History HarsherInHindsight / ProfessionalWrestling

* No long after their debut Wrestling/TheShield became one of the most popular stables in WWE history. Fast forward several years later, and [[Wrestling/RomanReigns two]] [[Wrestling/SethRollins members]] of the stable have gone on to be two of the most hated men in pro wrestling, both on-screen & off. [[note]] Though more of the latter case for Rollins, smarks hate Reigns for a variety of reasons even his improved heel character can't fix. [[/note]]

* A promo for ''Wrestling/WrestleMania 19'' had a voice-over talking about what wrestlers go through to make their mark on history and become immortals, and when it says "Someday, we will die", it focuses on Wrestling/EddieGuerrero. It's rather uncomfortable to watch these days, because of his death two years later.

* Even back in 1999, Wrestling/HiroshiTanahashi wasn't on board with Wrestling/KatsuyoriShibata's extreme dedication to "strong style" wrestling. While Shibata would stall on the independent circuit(Big Mouth Loud), fail in kick boxing(K-1) and only find middling success in mixed martial arts promotions (DREAM, DEEP, IGF, etc) Tanahashi would return from Wrestling/{{CMLL}} a new man whose charisma was so strong it forced "[[Wrestling/ShinsukeNakamura The King Of Strong Style]]" himself to undergo a similar makeover and stress his own charisma. Still, Shibata stuck his course, eventually got booked by Wrestling/{{New Japan|ProWrestling}} again and ''eventually'' got pushed by New Japan again, in spite of Tanahashi's disapproval always being just beneath the surface at best. Then Shibata paralyzed half of his own body headbutting Wrestling/KazuchikaOkada, making Tanahashi sound right.

* At the first ''Wrestling/{{ECW}} One Night Stand'' in 2005, Wrestling/MikeAwesome wrestled Wrestling/MasatoTanaka, and Wrestling/JoeyStyles took the opportunity to basically bury Awesome for abruptly signing up with Wrestling/{{WCW}} in 2000 while still ECW World Champion.[[note]]This actually caused ECW to ask WWE (whom they were in somewhat friendly terms with despite being competition) to briefly bring Wrestling/{{Tazz}} back so that Awesome could drop the title to him so in turn Tazz could later drop it a few days later, resulting in the odd situation of a WCW-contracted wrestler losing a ECW title to a WWE-contracted wrestler.[[/note]] When Awesome does a Suicide Dive onto Tanaka, Styles said "It's a damn shame he didn't really take his own life!" A few years later, Awesome killed himself.

** What makes this so bad is that the WWE tried to avert this (they aborted a storyline about Wrestling/VinceMcMahon "dying" when his limo exploded) but the very attempt itself caused it to be played straight. Talk about a no-win situation... This led to the clumsy AuthorsSavingThrow of Vince supposedly having an "illegitimate son", who was revealed to be... Hornswoggle.[[note]]It was supposed to be Mr. Kennedy, but a wellness policy suspension scrapped that idea.[[/note]]

** The end of ''[=WrestleMania=] XX'' is extremely difficult to take for some, considering the murders/suicide of Chris Benoit, and the untimely death and later exploitation of Eddie Guerrero.

* Early 2012, the writers started a storyline where Cena kisses Wrestling/EveTorres, who Cena's "friend" Wrestling/ZackRyder was in love with. The storyline was quickly aborted with Eve being rejected by Cena but The Rock (who was feuding with Cena) pointed out that Cena was a married man kissing another woman. Several months later, Cena got divorced and former WWE wrestler Kenny Dykstra (of the Spirit Squad infamy) claimed that not only was he fired from WWE because Cena stole his fianceé, Wrestling/MickieJames, but that WWE then proceeded to fire James several months later because Cena was engaged at the time and James supposedly gave him the ultimatum to choice between women. It should be noted, however, that this story [[UnreliableNarrator was later debunked]] by Cena, the company, and James herself, who maintains the two of them are still friends.[[note]]James states that, like Wrestling/JohnMorrison, she decided to pursue other interests rather than resign, and once she was ready, WWE's womens division was [[ScrewedByTheNetwork underappreciated and underserved]], thus she decided to go to [[Wrestling/ImpactWrestling TNA]]. Also, Dykstra has been very vocal and vindictive toward the company, sniping at everyone from the [=McMahons=] to Wrestling/RandyOrton to Wrestling/TripleH to even James herself.[[/note]]

