10 shocking Moments from WWF (WWE) 1996

#9 Brian Pillman threatens Stone Cold with a gun

Pillman's got a gun!

One of the many criticisms being thrown at Vince McMahon and the WWF during this period was that while WCW were starting to embrace more 'shoot-style' backstage promos and video segments, the WWF were still very much relying on in-ring action that was carefully choreographed.

With the landscape of the wrestling business, and in many ways the overall mood of the country starting to move more towards controversy and anti-authority, Vince knew he had to mix things up.

Not only were wrestlers like Vader and Stone Cold introduced to rally against anyone in a position of power, but the WWF storylines needed fans to start showing more emotional investment in them. One of the best examples of this came during the rivalry between Stone Cold Steve Austin and Brian Pillman.

After injuring Pillman's ankle during a segment on RAW, Stone Cold vowed to take the fight to Brian at his home. On the November 4th edition of RAW, footage kept cutting back to Pillman's home where he was seen sitting in his living room with his wife awaiting the arrival of Austin.

To the shock and dismay of many fans around the world, Pillman admitted to having a gun, which he was not afraid to use if it meant defending his loved ones.

Stone Cold arrived at the house, managing to fight off a group of Pillman's friends waiting for him outside. The scene cut to Pillman holding out his gun to the camera when the footage went dark with only the sound of screams being heard. After a short while, Stone Cold was seen being dragged away from Pillman who still had his gun held out.

The segment drew some much-needed attention to the WWF product. Parents were phoning in to complain about the kind of action their children were watching. At any other time in the company's history, this would have been seen as bad publicity, but in 1996, there was no such thing.