The 1980s were a time of change in WWE. It started business as usual with Bob Backlund as champion and still a regional promotion. Then Vince McMahon Jr took over, Hulk Hogan became champion and what we know as "sports entertainment" was the theme. It was a time filled with cartoonish characters and nutty moments, some of which ended up being pretty good.
But for every good moment, there was another that left fans scratching their heads. It was one thing for the goofy characters abounding or some of the bad booking decisions. Some characters got better over time, like Demolition, while others took a step back. These are moments in WWE in the 1980s that weren't just bad but downright insulting to the intelligence of fans watching and it's remarkable they managed to go on after this wild start to a golden period for the company.
10 Zeus
Yes, Tiny Lister looked amazingly intimidating facing Hulk Hogan. Yet it was still something for WWE to claim the guy had stepped right out of the movie No Holds Barred to face Hogan. It wasn't helped that Zeus was pretty terrible in the ring once you got past that cool appearance.
WWE added to it like a PPV of a cage match with the movie and Zeus presented as a monster not able to back it up with ring work. He was gone by the end of 1989 for one media crossover that didn't connect.
9 The WrestleMania 2 Celebs
Celebrities and WrestleMania go hand in hand, but WWE learned the hard way that overloading was a bad idea. WrestleMania 2 was already a logistical mess, with venues in three different cities, and then loading the show up on celebs all over the place.
Okay, the NFL players in a battle royal was fun, but Joan Rivers as a timekeeper amid long-forgotten commercial stars as judges was nutty. Worse was having Susan Saint James, Cathy Lee Crosby and Elvira on commentary and each showing their lack of wrestling knowledge. WWE cut back majorly after that as having so many people with no wrestling knowledge involved marred the show.
8 Hulk Hogan's Fist Helmet
Why? That was always the question when one looked at the helmet Hulk Hogan wore for a brief time in 1988. There was no reason for it and it looked idiotic. There was also how it was a blatant foreign object, but the refs allowed Hogan to wear it as he headbutted guys and still presented as the hero.
Amazingly, WWE tried to sell it as merchandise, but It was still baffling to see the hero of WWE using this illegal and ugly-looking headpiece.
7 Plastic Surgery?
While the angle holds up today, there was one pretty dumb bit to it. In an early 1988 NBC televised match, Andre the Giant ended Hulk Hogan's four-year WWE title reign when referee Dave Hebner counted Hogan down even though he had a shoulder up. After Andre turned the belt over to Ted DiBiase, in came a guy looking just like Hebner, with Hogan tossing the imposter out.
In a backstage promo, Hogan demanded to know how much DiBiase paid for the "plastic surgery" for the lookalike. The issue was it was well known this was Dave's identical twin brother Earl. Even WWE went right to that explanation as trying to push a plastic surgery angle marred an otherwise epic moment.
6 Red Rooster
Few workers have suffered from a bad character like Terry Taylor. A talented wrestler, he could have been great in WWE as either a heel or face just as himself. Instead, he was forced to put a red streak in his hair and go around acting like a big chicken.
He would strut, a stupid "crow" in his promos and more.
He never had a chance of getting over, becoming a complete joke and the gimmick led to a waste of a great worker. WWE fans still rail on how badly he was treated with as stupid a character as possible.
5 Akeem
The One Man Gang was an impressive worker, not just for his huge size and mohawk but able to take off the ropes. His entire act was about being a tough biker so what did WWE do? Suddenly have him dress in a blue and yellow outfit, bill him as from "Deepest, Darkest Africa" and do the worst dancing imaginable.
It was ludicrous by any standard, totally marring his career and little wonder the first thing he did after leaving WWE was go back to his old gimmick as the Gang suffered badly transforming like this.
4 Get Well Matilda
People love dogs, that's true. But building a wrestling angle around a pet was a bit much. First, the fact that a team as talented as the British Bulldogs had to bring a bulldog to the ring as a mascot was off.
Then Matilda was kidnapped by Bobby Heenan, leading to Davey Boy Smith and Dynamite Kid to ask fans to write get well cards for her. WWE even showed a supposed avalanche of mail for the dog, and after all that, the Bulldogs left WWE to make this a dog of a storyline.
3 Vince McMahon As Announcer
To be fair, Vince McMahon isn't the first owner in wrestling history to present himself as just the announcer. Yet it was aggravating as the '80s went on to see Vince being out in the media presenting himself as the owner of WWE and then going on WWE programming acting like he was just the announcer.
He even had a puppet "president" in Jack Tunney running things to supposedly make decisions. The fact that Vince's announcing got worse as time went on made it more annoying how he acted like just an employee rather than the owner of the company.
2 Dusty Rhodes "Common Man" Skits
It's to Dusty Rhodes' credit he was given those polka-dot trunks and still got over in WWE. Yet his entry was goofy as WWE pushed his "common man" act with Dusty shown doing stuff from delivering pizzas to working as a plumber.
Yes, "son of a plumber" was part of the act but also something to watch an established star unclogging toilets and dressed in nutty outfits bantering with people. At least the American Dream backed it up in the ring to make these a bit worthwhile.
1 The Machines
Yes, it's an old gimmick in wrestling, but it's also one that rarely works. In 1986, Andre the Giant was suspended for an attack with Bobby Heenan crowing about running him out of WWE. Mean Gene Okerlund was then sent to Japan to talk to the Machines, a masked tag team.
The Giant Machine was quite obviously Andre under a mask with the announcers acting like Heenan was being paranoid accusing him of it. It got nuttier with "Hulk Machine," "Piper Machine," "Animal Machine" and others. It was dropped as another example of an angle that keeps being tried to little success.