10 Times Pro Wrestling Got Way Too Real

9. The Loose Cannon

Brian Pillman was on a mission to rattle everyone in the wrestling business during the mid-90s. At the end of 1995 Pillman began to hone his ‘Loose Cannon’ character, somebody who would frequently go off script and was always unpredictable. The formerly clean-cut and athletic Pillman traded in his former look and character for something far edgier.

At Clash of The Champions in January 1996, Pillman exited the ring during his match with Eddie Guerrero and grabbed commentator Bobby Heenan, which was not supposed to happen. A clearly frazzled Heenan shouted ‘What the f*** are you doing?’ live on air and subsequently had to apologise. This was just the tip of the iceberg when it came to the Loose Cannon going into business for himself.

A month later at the SuperBrawl PPV, Pillman referred to Strap Match opponent Kevin Sullivan as ‘Booker Man’. Bischoff fired Pillman after the event, although it was all part of the plan: Bischoff, Pillman and Sullivan had agreed to give Pillman his release so that he could go and develop his character in renegade promotion ECW. The plan would soon backfire.

See, Pillman never did go back to WCW. He had worked Bischoff and Sullivan and unwittingly made them give him his release so he could go and work for the WWF. Pillman appeared at the ECW show Cyberslam just a few days after SuperBrawl and ran down Eric Bischoff and then the ECW fans. He threatened to urinate in the ring before he was removed by security. It was incredibly realistic, state-of-the-art stuff at the time.

Pillman would push the realistic nature of wrestling angles even further in the WWF in November with the infamous ‘Pillman’s got a gun’ segment, where Steve Austin ‘invaded’ Pillman’s home and was shot at with a 9mm pistol by his former Hollywood Blonde’s partner.  During the chaos, Pillman accidentally uttered the phrase ‘get the f*** out of the way’ for which he and the WWF had to apologise profusely for.

The Loose Cannon pushed wrestling in a new, more realistic direction and even managed to fool many people in the business.