10 Times WWE Got Its Ass Kicked
4. The Steroid Trial
Vince and Titan Sports were in the stand facing three counts of steroid-related charges in 1993 and into 1994 - with McMahon accused of purchasing and distributing anabolic steroids to his talent.
Over the subsequent years, it's been reported that McMahon had made contingency plans for the WWF should he end up incarcerated. Various wrestling personalities have claimed that Vince had agreed for Jerry Jarrett to take over the running of WWF if Vince was sentenced to a spell behind bars.
Thankfully for Vince, the combination of a ranting Kevin 'Nailz' Wacholz testimony, some words of defence from Hulk Hogan, certain procedural mistakes, and the wizardry of attorney Jerry McDevitt resulted in McMahon and his company being cleared of all charges. And, erm, his innocence...
Despite being acquitted, the brand name of the then-WWF took a huge knock across the mainstream media at this point in time. And if McMahon wasn't cleared here, the very landscape of professional wrestling could have been extremely different to what we saw play out from '94 through until today.
Skip ahead to 2007 though, and WWE would find itself involved in yet another steroid scandal.