WWE’s Top 10 Most Controversial Storylines
By Tim Sherry
3. Eugene
The number 3 spot on this list will also go down as one of the silliest and insensitive angles the company has ever produced. Eugene, AKA Nick Dinsmore, was a young, emerging talent in WWE’s minor leagues, Ohio Valley Wrestling. His run in OVW consisted of 10 title reigns as both a tag team champion and OVW Heavyweight champion. Simply put, Dinsmore was a special babyface talent that could have made a huge splash on the main roster.
So instead of pushing the young Dinsmore and using his talent to impress, he was saddled with the gimmick of an overly excited, mentally challenged pro wrestler. Now the WWE never specifically said that Eugene was special needs but it made the indication. He stuck out his tongue while he wrestled, employed moves that made little to no sense, and stole finishing moves from his favorite wrestlers. So not only did the WWE insult millions of people by introducing this gimmick, they plunged the knife even deeper by glorifying every stereotype a mentally disabled person may or may not perform. For someone who lives with a mentally challenged adult every day (like myself) the act was disgusting.
The one upside to Eugene was that, despite WWE’s best efforts, he got over fairly well with the fans. And that is a testament to just how good Dinsmore was as a worker. But after getting buried by Triple H, suffering some injuries, and a series of continued bad booking, the Eugene character was out of the WWE within 18 months, the typical shelf life for ridiculous gimmicks (see The Spirit Squad).
For the very bit of success that Eugene had, there was a moment where he was made a fool of. From getting caught reading a skin-mag, to accidentally walking into the women’s locker room, to his “My Name is Eugene” name tag, the WWE’s excuse that he was the perennial underdog overcoming the odds was just nonsense. And much as the case in the previous slide, another young, promising career came to a premature end due to the company’s inability to get out of their own way.