Highlights

• Black Saturday: Vince McMahon's purchase of Georgia Championship Wrestling caused a seismic shift in the wrestling business, leading to the formation of WCW.
• Fritz Von Erich's heart attack angle: The tasteless stunt contributed to the decline and closure of World Class Championship Wrestling.
• Jim Duggan and Iron Sheik's arrest: A real-life run-in with the law broke kayfabe and derailed a patriotic babyface angle.

Ever since its inception, pro wrestling has been constantly evolving and changing, so much that it’s possible that the sport may seem drastically different to a viewer tuning in after a decade of not watching. While some of it is the result of wrestling’s ebb and flow, there are also moments that proved pivotal in the sport’s history — sometimes in a destructive way.

Let’s take a look at 10 events that have irreparably changed aspects of the wrestling business — or damaged it, in some fans' eyes. Many of these moments involve WWE in one way or another, but other promotions aren’t immune to delivering these kinds of seismic shifts.

UPDATE: 2024/01/31 07:30 EST BY STEFANO MOCELLA

Professional wrestling, at least on the mainstream level, definitely isn't what it used to be. With the days of kayfabe long gone and everyone being in on the secret behind wrestling, nowadays fans are simply expected to suspend disbelief for a few hours and enjoy the show. The business used to be extremely secretive and was presented as a competitive sport. While certain traditions in wrestling are still somewhat upheld, the industry has evolved in a big way from the territory days. Let's revisit some key moments in wrestling history that changed the industry and according to some fans, ruined what they loved about wrestling.

10 Black Saturday Was One Of The Most Shocking Moments For Southern Wrestling Fans

Vince McMahon Announces Purchase Of Georgia Championship Wrestling

• Vince McMahon Appears On TBS To Announce Purchase
• Southern Wrestling Fans Were Shocked by the News
• Jim Crockett Promotions Would Buy The Territory Back To Form WCW

Once Vince McMahon Jr. bought WWE from his father Vince Sr., the younger McMahon began to make huge moves to expand the promotion beyond its Northeast territory. One of those big moments involved McMahon purchasing a controlling stake in Georgia Championship Wrestling from Gerald and Jack Brisco, thus taking over GCW’s 6:05pm time slot on TBS.

The event, known as Black Saturday, saw Southern wrasslin’ fans balk at the replacement WWE programming, and eventually resulted in Jim Crockett Promotions buying the territory, leading to the formation of WCW.

9 Fritz Von Erich’s Heart Attack Was In Poor Taste

Angle Was A Bridge Too Far For WCCW Fans

• The Von Erichs Were Household Names In Texas Territory
• Frtz Von Erich Ran An Angle Where He Suffered A Heart Attack In The Ring
• WCCW Would Decline And Close Its Doors In 1990

In the early 1980s, Texas’ World Class Championship Wrestling — centered around the beloved Von Erich family — was one of the hottest territories in wrestling. But as the decade went on and several of the Von Erich brothers suffered untimely deaths, the legacy of WCCW was one steeped in tragedy.

While fans loved the Von Erichs, patriarch Fritz Von Erich betrayed a certain amount of trust in 1987 when he ran an angle in which he suffered a kayfabe heart attack in the ring. The stunt was deemed tasteless, contributing to WCCW’s continued decline before shuttering in 1990.

8 Jim Duggan & Iron Sheik Get Caught Hanging Out

Babyface And Heel Caught Breaking Kayfabe

• Hacksaw Jim Duggan Was An All-American Babyface
• Iron Sheik Portrayed An Anti-American Heel
• Duggan And Sheik Were Arrested Together, Breaking Kayfabe

After signing to WWE in 1987, former Mid-South Wrestling star “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan was pushed as a patriotic babyface by feuding with the Iranian heel The Iron Sheik. While that kind of jingoism still played with wrestling audiences at the time, a real-life run-in with the law derailed that angle — and the concept of kayfabe itself.

Shortly after the feud began, Duggan and Sheik were pulled over and subsequently arrested on drug charges. On top of that, the incident had severely broken kayfabe, as these two in-ring rivals were seen hanging out behind the scenes.

7 The Hulk Hogan Steroid Controversy Helped WWE's Business Decline

Severe Blow To WWE And Hogan's Reputations

• WWE Rose To Unprecedented Heights With Hogan As The Face Of The Company
• Allegations Of PED Usage Surfaced In 1992
• Controversy Contributed To Hogan's WWE Hiatus

In the 1980s, Hulk Hogan could do no wrong with the average pro wrestling fan. The Hulkster was ridiculously over, held the WWE Championship for four years, and became a pop culture icon in the process.

However, in the early 1990s, WWE made headlines thanks to the rampant use of illegal steroids backstage, with a federal case ensuing and Hulk Hogan being among the wrestlers who used performance-enhancing drugs. This was a severe blow to Hogan’s reputation and credibility as a babyface, as his persona involved being a role model who discouraged drug use.

