One Moment WWE Wants You To Forget From Every Year (1985 to 2026)

31. 1996 - "Eat Sh*t And Learn To Like The Taste Of It"

TL Hopper
WWE

This was supposedly the instruction uttered to Triple H by Vince McMahon as his infamous 1996 "punishment" run kicked off, but this is a list about things you're supposed to forget about and 'The Game' has reminded people about this every day for 30 years, so instead here's the time a wrestler was booked to take a bite out of a turd on on a pay-per-view pre-show. 

TL Hopper was a dumb gimmick in a dumb time, but some context is important here; the wrestler behind the plumber Tony Anthony was solid and experienced enough to do jobs on television under the pretence of being a star pitted against another star. It didn't work because fans saw through the obvious disparity between the likes actual main roster stars and Hopper, Tracy Smothers' Freddie Joe Floyd or Bill Irwin's Goon. Tl;dr - it was dumb, but not for a lot of the reasons people think. Dumb, but rational.

Vince McMahon was just dumb. He booked Hopper to bite down on what he thought was a turd (!) while doing some plumbing (!!) on the SummerSlam 1996 pre-show (!!!). 

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for nearly 10 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 65,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live.