10 Times Controversy Inspired WWE Changes

Has there ever been a moment of televised controversy that has influenced an entire generation more than that one night in Montreal at Survivor Series '97?

Probably not, and if it wasn't for that iconic moment of problematic off-script improvisation, we perhaps wouldn't have been treated to the most fruitful period of wrestling in WWE history - the Attitude Era.

You know by now how it all went down. Bret Hart had signed a contract with WCW just one week before Survivor Series and Vince McMahon had desperately fumbled around trying to prevent Hart leaving as the WWF Champion - which he was at the time. Yet, McMahon's chosen replacement was one Shawn Michaels, who Hart had infamously not gotten along with on-screen and backstage.

In Hart's home country of Canada, McMahon would take the title from the champ by sounding for the bell midway through him being crumpled by his own trademark Sharpshooter. This went against the planned DQ finish and introduced the world to the devious Mr. McMahon character that would dominate our screens for the next two decades.

The moment's blurring of reality and storyline made for compelling television, with this trope becoming a mainstay throughout the Attitude Era. Also, without McMahon's 'evil boss', would 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin have ever ignited in the way he did? It's highly unlikely and that's why this moment of controversy sits as one of the most necessary in WWE history.