History ExecutiveMeddling / ProfessionalWrestling

* HulkHogan. Full stop. The guy was trained by Hiro Matsuda, himself well known in Japan and a shoot wrestler of some considerable skill. Looking at Hogan's non-WWF, non-WCW matches in Japan, most would swear they were looking at a different wrestler. After all, who could ever imagine ''HULK'' freaking ''HOGAN'' pulling an ''ENZUGIRI'' on someone, let alone the Great Muta?! But believe it or not it happened in a match in Japan when he was in his fifth reign but wasn't competing for the WWF in the match. The match was a mix of technical and brawling from both wrestlers and it was one of the more entertaining matches either man has been in in the last 20 years. Hogan even points this out in his first autobiography. When he got to the WWF under Vince [=McMahon=] Sr. he was told to wrestle like a generic 'big man' character, and Vince Jr. wanted him to do the same when he returned to win his first world championship there, wanting to have Hogan wrestle like a generic power wrestler and get by on his, admittedly, massive amounts of on-screen charisma. By the time he got to {{WCW}}, American fans were so used to the style he was forced to use for over fifteen years in the US that it would have been largely pointless to show his actual skills this side of the Pacific, so he never did. Ahh, WhatCouldHaveBeen.
** It depends on when he's speaking and who he's speaking to, but the story at times has changed from "they wouldn't let me do it" to "they never asked me, so I didn't put in the effort." Much of the legend of Hulk Hogan in Japan is due to him having to work a lot harder (his American routine would not have gone over well in Japan, and in fact didn't in 1990 even against a motivated Stan Hansen and Genichiro Tenryu), and working against smaller, faster, more motivated wrestlers who could carry him (most of his American opponents were stiffs, with the main small ones, Piper and Savage, being more of Memphis-style cheap heat magnets as opposed to workhorses).
* {{WCW}}, which was broadcast on Turner Networks, was occasionally forced by the higher ups to include ProductPlacement in their shows. Thus, Rick Steiner was forced debate [[ChildsPlay Chucky]], who shilled the upcoming BrideOfChucky movie. Later, Robert Wuhl of ''Series/{{Arliss}}'' had a guest commentary spot - in-character as Arliss - which was made even worse by "Arliss"'s commentary being non-stop burial of the match he was calling (Randy Savage vs Kidman) and pro wrestling in general.

** He also cancelled "The Blonde Bytch Project", a Blair Witch parody starring Stevie Richards and the Blue Meanie that was to bury Wrestling/{{Sable}}[[hottip:*:Sable had recently left the WWF and filed a '''$110M''' dollar lawsuit against it]], allegedly on the grounds that ''he'' had never seen the movie, and therefore assumed nobody else had either.

** For example, when Paul Birchill started working a pirate gimmick inspired by Jack Sparrow of ''PiratesOfTheCarribean'', Vince canned the gimmick because he hadn't even ''heard'' of the movie and though pirates should be heels a la Jean Pierre [=LaFitte=] (aka Carl Oulette).

