20 Most Controversial Wrestling PPVs Of All Time

15. Barely Legal 1997

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldnMoQj-1ac Controversy: The uproar from the "Mass Transit" incident months earlier leading many to wonder if ECW would "bastardize" their own product to ease pay-per-view provider worries ECW was growing in every way, and pay-per-view was the next logical step in their progress. There were some who feared pay-per-view would "water down" the product, but they remained curious, at the very least. History was nearly rewritten at a house show on November 23rd, 1996, though. At the show, a 17-year-old named Eric Kulas lied and scammed his way into competing, even though he was untrained. His large size (he weighed over 350 pounds) made him look a lot older than he was. Kulas wrestled as Mass Transit, teaming with D-Von Dudley, to take on the team of New Jack and Mustafa Saed, better known as The Gangstas. During the match, as was always the case when New Jack worked, things got very physical, and Kulas would end up being bladed and bleeding an absolute gusher. It led to Kulas' father, who was part of the scam to begin with, to get close to the ring and scream out for the match to stop, revealing his son's real age. When word broke of the incident, pay-per-view provider Request TV dropped Barely Legal, the company's debut event, from its schedule. Before they had even reached pay-per-view, ECW was no longer going to be available in that medium. It took plenty of begging from Paul Heyman for Request TV to put them back on the schedule, but at a later time than the normal wrestling event. With Request TV, and critics, watching very carefully, those fans who were worried about the content having to change were extra cautious, but things went normally, and ECW moved on from there.