* During Wrestling/CodyRhodes' run as "Stardust" and his feud with half-brother Wrestling/{{Goldust}}, their legendary father Wrestling/DustyRhodes made a special guest appearance on the February 16, 2015 episode of ''WWE RAW'' to try and get the brothers back on the same page. It doesn't go well, with Stardust ending his rant by saying "[[ThatManIsDead Cody Rhodes is dead]] and so is my father!" As it turns out, this would be Dusty's very last appearance on Raw before passing away for real almost four months later.

* Wrestling/BraunStrowman, on a 2017 episode of ''Wrestling/WWERaw'', claiming that the next time he and Wrestling/RomanReigns met in the ring, "It will be Roman Reigns funeral." [[note]](Background: Strowman and Reigns had started feuding shortly after [=WrestleMania=] 33, and a week before Strowman made those remarks, he brutally attacked Reigns several times throughout the evening, eventually rendering him so badly injured he needed to be taken to the hospital. As the ambulance was taking him to the hospital, however, Strowman blocked the ambulance and pushed it over using his bare strength. Strowman's later remarks, then, implied that Reigns was weak and that a future meeting between the two would result in injuries so severe Reigns would at least be permanently injured.)[[/note]] On the same night those remarks were made, Reigns' real life brother, Rosey (Matt Anoa'i) was found dead of an apparent heart attack ... and in real life Reigns was helping to plan a funeral.
* Impact Wrestling's "KM" being depicted as a bully in general, when you are aware that Kevin Matthews can be very volatile towards people he doesn't like on social media. This includes fans, promoters, and other wrestlers.

* As cruelly amusing as it is to watch the Wrestling/UltimateWarrior splatter Wrestling/TripleH all over the mat in 90 seconds at ''Wrestling/{{WrestleMania}} XII'', given that it made HHH realize he'd need to do everything possible to protect his spot, if he ever got high enough on the card that he actually had a spot to protect, it looks more and more like a bad idea.
* The pilot episode of ''Wrestling/WWESmackDown'' featured not only the Blue Blazer, but also a match between Wrestling/DLoBrown and Droz, which led to Droz's career ending injury during their rematch several months later on a ''[=SmackDown=]'' taping.
* On the ''Raw'' fallout show to ''Wrestling/HellInACell 2018'', Strowman and Roman Reigns were discussing about Reigns's Universal Championship until Wrestling/BaronCorbin announced that a triple-threat match between Strowman, Reigns and Wrestling/BrockLesnar would take place at a newly announced event known as ''Crown Jewel''. Strowman, then a heel, dismissed the show, the city, the title and his opponents, saying all of them suck. Considering [[Horrible/{{WWE}} the outcome]] of ''Crown Jewel'' itself, which won [[MedalOfDishonor the 2018 Gooker Award]] from ''Website/WrestleCrap'' by quite the landslide, and not without reason, Strowman's words take a new, accidentally prophetic, meaning.

* No long after their debut Wrestling/TheShield became one of the most popular stables in WWE history. Fast forward several years later, and [[Wrestling/RomanReigns two]] [[Wrestling/SethRollins members]] of the stable have gone on to be two of the most hated men in pro wrestling, both on-screen & off [[note]] Though more of the latter case for Rollins, smarks hate Reigns for a variety of reasons even his improved heel character can't fix. [[/note]]

* During the Wrestling/{{Kane}} vs Wrestling/MattHardy "'Til Death Do Us Part" match for Wrestling/{{Lita}} at Summerslam 2004, a sign can be seen in the crowd reading "Lita is a Dirty Slut." Less than a year later, the scandal in which Amy "Lita" Dumas cheated on real-life boyfriend Hardy with married man Adam "Wrestling/{{Edge}}" Copeland would break out, resulting in Lita becoming one of the most-hated Divas in the WWE and resulting in her leaving the company in disgrace in November 2006.

