There is no better place for a good conspiracy theory than in the world of professional wrestling. When an entire business model is set up to fool fans into believing something is real when it’s actually not, crazy rumors can often be confused with reality.
Currently, WWE fans believe there is a conspiracy to push Roman Reigns to the top of the company despite fans reactions to his character, but that’s no conspiracy. That is fact. That is simply WWE booking their most marketable star to win matches.
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No big deal.
What we’re talking about here is sex, lies, murder, criminal cover-ups and fake identities–the good stuff.
Over the years, WWE stars have been accused of some pretty crazy behind the scenes shenanigans. Despite the fact that many of the wildest theories have been debunked, they’ve been retold so many times that fans have come to consider them factual accounts of wrestling’s bizarre history.
The truth is out there, people.
Here are 5 of the greatest WWE conspiracy theories that some fans still believe are true.
Stone Cold Cold’s beers were non-alcoholic
Many fans still believe the beer guzzling Stone Cold Steve Austin was doing back in hey day was all a hoax. After all, who could drink that many beers and still function correctly? Fans believe that Stone Cold was actually being thrown non-alcoholic beers for his post match celebrations.
On a recent episode of his podcast, Austin gave the bottom line on those rumors.
“We went through 115 beers that night [in Japan], and that was the most I ever went through. And a lot of people said ‘hey man, was that real beer?’ And I say yes, it was always real beer… except for the one time. We were in Montreal, I think it was Sunday, something like that. Whatever it was, or maybe it was against the rules of the building, but it was NA beer, non-alcohol. And so all of a sudden those pictures start making the rounds and people are thinking ‘oh they’re throwing this guy non-alcohol beer.’ … that was one time.
I can’t tell you how many times I left the ring and I had a little bit of a buzz because of all the beers I was drinking. When you’re shotgunning anywhere from six to 12 beers, and maybe you get half of ’em in. On an empty stomach, after you’ve wrestled, it goes to your head pretty quick.”
Vince McMahon Sent Vince Russo To Destroy WCW
Vince Russo was so awful in WCW that fans believe there was no way it wasn’t a bigger part of some diabolical plan of Vince McMahon. If you look at his booking decisions (see David Arquette above), its easy to see why many thought he was intentionally trying to destroy the company.
Some former WCW stars like Bill Goldberg have openly supported the idea on several occasions in the years following WCW’s death.
The truth, however, is just that WCW was sinking and Russo made a lot of failed panic moves to save the company. The biggest proof that Vince McMahon had nothing to do with WCW’s downfall is that he would have definitely wanted to take responsibility for it.
Vince And Shawn Were Lovers
Ok, I was about to tell you why this conspiracy theory was so ridiculous, but then I found this picture. This is going to be harder than I thought.
The rumor started when Bret Hart said “I think there’s a homosexual tie in with Shawn Michaels and Vince McMahon” in an interview with The Howard Stern Show. Several other former stars, including Road Warrior Hawk, would also accuse HBK of the same thing.
It should be noted that all of these rumors came from people who were jealous of HBK’s position in the WWE. Michaels is possibly the greatest in-ring performer in WWE history so chances are his position in the WWE and McMahon’s favoritism towards him all simply came from him deserving it.
The Ultimate Warrior Died And Was Replaced In The 1990s
Now for the Paul Is Dead Beatles rumor of the WWE. As the legend goes, The Ultimate Warrior died in the early 90s. The reason for the belief stemmed from the original Warrior’s return to WWE at WrestleMania 8 with different hair, a much more defined physique and new singlet ring gear as opposed to trunks. Some even suggested that Warrior had been replaced by Kerry Von Erich (who did basically look like Warrior without facepaint).
The conspiracy theory has largely debunked as Jim Helwig was, in fact, the man behind the paint up until his untimely death in 2014. But apparently, if you play WrestleMania 7 backwards the truth is revealed. Ok, not really. Don’t do that. Or do.
It’s your call.
Randy Savage And Stephanie McMahon
The biggest conspiracy theory of all time revolves around The Macho Man Randy Savage and Stephanie McMahon.
The theory states that Savage was kept out of the WWE Hall of Fame for so long because of Vince McMahon being upset that the 41-year-old Savage had an affair with Stephanie when she was just 17 years old.
The theory has become so accepted that even former wrestlers don’t know if it’s true or not. We’ll give them all the benefit of the doubt and assume Macho Man was left out for so long simply because Vince can hold a grudge with the best of them.
The legendary former WWE Champion passed away in 2011 and wasn’t inducted to the WWE HOF until 2015.
So, you be the judge.
Photo Credit: WWE
