10 Times WWE Bounced Back From Adversity

9. Firing A Pregnant Dawn Marie

Vince Mcmahon Dawn Marie
WWE.com

ECW favourite Dawn Marie signed with WWE in 2002 and had a solid three-year run that's best remembered for her controversial feud with Torrie Wilson.

When Dawn left WWE, however, her departure was far more controversial than the on-screen antics she shared with Torrie and her father Al Wilson. That, of course, is because Dawn Marie was pregnant at that time of her release.

Two months after giving birth to her son in January 2006, Dawn took to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission with the complaint that WWE had terminated her deal because she had fallen pregnant.

This matter would eventually be settled out of court over a year later, and the media coverage around all of this made WWE look absolutely awful – not least because this was during the height of Linda McMahon’s political ambitions.

How has World Wrestling Entertainment moved on from this situation? Well, for starters, they’ve yet to fire any other pregnant performers.

Interestingly, this year has seen WWE make plans to create a more family-friendly backstage environment, including areas and rooms tailored to be used by performers and their children.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.