Booze, Drugs, and Smackdowns.

One of professional wrestling’s greatest behind-the-scenes stories is the infamous “plane ride from hell” that took place on May 5, 2002. Over the course of a seven-hour flight from London to New York, following the group’s European tour, a 747 charter plane full of wrestlers, management staff, and television crew found themselves getting loaded on drinks from an in-flight open bar and GHB (aka liquid ecstasy), leading to violence, sexual assault, and a hefty lawsuit for the WWE (formerly the WWF).

Things started out innocently enough, with notorious prankster Curt Hennig and bad boy Scott Hall running throughout the cabin spraying people with shaving cream. This somehow led to Hennig and Brock Lesnar arguing over who was a better grappler, and they proceeded to see who could take the other down in the aisles. What began as a friendly tussle soon turned serious, and the two almost came to blows. The wrestlers had to be separated by Dave Finley, Triple H, and Paul Heyman after getting a little too close to the emergency exit.

Soon after, Ric Flair began waltzing around the plane in his famous robe, sans underwear. It’s said he was screaming his famous catchphrase, “Woooo!", and making sexual gestures toward two female attendants, who later filed a lawsuit against the WWE. That suit also included Dustin “Goldust” Rhodes, who, according to one of the attendants, told her, “You and me are gonna fuck.” Things only got worse for Rhodes when he commandeered the plane’s PA system and drunkenly serenaded his ex-wife, Terri Runnels, who was also on the flight. Jim Ross, president of talent relations, was forced to step in and reprimand Rhodes.

Meanwhile, Hall of Famer Michael Hayes, who was a road agent at the time, found himself on the receiving end of a prank from Sean “X-Pac” Waltman. Hayes, a big drinker, had a reputation for being a bully. At one point, he was so drunk he mistook Linda McMahon (wife of owner Vince) for a toilet and tried to relieve himself on her. He eventually found himself sitting next to John Bradshaw Layfield, who was resting in the back of the plane. JBL’s forehead had been split open during a match, and Hayes decided to wake him with a punch directly on the site of the cut, reopening the wound and covering JBL’s face and clothes in blood. JBL in turn clocked Hayes with one punch, knocking him out cold. Waltman, who had expressed his dislike for Hayes multiple times, then took out a pair of scissors and chopped off Hayes’ trademark mullet, to everyone’s amusement. It wasn’t until Hayes went through customs that he realized what had happened. He was so angry he almost got into a fight with security.

While all this was going on, Scott Hall, known as one of the wilder wrestlers at that time, was missing all the action. After the earlier shaving-cream incident, Hall got so drunk he passed out, with Justin Credible forced to babysit his motionless body and make sure he was still alive when the plane landed.

The whole incident went down in wrestling history, but it was seen by the company as one of its darkest days. Both Hennig’s and Hall’s contracts were terminated shortly after, while Rhodes was forced off television until his contract expired. Jim Ross was also made something of a scapegoat, which put a strain on his relationship with McMahon.

Ultimately it shone a spotlight on the rock ’n’ roll lifestyle of professional wrestlers, and the negative publicity forced the WWE to become a more professional organization, and in particular address the way it dealt with drug and alcohol use. Pussies.

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