* Hana Kimura's theme music in Wrestling/WorldWonderRingStardom was Music/KnifeParty's "Internet Friends", which includes the line "You blocked me on Facebook, and now you're going to die." In 2020, she committed suicide due to cyberbullying.

** In addition, the Eve angle came after Cena and his wife had filed for divorce, which apparently had been coming for some time. The kicker? Despite his [[StepfordSmiler on-air state]], the strife and divorce was reportedly making Cena [[RealityEnsues quite miserable]]. And the company knew it but went on with it. And ''then'', after Cena lost his match to The Rock, Cena was portrayed in-storyline as undergoing several setbacks due to loss, basically bringing his real-life misery into the storyline.

** In a promo cut by Wrestling/ArnAnderson during the Benoit/Sullivan feud, Arn ends by calmly asking Benoit, "Is this obsession with destroying every aspect of Kevin Sullivan's life worth losing your soul? Well, is it?". Cue the chills up the spine ...

* Even back in 1999, Wrestling/HiroshiTanahashi wasn't on board with Wrestling/KatsuyoriShibata's extreme dedication to "strong style" wrestling. While Shibata would stall on the independent circuit(Big Mouth Loud), fail in kick boxing(K-1) and only find middling success in mixed martial arts promotions(DREAM, DEEP, IGF, etc) Tanahashi would return from Wrestling/{{CMLL}} a new man whose charisma was so strong it forced "[[Wrestling/ShinsukeNakamura The King Of Strong Style]]" himself to undergo a similar makeover and stress his own charisma. Still, Shibata stuck his course, eventually got booked by Wrestling/{{New Japan|ProWrestling}} again and ''eventually'' got pushed by New Japan again, in spite of Tanahashi's disapproval always being just beneath the surface at best. Then Shibata paralyzed half of his own body headbutting Wrestling/KazuchikaOkada, making Tanahashi sound right.

** The ability to jump off ''[=SmackDown!=]'' fist (and King of the Ring 2001's chair) in ''WWE [=SmackDown!=] Shut Your Mouth'', along with the Spider-Man-style custom entrance, may also give shades of Owen Hart's fall to some players.

* Hana Kimura's theme music in Wrestling/WorldWonderRingStardom'' is called "Internet Friends" includes someone saying (in English) "You blocked me on Facebook, and now you're going to die." In 2020, she committed suicide due to cyberbullying.

* {{Wrestling/WCW}} wrestler Renegade was initially billed as "The man who will bring [[Wrestling/HulkHogan Hulkamania]] into the 21st Century." Not only did his push fall apart long before the 21st century, but the man behind the gimmick, Richard Wilson, would never live to see the 21st century; he committed suicide at 33 in 1999, shortly after being fired by WCW.

* On the ''Raw'' fallout show to ''Wrestling/HellInACell 2018'', Strowman and Roman Reigns were discussing about Reigns's Universal Championship until Wrestling/BaronCorbin announced that a triple-threat match between Strowman, Reigns and Wrestling/BrockLesnar would take place at a newly announced event known as ''Crown Jewel''. Strowman, then a heel, dismissed the show, the city, the title and his opponents, saying all of them suck. Considering the outcome of ''Crown Jewel'' itself, which won [[MedalOfDishonor the 2018 Gooker Award]] from ''Website/WrestleCrap'' by quite the landslide, and not without reason, Strowman's words take a new, accidentally prophetic, meaning.

* Wrestling/{{CHIKARA}} titling its July 22, 2006 event ''The Crushing Weight of Mainstream Ignorance'' became this after the storyline of [[Wrestling/KimberLee Princess Kimberlee]] as [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/pa/e/chikara/chikara-g.html CHIKARA Grand Champion]], which the promotion billed as the first female wrestler to hold the top title of a not-exclusively-female promotion, never received the attention the promotion expected.