* Soon after {{Kayfabe}}!VinceMcMahon was blown up in a fiery limo explosion, confirmation came that USANetwork executives told the Wrestling/{{WWE}} to perform a murder storyline, much to the consternation of the writing staff, Vince himself, and half the fanbase. This made them look like idiots, morons, and every other epithet in the book when news of ChrisBenoit's [[RealLifeWritesThePlot murder-suicide]] hit the airwaves a few weeks later.
** Among other things USA has been pressuring WWE into: more celebrity involvement and 3-hour ''MondayNightRAW'' broadcasts.
*** The 'E did however work the celebrity involvement into some genuinely amusing moments (such as JohnCena being beaten by Kevin ''flippin''' Federline, [=Steve-O=] being legitimately beaten for laughing during his match, and Donald Trump causing VinceMcMahon's infamous "bald moment").
** Vince himself is the source of much ExecutiveMeddling in the Wrestling/{{WWE}}, such as when he canceled "The Blonde Bytch Project", a Blair Witch parody that was to star Stevie Richards and the Blue Meanie, on the grounds that ''he'' had never seen the movie, and therefore assumed nobody else had either.
*** He did the same thing to Paul Burchill because he had never seen ''PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' and assumed that a pirate should be a {{Heel}}. Later, he placed him into an incest gimmick character. That went about as well as could be expected -- the storyline never really developed, and Burchill vanished fairly quickly.
**** The story is that Vince never saw ''Scarface'' either, and assumed that Scott Hall had come up with the Razor Ramon character all on his own.
**** This was at least Vince's ''fourth'' attempt to do an incest storyline. His first attempt was to portray Ken Shamrock and his (kayfabe) sister Ryan Shamrock in an incestuous relationship (Ken refused). Then, when StephanieMcMahon became pregnant, Vince suggested that ''he'' be the on-screen father. When Steph vetoed that, Vince suggested her brother ShaneMcMahon be the father instead. ''Both'' Steph ''and'' Shane nixed that one. Most recently was the repackaging of Paul Burchill and Katie Lea as implied incestuous siblings. Given that Vince suffered both physical and sexual abuse as a child, most fans are of the opinion that he urgently needs therapy. They just wish it could be done in a quiet office instead of on live TV.
**** VinceMcMahon wasn't the only one to try an incest storyline in the WWE, however. Former head writer VinceRusso fought hard to get Beaver Cleavage, a hypersexual take on ''LeaveItToBeaver'', on the air. It lasted about two weeks before VinceMcMahon himself [[EvenEvilHasStandards pulled the plug]].
**** The storyline was done in by yet more ExecutiveMeddling. Wrestling/{{WWE}} embraced the PG rating for all their television programming around the time Burchill and Katie Lea started appearing on-screen. The incest storyline was one of the first things to be nixed, leaving both with nothing to do before being moved over to the {{ECW}} brand.
*** [[{{Squick}} Katie Vick]]. (Vince's own DVD has other members of the [=WWE=] saying how unfunny it was.)
** Soon before [=WWE=]'s [=ECW=] brand got underway, there were Internet reports that the Sci-Fi Channel had been trying to shoehorn sci-fi elements into this wrestling show. Cue "The Zombie" and other characters [[WriterRevolt being soundly beaten by the Sandman]] upon the show's airing.

* Vince is often the source of positive ExecutiveMeddling. The reason the AttitudeEra did so well was because Vince was there to filter out Ferrera and VinceRusso's bad ideas.
** But at the same time, he's also probably squashed several good ideas as well, as mentioned above. The big problem is that since Vince keeps so busy, he's gotten quite out of touch with pop culture (read the "Blair Witch" example above.) Add that to an already large generation gap where a 65 year old man is trying to market a product to children and teens, and the WhatCouldHaveBeen is astounding.

* Soon after {{Kayfabe}}!VinceMcMahon was blown up in a fiery limo explosion, confirmation came that USANetwork executives told the {{WWE}} to perform a murder storyline, much to the consternation of the writing staff, Vince himself, and half the fanbase. This made them look like idiots, morons, and every other epithet in the book when news of ChrisBenoit's [[RealLifeWritesThePlot murder-suicide]] hit the airwaves a few weeks later.

** Vince himself is the source of much ExecutiveMeddling in the {{WWE}}, such as when he canceled "The Blonde Bytch Project", a Blair Witch parody that was to star Stevie Richards and the Blue Meanie, on the grounds that ''he'' had never seen the movie, and therefore assumed nobody else had either.
*** He did the same thing to Paul Burchill because he had never seen ''{{Pirates of the Caribbean}}'' and assumed that a pirate should be a {{Heel}}. Later, he placed him into an incest gimmick character. That went about as well as could be expected -- the storyline never really developed, and Burchill vanished fairly quickly.

**** VinceMcMahon wasn't the only one to try an incest storyline in the WWE, however. Former head writer VinceRusso fought hard to get Beaver Cleavage, a hypersexual take on ''{{Leave It to Beaver}}'', on the air. It lasted about two weeks before VinceMcMahon himself [[EvenEvilHasStandards pulled the plug]].
**** The storyline was done in by yet more ExecutiveMeddling. {{WWE}} embraced the PG rating for all their television programming around the time Burchill and Katie Lea started appearing on-screen. The incest storyline was one of the first things to be nixed, leaving both with nothing to do before being moved over to the {{ECW}} brand.

