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Wrestling is full of stories and rumors that circulate among fans for decades, for that is the nature of the business. This is especially true of tales that came into being before the advent of the social media and internet marks era, as the idea of mysticism was much more solidified back then. Wrestling fans have long spread rumors about WWE and other promotions that ended up being false.
Related: 10 Wrestlers With A Great Life Story That Should Be Made Into A Movie
There is a reason that fans and followers are asked to adopt the suspension of disbelief mindset when following pro wrestling, for the business has so much that relies on imagination and emotions. It is for this reason that many accounts about the industry that keeps making the rounds are believed to be true even though most of them are not.
10 RVD Is Jean-Claude Van Damme's Brother
The first and most obvious story that needs to be debunked is that legendary ECW star Rob Van Dam is action star Jean-Claude Van Damme's brother. While the two do share a lot of facial similarities, they are nowhere related.
RVD's real name is Robert Alexander Szatkowski, and he is a 51-year-old from Battle Creek, Michigan. Van Damme, meanwhile, is 61 and hails from Brussels, Belgium, and his real name is Jean-Claude Camille Francois Van Varenberg.
RVD was given a similar name to Jean-Claude by Ron Slinker, a promoter in Florida, in 1992, because of his martial arts background, and due to their similar looks. But that's where any similarities or relations end.
9 "This Is Your Life" Is Highest-Rated WWE Segment Ever
This is another "fact" that most wrestling fans readily believe, and one that has been bandied about so often that it has become pretty mainstream. While this angle involving Mick Foley and The Rock is considered one of the greatest ever on WWE TV, it does not even make the top three highest-rated segments for the company.
While it did draw a barely believable 8.39 quarter-hour rating, three other segments outdid it. The Mean Street Posse vs The Stooges did an 8.61 in May 1999, and it is followed by Shane McMahon, Triple H, and The Undertaker facing Vince McMahon, The Rock, and Stone Cold, with Shawn Michaels as the special guest referee, which did a mind-blowing 9.17.
Numer one belongs to the WWE Championship match on Raw between Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Undertaker on June 28, 1999. It drew in an almost-perfect 9.5 rating.
8 TNA Bringing In All WWE Rejects
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling had a period in the mid-2000s where it genuinely emerged as an exciting alternative to a fast deteriorating WWE product. But their own incompetence, both in and out of the ring, ensured the company could never really challenge the big leagues.
Related: 10 Things You Didn't Know About TNA's First Year
And while numerous reasons can be attributed to this failure, one cause attributed to TNA's fall is that the organization signed too many WWE rejects, but that can't be far from the truth. While it did have its fair share of former WWE names, TNA also produced many homegrown stars, and those from the Fed were mostly tasked with bringing in more wrestling fans to the product thanks to their existing star power.
7 WWE Gave Up On Lockbox Angle
Remember when Shane McMahon was still popular in WWE, and when he got that monster pop upon his return to the Fed in 2016? Well, it seems like ages ago, but that return and the ensuing Lockbox angle did have fans excited for a bit.
However, as with so many other things WWE does these days, the angle was completely dropped right after Shane's WrestleMania 32 "war" with The Undertaker. Turns out the company had not given up on the angle; rather, it was all a means to the end that was the aforementioned match.
6 Ultimate Warrior Re(born)placed?
This was such a huge talking point back in the day that it spawned various conspiracy theories that still run to this day. Apparently, when Ultimate Warrior returned to WWE in 1992, he looked a lot leaner, so fans thought this must be someone else playing the legendary character, and that the original performer behind the make-up was "dead!"
However, what was certainly the truth was that the 1991 steroid scandal was raging, and many WWE performers, including Warrior and Hulk Hogan, were under the scanner. You see where this is leading, right? Most of these wrestlers were forced to get off the juice, so when Warrior did return, he looked a lot less muscular, and his hair was blonde, but that's all there is to this story.
5 Bret Hart Would Have Appeared On WCW TV As WWE Champion
Bret Hart. Shawn Michaels. Vince McMahon. Montreal 1997. A saga that has been discussed ad nauseam over the past 25 years sees no end despite the parties involved more or less getting on amicable terms today. But one rumor that persists is that Bret could actually have shown up on WCW with the WWE title if he was still champion, a la Madusa, the next Monday night.
Related: 10 Times Wrestling Tried To Copy The Montreal Screwjob
However, that would not have been possible, as WCW and WWE were still engaged in a legal battle over the whole Alundra Blayze title trash dumping fracas, and Hart was still contracted to WWE the night after Survivor Series. Hence, any such act from the Candian megastar would have resulted in another lawsuit for WCW, which they could hardly afford at that point.
4 Goldberg’s Mythical Undefeated Run
It is fairly obvious that Bill Goldberg's legendary 173-0 streak in WCW was inflated to make it seem as marketable as possible. And make no mistake about it, the whole gimmick with the undefeated run turned the former football player into the biggest thing in the company.
However, as is the case with anything stat-related, and because wrestling fans are just such big marks, many of them decided to actually tally Goldberg's wins, which understandably produced lopsided numbers. While it was not a good look on WCW, they were not the first promotion to play with numbers to make something look good *ahem ahem Vince* and to a large extent, it did succeed.
3 Kevin Sullivan As Actual Reason For Benoit Deaths
One of the more macabre stories doing the rounds online and within the community over the past 15 years is that Kevin Sullivan was the actual mastermind behind the gruesome Benoit deaths. It is well-known that his former wife Nancy, aka Woman, left him for Chris Benoit when they were together in World Championship Wrestling.
But going to the extent of saying that Sullivan was the one to plan and execute a plan to get rid of the entire Benoit family just seems a bit too much, even for an industry with fans as crazy as pro wrestling. Many followers want 'Benoit the wrestler' to get his due via reinstatement into the WWE archives, but to sully another name and absolve Chris of his crimes just does not cut it.
2 Daniel Bryan Wasn't Cleared To Protect Roman Reigns
When Daniel Bryan was forced to retire in 2016 due to an accumulation of concussions suffered throughout his career, the wrestling world was left shocked and massively upset. However, less than a year later, the American Dragon seemed to be ready to return, stating that only WWE doctors were left to clear him. At the same time, WWE was in the midst of shoving Roman Reigns down fans' throats, which was not working at all.
Related: 10 Bryan Danielson Dream Matches In NJPW
Putting two and two together, some conspiracy theorists pointed out that perhaps the Fed was deliberately asking its doctors not to clear Bryan as his comeback would completely bury Reigns' popularity. However, Bryan himself knew the company could not afford any risks with his comeback, and now that he is back killing it in AEW while Reigns puts food on the Bloodline's table, all seems to be well.
1 The Randy Savage Punch On Hulk Hogan At WrestleMania 9
Notorious in itself, this story was made more famous by the fact that Hulk Hogan sauntered down to the ring after Bret Hart had lost a WWE title match to Yokozuna at the Showcase of the Immortals in the pretense of consoling the face, only to weasel himself into a title match and get a win over the Samoan heavy. What caught everyone's eyes during this whole ordeal was that The Hulkster was sporting quite a prominent black eye during his title win. Most rumors doing the rounds were that he had gone through a bust-up with lifetime nemesis Randy Savage, leaving him with a black eye.
However, Hulk has come out many times to debunk any such theories, saying that the bruised eye was a result of a jet skiing accident, and for posterity's sake, let us believe this story and give Hogan the benefit of the doubt, for once.
