Professional sports are highly competitive and feature the very best athletes and coaches from all over the world. The stakes are often quite high, as there is a great deal of turnover among coaches, executives, and players if success is not achieved very quickly. It’s no surprise then that professional sports teams are constantly on the lookout for any edge they can find to beat their opponents. What follows are 10 of the strangest ways pro sports teams try to gain an advantage.

10Using Facial Coding

Psychologists have been using facial coding to determine how a facial expression may betray an emotion, and animators have used facial coding to ensure that their characters possess realistic facial expressions. The Milwaukee Bucks, however, have turned to a facial coding expert in order to help evaluate the emotional stability of a player who may ultimately receive a multimillion-dollar contract.

The Bucks hired Dan Hill, a facial coding expert, for the evaluation process related to the NBA draft. With the help of Hill’s analysis, the team decided that Jabari Parker had the emotional wherewithal to be successful in the NBA, whereas another player, Dante Exum, might not hold up emotionally. The facial coding analysis played a significant role in their selection of Parker over Exum. The Bucks—along with other pro sports teams—are now analyzing “emotion metrics” in order to gain a better understanding of their players so that the team can get the most out of them from a performance standpoint.

9Employing ‘V Energy’

Fans of the Los Angeles Dodgers were understandably frustrated with the direction of the franchise under then-owner Frank McCourt, whose divorce proceedings revealed some of the financial mismanagement that had caused the Dodgers to have disappointing seasons during his reign.

One of the oddest things done by the McCourt regime was the use of “V energy,” for which the Dodgers paid a Russian scientist-turned-healer a six-figure salary. Vladimir Shpunt, living in Boston, was on the Los Angeles Dodgers payroll to send positive energy to the team from across the country.

Shpunt, who admittedly knew nothing about baseball, emigrated to the United States with the help of future Nobel prize winner Zhores Alferov, a physicist who stated that Shpunt was an “eminent scientist” and “outstanding inventor.” So for five years, Shpunt was paid a considerable sum to send positive energy to the Dodgers, and he was even asked to treat a player, Jayson Werth. The “V energy” did not work for Werth, and it is difficult to believe that it ever worked for the Dodgers, either. The team was, however, clearly committed to exhausting every available option in order to win a World Series title.

8Zen Teachings And Meditation

There have been many interesting coach/player pairings in the history of sports, but Phil Jackson and Shaquille O’Neal must have been a true joy to watch. O’Neal, now a commentator for TNT, has talked about Jackson’s triangle offense quite a bit, but one of the more interesting aspects of Jackson’s sessions has to be his use of meditation during practice, a tactic he employed with both the Chicago Bulls and the Los Angeles Lakers. On occasion with the Bulls, Jackson also had the team practice in the absence of light and in the absence of sound.

Jackson was also well known for giving out books to his players as gifts, usually because the book contained a lesson that was particularly appropriate for the player. Jackson once gave O’Neal a copy of the book Siddhartha by Herman Hesse, and then jokingly asked the jovial big man to give him a book report. O’Neal obliged after reading the book, saying, “Story about a young man who’s rich, famous, good-looking, and has a lot of women—just like me.”

7Developing New And Incredibly Specific Analytics

Professional sports teams have become heavily invested in properly analyzing players, including those they currently employ and those they may target in the future. In order to completely understand a player’s value, teams have begun using advanced analytics. An NBA general manager may have once looked at a player’s points-per-game and rebound averages while also relying on scouts for further analysis, but they are now looking at things like PER (player efficiency rating), win shares, and rebound percentage (the percent of the available rebounds grabbed while the player was on the floor).

In baseball, things have gotten very specific. It was once the case that a player’s batting line (batting average, home runs, and runs batted in) was used to tell most of the story, but teams are using reams of data to determine the true value of a player. One of the more interesting developments relates to pitch framing, a metric used to determine how well a catcher “frames” a pitch. Catchers can now be judged based on how many pitches they are able to get called as strikes, regardless of whether the pitch was in the strike zone or not. The accumulated value of pitch framing is quantified by runs saved, which can be as many as 50 over the course of a single baseball season.

6Emulating And Applying Wall Street Strategies

Being able to identify undervalued assets and market inefficiencies are of vital importance to those working on Wall Street, and given the deep understanding of advanced financial strategies, many investment bankers are finding that their experience has made them a hot commodity in Major League Baseball.

Andrew Friedman, formerly of the Tampa Bay Rays and now with the Los Angeles Dodgers, is a perfect example of this. After leaving his position as an analyst at Bear Stearns to join the Rays’ front office, Friedman began applying his Wall Street strategies to turn a losing team into a small-market monster. He worked feverishly at identifying market inefficiencies that allowed him to sign players to affordable, long-term contracts, allowing him to compete with other AL East teams that carried $100 million more in payroll each season.

Friedman values the information that he and his staff utilize so greatly that new hires are required to sign a non-disclosure agreement, allowing Friedman’s front office to maintain an information advantage.