** They also nixed at least one gimmick before it started; Seven, a mysterious dream/SevenDeadlySins character, was introduced in promos the network felt uncomfortably close to child abduction.*

* Would you believe Hulk Hogan and Triple H were both actual victims of Executive Meddling in their early years? Hogan first became a star in AWA, but owner Verne Gagne refused to give him the belt despite him being far and away his most popular draw simply because he felt Hogan wasn't a good enough athlete to be champion; this is what ultimately led Hogan to defect to Vincent K's Federation. Triple H, meanwhile, was buried for the better part of a year as punishment for the infamous out-of-character hug between him, Shawn Michaels, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash before Nash/Hall left for WCW (he was the only one disciplined; Nash and Hall were gone and Michaels was an untouchable main eventer). Rather than just whine about being the victims of politics, it appears they just took smarter paths to make sure it never happened again, as much as some might not like it.

** They also nixed at least one gimmick before it started; Seven, a mysterious dream/SevenDeadlySins character, was introduced in promos the network felt uncomfortably close to child abduction.

** Of course, Vince himself is the source of much ExecutiveMeddling in the {{WWE}}, such as when he canceled "The Blonde Bytch Project", a Blair Witch parody that was to star Stevie Richards and the Blue Meanie, on the grounds that ''he'' had never seen the movie, and therefore assumed nobody else had either.

** And of course, there was Muhammed Hassan. This could be looked at as Executive Meddling on both sides, as Vince chose to still air Hassan's "terrorist attack" on the Undertaker the same day that real terrorists bombed UsefulNotes/TheLondonUnderground (London's subway). {{UPN}}'s subsequent edict that Hassan would never appear on the network again forced Vince to not only remove the character, but possibly re-book the main events at two pay-per-views.

* It must be said that Vince is often the source of positive ExecutiveMeddling. The reason the AttitudeEra did so well was because Vince was there to filter out Ferrera and VinceRusso's bad ideas.

* HulkHogan. Full stop. The guy was trained by Hiro Matsuda, himself well known in Japan and a shoot wrestler of some considerable skill. Looking at Hogan's non-WWF, non-WCW matches in Japan, most would swear they were looking at an entirely different wrestler. After all, who could ever imagine ''HULK'' freaking ''HOGAN'' pulling an ''ENZUGIRI'' on someone, let alone the Great Muta?! But believe it or not it happened in a match in Japan when he was in his fifth reign but wasn't competing for the WWF in the match. The match was a mix of technical and brawling from both wrestlers and it was one of the more entertaining matches either man has been in in the last twenty years. Hogan even points this out in his first autobiography. When he got to the WWF under Vince [=McMahon=] Sr. he was told to wrestle like a generic 'big man' character, and Vince Jr. wanted him to do the same when he returned to win his first world championship there, wanting to have Hogan wrestle like a generic power wrestler and get by on his, admittedly, massive amounts of on-screen charisma. By the time he got to {{WCW}}, American fans were so used to the style he was forced to use for over fifteen years in the US that it would have been largely pointless to show his actual skills this side of the Pacific, so he never did. Ahh, WhatCouldHaveBeen.

** And of course, there was Muhammed Hassan. This could be looked at as Executive Meddling on both sides, as Vince chose to still air Hassan's "terrorist attack" on the Undertaker the same day that real terrorists bombed TheLondonUnderground (London's subway). {{UPN}}'s subsequent edict that Hassan would never appear on the network again forced Vince to not only remove the character, but possibly re-book the main events at two pay-per-views.

* The MontrealScrewjob. Arguably, one of the most notorious cases of ExecutiveMeddling in WWE history. [[YourMileageMayVary How justified or effective it was]] relies a great deal on whether you believe BretHart's or ShawnMichaels' version of the story, but as last-minute swerves go, it was a doozy.

