority and the stroke that came with it - JBL and Bob Holly, notoriously - also happened to be deeply callous individuals who enjoyed terrorising Justin Roberts and other men lacking the physical attributes and mental strength to stand up to them. Or, perhaps, the culture at the top moulded and or facilitated the monsters. Sycophants exist in every office, buddying up to the boss men, desperately tweaking their personalities to fit in. There's no reason why it didn't happen in WWE.
Even the most respected and benevolent locker room leader, the Undertaker - leader of the anti-Kliq Bone Street Krew faction - was not immune to sabotage...