Top 10 WWE Examples of the Mandela Effect

Did The Ultimate Warrior have a tattoo…of himself? Why yes…yes, he did, actually, although you’d be forgiven if you collectively remembered otherwise. Most photos of Warrior didn’t highlight this piece on the man’s bicep, but the ink does exist, and can be seen in a collection of rare photos on WWE.com. It takes a certain kind of person to get an image of themselves tattooed on…themselves (we’re looking at you, Steve-O from “Jackass” fame) but hey, The Ultimate Warrior was nothing if not one of pro wrestling’s most unique, and uniquely divisive, personalities.

It’s rare, but sometimes championship belts change hands during what’s known as a “house show,” or an untelevised and non-canonical wrestling event. Even more rare is when there’s a title change and an immediate reversal. This is where our entry ties into the Mandela Effect, as there have been multiple instances where fans swore a title didn’t change hands when it actually did. This happened once when Chris Jericho beat Triple H for the WWE Championship, only to have it stripped by the end of the night. Even more misremembered was the time Bob Holly had his Intercontinental title win over Jeff Jarrett overturned and declared vacant, only for Double J to win it back that same night.

There are few WWE entrance themes more iconic and memorable than the original D-Generation X theme. DX member X-Pac has his own variation on the theme, with an equally memorable opening scream that asked the audience to “MAKE SOME NOISE!” Wait, did you think the song actually started out with a scream of “X-PAC?” Well, you’re not alone, because a lot of wrestling fans feel the same way. To be fair, the theme does indeed contain that as its second line, but make no mistake: the song that’s actually titled “Make Some Noise” does NOT open the way you may remember.

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times…it was the “Summer of Punk.” During this WWE angle, CM Punk had some demands for Mr. McMahon, in exchange for his continued service to the company. One of them was that WWE bring back their fan-favorite line of ice cream bars that were popular during the 1980s. Many fans-perhaps influenced by Punk’s recent ice cream social with AEW-misremember that the company actually did bring them back…but they didn’t. Sure, a t-shirt design with the old school bars was sold, and the WWE did eventually roll out a very tasty (but very different) ice cream sandwich, but this was long after the Summer of Punk had fizzled out.

The WWE have a jam-packed pay-per-view schedule throughout the calendar year, with many events possessing memorable names like SummerSlam, Money in the Bank and the Royal Rumble. One pay-per-view in particular has stymied certain members of the internet wrestling community who swear that it was called one thing, and not the other. We’re talking about “Hell in a Cell,” or is that “Hell in THE Cell?” Well, no, actually: it’s always been “Hell in a Cell,” but some fans can remember it being referred to the other way over the years. This ultimately comes down to mispronunciation, but we totally get it.

Some examples of the Mandela Effect come down to us remembering a very popular event in a certain way. Other times it’s an obscurity that we swear may or may not have happened. In the case of our next entry, it’s an infamous incident that many wrestling fans remember…only with one very particular difference. The angle between The Undertaker and Muhammad Hassan ended when a group of men in balaclavas took to the ring and assaulted Taker. The incident took place on the same night as the London Bombings in 2005, and the WWE received swift criticism for their poor timing. However, most fans remember Hassan’s men taking his limp body to the backstage area, when in fact it was Hassan’s manager, Shawn Daivari.

It’s one of the most infamous talk show segments in WWE history, as well as a top example of a tag team implosion. We’re, of course, talking about the breakup of The Rockers during an episode of Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake’s segment, “The Barbershop.” Many fans swear they remember Shawn Michaels super-kicking his partner Marty Jennetty through the “Barbershop” window. However, that’s not exactly how it went down. Michaels did super-kick Jannetty, but he actually threw him through the window after the fact. Either way, however, it was a moment that we’ll never forget.

There’s just something special about a properly executed, perfectly designed debut. The emergence of Kane at WWE’s “Badd Blood: In Your House” pay-per-view from 1997 was one of those moments. However, there’s always been a bit of confusion as to who exactly uttered that iconic line from the commentary table: “that’s gotta be Kane!” It sort of makes sense that fans may misremember wrestling icon Jim Ross declaring Kane’s debut during the inaugural “Hell in a Cell” match, given JR’s position as one of the commentary game’s greatest voices. However, it was actually WWE chairman Vincent Kennedy McMahon who uttered that immortal line. Let’s give credit where it’s due.

It was just one letter away from the real thing, but many wrestling fans swear up and down that “Mr. Perfect, Curt Hennig,” was actually billed as “Mr. Perfect, Curt Henning.” This probably comes down to the occasional pronunciation error or misspellings made by commentators and other members of the production crew over the years, but make no mistake: it was ALWAYS Hennig. Truth be told, we’re with all of you who remember it the other way, but facts are facts. Mr. Perfect will always be one of our favorites, but still…we’re honestly gobsmacked about this one.

Who didn’t love that mental image of D-Generation X invading WCW territory, while riding on a tank? Wait, what do you mean that never happened? We clearly remember Triple H and crew driving into “WCW Monday Nitro” on that impressive piece of army equipment. Well, no, it was actually just a jeep with a turret attached, but it sure looked like a tank from a side profile, right? Right? Ah well, maybe it’s a bit more fun to remember DX riding a giant tank, but the truth is that this example of a Mandela Effect affected many wrestling fans over the years, so at least we’re not alone!