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The 1990s wrestling business is some of the most storied generations in the industry. One of the most remarkable aspects of the professional wrestling industry during the 1990s is the juicy stories in the ring and behind the scenes. WWE's Attitude Era fits those criteria as some of the most controversial yet storied events that took place in the company. With that said, rewinding to March 1999 on an episode of WWE Heat, legendary ECW tag team The Public Enemy wrestled a tag team match against The Acolytes. In a real-life controversy, The Public Enemy got beaten in a few minutes in a brutal squash match.

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ECW's Role In The Monday Night Wars

The competition between WWE and WCW became intense in the late 1990s. A lot of times, when there are wrestling companies that compete with each other, the intensity of it can be overblown sometimes. It wasn't the case between WWE and WCW. And even though ECW was never on the level of both companies regarding mainstream success, the ECW talent played a role in the many years of the Monday Night Wars.

Public Enemy

Specifically, ECW talent would either associate themselves with either WWE or WCW. For instance, one could look at the infamous relationship between WWE and ECW in 1997 when ECW talents like Rob Van Dam and Sandman appeared in WWE programming. ECW talents were crucial for WWE and WCW to utilize regarding potential success.

ECW tag team The Public Enemy, which consisted of Johnny Grunge and Rocco Rock, had gone off to wrestle for WCW in 1996 after making a name for themselves in ECW. And to their credit, despite only lasting in WCW for two years, they did manage to win the WCW World Tag Team Championships. However, what made their run in WCW controversial is that they chose WCW over WWE despite being offered a contract. Once they got to WWE in 1999, joining WCW years before may have been the nail in the coffin for their WWE careers.

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The Public Enemy Gets A Taste Of WWE

In early 1999, The Public Enemy signed with WWE after a second stint with ECW that lasted a short term. Much like The Dudley Boyz, who were also ECW legends, it seemed that The Public Enemy could've had the opportunity to follow in the same footsteps as they did. However, their WWE tenure only lasted a few months as they got regulated to lower-card WWE programming like Heat and Shotgun Saturday Night.

Their most notable WWE match is on the March 7, 1999, edition of WWE Heat. They faced the task of taking on The Acolytes of The Ministry of Darkness in a tag team match, which consisted of Bradshaw and Faarooq. Regarding the tag team match against The Acolytes, when it started, Bradshaw and Faarooq laid a beating on The Public Enemy as they immediately got dominated. Less than a minute after the bout began, The Acolytes delivered stiff shots toward The Public Enemy, as weapons were later involved. As they received hardly any offense, The Public Enemy got hit with rapid chair shots several times and battered with steel step shots from The Acolytes.

Via: wwe.com

The match ended with the referee calling it quits after The Acolytes continued assaulting The Public Enemy as one of its members went through a table out of the ring. The Acolytes' assault ended when Faarooq executed his devastating finisher on one of the members of The Public Enemy.

While this is a squash match on Heat and didn't do anything to build credibility for The Public Enemy, The Acolytes looked more intimidating, which at least helped The Ministry of Darkness appear more serious. However, after suffering a humiliating squash match, The Public Enemy left WWE not too long after.

Why Was The Public Enemy Severely Beaten?

Supposedly, when The Public Enemy arrived at WWE in 1999, they got rejected by the veteran superstars behind the scenes. It's allegedly due to The Public Enemy wanting to work for WCW over WWE despite getting offered by the company. And considering Bradshaw's real-life reputation of treatment towards other wrestlers, it's no surprise The Public Enemy got treated the way they did during their match with him and Faarooq.

Public Enemy in WWE

Although The Dudley Boyz survived The Acolytes' initiation when first arriving in WWE and became tag team legends, The Public Enemy was already doomed from the start considering their backstage animosity.

JBL stated in an interview in 2013 that the beef towards The Public Enemy stemmed from getting aided by Terry Taylor in terms of getting signed by WWE, as Taylor also had backstage issues with other wrestlers. There are also claims The Public Enemy tried to change the ending of the match, which is not the best idea for first-arrival wrestlers as it'd probably rub wrestlers the wrong way. Furthermore, it's crazy to think this type of initiation The Public Enemy went through was allowed in the late 1990s, as it's something one doesn't hear much in today's wrestling.