10 Times WWE Got Its Ass Kicked

4. The Steroid Trial

Sting Undertaker Higher Power
WWE.com

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.

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.