WWE has provided us with so many great memories over the years, and the same could be (and will be) said for millions of children dotted around the world. However, there's a darker side to the company that we simply cannot fail to present.
Some of the controversies we're about to list are a bit tame in the eyes of many, but others are much more serious and deserve our immediate attention.
Either way, they'll continue to roll on and make billions upon billions from year to year, but make sure you keep these stories in mind when you see the figures being released.
10 Owen Hart’s Death
In 1999, at the Over The Edge pay per view, Owen Hart was supposed to engage in a stunt that would see him mess up a dramatic fall into the ring. Instead, high up in the air, his harness was discharged too early and he fell to his death.
The fact that WWE decided to go on with the show was bad enough, but the sheer level of incompetence somewhere along the way just doesn’t sit well with us. There was clearly some kind of fault that was made here.
9 Steroid Scandal
Back in 1994, Vince McMahon was taken to court after being accused of administering steroids to his superstars. He faced up to eight years in prison if found guilty, and yet, the guy seemed to get away with it.
To this day we don’t really understand how he got away with it all as well as he did, but such is life.
Vinnie Mac was all smiles when he left the court as you can probably imagine, without an ounce of remorse.
So, it was just another day in the office, really.
8 CM Punk Ordeal
When your doctors are so bad that it leads to a staph infection going undiagnosed, it’s bad. When you fire someone on their wedding day out of sheer bitterness, it’s worse. Then, when you sue the individual in question, it’s just downright ugly.
WWE knew what they were doing throughout the entire CM Punk saga, and it was designed purely to bleed the man of money. They succeeded, but in the end, they were the ones left with a red face as they lost the lawsuit. Some would say that’s karma.
7 The Roman Arrogance
There’s a good chance that Roman Reigns could've been ‘the guy’ within WWE’s little bubble, but the way in which they forced him down our throats just didn’t sit right with the WWE Universe.
He was booed after winning the Royal Rumble, he was booed at WrestleMania 32 when he eventually won the title, and he was booed so unbelievably badly on the RAW after WrestleMania 33 that it almost stands alone as a work of art.
He’s alright now, but WWE’s arrogance on the whole situation was absolutely astonishing.
6 Exploiting Eddie
The least that WWE could’ve done when Eddie Guerrero passed away in 2005 is allow him to rest in peace, but, instead, they turned it into a storyline that saw Rey Mysterio capture the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 22.
Oh, and did we mention the fact that both Randy Orton and Batista made negative references to the fact that Eddie had died?
The whole thing just didn’t sit right with us whatsoever, and while some would argue Eddie would’ve been absolutely fine with it, we’ll never know for sure.
5 Chris Benoit
The tragedy of Chris Benoit speaks for itself. For those of you who don’t know, though, Benoit murdered his wife and son before killing himself.
WWE removed all mentions of Chris, although that didn’t erase the fact that some put his actions down to the head trauma he suffered throughout the course of his career.
Either way, it’s not WWE’s fault that we felt this way, because it was just kind of a natural reaction to such a horrible incident. Nobody would’ve wanted to watch after this for quite some time.
4 The GLAAD Lie
When WWE put on a storyline between Billy & Chuck in which they were believed to be in love with one another, GLAAD happily worked with and supported the campaign alongside WWE – claiming that they were told the end goal was for the duo to get married on WWE TV.
However, during the wedding, the two revealed that it was all a stunt that had gone too far. GLAAD was understandably furious about this, claiming that they were completely and utterly misled by WWE throughout the course of the storyline.
3 Saudi Arabia Issues
From the murder of Jamal Khashoggi to not allowing women to compete on the WWE shows to the endless human rights violations associated with the country, there are so, so many things wrong with the mega-money deal that WWE has struck with Saudi Arabia.
It’s wrong on so many levels that we’re kind of astonished more people aren’t up in arms about the whole thing.
They can stack the cards all they want, though, because it isn’t going to change the fact that WWE will have to live with this business decision forever.
2 Pillman’s Got A Gun
Imagine if they did this in today’s environment.
Either way, even back then it made so many fans feel so incredibly uncomfortable. The sight of a crazed Brian Pillman waving a gun around on national television was just utterly mad, and the fact that WWE even came up with that idea in the first place is bonkers.
Sure, WWE is all about the entertainment side of things alongside the athletic excellence, but there comes a point in time where you need to draw a line in the sand and say enough is enough.
1 Montreal Screwjob
Bret Hart didn’t want to lose the WWE Championship to Shawn Michaels in his own backyard and Vince McMahon didn’t want to risk Bret walking onto WCW television with the WWE Championship over his shoulder.
In the end, Vince screwed Bret out of the belt in what was a very real incident – and that much is just obvious.
All these years later fans have differing views over what happened that night, but one thing we all know to be true is that nobody will ever, ever forget the Montreal Screwjob.