* The pilot episode of ''Wrestling/{{SmackDown}}'' featured not only the Blue Blazer, but also a match between Wrestling/DLoBrown and Droz, which led to Droz's career ending injury during their rematch several months later on a ''[=SmackDown=]'' taping.

* Wrestling/{{CHIKARA}} titling its July 22, 2006 event ''The Crushing Weight of Mainstream Ignorance'', since that was why the [[Wrestling/KimberLee Princess Kimberlee]] as [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/pa/e/chikara/chikara-g.html CHIKARA Grand Champion]] story never received the attention it deserved.

* Given what miserable, bitter jerks Wrestling/ShaneDouglas and Wrestling/JohnLaurinaitis became, the Dynamic Dudes gimmick rises from SnarkBait to this.

** A milder variant happens with ''[=SmackDown=] vs. Raw 2008''; Undertaker happened to feud with Wrestling/JeffHardy; his house burned down and he was hit by a Wellness Policy violation in the same month (March 2008). In addition, WWE also exploited his demons to write him off out of a Survivor Series title match that year.

** A milder variant happens with ''[=SmackDown=] vs. Raw 2008''; Undertaker happened to feud with Wrestling/JeffHardy; he suffered a house fire in March 2008, where he lost his dog in process. In addition, WWE also exploited his demons to write him off out of a Survivor Series title match that year.

** ''WWE [=2K14=]'' had a mode dedicated to beating Undertaker's [=WrestleMania=] streak in a prototypical [=WrestleMania=] XXX arena. The streak would end at the actual PPV.

* [[Wrestling/TammyLynnSytch Sunny]] was the {{Bizarro|Universe}} Wrestling/MissElizabeth, since, no matter how popular Liz was, she ''never'' overshadowed Wrestling/RandySavage. While it would have taken an epidemic of blindness for Sunny not to get over, she totally overshadowed the majority of her charges, accidentally laying the groundwork for Wrestling/{{Sable}} to eclipse Wrestling/MarcMero, leading to both of their careers collapsing. The fact that she was given such lame teams during a terrible time for tag team wrestling in WWE didn't help either. The only ones she didn't overshadow were [[Wrestling/TheRoadWarriors [=LOD=] 2000]], since they'd been a team for 15 years at that point. So, while she may have been a great ''Diva'', she was not a great ''manager''.

* Wrestling/TheUndertaker's entrance at Wrestling/WrestleMania XXX featured caskets with the names of every opponent he's defeated at past [=WrestleManias=]. The problem is that includes caskets for Wrestling/JimmySnuka, Wrestling/GiantGonzalez, Wrestling/KingKongBundy, and Wrestling/BigBossman, who are actually dead.
** And his undefeated streak also dead in the same event, marking the 21st coffin for his streak.

** ''WWE [=2K14=]'' had a mode dedicated to beating Undertaker's [=WrestleMania=] streak in a prototypical WrestleMania XXX arena. The streak would end at the actual PPV.

* Wrestling/TheUndertaker's entrance at Wrestling/WrestleMania XXX featured caskets with the names of every opponent he's defeated at past [=WrestleManias=]. The problem is that includes caskets for Wrestling/GiantGonzalez and Wrestling/BigBossman, who are actually dead.

* Early 2012, the writers started a storyline where Cena kisses Wrestling/EveTorres, who Cena's "friend" Wrestling/ZackRyder was in love with. The storyline was quickly aborted with Eve being rejected by Cena but The Rock (who was feuding with Cena) pointed out that Cena was a married man kissing another woman. Several months later, Cena got divorced and former WWE wrestler Kenny Dykstra (of the Spirit Squad infamy) claimed that not only was he fired from WWE because Cena stole his fianceé, Wrestling/MickieJames, but that he then proceeded to fire James several months later because Cena was engaged at the time and James supposedly gave him the ultimatum to choice between women.[[note]]It should be noted that this story was later debunked by Cena, the company, and James herself, who maintains the two of them are still friends. Like Wrestling/JohnMorrison, James decided to pursue other interests rather than resign, and once she was ready, WWE's womens division was [[ScrewedByTheNetwork underappreciated and underserved]], thus she decided to go to [[Wrestling/ImpactWrestling TNA]]. Also, Dykstra has been very vocal and vindictive toward the company, sniping at everyone from the [=McMahons=] to Wrestling/RandyOrton to Wrestling/TripleH to even James herself.[[/note]]