* {{WCW}}, which was broadcast on Turner Networks, was occasionally forced by the higher ups to include ProductPlacement in their shows. Thus, Rick Steiner was forced debate [[ChildsPlay Chucky]], who shilled the upcoming BrideOfChucky movie. Later, Robert Wuhl of {{Arliss}} had a guest commentary spot - in-character as Arliss - which was made even worse by "Arliss"'s commentary being non-stop burial of the match he was calling (Randy Savage vs Kidman) and pro wrestling in general.

* Turner Networks also forced WCW to keep their shows at a PG level, which made it difficult for WCW to compete with the more risque WWF. This was in theory not a bad idea - they were counting on WWF's programming alienating their sponsors and putting WCW at a more advantageous position. However, some of the changes were somewhat silly. For example, renaming "foreign objects" (a pro wrestling term for weapons introduced into the match" to [[PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad "international objects"]].

** It depends on when he's speaking and who he's speaking to, but the story at times has changed from "they wouldn't let me do it" to "they never asked me, so I didn't put in the effort." Much of the legend of Hulk Hogan in Japan is due to him having to work a lot harder (his American routine would not have gone over well in Japan, and in fact didn't in 1990 even against a motivated Stan Hansen and Genichiro Tenryu), and working against smaller, faster, more motivated wrestlers who could carry him (most of his American opponents were stiffs, with the main small ones, Piper and Savage, being more of Memphis-style cheap heat magnets as opposed to workhorses).

** And of course, there was Muhammed Hassan. This could be looked at as Executive Meddling on both sides, as Vince chose to still air Hassan's "terrorist attack" on the Undertaker the same day that real terrorists bombed [[TheLondonUnderground London's subway.]] {{UPN}}'s subsequent edict that Hassan would never appear on the network again forced Vince to not only remove the character, but possibly re-book the main events at two pay-per-views.

* Soon after {{Kayfabe}}! VinceMcMahon was blown up in a fiery limo explosion, confirmation came that USANetwork executives told the {{WWE}} to perform a murder storyline, much to the consternation of the writing staff, Vince himself, and half the fanbase. This made them look like idiots, morons, and every other epithet in the book when news of ChrisBenoit's [[RealLifeWritesThePlot murder-suicide]] hit the airwaves a few weeks later.

* HulkHogan. Full stop. The guy was trained by Hiro Matsuda, himself well known in Japan and a shoot wrestler of some considerable skill. Looking at Hogan's non-WWF, non-WCW matches in Japan, most would swear they were looking at an entirely different wrestler. After all, who could ever imagine ''HULK'' freaking ''HOGAN'' pulling an ''ENZUGIRI'' on someone, let alone the Great Muta?! But believe it or not it happened in a match in Japan when he was in his fifth reign but wasn't competing for the WWF in the match. The match was a mix of technical and brawling from both wrestlers and it was one of the more entertaining matches either man has been in in the last twenty years. Hogan even points this out in his first autobiography. When he got to the WWF under Vince [=McMahon=] Sr. he was told to wrestle like a generic 'big man' character, and Vince Jr. wanted him to do the same when he returned to win his first world championship there, wanting to have Hogan wrestle like a generic power wrestler and get by on his, admittedly, massive amounts of on-screen charisma. By the time he got to {{WCW}}, American fans were so used to the style he was forced to use for over fifteen years in the US that it would have been largely pointless to show his actual skills this side of the Pacific, so he never did. Ahh, WhatCouldHaveBeen.

* Soon after {{Kayfabe}}! VinceMcMahon was blown up in a fiery limo explosion, confirmation came that USANetwork executives told the {{WWE}} to perform a murder storyline, much to the consternation of the writing staff, Vince himself, and half the fanbase. This made them look like idiots, morons, and every other epithet in the book when news of [[RealLifeWritesThePlot Chris Benoit's murder-suicide]] hit the airwaves a few weeks later.

*** The 'E did however work the celebrity involvement into some genuinely amusing moments (such as JohnCena being beaten by Kevin ''flippin''' Federline, [=Steve-O=] being legitimately beaten for laughing during his match, and Donald Trump causing [=Vince McMahon=]'s infamous "bald moment").

