10 Wrestling Matches That Led To Massive Lawsuits

5. The Boss Vs. Rick Rude

The Boss WCW
WCW Magazine/WWE

When: WCW Saturday Night (18 December 1993).

The above pic is from an old issue of WCW Magazine in late-1993. It shows Ray Traylor, best-known as the WWF's Big Boss Man preparing to make his debut in Disneyland as 'The Boss'. To say Vince McMahon wasn't best-pleased would be a gross understatement.

When The Boss debuted on the 18 December '93 episode of WCW Saturday Night and wrestled Rick Rude, Vince took action and cried foul. He thought WCW were encroaching on his intellectual property by presenting Traylor as a character almost identical to the Big Boss Man, and threatened to take things all the way.

It didn't help that Bobby Heenan kept saying "Big Boss Man" during Traylor's earliest appearances, and WCW bowed to the legal pressure. They changed Ray's gimmick to 'The Guardian Angel' soon after and moved on from 'The Boss' experiment.

Score one for McMahon.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.