The Disturbing Truth Behind The Worst Month Of Vince McMahon’s Life
A go-home angle that featured Jerry Lawler decking Owen Hart to distract Bret in his WWE Championship match against Yokozuna was already in the can when 'The King' got his own knock from the police just a week or so before Vince McMahon himself.
The Survivor Series co-main eventer was charged with one count of second-degree rape (statutory, not forced), three counts of second-degree sodomy, and one count of harassing a witness. Big f*cking charges, big f*cking words, and big f*cking problems for both Lawler and the frazzled Chairman.
A incredibly complex case best left for another article altogether, the charges were dropped the victim amidst some controversy around the legitimacy of the claims, but it would be six months before 'The King' could be anywhere near the company's output again. A half-year of story was flushed and hushed by the scandal as WWE scrambled to slot a villain in Lawler's place. McMahon - as he would multiple times over the years - turned to a controversy-riddled Shawn Michaels.
'HBK' had been suspended and stripped of his Intercontinental Title months earlier for failing a steroid test. It's a failure he disputed then and still does to this day, but the cloud of suspicion hung over his head, not least with performance-enhancing-drugs being such a hot-button subject in light of McMahon's other pressing problems. Taking the punishment on the chin, Michaels was brought back the week before the show to shoot a tacked-on angle where he crudely bantered off the Harts, before assuming the role in the match itself with masked knights he barely even attempted to force chemistry with.
A money payoff never materialised, the elimination match a reflection of all of Vince McMahon's problems in a microcosm. He surely must have felt the squeeze of these outside forces at the time, but much internal strife was adding to the pile - some from two megastars he'd been batting back for years.
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