5Cultivating A ‘Happy’ Atmosphere

For many years, it has simply been accepted that participation in competitive sports is going to involve quite a bit of yelling. Perhaps not on the level of a Bobby Knight tirade, but screaming and harsh criticism are generally considered par for the course when playing for a team that has championship aspirations.

But not for the Seattle Seahawks.

Pete Carroll, the head coach of the defending Super Bowl champions, has worked very diligently to ensure that his players enjoy a happy atmosphere. Everyone in the organization is instructed to maintain a positive disposition, with Carroll pushing his players to “do your job better than it has ever been done before,” rather than chastising them when a mistake is made. The Seahawks have adopted Phil Jackson’s practice of having players meditate as a part of practice, and they have also added yoga sessions and “imagery work,” which is a part of Seattle’s Neurotopia brain-performance testing.

4CIA-Type Surveillance

Although we wrote this list before the explosion of “Deflategate,” it isn’t the first time the Patriots have been in hot water. In one of the more infamous scandals in recent NFL history, Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots were heavily fined and penalized for an incident known as “Spygate,” in which the coach and other members of the team spied on the New York Jets in order to steal their sideline signals. A Patriots intern videotaped the opposing team’s defensive signals so they could be decoded, allowing the Patriots to know exactly what the Jets were doing well before they did it.

In order to make full use of the information the team had uncovered, the Patriots also set up a hidden radio frequency through which a member of the team’s personnel could communicate with the quarterback long after the NFL’s mandated time, which prohibits communication from the sideline to the field once the play clock is down to 15 seconds. This allowed Patriot coaches to talk to quarterback Tom Brady while plays were going on, and it has been reported that the coaches were telling Brady which receivers were open on each play.

A recently published book on the subject contends that the spying has not ended, and may be the reason that the Patriots’ home record has been so strong over the years—and why so few coaches have had success after leaving New England.

3Code Breaking

Because of the ease with which NFL sideline signaling can be deciphered by opponents, many teams now take protective measures to maintain the secrecy of their calls. The Philadelphia Eagles are a bit more paranoid than others, and have gone to extreme measures to ensure that no opponent can crack their code. Chip Kelly, the Eagles’ head coach, uses multiple assistants, each holding various placards at different times while wearing a specially colored shirt, arm band, or hat.

To see just how well Kelly’s code worked, ESPN tried to crack the code using a mathematician and a team of photographers back when Kelly coached at the University of Oregon, but were unable to discern how the placards and colors related to the plays that were ultimately run. Kelly also employs a sports sciences coordinator—Shaun Huls, formerly the strength and conditioning coordinator for none other than the Navy SEALS—in order to ensure that his players are mentally and physically prepared for the demands of the Eagles’ system.

2Early Morning Concert Performances

World Cup qualifying is taken very seriously by athletes and fans alike. In many cases, helping a team to victory becomes something of a national effort. Such was the case when the Swedish national team faced off against Portugal, and the home side attempted to find every advantage it could.

They first tried to leave the roof of the arena open despite freezing temperatures and the very high likelihood of snowfall. But while keeping the arena roof open only provides a small advantage to the home team, having a concert held outside of the opposing team’s hotel and scheduled for 7:15 AM does provide a decided edge. Markoolio, a singer/songwriter, scheduled the concert in order to keep Portugal from a solid night’s rest, rapping insults in a language unfamiliar to them.

This was not the first time a stunt like this was attempted, as Algerian fans also disrupted the sleep patterns of the Burkina Faso team by blowing car horns, setting off fireworks, and using the most infernal of all noisemakers, the vuvuzela.

1Total Lack Of Hospitality

The Boston Celtics were one of the best teams of the 1980s, and Red Auerbach was one of the most innovative executives in the history of basketball. So it comes as little surprise that Auerbach ensured that the visiting locker room was as hot as a sauna and its showers were freezing cold. It got so bad that, during the 1984 NBA Finals, the Lakers furiously demanded that their locker room include an air conditioner. So Auerbach gave them one, still in its package and on the floor.

The tactic worked for the Celtics, and Game Five in Boston saw the Boston Garden reach a temperature of 36 degrees Celsius (97 °F). Larry Bird excelled, scoring 34 points and collecting 17 rebounds, all while the Lakers’ players—including all-time scoring leader Kareem Abdul Jabbar—struggled, some needing oxygen just to make it through the game. Boston won the game and the series in seven games to earn their second championship of the 1980s.

J. Francis Wolfe is a freelance writer whose work can be seen daily at Dodgers Today. When he’s not writing, he is most likely waiting for “just one more wave,” or quietly reading under a shady tree.

The world of professional wrestling is perhaps one of pop culture’s most intriguing and consistently befuddling mediums. A form of sports that has one foot in fiction and the other in reality, you’ll often hear a swath of insane stories surrounding the squared circle. 

From violent backstage incidents to intense legal proceedings outside of the ring (some of which are extremely fresh, and ongoing, so we will not be delving into those), pro wrestling has seen its fair share of controversies. The following entries will touch upon distressing topics such as sexual assault, suicide, and drug abuse, so reader discretion is advised.

