10 Times Controversy Inspired WWE Changes

I know it may be difficult to get your head around the fact that a lot of the stunts and bumps we see wrestlers do today are actually somehow safer than the ones we saw decades ago, but Owen Hart's tragic death in May 1999 was a definite turning point for the form.

Hart found himself being lowered to the ring in a harness via a grappling line, with the original plan being for him to get 'entangled' before releasing himself and comically falling onto his face. Instead of the planned stunt, Hart fell 78 feet and landed chest first on the top rope. Hart was badly hurt and would lose his battle with internal bleeding from the blunt force trauma.

WWE would give the Hart family $18 million after a settlement was reached in November 2000 and much of that money was used to set up the Owen Hart Foundation.

Since the incident, planning and rehearsal have been taken more seriously in WWE and no stunt or extreme-bump is done without the performer feeling 100% comfortable with the situation. Announce tables are now cushioned in order to protect the wrestlers falling through them and other weapons have been neutralised, too.

Sure, some of the bumps don't look as high-risk as they used to, but if the edge being taken off some of these stunts is what it costs to protect the stars we know and love, WWE are definitely doing the right thing.