10 Times Real Life Events Caused Wrestling Shows To Change

7. Tazz’s ECW Title Win and the Contract of Mike Awesome

This sure is a bizarre one. In 2000, the ECW Championship was held by Mike Awesome. Awesome had signed a contract with WCW and Paul Heyman had to get the title off him quick. This is where things get interesting. Rather than having one of the top ECW stars take the title off Awesome, Vince McMahon loaned WWF star and ECW original Tazz back to Heyman.

In a shocking turn of events, Taz appeared on ECW TV and beat Awesome to win the championship. He did not have a long reign as he lost the title to Tommy Dreamer just ten days later but for one moment a WWF wrestler won the ECW Championship from a WCW wrestler.

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6. Magnum TA and the Car Wreck

At one time, Magnum TA appeared to be wrestling’s next big breakout star. The former NWA United States Champion was quickly becoming one of the most popular stars in wrestling. All that came to a stop when he was involved in a devastating car wreck in 1986. Driving in the rain, Magnum lost control of his car and hit a telephone pole.

The accident ended his career and left him with several serious injuries. In the wrestling world, the accident led to several storyline changes. The most notable of which being the babyface turn of Nikita Koloff, Magnum’s former rival. Koloff’s push led to a number of changes being made, including him and Dusty Rhodes winning the Crockett Cup in Magnum’s honour.

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5. Raw and WrestleMania 22 and the Death of Eddie Guerrero

Eddie Guerrero’s death rocked WWE and its fans like few wrestling deaths had done before. His passing at the age of 38 was a crushing blow to the spirits of his fans. His shocking death caused an immediate change as Raw and SmackDown were both dedicated to Guerrero as tribute shows. Wrestlers took turns speaking about Guerrero and many wrestled matches in his honour.

His death also caused long-term changes in WWE. The combination of his death and Batista’s triceps injury resulted in Rey Mysterio being pushed to win the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 22. The original plan for the title was reportedly for Batista to defend against Randy Orton but things change.

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4. WWE Survivor Series 1997 and the Montreal Screwjob

Everyone knows the story of the Montreal Screwjob at this point. For the sake of this list, the 1997 edition of the Survivor Series pay per view was changed significantly by Bret Hart’s contract situation with WWE and WCW.

This pay per view is only remembered for what happened between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels in the main event. Fans will always wonder what could have been if Vince McMahon had been able to keep Hart under contract.

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