10. Montreal Screwjob (1997)

The action we see every single week in the squared circle is predetermined but on rare occasions, it can become all too real. Our key players in this situation are then-current World Wrestling Federation Champion, Bret “The Hit Man” Hart,” and number one contender, “The Heartbreak Kid,” Shawn Michaels. Despite sharing impressive in-ring chemistry, the two did not get along very well, even coming to physical blows at one point.

By the end of 1997, due to the company’s inability to pay him a previously agreed amount, Bret intended to depart for World Championship Wrestling, the WWF’s main competition. Complicating matters was the fact that Bret could very very likely leave with the championship belt itself, even showing up on WCW television with it. So to avoid this potential PR disaster, Vince McMahon and writers Jim Cornette and Vince Russo hatched a devious plot. 

As their championship match at Survivor Series 1997 ended, Michaels hooked in the Sharpshooter, Hart’s own finishing move. Vince McMahon, revealing himself as the WWF’s chairman onscreen for the first time, ordered the bell to be rung, making Michaels the new champion! To this day it stands as one of the best examples of the staged world of pro-wrestling melding with real-life behind-the-scenes events. 

9. The Curtain Call (1996)

In the world of pro wrestling, you’ll often hear the word kayfabe passed around by everyone from the bookers to the workers. Simply put, the term is a catch-all, frequently used to describe the act of maintaining the magical and theatrical illusion that is the in-ring action. 

This proverbial fourth wall was heavily maintained in wrestling for many years, the audience mostly kept in a perpetual state of blissful ignorance. However, in 1996, one of the most infamous examples of kayfabe being shattered would occur in one of professional sports’ greatest arenas. In the mid-’90s, The Klik, a backstage group consisting of Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall, had an absurd amount of sway and influence. 

However, things changed when Hall and Nash opted not to re-sign with WWF, instead jumping ship to WCW for more lucrative contracts. With their exit imminent, the quartet opted to throw caution to the wind and give their little posse a public send-off. After the conclusion of a live event at Madison Square Garden, all four men shared a prolonged hug in the middle of the ring. This confused many fans, as both Triple H and Nash were bad guys during this period, destroying any previous sense of kayfabe. 

8. Hulk Hogan’s Racial Slur Controversy (2015)

Whether it was beating the Iron Sheik in MSG or slamming Andre the Giant at WrestleMania III, Hulkamania was the driving force of pro wrestling’s boom period. However, many fans will still opt to look back on those fond memories, while choosing to forget the Hulkster’s most infamous moment. In 2012, a sex tape filmed six years earlier, featuring Hulk Hogan and a woman named Heather Clem, leaked online causing a whole mess of issues. Snippets of this tape were then posted on Gawker, a celebrity news website, resulting in Bollea suing the site for posting what was his content.

However, his desire for legal justice may have made things worse as, eventually the tape’s entire transcript was made publicly available. This transcript included a moment when Hogan was ranting to Clem about his daughter being involved with a black man. During this pillow talk tirade, Hogan proceeded to use the n-word several times to describe him, much to the shock of many fans online. This revelation resulted in WWE temporarily parting ways with Hogan, going as far as to never show or mention him in video highlight packages. While Hogan has resumed infrequent appearances for the company, many fans to this day still would rather the Hulkster remain absent.

7. The Plane Ride from Hell (2002)

If ever there was a lethal combination, it would be already chaotic professional wrestlers and the presence of alcoholic beverages. There is no better example of this than the actions of several major WWE stars back in 2002 during an incident that’s now referred to as the Plane Ride from Hell. Following a tour and sell-out pay-per-view event in the United Kingdom, several key WWE stars were set to return home on a chartered flight.

Following their arrival, several of the present talents began overindulging in the plane’s open bar which is where the trouble began. Soon enough the talent began acting up, devolving into very meanspirited pranks, physical altercations, and sexual debauchery. This included a pull-apart fight between Brock Lesnar and “Mr. Perfect” Curt Hennig which almost ford open the plane’s emergency exit. Dustin Runnels AKA Goldust also opted to hop on the plane’s intercom and sing songs to Terri Runnels, his ex-wife who WWF also employed then. At the same time, “Nature Boy” Ric Flair, known for his excessive alcohol indulgence, was busy exposing himself to the two flight attendants present on the flight. After returning to the United States, several talents were severely reprimanded while a few had their WWE contracts terminated. 

6. Fabulous Moolah Controversy (2018)

Regarding the history of women’s professional wrestling in the United States, the Fabulous Moolah is an integral figure of its early success. Starting her career in the 1940s, Moolah AKA Mary Lillian Ellison went on to become a multi-time Women’s World Champion. From the National Wrestling Alliance to the WWF, Moolah was widely regarded as one of the greats and frequently propped up as a celebrated figure.

However, following her death in 2007, the truth of who Moolah was behind the scenes emerged and the truth was disturbing. As the years have passed, many former female wrestlers have come forward with their own first and second-hand Moolah stories, all horrific in different ways. From Moolah pimping out unsuspecting young talent to stealing a significant percentage of her trainee’s money, it’s an eye-opening laundry list of misdeeds. Mad Maxine, a once-promising female star, went on record as calling Moolah an “evil person,” citing her money-making method of sending her trainees to be pimped out by a man in Arizona. 

