Irony can be a fickle thing and the world of professional wrestling is certainly not safe from it.
Throughout the history of the WWE, there have been many ironic moments; some more so than others. Whether it’s real life or Kayfabe in the shows scripts, ironic moments happen more often than you think.
Here we look at 10 such instances in WWE history.
#10 CM Punk on superstars earning their spot
It has been no secret in the past that CM Punk spent several years voicing his irritation at part time or semi-retired stars performing at Wrestlemania and other high profile WWE events, taking up space on the card and causing full time WWE performers to be bumped off it.
To a certain extent this is true. It is kind of a slap in the face to the wrestlers who put so much time into their craft, week after week. Although the drawing power of some of these special attractions can be off the chain, you can only feel bad for those left behind.
Now, Punk is intending to debut for the UFC and once can only assume that he will be participating close to, if not near the top of a UFC card. It is his first official UFC fight and if he does get a good spot on the card (more power to him if he does), he technically will be doing exactly what he said p****d him off in the WWE.
In other words he won’t have earned a top spot on the card, his star power would have bought him one.
#9 When kayfabe meets reality
Kayfabe may have been a tradition within professional wrestling that has been lost, but many years ago, it was a sacred part of the business.
In 1996 Kevin Sullivan entered into a feud with Chris Benoit. Sullivan thought of a way to heat up the feud: he’d introduce his real life wife (his valet in the show) into the equation and booked Benoit to gradually steal his woman away from him.
And Sullivan demanded that kayfabe be kept up at all times, meaning that Benoit and Sullivan’s “Valet” had to travel together, share hotel rooms and be seen together in public at all times.
Sullivan, on the other hand, couldn’t be seen in public with his own real life wife.
Forced together on the road, forced to act as if they were together even when not on television, Benoit and Nancy ended up actually getting married and The Sullivans separated for real.
#8 The title’s in the opposition’s hand
Ric Flair was the WCW world heavyweight champion in the spring of 1991, but a world champion at odds with the office. Matters had come to a head between him and the establishment, and Flair was eventually fired.
Unfortunately for WCW, Ric Flair was still the NWA/WCW world heavyweight title.
Flair turned up on WWF television (the opposition) with the Big Gold Belt over his shoulder, referring to himself as ˜the real world champion.”
You would think that WWF would have learned from this but, nope. They themselves ended up realising the then Women’s champion Alundra Blaze from the company. She ended up going over to WCW at the heights of the Monday Night War, and dumped the Woman’s Championship in a bin on television.
Ouch.
#7 Austin sees his future
Steve Austin fought Owen Hart at Summerslam in August 1997, he would be involved in a reversal spot that would change the course of his life. Having Hart up for the piledriver, the two men worked a counter and Hart seamlessly leaped to one side to reverse the move, pulling off his own piledriver.
This ended up breaking Austin’s neck and would shorten his career drastically. Austin even tried to get Hart to reconsider the spot but he refused.
5 years prior, as part of the talent exchange angle WCW had going with New Japan Pro Wrestling, Steve Austin would wrestle Masahiro Chono and in the process, break Chono’s neck in a sitdown piledriver reversal spot.
Austin’s future was unwittingly written by him.
#6 Austin sells his soul to the Devil
After being on the shelf for over a year, the bionic redneck made his triumphant return at the Royal Rumble 2001, which he won and would go on to challenge the Rock at WrestleMania X7.
Midway through the match, the Chairman would strut his way down the aisle and hand Austin a chair which he unrelentingly unloaded on the Rock with. Austin had sold his soul to the devil, but fans weren’t ready to boo the guy yet.
After years of being the number one babyface on the roster and being the anti-authority figure for the company, Austin was now shacking the boss’s hand?
It was a bad decision and the crowd that night wouldn’t budge on their hero winning the gold the wrong way either; an ironic situation that placed the WWE at odds with itself.
#5 Vince’s giants don’t work
It’s no secret that Vince loves his giants. Giants such as Andre the Giant and Big Show were the men loved to see succeed, and they did. They made Vince a bunch of money and put the then WWF on the map.
Today it can be heavily argued that this formula doesn’t work. I’d bet Vince would only love to see Braun Stroman sitting on top of the mountain with the WWE title on his shoulder. Unfortunately for him, people want to see a more athletic style in today’s wrestling and what worked in the olden days, just doesn’t work anymore.
#4 Women Main Event Raw
Woman have had a tough time within the world of professional Wrestling. Even to a certain extent today, woman don’t get to main event shows (With exception of Sasha, Charlotte or Bailey of course).
Back in 2004, Trish and Lita were still trying to leave their mark on WWE. But they did manage to make a lasting impression on December 6th, 2004 when these two icons of the WWE Women’s division fought for the WWE Women’s Championship in the Raw main event.
This match was a huge history making moment for both the women in the ring and women’s wrestling as a whole.
Neither woman took the chance to main event lightly. Both Trish and Lita pulled out all the stops to deliver a match that is a strong contender for best WWE Womans match of all time. They showed that woman can be just as good as the men when it comes to putting on a show.
#3 “Skinny Fat Ass”
"I gotta tell ya, I've got a really massive ego. And right now, that massive ego is telling me to slap every one of those little silly rotten ass tattoos off your skinny fat ass." - Triple H to CM Punk.
Oh Trips, what were you thinking?
Apparently, Punk is a guy that is in shape although since he doesn't have ripped muscles; making him the very definition of "skinny fat." During some of the promo battles with Hunter and Punk, they liked to point out that Punk wasn't ripped.
The guy never tired in the ring and had great matches. That's all that should matter.
The irony of it is that HHH didn’t always show his 6-pack. There were times when he was quite out of shape himself, not to mention wrestling matches at snail pace.
#2 The Usos raise Ambrose in the air
After a truly thrilling finish to Battleground this Sunady, Dean Ambrose had outlasted his former Shield brothers to emerge as the WWE Champion. During the match, there was clear shades of Dean turning on his fellow brother, Roman Reigns, and siding with Seth for parts of the match.
After the match concluded, the Smackdown roster came down to the ring to applaud Dean for bringing the WWE championship home to Smackdown. The Usos picked Dean Ambrose up on their shoulders in celebration of his victory.
This is ironic as the Usos have been featured heavily as Roman’s bloodline and Dean, in ways, betrayed Roman during the match by teaming with Seth. I don’t think Roman will be too happy after seeing this footage that closed out Battleground replayed.
Speaking of which . . . .
#1 Orton knocks Brock’s drug test failure
In a “Did he just say that?!” moment at Battleground, Orton ripped on Brocks recent drug violation, to a massive “oooooh” pop from the crowd.
The quote goes like this:
“I've known Brock for 15 years so I know at SummerSlam that he's going to slam me, suplex me pillar to post, all the while with a smile on his big ugly mug. I know he's going to suplex me over and over and over again. 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 times even?
What is it about 20 suplexes, that's how many it takes to get to Suplex City, right?
Well it only takes one RKO to get to Viperville. No enhancement needed.”
Jericho also brilliantly commented saying that “something tells me you’re going to pay for that”.
All well and good, except that ironically, Orton has violated the WWE's own Wellness Policy twice himself.
