8 Times WWE Thought They'd Be Invaded FOR REAL

6. Don't F**k With Harley Race

Scott Steiner Banned
WWE

God love Harley Race.

The legendary Harley is one of the greatest, toughest World Champions in the history of the wrestling industry. And for the longest time - as shown by his remarkable eight runs as the NWA Worlds Champion - Race was a National Wrestling Alliance mainstay who was in direct competition with the WWWF/WWF.

At a time when Vince McMahon was looking to sway talent by hook or by crook, McMahon actually had a secret meeting with Race in November 1983, weeks prior to the first ever Starrcade.

That inaugural Starrcade had Harley Race walking in as NWA Worlds Champion, and the plan was for him to drop the title to Ric Flair. Bold as brass, McMahon offered Harley $250,000 to no-show the event and bring the NWA Worlds Title to New York.

Amazingly, Race's autobiography details how Vince tried a double-leg takedown on Harley after he refused the offer. Quietly and calmly, Harley put VKM in a crossface.

When WWF opted to run a Kansas City event, Race - who regularly worked for Kansas City's Central States Wrestling - reportedly turned up at the arena with a pistol and plans to threaten Hulk Hogan.

Even if he was just one man, there was clearly a rightful fear that Harley Race could and would invade any WWF shows that he saw fit.

In typical pro wrestling fashion, Harley Race would wind up working for McMahon's company in 1986, even embarking on a brief feud with Hogan.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.