What sparked a renewed interest in these allegations was WWE’s attempt in 2018 to brand a memorial battle royal after Moolah at that year’s WrestleMania. Snickers, a prominent sponsor for that year’s event, even threatened to pull out if the match wasn’t rebranded which it ultimately was. 

5. Jerry Lawler’s Legal Issues (1993)

In 1993, pro wrestler Jerry “The King ” Lawler found himself in immense legal trouble due to allegations of statutory rape. The accuser was, quite disturbingly, a 15-year-old girl who claimed that Lawler and she had been assaulted by Lawler in his hotel room. These accusations, and subsequent legal proceedings, led to Lawler being removed from WWF television ahead of the Survivor Series pay-per-view in 1993. 

Lawler completely denied all of the allegations, reaffirming his innocence throughout all of the legal proceedings. The case ultimately devolved into a deluge of “he said, she said,” with Lawler even writing a letter to his prosecutors to defame his accuser. The case went on until February 1994, when Lawler ended up copping a plea for harassing a witness, avoiding any serious legal ramifications. 

Although Lawler would avoid jail time and even ended up returning to the WWF in 1994, the damage was already done. To this day there are still a fair amount of fans who still aren’t comfortable seeing Lawler on television in any capacity. Despite the charges never being proven, the dark cloud of the allegations still follows Lawler, often resurfacing in online discussions from time to time. This includes the time that Lawler himself re-stoked the conversations by bizarrely retweeting an old newspaper clipping of his indictment.

4. The Steroid Scandal (1990s)

As recent events have more than shown us, Vince McMahon is no stranger to front-page news and negative publicity. However, this isn’t the only time that McMahon has found himself in trouble with the federal government. 

Back in the early-90s, ringside physician, Dr. George Zahorian, was indicted in 1991 for the illegal distribution of steroids to WWF talent. The subsequent investigations into steroid abuse within the locker rooms of the WWF resulted in what is now known as the Steroid Trials. These trials saw the United States Government bring no less than six changes against McMahon, though three would be thrown out before the trial began. 

On the stand was not only McMahon but also, the biggest wrestling draw of the early-90s, Terry Bollea AKA Hulk Hogan. Hogan, testifying under immunity from prosecution, said that McMahon had never once forced him to take any performance-enhancing substances, and any found in his system were for his own medical purposes. When the trial came to an end on July 23, 1994, McMahon was found not guilty by the jury due to a lack of sufficient evidence. Although he’d walk away a free man, the effect of the Steroid Trials on WWF (later WWE) would be felt for countless years after. 

3. Owen Hart’s Death (1999)

When it came to in-ring proficiency, back in the 1980s and 1990s, one needn’t look any further than Owen Hart. Whether it was fighting against his brother Bret or winning the Tag Team Titles with the British Bulldog, Owen was as dependable a worker as one could find. Not only was he an absolute technical wizard in the ring, but outside of the squared circle was was widely regarded as one of the business’s nicest people. 

Sadly, Owen’s career came to an end in tragic circumstances one fateful night in 1999 at a WWF pay-per-view ironically titled Over The Edge. At the time of the event, Owen was portraying a superhero character named the Blue Blazer, who’d make his entrance by soaring in on a zipline. Unfortunately, as Owen was set to make his aerial entrance for his match with Jeff Jarrett, tragedy struck. Due to what was later revealed to be a defective harness, Hart fell 78 feet into the ring, landing chest first on the top rope! Due to internal bleeding caused by the fall, Hart would be pronounced dead at 34 years old just a few minutes later. The fallout resulted in the Hart family suing the WWF for the lack of oversight regarding the safety of the stunt, eventually being paid 18 million dollars. 

2. The Death of Bruiser Brody (1998)

In the 1970s and 1980s, Bruiser Brody was one of pro wrestling’s most dangerous and destructive men, often leaving his opponents as bloodied, crumpled heaps. Brody, real name Frank Goodish, did much of his most memorable work in Japan and the shores of Puerto Rico, two territories known for their pervasive bloodlust. 

Due to his aggressive in-ring style and “My way or the highway” attitude backstage, Brody made just as many enemies as he did allies. One such enemy was wrestler and booker, José Huertas González, AKA Invader #2, a popular masked star in Puerto Rico. These real-life issues reached a fever pitch when Brody was set to take a position of power in Puerto Rico’s World Wrestling Council, likely putting González out of a job. 

On the night of July 16, 1988, while sitting in the locker room, González requested that Brody step into the shower area for a quick chat. A few short moments later, fellow wrestler Tony Atlas rushed in to see Brody lurched over, bleeding profusely, with a crazed González holding a bloody knife! Despite the best efforts of the nearby hospital, Brody was later pronounced dead with González claiming he’d acted in self-defense. These shady and tragic circumstances have only added to Brody’s mythical outlaw status, further propelling him into legendary status within wrestling history. 