6 The Montreal Screwjob Showed How Ugly Wrestling Can Get

Curtain Pulled Back On The Business

• The Infamous Double Cross Went Off Script From The Planned Finish
• Bret Hart Was Set To Head To WCW
• Fallout Led To Both Sides Sharing Their Side From Behind The Scenes

At Survivor Series 1997 in Montreal, a title match between WWE Champion Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels appeared to go horrifically off the rails, as WWE boss Vince McMahon called for the bell in Michaels’ favor, unbeknownst to the champion.

The incident, known as the Montreal Screwjob, made tremendous waves in the pro wrestling world, as the beloved Hart was apparently betrayed in a manner that had nothing to do with kayfabe. From there, the idea of a strict delineation between kayfabe and reality was obliterated, and fans to this day have discussed various conspiracy theories surrounding the incident.

5 January 4th, 1999 Edition Of WCW Nitro

The Fingerpoke Of Doom Arguably Began WCW's Downfall

• 600,000 Viewers Switched To RAW To Watch Mick Foley Win The WWE Championship
• WCW Ran A Poorly Executed Angle With Goldberg Being Arrested
• WCW Ended Nitro With The nWo Reforming Following The Infamous Fingerpoke Of Doom

September 1995 saw the premiere of WCW’s new flagship show, Monday Nitro, which directly competed with WWE’s Monday Night Raw. For 83 weeks, Nitro managed to defeat the oft-struggling Raw in the ratings, even while the Attitude Era was in full swing. Following their 83-week streak, WCW and WWE exchanged ratings victories for much of 1998.

Everything changed with the 1/4/1999 episode of Nitro, in which WCW dismissively gave away a major title change — Mankind winning the WWE Championship — on the concurrent Raw, causing droves of fans to change the channel. On top of that blow to Nitro’s ratings, WCW’s show had the infamous Fingerpoke of Doom, a scripted plot twist that many fans point to as the beginning of the promotion’s drastic decline.

4 Hulk Hogan, Vince Russo Kill The Concept Of A Worked Shoot

Company Reaches Its Lowest Point At Bash At The Beach 2000

• Vince Russo Took Over As WCW's Head Writer In 1999
• Russo Ran Many 'Reality' Based Angles In Effort To Replicate WWE Success
• Worked Shoot On Hulk Hogan In 2000 Led To Legal Disputes

In late 1999, WCW appeared to stage a coup when it hired former Attitude Era WWE writers Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara to run the show. Unfortunately, Russo’s unfiltered antics and storytelling ticks proved to be an albatross around the neck of WCW, particularly when it came to the dreaded “worked shoot.”

On countless occasions — the most notable being the Bash at the Beach 2000 incident — Russo’s WCW broke the fourth wall to shock fans, but all it ultimately did was make the worked shoot meaningless. Worse yet, Hogan would sue WCW as Russo allegedly went against what was agreed upon, with Hogan claiming Russo's tirade was character defamation.

3 WWE Buys WCW, Eliminating Its Only Real Competitor

Absence Of Competition Leads To A Downturn In Wrestling Popularity

• Vince McMahon Purchased WCW In 2001 For Merely $3 Million
• Absence Of Competition Led To Creative Ruts In WWE
• 2001 Invasion Angle Proved To Be A Massive Disappointment

Eventually, WCW became a massive financial liability for Time Warner, which had brought Turner Broadcasting in 1996. This perfectly set the stage for WWE to snuff out what had been a thorn in its side for over a half a decade by buying the company in 2001.

The purchase was announced in dramatic fashion at the conclusion of the 3/26/2001 episode of Nitro, eventually resulting in the infamous (and ultimately disappointing) Invasion storyline in WWE. Outside of that, however, WWE had obliterated its only major competition, and promotions ever since have struggled to compete.

2 Steve Austin Turns Heel At WrestleMania 17

Heel Turn Arguably Ends WWE's Most Prosperous Era

• Steve Austin Felt He Had Gone Stale As A Babyface
• Heel Turn Occurred Before A Pro-Austin Texas Crowd
• Business Suffered With WWE Losing Its Top Babyface

The landmark WrestleMania 17 is considered by many fans to be the final WWE pay-per-view of the Attitude Era, as the aforementioned Invasion storyline happened soon after. A classic show, this 2001 ‘Mania ended with a shocking heel turn for WWE’s top star, Stone Cold Steve Austin, who decided to side with his mortal enemy, Vince McMahon.

While it was a great surprise, it was also incredibly unpopular with many fans, and has generally been regarded as a failure to cap of what was otherwise an incredible run for the promotion.

1 WWE Establishes NXT UK

WWE Gets Serious On Finding International Talent

• Triple H Had Led WWE's Developmental Program For Several Years
• WWE Announced NXT's Expansion Into The UK In 2018
• WWE's International Talent Pool Dramatically Grew

While WWE eventually evolved into a family-friendly, corporate entity in the 2000s, the promotion was still no stranger to messing with the pro wrestling world at large. Following the runaway success of its developmental brand, NXT, WWE opted to expand by establishing more developmental territories, creating NXT UK in 2018.

Utilizing the United Kingdom’s thriving wrestling scene, WWE began locking down droves of talent to exclusive contracts, ultimately decimating the relatively small wrestling scene in the British Isles.