Gimmicks are an important aspect of a pro wrestler's career, as his ability to tell a story is as equally important as his in-ring skills. Likewise, the fans have witnessed various wrestlers with unique and outlandish gimmicks grace their television screens through WWE over the years.
WWE always pays special attention to the characters of the wrestlers as they have made clear on many occasions that the company is as much of a sports entertainment firm as it's a wrestling promotion.
Hence, WWE has gone to extreme measures with the wrestlers' characters over the years to tell compelling storylines to its audience. With that said, let's take a look at ten WWE gimmicks that went too far in storylines.
10 Paul Heyman Mocking Jerry Lawler's Heart Attack
Paul Heyman's on-screen character has always been a heel manager who goes to any extent to ensure his clients achieve huge success. CM Punk is one such wrestler who used Heyman's managerial service as they worked together in WWE between 2012 and 2013.
It was at this time when WWE Hall of Famer and commentator Jerry Lawler suffered a legitimate heart attack on the September 10, 2012, episode of Raw.
The King made a quick recovery and returned to his duties behind the commentary desk only to witness Paul Heyman take a dig at his condition by faking a heart attack on an episode of Raw in November 2012.
9 Randy Orton's Disrespectful Eddie Guerrero Comment
Former WWE Champion Eddie Guerrero passed away back in 2005 while he was still an active in-ring competitor for WWE. The company paid its tributes to the fallen legend along with all the superstars on the rosters before deciding to use his passing to elevate Rey Mysterio to the World Title picture.
Mysterio won the 2006 Royal Rumble match and dedicated his victory to Guerrero, but he had to defend his WrestleMania opportunity against Randy Orton at that year's No Way Out 2006.
During the build-up to the contest, Orton made a disrespectful comment on Eddie Guerrero's passing to gain some cheap heat, but the fans responded with some harsh criticism over WWE's tactics.
8 Big Bossman Feeding Al Snow His Dog
Al Snow entered into a heated rivalry with The Big Bossman in the summer of 1999, which saw the latter kidnap Al Snow's pet dog Pepper. Big Bossman claimed that he would return the dog only if Snow defeated him in a match for the Hardcore Championship.
However, The Big Bossman went back on his word and didn't return the dog despite losing the match. He then invited Al Snow to his hotel room to discuss the situation and for having dinner with him, but little did Al Snow know that the meat he was eating was of his pet dog.
The storyline crossed a very delicate line, and luckily for them, the animal rights activists were not active as they are at present.
7 Laycool's Piggy James Segment
Michelle McCool formed a heel alliance with Layla in 2009 and named their team LayCool. Their first rivalry was against former Women's Champion Mickie James, and the villainous duo took some extreme measures to take down their adversary mentally during the feud.
During a segment on the November 20, 2009, episode of SmackDown, Michelle McCool made fun of Mickie James' weight and nicknamed her "Piggy James," which left the latter crying in the middle of the ring.
Body shaming is always not a responsible thing to do, and the fans criticized WWE's decision to go this far into hurting James' feelings.
6 Reign Of Terror Triple H
Triple H started his alleged reign of terror back in 2002 when he was handed the World Heavyweight Championship by Eric Bischoff. He portrayed a notorious heel gimmick that held a death grip on the title picture, and his opponents had little to no chance of taking the title off him.
However, Booker T rose to the challenge and took on The Game for the title at WrestleMania 19. However, during the build-up to the event, Triple H allegedly made some racist remarks about Booker T on television, and the fans were enraged when Booker T lost the match despite having to endure the embarrassing storyline.
5 Muhammad Hassan
Muhammad Hassan was one of Vince McMahon's prototype foreign heels who made a decent impact on the main roster following his debut in 2004.
He quickly entered a rivalry with The Undertaker, and the company even had plans for him to defeat Batista to win the World Heavyweight Championship. However, those plans changed after a segment on the July 4, 2005, episode of SmackDown, in which Hassan prayed on the ramp to summon five masked men, who went on to attack The Undertaker and carried him away.
WWE could've toned it down on the stereotype, but it came back to bite them in the behind when the event coincided with the London bombings. It led to WWE's sponsors asking to remove Hassan from television, which eventually ended his career.
4 Kane Marrying Lita
After losing his match against The Undertaker at WrestleMania 20, Kane started a romantic storyline with Lita, which saw the Big Red Monster forcibly take Lita under his control.
The storyline went too far when WWE booked an on-screen wedding between the two before having Lita announce a kayfabe pregnancy. WWE went too far with the storyline, as the fans criticized the company's decision to go ahead with it as most of them felt uncomfortable watching Kane forcing Lita into the relationship.
3 Heidenreich Assaulting Michael Cole
Heidenreich is a controversial wrestler who worked for WWE between 2003 and 2006. The company had to brainstorm various character ideas for him on the main roster before finally coming up with his psychopath gimmick, who ran in during random matches and attacked the wrestlers, and recited strange poems, which he called Disasterpieces.
The character was just starting on the main roster when WWE chose to make a huge leap by booking him in a controversial segment on the September 16, 2004, episode of SmackDown, in which he sexually assaulted Michael Cole in the backstage area.
2 Edge & Lita's Live Sex Celebration
After breaking up with Kane (and with Matt Hardy in real life), Lita started a scandalous on-screen relationship with Edge in 2005. It was the start of Edge's rise as the Rated R Superstar, and his relationship with Lita helped catapult Edge's stock among the fans.
The couple shared numerous close moments on television, but they went too far after they chose to have a live sex celebration on TV to celebrate Edge winning his first WWE Championship.
WWE placed a bed in the middle of the ring and played some provocative music as Edge and Lita did the job in front of thousands of fans. However, it didn't go well with one set of the audience as they didn't want their children to watch such explicit content on a wrestling show.
1 The Katie Vick Segment
Triple H always brought out the best in himself when he portrayed a heel character on WWE television, and it has helped him to achieve numerous accolades over the years.
The Game's gimmick never feared any sort of controversy and did what was necessary at any cost to achieve his goals. He used those same traits during his feud with Kane in 2002, which led to the infamous Katie Vick segment.
Triple H accused that Kane had a girlfriend named Katie Vick, who the Big Red Monster killed, and that he molested the corpse. He claimed that he had footage of Kane doing the deed, but instead, it was himself wearing a Kane mask.