1. The Chris Benoit Tragedy (2007)

When wrestling fans hear the name Chris Benoit, they’ll recall his stellar in-ring career, but more than likely they’ll be focused on the disturbing final days of his life. En route to WWE’s Night of Champions event in 2007, Benoit had sent some rather distressing text messages to a fellow talent, Chavo Guerrero. The texts, noting the location of his dogs in his home and punctuated with the words “I love you,” were more than a little concerning. 

Following Benoit’s no-showing of the pay-per-view, WWE opted to call the police precinct closest to Benoit’s home and ask for a wellness check. The police arrived and, after seeing Benoit’s neighbor flee the home in horror, quickly entered and were met with a nightmare. As they searched the house, they soon found both Chris’s wife, Nancy, and his son, Daniel, dead. Then, upon entering Benoit’s home gym, they discovered the 40-year-old wrestler hanging dead from one of his workout machines. 

The horrific scene was later declared a murder-suicide, with Benoit having killed his family before taking his own life. WWE, not knowing these details until after that following Monday, still went ahead with a tribute episode for the late Benoit. This episode has never been re-aired and, to this day, WWE has seen fit never to mention Benoit or his past accomplishments in any form. 

Professional wrestling is known for being staged with colorful characters and predetermined outcomes. On-screen, the wrestlers are often portrayed as larger-than-life valiant heroes or despicable villains.

However, the drama doesn’t always stop after they exit the ring. In fact, their real-life exploits can sometimes be even more fantastical than what they do in the ring.

10 Invader Stabbed Bruiser Brody And Got Away With It

Almost 30 years on and the death of Bruiser Brody at the hands of fellow wrestler Jose Gonzalez (aka Invader) still remains one of the most controversial moments in the history of pro wrestling. Although we may never know the complete truth, the story is fraught with allegations of corruption, cover-ups, and bias against American wrestlers.

In 1988, Bruiser Brody (real name Frank Goodish) traveled to Bayamon to do a show for World Wrestling Council (WWC), the biggest promotion in Puerto Rico. He was accompanied by fellow American wrestlers, such as Tony Atlas and Dutch Mantell. Before his match, Gonzalez approached Brody for a conversation. The two went into the shower for privacy, and Gonzalez stabbed Brody.

According to witnesses, it took paramedics 40 minutes to arrive. Brody later died on the operating table due to blood loss. Gonzalez was charged with murder but was acquitted in 1989. According to Gonzalez, Brody became violent during their talk and Gonzalez acted in self-defense.

Some of the guys in the locker room disagreed. They said they never heard arguing coming from the two men. Moreover, one wrestler named Chris Youngblood said he saw Invader carrying something wrapped in a towel into the showers.

Many have accused the investigators of bias toward Gonzalez, who was a big star in Puerto Rico. Both Dutch Mantell and Tony Atlas wanted to testify against Invader but received their subpoenas after the trial was over. Mantell claims to still have his subpoena which was issued on January 3, 1989, but wasn’t mailed until the January 13, 10 days later.^[1]

9 Billy Joe Travis Got Arrested On Live TV

In 1997, wrestler Gary Mize (aka Billy Joe Travis) was arrested in Memphis for unpaid child support. At first glance, this doesn’t sound like a particularly noteworthy crime, but Travis was arrested on live TV during a wrestling show.^[2]

Travis was working for Tennessee promotion United States Wrestling Alliance (USWA) under the leadership of Jerry “The King” Lawler, the wrestler best known for his rivalry with comedian Andy Kaufman. Not one to miss an opportunity, Lawler took advantage of his popularity in Memphis and convinced the officers to allow the filming of Travis being arrested.

The scene plays out with two announcers discussing the show when Travis’s manager, Luther Biggs, bursts in and starts screaming that “Billy Joe Travis is being arrested.” In the story line, his arrest was blamed on Brian Christopher, Lawler’s real-life son and the wrestler currently involved in a feud with Travis.

8 Hardbody Harrison Kept Sex Slaves

Harrison Norris Jr., known professionally as “Hardbody Harrison,” had a moderately successful career as a wrestler. He was employed by World Championship Wrestling (WCW) between 1995 and 2001, working mainly as a jobber (someone who regularly loses matches to make his opponents look good).

When the company went under, Harrison seemingly took the same route as many other wrestlers and opened a training school. However, his operation was actually a front which enabled Hardbody and his cohorts to kidnap and force women into prostitution.^[3]

Between 2001 and 2005, Harrison enticed eight women with false promises of training them and tricked them into peonage by charging large sums of money for various expenses. The women were then forced into prostitution to repay their debts. In some cases, Hardbody’s gang dropped the wrestling training ruse completely and simply kidnapped the women if they were easy targets, such as junkies or homeless people.

The women were isolated from their friends and families and monitored at all times by Harrison or his two accomplices. Besides sex labor, the victims had to do chores and were “fined” if they broke house rules, thus increasing their debts. Some of the women managed to alert authorities in 2005. In 2007, Harrison was found guilty on 24 charges and sentenced to life in prison.

