Top 5 pipe bombs outside the WWE

“Pipebomb” is a word that is now referenced to any verbal jab that is thrown by a performer, while making it look legitimate. Decades ago, although people were unaware about the kayfabe aspect of professional wrestling, everything was fairly simple. You had the good guys, and then you had the bad guys. Verbally attacking someone was a part and parcel of the business, but it was when the kayfabe part of the industry was exposed that the people started reading between the lines, and since then, any reference to real life beef or ‘heat’ was looked upon as an opportunity to look beyond the smokes and mirrors, and to get a glimpse of the reality behind the ‘circus act’.Ever since the infamous worked shoot by CM Punk in 2011, the fans have started referring to every controversial promo as a “pipebomb”. CM Punk’s promo wasn’t the first to get the wrestling fans riled up, and certainly won’t be the last. Many performers in the past decided to air the dirty laundry on national television, and in this article, we take a look at five pipebombs, which were either worked shoots or shoots outside of the WWE.

#1 The birth of The Franchise Shane Douglas

Russo Shoots On Hogan by PrivateBiscuit01

One of the most infamous incidents in WCW’s history happened during the Bash At The Beach PPV in 2000. Although various people have different perspectives about what actually happened, it is widely believed that Hulk Hogan was supposed to lose his title match with Jeff Jarrett, and Jarrett would later drop the title to the fan favorite, and the one person who was unanimously chosen to be the next face of WCW, Booker T.

During the course of the day however, Hulk Hogan allegedly refused to lose the match, and used his creative control to book himself to win the title. Russo then laid out a plan, which would see Jarrett lay down for Hulk, and Hulk and Eric would later leave the building while Russo would prepare another match, resulting in Booker winning the Heavyweight title. This would then lead to a Hogan – Booker match down the line, but that never happened. After Hogan left the building, Russo came out and cut a scathing promo, which according to Hogan and Bischoff was a shoot, and subsequently fired Hogan. This resulted in Hulk suing Russo and never coming back to WCW until its demise.

#4 Steve Austin shoots on Eric Bischoff and WCW

What happens when you give a ticked off Steve Austin live microphone and air time? As the WWE fans would later find out, those are the ingredients for pure magic and that was exactly what happened when Paul Heyman brought Steve Austin to ECW when he was a free agent. WCW had just released Austin after Eric Bischoff told him that they had nothing for him, and Paul Heyman, realizing Austin’s potential and talent gave him air time to vent his frustrations.

Austin was then involved in segments mocking the likes of Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff, while ripping WCW on live TV. Austin cut arguably one of the greatest promos/worked shoots in wrestling history, when he aired the dirty laundry, while taking shots at Eric Bischoff, Hulk Hogan, Dusty Rhodes and the WCW management.

#5 Samoa Joe shoots on Scott Hall

Samoa Joe is widely regarded as one of the best wrestlers in the world today, and his affiliation with TNA was an amazing one. Although Joe has recently made it public that he is done with the organization, the TNA faithful will always remember the amazing matches Joe put on with the likes of Kurt Angle, Christopher Daniels and AJ Styles. But back in ’07, he was scheduled to team up with Kevin Nash and a mystery opponent to take on the team of Kurt Angle, AJ Styles and Tyson Tomko at Turning Point.

It was revealed that the mystery opponent was originally scheduled to be Scott Hall, but when Hall no – showed the event, the TNA management asked Joe to go out and give the fans the bad news. Joe came out fuming and took the likes of Hall and Nash to task, and took shots at the older “superstars” cashing their undeserved checks while the younger talents busted their behinds to make a name for themselves in the business. In the end, it is this passion that has made Joe a fan favorite.