The One WWE Gimmick That Was Too Offensive Even For Vince McMahon

This was the same WWE Chairman who, in March 2001, made Trish Stratus bark like a dog when McMahon cast her aside as part of their affair storyline, then forced the future Hall-of-Famer strip to her underwear minutes after crawling around on all fours. It was such a gross scene that WWE's UK broadcasting partner, Sky, refused to show the segment, and it later became a frequent barb for opponents and media outlets to throw at Linda McMahon during her failed senate run.

1998 saw the promotion exploit Road Warrior Hawk's real-life alcoholism for a tasteless storyline culminating in the tag wrestling legend scaling the TitanTron, attempting to commit suicide. His enabler, Droz, shoved him from the structure, and the Legion of Doom ended up walking out of the company in disgust.

Vince famously interviewed Brian Pillman's grieving widow less than 24 hours after her husband's passing on an October 1997 episode of Raw. His company relentlessly mocked Jim Ross' battle with Bells Palsy when the legendary announcer returned to television following a bout with the illness in March 1999. Characters like Beaver Cleavage, Sgt. Slaughter's stint as an Iraqi sympathiser, Virgil, and more had all been passed under his watch.

Yet Baron Von Bava, the cryogenically-frozen Nazi, was the one WWE gimmick too offensive for a man who'd later give Eugene, Kerwin White, and Muhammad Hassan the okay.

Baron Von Bava was worse than all of these ideas. Heidenreich largely fell off the wrestling radar after departing WWE in 2006 - the process may have been swifter, uglier, and more damaging had the company ran with Madigan's gimmick.