**** This was at least Vince's ''fourth'' attempt to do an incest storyline. His first attempt was to portray Ken Shamrock and his (kayfabe) sister Ryan Shamrock in an incestuous relationship (Ken refused). Then, when Stephanie [=McMahon=] became pregnant, Vince suggested that ''he'' be the on-screen father. When Steph vetoed that, Vince suggested her brother Shane be the father instead. ''Both'' Steph ''and'' Shane nixed that one. Most recently was the repackaging of Paul Burchill and Katie Lea as implied incestuous siblings. Given that Vince suffered both physical and sexual abuse as a child, most fans are of the opinion that he urgently needs therapy. They just wish it could be done in a quiet office instead of on live TV.
**** Vince [=McMahon=] wasn't the only one to try an incest storyline in the WWE, however. Former head writer VinceRusso fought hard to get Beaver Cleavage, a hypersexual take on ''{{Leave It to Beaver}}'', on the air. It lasted about two weeks before Vince [=McMahon=] himself [[EvenEvilHasStandards pulled the plug]].
**** The storyline was done in by yet more ExecutiveMeddling. [=WWE=] embraced the PG rating for all their television programming around the time Burchill and Katie Lea started appearing on-screen. The incest storyline was one of the first things to be nixed, leaving both with nothing to do before being moved over to the [=ECW=] brand.

* The Montréal Screwjob. Arguably, one of the most notorious cases of Executive Meddling in WWE history. [[YourMileageMayVary How justified or effective it was]] relies a great deal on whether you believe Bret Hart's or Shawn Michaels version of the story, but as last-minute swerves go, it was a doozy.
* It must be said that Vince is often the source of positive Executive Meddling. The reason the Attitude Era did so well was because Vince was there to filter out Ferrera and VinceRusso's bad ideas.

* One rumor floating around about the WWE right now is not so much executive meddling as much as TENURED Meddling. Some are arguing that younger talent is being buried so the older wrestlers (The Undertaker and Triple H especially) can milk the last few years of their careers for all they're worth. Some of it's minor (no one on the roster can have gear that looks like the Undertaker's.) However, some of it's more serious (some have argued that Triple H forced Chris Masters to keep doing the Masterlock Challenge, long after it stopped being entertaining [as if it ever was,] making Masters universally loathed by fans, and possibly torpedoing his career before it could get off the ground [he has yet to really build any momentum ''five years later''.]) People are wondering why guys like Evan Bourne and Shelton Benjamin got nowhere fast in WWE, and many think it's this.

** And yet Taker has received nowhere near as much flak for this, even though he's also helping hold back talent in the ''women's'' division by having the WWE keep that belt on his girlfriend Michelle [=McCool=]. This might be even more {{egregious}} because it buried the much more talented, popular and ''experienced'' Mickie James. Beth Phoenix may have been spared this only due to her ACL injury, so now they've taken to burying Melina.
** The Undertaker probably gets little flak for using his pull in the company because of many stories, both true and false, about him keeping TheKliq in check during the New Generation era, especially around the time of the MontrealScrewjob.
*** There are several reasons why the Undertaker receives less criticism for this. For many years, fans have accused Triple H of using his meddling to further his own ego (As of late, that's not as true, see RootingForTheEmpire for the whole story.) However, The Undertaker has more often than not, used his powers for good, not evil. Alongside the Screwjob above, he also allegedly interfered when Batista tried to have Mickie James fired. Also, it's not entirely clear if the Undertaker is forcing WWE to shill Michelle. They might be doing it on their own out of fear of losing either of them. Taker is one of the most universally respected people in the business, both as a wrestler and as a person, and [=McCool=] has developed into a very talented wrestler on her own when female wrestling is in something of a dry spell. Losing either of them would hurt WWE right now.
* Hulk Hogan. Full stop. The guy was trained by Hiro Matsuda, himself well known in Japan and a shoot wrestler of some considerable skill. Looking at Hogan's non-WWF, non-WCW matches in Japan, most would swear they were looking at an entirely different wrestler. After all, who could ever imagine ''HULK'' freaking ''HOGAN'' pulling an ''ENZUGIRI'' on someone, let alone the Great Muta?! But believe it or not it happened in a match in Japan when he was in his fifth reign but wasn't competing for the WWF in the match. The match was a mix of technical and brawling from both wrestlers and it was one of the more entertaining matches either man has been in in the last twenty years. Hogan even points this out in his first autobiography. When he got to the WWF under Vince [=McMahon=] Sr. he was told to wrestle like a generic 'big man' character, and Vince Jr. wanted him to do the same when he returned to win his first world championship there, wanting to have Hogan wrestle like a generic power wrestler and get by on his, admittedly, massive amounts of on-screen charisma. By the time he got to WCW, American fans were so used to the style he was forced to use for over fifteen years in the US that it would have been largely pointless to show his actual skills this side of the Pacific, so he never did. Ahh, WhatCouldHaveBeen.

