10 Times WWE Bounced Back From Adversity

5. Steroid Scandal #1

Vince Mcmahon Dawn Marie
MARK LENNIHAN/AP/Press Association Images

While the 2007 steroid scandal wasn’t exactly great publicity for WWE, the steroid scandal of 1994 was brutal on a whole host of levels for the then-WWF.

At that time, there was a very, very real chance that Vince McMahon was going to get a prison sentence as he was hit by allegations of distributing steroids amongst his wrestlers. McMahon and several of the wrestling world’s most influential figures were forced to stand trial and testify under oath, and it was looking grim for VKM.

Fortunately for Vince, the whole case against him was thrown on its head by Kevin Wacholz. Formerly employed by McMahon as Nailz, Wacholz was there to testify against Vinny Mac – only he got carried away and vented about his hatred of Vince McMahon, in turn tarnishing his testimony.

McMahon would ultimately avoid a spell in prison, yet this had a ginormous effect on WWF for the next few years. Not only did this put an end to the relationship between Vince and Hulk Hogan – The Hulkster taking the stand to admit his own steroid use, brother – but the media coverage of all of this was a major turn off for potential sponsors.

It took WWE years to fully bounce back from this, and it could be argued that it wasn’t until the Attitude Era caught fire that McMahon’s company fully recovered.

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.