5 Most Controversial WCW Gimmicks Ever

5. Harlem Heat

Harlem Heat were one of the most decorated WCW tag teams ever, winning the WCW World Tag Team Titles a whopping ten times during their five year run together, but they had a very inauspicious debut with the Atlanta-based company.

Previously known on the indies as 'The Ebony Experience', Harlem Heat originally made their WCW starts as a pair of wrestling prisoners (read: slaves) who had been won by Colonel Rob Parker in a card game. I'm not making that part up, honestly. This was good old boy WCW southern wrasslin' as its worst.

Billed as 'Kole' (Booker T) and 'Kane' (Stevie Ray), the brothers came to the ring wearing wrist and foot shackles. This was all apparently the idea of Sid Vicious, the man who had gotten the Heat their jobs with the company.

Naturally, some folks saw this as problematic. Then-WCW President Bill Shaw was not happy that the idea almost made its way to a TV taping (the team worked wearing prison garb but had their prison ID numbers covered by masking tape) and quickly saw about getting it changed.

But seriously, guys, how do you pair up two African American men with a dude who looks like a plantation owner? This might not have become a full-blown thing but it was certainly controversial at the time.