10 Times WWE Got Its Ass Kicked

6. The Tom Cole Accusations

In terms of the dark and twisted corners of WWE history, few things remain as disturbing as what happened to young ring boy Tom Cole back in the '90s.

1992 saw Cole make accusations of sexual misconduct against Pat Patterson, Terry Garvin, and ring announcer Mel Phillips - acusations that would see all three of the accused depart the then-World Wrestling Federation at that time. Phillips was straight-up fired by the company, while Patterson and Garvin resigned. Cole himself - who claimed that this abuse went on for several years during two separate stints with the organisation - ultimately agreed an out of court settlement with Vince McMahon's Titan Sports.

It was only after the mainstream media picked up on these allegations that Patterson, Garvin, and Phillips left WWF, however, with Patterson eventually returning to the company later down the line. Not only did the press rightly jump all over this in '92, but Cole's family and members of the general public also protested outside Titan Towers to showcase their anger and upset that justice had not been adequately served.

In more recent times, this scandal has reared its head at several other points, particularly when Linda McMahon was running for Senate in 2010 and 2012. For Cole's part, he praised Linda in '10 and talked about how well the company handled the issues of 1992 - which led to some alleging that Tom had been paid off to make such comments as a way to quell any heat heading Linda's way.

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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.