* Just like ''VideoGame/MaddenNFL'' has its Madden Curse, WWE has its Undertaker curse, where, in the ''[[VideoGame/WWEGames SmackDown vs. Raw]]'' series, the wrestler feuding with the Undertaker ends up dying in real life. It first happened with Eddie Guerrero in ''[=SmackDown=] vs. Raw 2006'', in which it ends in a Casket Match. Guerrero died 2 days later. It got worse in the following year in a feud with Chris Benoit. The creepiest part? Undertaker says to him, "If you insist on making this mistake, your grieving family will have no one to blame but you when the inevitable occurs." Brrrr.

* At the first ''Wrestling/{{ECW}} One Night Stand'', Wrestling/MikeAwesome does a Suicide Dive onto Wrestling/MasatoTanaka, and Wrestling/JoeyStyles said "It's a damn shame he didn't really take his own life!" A few years later, Awesome killed himself.

** What makes this so bad is that the WWE tried to avert this (they aborted a storyline about [[Wrestling/VinceMcMahon Vince [=McMahon=]]] "dying" when his limo exploded) but the very attempt itself caused it to be played straight. Talk about a no-win situation...
*** This led to the clumsy AuthorsSavingThrow of Vince [[ReallyGetsAround supposedly having an "illegitimate son"]], who was revealed to be... Hornswoggle.[[note]]It was supposed to be Mr. Kennedy, but a wellness policy suspension scrapped that idea.[[/note]]

* The end of ''[=WrestleMania=] XX'' is extremely difficult to take for some, considering the murders/suicide of Chris Benoit, and the untimely death and later exploitation of Eddie Guerrero.
* Just like ''VideoGame/MaddenNFL'' has its Madden Curse, WWE has its Undertaker curse, where, in the ''[[VideoGame/{{WWE}} [=SmackDown=] VS RAW]]'' series, the wrestler feuding with the Undertaker ends up dying in real life. It first happened with Eddie Guerrero in ''[=SmackDown=] VS RAW 2006'', in which it ends in a Casket Match. Guerrero died 2 days later. It got worse in the following year in a feud with Chris Benoit. The creepiest part? Undertaker says to him, "If you insist on making this mistake, your grieving family will have no one to blame but you when the inevitable occurs." Brrrr.
** Not only that, the lyrics of one of the menu songs in ''[=SmackDown=] VS RAW 2007'', "Forgive Me", is about ''suicide''. Go figure.

* Early 2012, the writers started a storyline where Cena kisses Wrestling/EveTorres, who Cena's "friend" Wrestling/ZackRyder was in love with. The storyline was quickly aborted with Eve being rejected by Cena but the Rock (who was feuding with Cena) pointed out that Cena was a married man kissing another woman. Several months later, Cena got divorced and former WWE wrestler Ken Dykstra (of the Spirit Squad infamy) revealed that not only was he fired from WWE because Cena stole his fiance but that he then proceeded to fire said fiance several months later. And why? Because Cena was engaged at the time and Dykstra's ex gave him the ultimatum to choice between women.
** This one, however, was later debunked by Cena, the company, and Wrestling/MickieJames herself, who maintains the two of them are still friends. Like Wrestling/JohnMorrison, Mickie James decided to pursue other interests rather than resign, and once she was ready, WWE's womens division was (and still is) [[ScrewedByTheNetwork underappreciated and underserved]], thus she decided to go to [[Wrestling/ImpactWrestling TNA]]. Also, Dykstra has been very vocal and vindictive toward the company, sniping at everyone from the [=McMahons=] to Wrestling/RandyOrton to Wrestling/TripleH to even Mickie James herself.
** In addition, the Eve angle came after Cena and his wife had filed for divorce which apparently had been coming for some time. The kicker? despite his [[StepfordSmiler on-air state]], the strife and divorce was reportedly making Cena [[RealityEnsues quite miserable]]. And the company knew it but went on with it.