7 Ric Flair Was Sold On The Black Market As A Baby

Richard Morgan Fliehr is better known to his fans as “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair. Widely considered one of the greatest performers in pro wrestling history, Flair was faced with adversity from the start. He had the misfortune of being born in Memphis in 1949, the same time and place that a woman named Georgia Tann was running one of the largest child trafficking operations in US history.

Tann operated the Tennessee Children’s Home Society, an orphanage/adoption agency which was really a front for Tann selling babies to wealthy, out-of-state couples. Sometimes, she bribed nurses and doctors to turn newborns over to her and tell the parents they were stillborn.

Other times, she played the role of the helpful social worker trying to remove children from a bad environment. She usually succeeded thanks to a corrupt judge named Camille Kelley. In its 26 years of existence, the Tennessee Children’s Home Society was estimated to steal over 5,000 babies. Even more disturbing, 500 of them died while in the organization’s custody due to poor care.^[4]

Ric Flair was adopted on March 18, 1949. This was shortly before the adoption agency was closed for good. His real name was most likely Fred Phillips. Seeing as how the agency destroyed or manufactured most documents, it’s unlikely that the Nature Boy will ever find out what happened to his biological parents. That isn’t a big deal to Flair, though. He admitted that he never even looked over his adoption papers until he started doing research for his autobiography.

6 Ken Patera Really Wanted McDonald’s

During the early 1980s, former Olympic weightlifter Ken Patera was enjoying a successful stint with the American Wrestling Association (AWA) as part of a popular group called The Heenan Family.

This went away in 1984 following a show in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Patera and Japanese wrestler Masa Saito wanted to grab a bite to eat and headed to McDonald’s. However, it was late and the restaurant was closed so an employee turned them away. Angered by the refusal, Patera had a flashback to his high school days of shot put and lobbed a 13-kilogram (30 lb) boulder through the McDonald’s window.^[5]

Later, the situation got violent when two police officers came looking for Patera at a motel. An impromptu “tag team match” broke out, with Patera and Saito easily overpowering the two cops. It wasn’t until other officers arrived that the situation got under control.

The two wrestlers were later convicted of criminal damage to property, obstructing an officer, and multiple counts of battery to an officer. They were each sentenced to two years in jail followed by six years of probation.

5 Nick Gage Became A Terrible Bank Robber

Pro wrestlers might not be the most famous people in the world, but it is still risky to assume that nobody will recognize them. Back in 2010, 30-year-old Nicholas Wilson walked into a PNC Bank in Collingswood, New Jersey, and passed a note to the teller. The note instructed her to give him money or he would shoot her. He walked off with $3,100.

However, Wilson didn’t bother to wear a mask so police were able to release his image to the public. Wrestling fans were quick to point out that the suspect looked an awful lot like Nick Gage, a mainstay attraction of Philadelphia-based promotion Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW).^[6]

Eventually, Gage recognized his folly and turned himself in. He got a five-year prison term for bank robbery and was released in 2015.

During a prison interview, Gage admitted that he was broke and addicted to OxyContin at the time of the robbery. When told that he was recognized immediately from his surveillance photo, Gage looked on the brighter side: “I guess I didn’t realize how popular I was.”

4 Disco Inferno Organized ‘High-Stakes’ Gambling

During the 1990s, Glenn Gilbertti worked for World Championship Wrestling (WCW), portraying a comedy wrestler spoofing John Travolta’s character from Saturday Night Fever. His name was Disco Inferno. Fast-forward to 2007 and Gilbertti was facing felony charges for organizing high-stakes poker games at his friend’s house in Roswell, Georgia.^[7]

At the time of the arrest, Roswell authorities called it the biggest local gambling bust in decades. The operation put together by Gilbertti and Dan Tyre worked on a large scale, featuring dozens of players, staff to wait on them, and minimum $10,000 buy-ins. Besides gambling, police also found drugs and one illegal handgun.

Some of the players caught in the raid were subsequently interviewed and claimed the scope of the bust was blown out of proportion. They said it was a small game featuring “friends of a friend” which evolved out of a group of guys getting together to watch football and playing a few hands. The “high stakes” were $5 and $10 games of Texas Hold’em, and most players only brought a few hundred dollars to the table.

The truth was probably somewhere in the middle as police turned up $46,000 in cash. Gilbertti and Tyre were charged with commercial gambling and drug possession while 25 other people faced various misdemeanor charges.

3 Vader Attacked A TV Show Host On Air

Back in 1997, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) was on tour in the Middle East with Kuwait being one of the stops. As was customary, some of the wrestlers did media appearances to promote the show. In this case, two performers known as The Undertaker and Big Van Vader did an interview show called Good Morning Kuwait.

During the meeting, presenter Bassam Al Othman asked the question all wrestlers hate: “Is it fake?” While The Undertaker answered diplomatically, Vader had a violent outburst. He grabbed Othman by his tie and started cursing and threatening him.

The presenter subsequently filed charges, and Vader (real name Leon White) found himself under house arrest in Kuwait. After 10 days, Vader was free to leave after paying fines amounting to roughly $150. The television station got in more trouble for the cursing on live TV, and wrestling was unofficially banned in Kuwait for 11 years.

