8 Times WWE Went Scottish
We take the high road, they take the low road. Vince's vision of Scotland has a messy past.
As with most countries not bathed in the hedonistic glow of Vince McMahon's ruddy beloved 'Red, White and Blue', Scotland has found itself on the end of some questionable booking decisions over the years. When opening up their 'Big Book of International Stereotypes' as they so often do, the WWE's attempts to represent those North of the Border has a checkered past, to say the least.
The times are a changin', with Scotland currently boasting one of the most vibrant independent scenes and showcasing several promising potential future global superstars. But within the pop culture vaccum known as Sports Entertainment, there's always one more opportunity just around the corner to turn the clock back to the most base-level characteristics in order to flog a few t-shirts.
Ahead of the historic first ever WWE TV tapings in Glasgow this week, here's 8 occasionally excruciating times the WWE tried to be Scottish.
8. BraveHHHeart
Good old Triple H. He's always taken quite the kicking from the internet crowd, and not least mid-2000s Triple H, as a gaggle of not-that-over midcarders lay scattered throughout the roster, sunk like bricks in swimming pools after feuds with The Game.
But Game he proved to be in 2005, as he starred in one of the WWE's critically acclaimed WrestleMania 21 film parodies, sending himself up as a deluded William Wallace leading an army of nobody. It was a nod to the fact that absolutely no-one on telly aligned with him anymore, and possibly even fewer backstage considered him a leader too.
Stealing the scene was Ric Flair, the one man that still did have starry eyes for Hunter, who dragged a donkey alongside his fearless hero in a hilarious skit as the two made their feeble march to WrestleMania. To be fair to Triple H, the whole thing was pretty tongue-in-cheek, with rotten Scottish accents, the replacing of 'FREEDOM' for 'TITLE' in his big soliloquy, and just about managing not to corpse when talking about lightning shooting out of his arse. Like most of the trailers, it was creatively a success, and despite the laughs within it, unlike some other entries on this list it probably didn't reduce the legacy of an entire country to a tacky punchline.