6 Controversies WWE faced in April (WrestleMania 35 month)

WWE is the largest wrestling promotion in the world. The lack of competition allows them space to maneuver and make decisions which they otherwise might have avoided. Some of these decisions are extremely controversial, to say the least.

April is WWE's biggest month of wrestling in the year. WrestleMania month is always big for WWE and sees them make several changes as WrestleMania takes place and new Superstars and directions are ironed out for the company's coming year. This year was no exception and saw several decisions made by WWE which raised the eyebrows of the WWE Universe.

When you have such a large fandom, it is difficult to do anything without controversy arising about something or the other. As any WWE faithful will know by now, Vince McMahon and co. are not the type of people who shy away from controversy.

In this article, we will talk about 5 controversies WWE faced in WrestleMania 35 month.

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#1 WWE renaming the War Raiders

War Raiders did not have the main roster debut that had been hoped for

Let's face it, this was one of the most perplexing parts of WWE's April shows.

The War Raiders are the NXT Tag Team Champions down in the WWE developmental territory. However, when they made their debut on RAW, it was with a different name altogether.

The WWE Universe let out a collective gasp when they realized the tag team had been named 'The Viking Experience'.

Sounding more like a Disney Land Roller Coaster than a WWE tag team, the name attracted the ire of WWE fans. The backlash WWE faced for the decision was severe, and possibly more than they had expected.

Soon enough, they were backtracking on the decision and instead changed the name to 'The Viking Raiders'. While it is still not the War Raiders, The Viking Raiders is at least a better name than what the NXT tag team champions almost became.

#5 WrestleMania 35 main-event finish

Ronda Rousey and Becky Lynch

The first-ever Women's main event at WrestleMania.

The hype was real. Becky Lynch vs Ronda Rousey vs Charlotte Flair for both the RAW and the SmackDown Live Women's Championships. The stakes had literally never been higher.

However, the ending was one that would haunt the WWE officials.

After a 7-hour show, when Becky Lynch, Ronda Rousey, and Charlotte Flair faced each other, they gave their everything to the fight. Becky Lynch won the match, making it extremely memorable.

However, the ending is what people will remember from the match.

When Ronda Rousey was pinned, the referee started counting while Rousey's shoulder was up from the mat. This was something that was spotted by the fans, and after she was pinned, Ronda Rousey was clearly upset as well when she made her way backstage.

The referee was fined by WWE, but what was done was done. The ending to the first-ever Women's main event at WrestleMania was tainted.

On top of that, Ronda Rousey was also injured during the match.

#4 WWE not releasing Luke Harper

Luke Harper did not have the best luck with his request

There has been a lot of rumored discontent backstage in WWE of late. One of the rumors which turned out to be a fact was former Wyatt Family member, Luke Harper.

Luke Harper has been a constant fixture in WWE for a while and according to most of the WWE Universe, an underutilized part of WWE's roster.

Things change in WWE on a regular basis, but Harper was seemingly not getting the push he was clearly deserving of. He made a statement on social media, revealing that he had asked WWE for release from his contract.

WWE reacted to this information being made public badly. Not only did they not agree to release Luke Harper, but they also added on a few more months to his contract, which was supposed to be ending in 7 months. They added on a few more months due to the time he had been absent recovering from his injury.

#3 WWE breaking up Sanity

Sanity had a miserable main roster run

Talking of underutilized in WWE, which WWE official's rabbit did Sanity accidentally kill on the main roster?

Ever since being called up to the main roster, the group was radically underutilized. They hardly performed in matches, mostly taking part as jobbers, or in multi-man tag team battles. Nikki Cross was also removed from the team, but is yet to get a solo run.'

After being a dominant force in NXT, there could not be a worse utilized faction in WWE today. They were ultimately broken up in the Superstar Shakeup.

With it appearing that Alexander Wolfe was heading back to NXT, Eric Young will remain on RAW, while Killian Dain will be alone on SmackDown Live.

It is going to be interesting to see how the WWE books the trio, but when they broke them up, it was a shock for the fans as they had expected the trio would eventually get a push and proper run on the main roster.

#2 WWE Hall of Fame Bret Hart attacked and controversial statements about AEW

Bret Hart and Natalya got a nasty surprise

The WWE Hall of Fame ceremony was full of controversy, and part of it was not even WWE's doing.

While Bret Hart was giving his acceptance speech due to being inducted as part of the Hart Foundation, a crazed fan attacked Hart and took him down, even landing a punch. While Bret Hart was not injured, the attacker was then pulverized by members of the WWE roster, including Dash Wilder and Ronda Rousey's husband, Travis Browne.

There was a funnier controversy in the WWE Hall of Fame 2019 ceremony as well, when Triple H was talking to Billy Gunn and called the company he was part of a 'pissant' company.

He was referring to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), a professional wrestling startup by Tony Khan, featuring Cody Rhodes, Kenny Omega, and the Young Bucks, which has attracted a lot of interest of late.

Here's the full exchange of the fan attacking Bret Hart. Travis Browne (Rousey's husband and former UFC fighter) and the New Day both reacted very quickly and deserve a lot of praise. #WWEHOF pic.twitter.com/T0fzLq5grz

— Chris Toplack (@christoplack) April 7, 2019

#1 WWE - Sasha Banks Controversy

Sasha Banks and Bayley were the first-ever WWE Women's Tag Team Champions

The controversy that has surrounded WWE since WrestleMania 35 is that of Sasha Banks. Sasha Banks has been a cornerstone of the main roster women's Division for the better part of her career. She has held the WWE RAW Women's Championship a number of times, albeit for short periods.

She was also the first-ever WWE Women's Tag Team Champion alongside Bayley. The pair was singlehandedly responsible for the creation of the WWE Women's Tag Team Titles, with them pestering Vince McMahon for over a year until it was created.

So when the titles were taken from them without them receiving much prior notice at WrestleMania 35, Sasha Banks was upset. On top of that, Sasha Banks and Bayley were broken up as a tag team, with Bayley heading to WWE SmackDown Live.

The overall combination of the factors saw Sasha Banks be loud about being unhappy with the way she was being treated in WWE. Banks has not appeared on WWE television since WrestleMania, and there are rumors that she is planning to sit out the rest of the contract.

While facts of the matter are not confirmed, this has been one of the biggest controversies plaguing WWE in April.

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