The saga continued in an interview where Vader claimed the whole thing was staged. He was working under orders from the show’s producer who forgot to tell the host (or failed on purpose to get a better reaction). The drama took another turn in 1999 when Othman sued the WWF for $1 million, claiming the company used footage of Vader manhandling him for commercial purposes without his permission.^[8]

2 Johnny K-9 Was A More Prolific Criminal Than Wrestler

Canadian wrestlers seem to have a fondness for organized crime. World Wrestling Federation’s Dino Bravo was gunned down in his home in 1993, allegedly as mob retaliation for a shipment of smuggled cigarettes he lost to the police. However, he was still small-time compared to Johnny K-9, whose criminal career was far more fruitful than his wrestling career.

K-9 (real name Ion Croitoru) was born in Hamilton, Ontario. He had a 15-year wrestling career and made appearances with various promotions, including the WWF. He also had a few small acting roles and worked as a bodyguard for several celebrities. Over the course of his life, Croitoru was involved with three major Canadian criminal organizations: the Satan’s Choice motorcycle club, the Gravelle crime family, and the United Nations gang.

Croitoru started out as a biker with Satan’s Choice. During that time, he was involved with crimes such as trafficking, assault, extortion, and bombing a police station. Eventually, Croitoru was arrested. By the time he got out, Satan’s Choice was no more.

In 1998, Croitoru advanced to murder, executing lawyer Lynn Gilbank and her husband in their home, allegedly for working a case against the Gravelle crime family. He was charged in 2005, but the trial didn’t proceed due to lack of evidence.

Croitoru was arrested again in 2009 for conspiring to kill notorious Vancouver gangsters the Bacon Brothers and other members of their gang, the Red Scorpions.^[9] Two years later, he faced another set of murder and attempted murder charges. He struck a deal that got him released on parole in 2016 and died in a halfway house in 2017.

1 Chris Benoit Committed Double Murder And Suicide

Back in June 2007, the WWE embarked on an ambitious story line involving the (fake) death of company owner Vince McMahon, seemingly killed in a limousine explosion. According to some pundits, the goal was to create a mystery about the identity of the perpetrator that was similar to the iconic Dallas story line, “Who Shot JR?”

It never got that far, though, because Vince was standing in the ring alive and well the following week. He was giving a heartfelt tribute to one of his performers who had just died over the weekend.

His name was Chris Benoit. On June 25, Benoit, his wife, Nancy, and his son Daniel were found dead in their Atlanta home. At first, authorities believed that they were the victims of a home invasion. But it soon became clear that Benoit had strangled his wife and son and then committed suicide. Common motives suggested for his actions included brain trauma, depression, and alcohol and steroids abuse, all leading to mental instability.

The WWE ended up turning their fake tribute show planned for Vince McMahon into a real one for Benoit. Once they found out about the true circumstances surrounding his death, they had to open their next show with an apology for the previous one.

The strangest part of the event came courtesy of Chris Benoit’s Wikipedia page. After he missed that Sunday’s pay-per-view show, someone changed his Wiki entry to say he did it due to the death of his wife, Nancy. This happened 14 hours before police found the bodies.^[10] Eventually, authorities dismissed it as a “huge coincidence” after tracing the IP to a Connecticut teenager who made random edits to several Wikipedia pages.

Pro wrestling has long had the reputation of being low-brow entertainment, something enjoyed by the uneducated and unwashed masses. Of course, to anyone who’s a fan of it, though, this couldn’t further from the truth. Yes, with its combination of athletic showmanship and soap opera storytelling, it can often be just as engrossing as anything else found on TV.

On top of that, at times, it’s also been known to get downright experimental, pushing the boundaries of what it can do and creating some truly avant-garde moments in the process. So, let’s take a look at some of the best examples of this today and see why, under the right circumstances, wrestling actually can approach the level of art.

Related: 10 Shocking Crimes From The World Of Pro Wrestling

10 Broken Matt Hardy

Broken Matt Hardy is what happens when a wrestling character takes too many shots to the head and starts to believe they’re a real-life anime supervillain.

That’s right. It was in 2016 when, after suffering a storyline injury, the Hardy brother suddenly developed a ridiculous English accent and an obsession with “deleting” his opponents.

And while it might have been jarring to see at first, it pretty quickly became a hit, with part of the reason for this being the absolutely insane Final Deletion bout he and his brother Jeff had, all of which was filmed in full cinematic style and would lead directly to…^[1]

9 The Quarantine Cinematic Matches

Yes, it may have been Matt Hardy who innovated the idea of taking a more cinematic approach to a wrestling match. Still, during the pandemic, circumstances would force it to become far more commonplace.

And that was because, with no fans being allowed in arenas, wrestling promotions such as WWE and AEW would have to get creative and think of new ways to create an exciting atmosphere.

What was the best of these? Well, they would probably be the Stadium Stampede at the latter company’s May 2020 Double or Nothing show and The Undertaker and AJ Styles’s Boneyard Match at WrestleMania 36 a few months prior. Go back and watch either and see just what a wrestling match would look like if it was done in the style of a Hollywood movie instead of a sports presentation.^[2]

8 The Invisible Man vs. Invisible Stan

One of the great things about modern wrestling is that, with everyone knowing it’s fake, fans can now get in on the whole thing too.

