10 Times WWE Used Major News Events In Questionable Taste
5. Apartheid In South Africa
The road to the end of apartheid in South Africa was a tortuous and brutal one marked by violence, repression, and assassination. In 1993, racist legislation was outlawed and multi-racial elections were finally held in 1994. It was a painful, controversial, and above all complicated process with rights, wrong and compromises on all sides.
None of which were apparent when the Truth Commission debuted in the WWE in 1996. Transported from USWA, their gimmick was one of militaristic South African white supremacists and included early appearances by the men who would later perform as Kurrgan and Bull Buchanan. The concept of the Truth Commission was such a poor fit for pro wrestling that the gimmick was shifted into a cultist group under leader The Jackyl.
The existence of the Truth Commission created the queasy discomfort that only a truly off-colour gimmick can, and the group petered out not long after to be mourned by absolutely no one.