* Soon after {{Kayfabe}}!{{Vince McMahon}} was blown up in a fiery limo explosion, confirmation came that USANetwork executives told the {{WWE}} to perform a murder storyline, much to the consternation of the writing staff, Vince himself, and half the fanbase. This made them look like idiots, morons, and every other epithet in the book when news of [[RealLifeWritesThePlot Chris Benoit's murder-suicide]] hit the airwaves a few weeks later.

* Hulk Hogan. Full stop. The guy was trained by Hiro Matsuda, himself well known in Japan and a shoot wrestler of some considerable skill. Looking at Hogan's non-WWF, non-WCW matches in Japan, most would swear they were looking at an entirely different wrestler. After all, who could ever imagine ''HULK'' freaking ''HOGAN'' pulling an ''ENZUGIRI'' on someone, let alone the Great Muta?! But believe it or not it happened in a match in Japan when he was in his fifth reign but wasn't competing for the WWF in the match. The match was a mix of technical and brawling from both wrestlers and it was one of the more entertaining matches either man has been in in the last twenty years. Hogan even points this out in his first autobiography. When he got to the WWF under Vince McMahon Sr. he was told to wrestle like a generic 'big man' character, and Vince Jr. wanted him to do the same when he returned to win his first world championship there, wanting to have Hogan wrestle like a generic power wrestler and get by on his, admittedly, massive amounts of on-screen charisma. By the time he got to WCW, American fans were so used to the style he was forced to use for over fifteen years in the US that it would have been largely pointless to show his actual skills this side of the Pacific, so he never did. Ahh, WhatCouldHaveBeen.

* Hulk Hogan. Full stop. The guy was trained by Hiro Matsuda, himself well known in Japan and a shoot wrestler of some considerable skill. Looking at Hogan's non-WWF, non-WCW matches in Japan, most would swear they were looking at an entirely different wrestler. After all, who could ever imagine ''HULK'' freaking ''HOGAN'' pulling an ''ENZUGIRI'' on someone, let alone the Great Muta?! But believe it or not it happened in a match in Japan when he was in his fifth reign but wasn't competing for the WWF in the match. The match was a mix of technical and brawling from both wrestlers and it was one of the more entertaining matches either man has been in in the last twenty years. Hogan even points this out in his first autobiography. When he got to the WWF under Vince McMahon Sr. he was told to wrestle like a generic 'big man' character, and Vince Jr. wanted him to do the same when he returned to win his first world championship there, wanting to have Hogan wrestle liek a generic power wrestler and get by on his, admittedly, massive amounts of on-screen charisma. By the time he got to WCW, American fans were so used to the style he was forced to use for over fifteen years in the US that it would have been largely pointless to show his actual skills this side of the Pacific, so he never did. Ahh, WhatCouldHaveBeen.

