10 Wrestling Storylines That Were Much Darker Than You Think

3. Vince McMahon Vs. Stephanie McMahon

Rob Van Dam Steve Austin
WWE.com

The Vince McMahon Vs. Stephanie McMahon match at No Mercy 2003 was unfathomably entertaining.

As 'Murica as wrestling ever got - come one, come call as an over-muscled tyrant of a father chokes out his own daughter! - the deranged circus of a programme will mostly be remembered for the PPV match, Vince's terrifying, bulging eyes, and the sheer preposterous cruelty of his control sequence. That Vince by virtue of being an amateur was so clumsy enhanced something you felt guilty about enjoying. His lariats were ghastly.

The match as a concept unto itself was ridiculous: WWE's post-Attitude Era gross desperation, manifest, but somehow deliriously entertaining.

The silliness on the stage obscured the darkness at is core; in the wider storyline, it was revealed that Vince ordered an underage (!) Stephanie McMahon to allow him to facilitate certain business deals, which was a barely-coded euphemism for "Vince pimped his daughter out".

This was disturbing, and WWE being WWE, they didn't even pen a happy ending: Vince won, and his increasingly bleak reign of terror continued unabated.

The optics of Vince's "character" in the "Ruthless Aggression" era were grotesque then, and far worse now...

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!