* Even back in 1999, Wrestling/HiroshiTanahashi wasn't on board with Wrestling/KatsuyoriShibata's extreme dedication to "strong style" wrestling. While Shibata would stall on the independent circuit(Big Mouth Loud), fail in kick boxing(K-1) and only find middling success in mixed martial arts promotions(DREAM, DEEP, IGF, etc) Tanahashi would return from Wrestling/{{CMLL}} a new whose charisma was so strong it forced "[[Wrestling/ShinsukeNakamura The King Of Strong Style]]" himself to undergo a similar makeover and stress his own charisma. Still, Shibata stuck his course, eventually got booked by Wrestling/{{New Japan|ProWrestling}} again and ''eventually'' got pushed by New Japan again, in spite of Tanahashi's disapproval always being just beneath the surface at best. Then Shibata paralyzed half of his own body headbutting Wrestling/KazuchikaOkada, making Tanahashi sound right.

* During the Kane-Matt Hardy "'Til Death Do Us Part" match for Lita at Summerslam 2004, a sign can be seen in the crowd reading "Lita is a Dirty Slut." Less than a year later, the scandal in which Amy "Lita" Dumas cheated on real-life boyfriend Hardy with Adam "Edge" Copeland would break out, resulting in Lita becoming one of the most-hated Divas in the WWE and resulting in her leaving the company in disgrace in November 2006.

* The Impact Wrestling character "KM" playing a bully in general, when you are aware that Kevin Matthews can be very volatile towards people he doesn't like on social media. This includes fans, promoters, and other wrestlers.

* The pilot episode of ''Wrestling/{{SmackDown}}'' featured not only the Blue Blazer, but also a match between D'Lo Brown and Droz, which led to Droz's career ending injury during their rematch several months later on a ''[=SmackDown=]'' taping.

* Wrestling/{{CHIKARA}} titling its July 22, 2006 event ''The Crushing Weight of Mainstream Ignorance'', since that was why the [[Wrestling/KimberLee Princess Kimberlee]] as [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/pa/e/chikara/chikara-g.html CHIKARA Grand Champion]] story never received the attention it deserved.

* In Wrestling/{{TNA}}, Wrestling/TaylorWilde defeated Awesome Kong to win the Knockouts Championship and $25,000 in {{Kayfabe}}. Emphasis on the last word. It would later come out that Taylor had been seriously underpaid by TNA and was discovered working a minimum wage job at Sunglass Hut while she was Knockouts Champion.

** This one, however, was later debunked by Cena, the company, and Wrestling/MickieJames herself, who maintains the two of them are still friends. Like Wrestling/JohnMorrison, Mickie James decided to pursue other interests rather than resign, and once she was ready, WWE's womens division was (and still is) [[ScrewedByTheNetwork underappreciated and underserved]], thus she decided to go to Wrestling/{{TNA}}. Also, Dykstra has been very vocal and vindictive toward the company, sniping at everyone from the [=McMahons=] to Wrestling/RandyOrton to Wrestling/TripleH to even Mickie James herself.

* After Wrestling/JerryLawler suffered a thankfully non-lethal heart attack, it makes some of his jokes about José Lothario (Wrestling/ShawnMichaels's mentor) a bit hard to listen to, especially the one about Lothorio's heart being clogged with a jalapeno in the aorta. Lothario isn't the only one, either: other subjects of the King's heart attack/heart problem jokes over the years include Brother Love (Bruce Pritchard) and even Lawler himself. Even after recovering from his own heart attack he continues doing it, which may mitigates this somewhat, but bears to wonder how.