* Sable attempted to invoke this when she left WWE in 1999. She claimed she had refused to have her top ripped off on TV and that they had taken the belt off her for this reason. She then claimed they had tried to get her to do a lesbian storyline and that was why she had left, suing them for a huge sum of money under the grounds of sexual harrassment. Then Vince Russo posted an independent editorial, revealing she had cooked the whole thing up. The apparent lesbian storyline was referring to the supposed LesYay in her feud with Tori. She had indeed been asked if she would appear nude on a UK PPV (they had done this with others including Jacqueline Moore the year before and The Kat the year later) but Vince [=McMahon=] was reportedly fine with her refusing. Russo then claimed she asked for her release but wanted to keep the name Sable. They refused and so she cooked up the sexual harrassment storyline. The kicker? When she returned to WWE in 2003 she did all the things she had sued them for, starting an overt lesbian storyline with Torrie Wilson and getting her top ripped off on Smackdown.

*** There are several reasons why the Undertaker receives less criticism for this. For many years, fans have accused Triple H of using his meddling to further his own ego (As of late, that's not as true, see RootingForTheEmpire for the whole story.) However, The Undertaker has more often than not, used his powers for good, not evil. Alongside the Screwjob above, he also allegedly interfered when Batista tried to have Mickie James fired. Also, it's not entirely clear if the Undertaker is forcing WWE to shill Michelle. They might be doing it on their own out of fear of losing either of them. Taker is one of the most universally respected people in the business, both as a wrestler and as a person, and [=McCool=] has developed into a very talented wrestler on her own when female wrestling is in something of a dry spell. Losing either of them would hurt WWE right now.

* Soon after {{Kayfabe}}!{{Vince McMahon}} was blown up in a fiery limo explosion, confirmation came that USANetwork executives told the {{WWE}} to perform a murder storyline, much to the consternation of the writing staff, Vince himself, and [[WallBanger half the fanbase]]. This made them look like idiots, morons, and every other epithet in the book when news of [[RealLifeWritesThePlot Chris Benoit's murder-suicide]] hit the airwaves a few weeks later.

* One rumor floating around about the WWE right now is not so much executive meddling as much as TENURED Meddling. Some are arguing that younger talent is being buried so the older wrestlers (The Undertaker and Triple H especially) can milk the last few years of their careers for all they're worth. Some of it's minor (no one on the roster can have gear that looks like the Undertaker's.) However, some of it's more serious (some have argued that Triple H forced Chris Masters to keep doing the Masterlock Challenge, long after it stopped being entertaining [as if it ever was,] making Masters universally loathed by fans, and possibly torpedoing his career before it could get off the ground [he has yet to really build any momentum ''five years later''.) People are wondering why guys like Evan Bourne and Shelton Benjamin got nowhere fast in WWE, and many think it's this.

** The Undertaker probably gets little flak for using his pull in the company because of many stories, both true and false, about him keeping TheKliq in check during the New Generation era, especially around the time of the MontrealScrewjob.

** And yet Taker has received nowhere near as much flak for this, even though he's also helping hold back talent in the ''women's'' division by having the WWE keep that belt on his girlfriend Michelle [=McCool=]. This might be even more {{egregious}} because it buried the much more talented, popular and ''experienced'' Mickie James. Beth Phoenix may have been spared this only due to her ACL injury, so now they've taken to burying Melina.

* One rumor floating around about the WWE right now is not so much executive meddling as much as TENURED Meddling. Some are arguing that younger talent is being buried so the older wrestlers (The Undertaker and Triple H especially) can milk the last few years of their careers for all they're worth. Some of it's minor (no one on the roster can have gear that looks like the Undertaker's.) However, some of it's more serious (some have argued that Triple H forced Chris Masters to keep doing the Masterlock Challenge, long after it stopped being entertaining [as if it ever was.]) People are wondering why guys like Evan Bourne and Shelton Benjamin got nowhere fast in WWE, and many think it's this.

** And yet Taker has received nowhere near as much flak for this, even though he's also helping hold back talent in the ''women's'' division by having the WWE keep that belt on his girlfriend Michelle Mccool. This might be even more {{egregious}} because it buried the much more talented, popular and ''experienced'' Mickie James. Beth Phoenix may have been spared this only due to her ACL injury, so now they've taken to burying Melina.