The Ruthless Aggression era is among the most underrated periods in WWE history. Everyone usually thinks back to the Attitude Era due to the ratings success and unpredictable nature of the WWE product in the 90s. However, the Ruthless Aggression era in the 2000s gave us a perfect mix between unpredictable and smart storytelling. Stars like John Cena, Batista, Edge, and Randy Orton would become the new faces of the company moving forward. Unfortunately, not everything can be perfect, even in an era with generally good content.
There were quite a few misses that led to embarrassing moments for the company during this chapter. WWE usually will have at least one bad idea for every good idea it had during these days. It wasn’t as bad back in the 2000s, but the mistakes certainly left a negative legacy. We will break them down with ten embarrassing moments from the Ruthless Aggression era we want to forget.
10 Dawn Marie And Al Wilson Marriage
The romantic storylines in WWE during the Ruthless Aggression era featured some of the worst moments in company history. Torrie Wilson’s father Al Wilson would join WWE for a short storyline that featured him marrying Torrie’s rival Dawn Marie as part of her evil plan.
The segments for the love angle were all tough to watch, but the low point came when Al “died” in the storyline during a moment of intimacy on their honeymoon. Marie just married Al to get one over on Torrie in their feud, and this was the worst way to go about it.
9 Steve Austin's backstage attack on Arn Anderson
WWE tried to create a new version of the successful story of Steve Austin battling the authority at the start of the Ruthless Aggression era. Ric Flair was the person in charge of Raw following the first brand split, which led to him turning heel after Austin refused to respect his power.
One embarrassing moment in the angle featured Austin attacking Flair’s best friend and assistant Arn Anderson backstage. The part we most want to forget was when Austin seemingly urinated on an attacked Anderson, ending the segment with his shirt now yellow. It was one of the worst moments of Austin’s career.
8 Muhammad Hassan heel gimmick
The gimmick of Muhammad Hassan being a heel for expressing his experiences of being a victim of racism is a tough one to watch back. Hassan would get heel heat by insulting the fans of America in a way that would no longer fly on WWE television given the race elements involved.
WWE went too far with the already offensive gimmick by having Hassan lead a group of masked men to brutally attack The Undertaker and aired it on the same day as a terror attack. It led to the networks demanding WWE drop the character, as Hassan would lose to Undertaker and never return.
7 The Kane/Lita/Snitsky storyline
Kane and Lita’s relationship on WWE television featured many horrible moments from start to finish. The worst came when new heel wrestler Gene Snitsky would get involved in a singles feud with Kane during this time.
Snitsky was the reason for Lita’s scripted pregnancy to end in a horrible moment that was not done well. Fans laughed and heckled the embarrassing segments that often featured Snitsky developing the catchphrase “it wasn’t my fault” about the situation. Snitsky never could rebound, and his career was doomed from this embarrassing time.
6 Undertaker Burying Paul Bearer In Cement
The Undertaker returned to the dead man gimmick with Paul Bearer once again at his side at WrestleMania 20. Fans were happy to see the character return after Undertaker spent years on his American Badass gimmick that did not find the same success.
Paul Heyman and the Dudley Boyz entered a feud with Undertaker where they threatened to cement Bearer in a glass crypt if Undertaker lost the match. Despite winning, Undertaker made the decision to fill the glass with cement to prove he had no weaknesses. The odd moment did not even turn him heel as fans continued cheering Undertaker as he faced heels.
5 Vince McMahon Wrestling God
Vince McMahon decided to deliver the ultimate power play by wanting to wrestle God in a match. This was during his feud with Shawn Michaels after Michaels defeated him at WrestleMania 22. Vince started mocking Michaels for his new religious life to continue the angle.
The team of Vince and Shane McMahon would face Michaels and his assigned tag team partner of God. It featured a few embarrassing skits of Vince in church and culminated in the terrible match that would see the McMahon father and son score the win.
4 Heidenreich’s Gimmick
WWE introduced Jon Heidenreich in the worst of ways despite viewing him as a future top star. The potential of Heidenreich made him a top prospect in developmental. A new gimmick was given to him for the call-up that involved Michael Cole.
Heidenreich essentially stalked Cole before abducting and assaulting the commentator backstage in a segment that was tough to watch. To make it worse, there was no real rationale behind the idea other than wanting to add shock value. Heidenreich never could bounce back and would flop with a few different characters.
3 Kane Setting Jim Ross On Fire
The heel turn of Kane in the early portion of the Ruthless Aggression era came when he was forced to unmask after losing a match to Triple H. Kane then started to make life miserable for anyone that the fans cared about, and that extended to the commentary team.
Jim Ross hosted a private interview with Kane about his backstory that led to him wearing the mask. Kane took exception to the questions and ended up setting JR on fire. The segment was not easy to watch and pushed the envelope a bit too far in terms of both being too graphic and too cheesy.
2 The Eugene Character
WWE came up with an all-time horrible gimmick for Nick Dinsmore after he developed a reputation for his in-ring work in OVW. The change to Eugene would see him lose all his wrestling skills as he portrayed a lifelong fan that accidentally becomes part of the show as the nephew of Eric Bischoff.
Eugene’s character suffered from mental illness that was portrayed in a terrible fashion by WWE. The other wrestlers often made fun of him, and the fans did not necessarily view him as a credible performer. Eugene was a bad idea that WWE likely does their best to avoid ever showing again in current programs.
1 Katie Vick Storyline
Kane was involved in yet another embarrassing storyline in the time of the Ruthless Aggression era. Triple H referenced a moment in his past when Kane’s high school girlfriend Katie Vick passed away following a car accident.
The story was already flawed, but WWE doubled down on making it worse. An infamous segment featured Triple H dressed as Kane going into a casket and getting intimate with the implied corpse of his ex-girlfriend. The Katie Vick storyline will always be among the worst ideas in WWE history.