10 WWE Angles That Backfired Spectacularly

Vince McMahon sold Monday Night Raw to Donald Trump in June 2009, before buying it back a week later. It was a thoroughly pointless angle, although to their credit they did at least air one commercial-free episode as a result (apparently at the behest of the future POTUS).

But here's why this backfired so spectacularly: WWE actually presented the deal as though it were real. They released press statements announcing that Trump was now in charge of their flagship show, and it was duly picked up by a number of news outlets.

All of this free publicity sounds great on paper, except that they forgot to inform their shareholders about the angle first. In consequence, the company's stock prices plummeted about 7%, leading to them having to hastily retract their statement and admit that it was all a ruse.

Not ideal either for WWE or the man who would be taking to the highest office in the land eight years later. Oh, and Trump also implemented the celebrity guest host policy in his only night in charge - so there's that.