And perhaps nowhere is this more evident than in a match that pitched the Invisible Man and his brother Invisible Stan against each other at the GCW show, Joey Janella’s Spring Break, in 2019.

Here, the fans would cheer along for every unseen move and each hidden blow, playing their part to perfection as the referee, Bryce Remsburg, stood alone in the ring and performed a one-man show worthy of Charlie Chaplin.^[3]

7 The Most Illegal Move in the History of Wrestling

Modern-day wrestling no longer has to be all about bulky giants fighting in dingy halls or cartoon supermen overcoming the odds in front of packed stadiums. No, with the rise of the independent scene, it’s given more styles the opportunity to come to the forefront.

And some of the best examples of this would come from the now defunct Chikara Pro, a comedy promotion that gave rise to a lot of memorable moments, such as an invisible hand grenade and a wrestling chipmunk.

For our money, though, the best moment of all would be the time when, in the middle of a match, Ophidian the Cobra used his snake-like charms to hypnotize not only his opponents but also everyone else backstage. And this then would lead to the entire locker room coming out to take part in a short dance routine, all before things then continued right where they’d left off.^[4]

6 Kenny Omega vs. a Little Girl

Kenny Omega is widely regarded as one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, but even he isn’t immune to getting silly and experimental when the time calls for it.

And perhaps the most notable example of this would be when, while working for Japanese promotion DDT in 2011, he had a match with a nine-year-old girl.

Yes, you read that right. But what was his reason for this? Well, aside from having a bit of fun, it was also designed to shine a light on the performative aspects of the craft. His intent, in fact, was to show how, if it’s done right, you can get someone invested enough to where they’ll fully believe a child could beat up a grown man.^[5]

5 The Staring Match

Another one that came out of the lengthy quarantine—the now-famous staring match—would take place at a Pro Wrestling NOAH show in March 2020.

But this one wouldn’t feature any cinematic antics. No, instead, it would see Go Shiozaki and Kazuyuki Fujita spend the first thirty minutes of their bout trying to psyche each other out by doing nothing but staring bullets directly at one another.

Of course, a full thirty minutes of both men looking at each other intensely may have felt ridiculous at first, but after a while, it became strangely hypnotic and engrossing. And this made the whole thing all the much better when it finally kicked off into the inevitable brawl.^[6]

4 The DDT Ironman Heavymetalweight Title

No title in wrestling has as bizarre a lineage as the DDT Ironman Heavymetalweight Title. And that’s because, unlike most belts, this one can be defended anywhere at any time. In fact, across its run, it’s been challenged for at a bus stop, as part of an auction, and even during a dream.

On top of that, it’s not always been held by a human. At various points, the champion has been a miniature Dachshund dog, a ladder, a pork bun, and the live crowd at a 2016 show.

And crazily, at one point, even the title itself became champion when the belt was placed on top of the person holding it, and the referee counted to three. Something which might hurt your brain if you start to think about it too hard.^[7]

3 Lucha Underground

Lucha Libre is a form of wrestling that originated in South America and features a far more acrobatic style than most places. And on top of this, it’s also seen a lot more telenovela-style storytelling, something that was evident in the short-lived promotion, Lucha Underground.

Yes, between 2014 and 2018, this Robert Rodriguez-produced show would bring Lucha back to American television on the El Rey network.

But what made this one more interesting was that complimenting the great matches the promotion regularly put on, there were completely crazy storylines too. Among these storylines, in fact, were ones involving murder, undercover cops, supernatural monster men, and fire-breathing dragons traveling from different dimensions.^[8]

2 Big Japan Pro Wrestling’s Romeo and Juliet

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

South Park once famously joked that pro wrestling was nothing more than community theatre with more muscular people involved. Well, back in 2009, Big Japan Pro Wrestling would take that idea and run with it when they put on their own version of Romeo and Juliet.

And this would see Shakespeare’s famous story carry itself out in the form of wrestling matches between members of the roster, with Jun Kasai, in particular, playing Romeo and Jaki Numazawa playing Juliet.

If you get the chance to see it, it really is a fascinating show to watch and one that only emphasizes the ability wrestling has to tell compelling stories when it’s at its best.^[9]

1 Brian Pillman’s Loose Cannon Character

By the mid-1990s, everybody knew wrestling was fake. Still, that didn’t stop Brian Pillman from trying to blur the lines between reality and fiction so much that even his peers weren’t sure what was going on at certain points.

How did he do this? By acting like a completely uncontrollable wild man, whether on screen or off. At one point, he even pulled out a gun on live TV, while at another time, he’d go off script and walk out in the middle of a match.

But that wasn’t even his finest hour, as it turned out. This would happen when he got his boss, WCW Chief Eric Bischoff, so confused about what was going on that he convinced him to sign off on a legitimate release from his contract in order to sell a storyline they were doing at the time. Of course, secretly playing everyone, though, Pillman would then take that release and defect over to rival promotion WWF for more money. True genius.^[10]