Peacock Removing Controversial Moments From WWE Events

WWE is officially the Peacock era and with the change comes the removal of some of the more controversial events in WWE history.

WrestleMania 6 was one of the final events to be added to the NBC streaming service and on Peacock, the event is missing an entire match and promo and as a result, is about 12 minutes shorter.

The match and segment missing both involve Roddy Piper wearing blackface. That evening, Piper was facing Bad News Brown and had painted his body half black. In a WWE-produced documentary released in 2005, Piper stated that he was attempting to be Michael Jackson and that is why during the match he pulled out a bedazzled glove.

The event on peacock now sees an abrupt cutaway from the Brutus Beefcake vs. Mr. Perfect match and a segment involving Steve Allen and The Bolsheviks. The Piper match and segment are still included in the WWE Network cut for international viewers.

Another highly controversial segment that has been removed on the NBCUniversal streaming service took place at the 2005 Survivor Series event. After the first match between Booker T and Chris Benoit, Vince McMahon was involved in a backstage segment where he used the n-word. 

In 2015, WWE addressed this moment, releasing a statement calling the moment akin to a wild line in a movie script. 

“It was an outlandish and satirical skit involving fictional characters, similar to that of many scripted television shows and movies.”

On Peacock, there is a blackout fade from the end of the opening match straight into Melina’s entrance for her WWE Women’s Championship match that evening against Trish Stratus.

As of right now, WWE Monday Night Raw episodes only extend back to 2008. It is yet to be seen whether or not there will be any removal of Attitude Era segments that would be deemed inappropriate by today’s standards.

Fightful will continue to monitor the story and report all updates.