The 5 most controversial things said on a WWE microphone

Paul Heyman is widely known as one of the best microphone workers in all of pro wrestling.

Ring work is obviously important for a pro wrestler. The very basis for WWE and other promotions’ programming is an athletic contest inside a wrestling ring, for which various belts and other honors are bestowed.

But as any wrestling fan will tell you, the sport also involves a great deal of work on the microphone, and that’s where things can go wrong. Not only are some performers not great on the mic, but they can also create highly controversial segments that, thanks to the Internet, can now live on in infamy.

Here are the top 5 such moments.

Batista says ‘Eddie’s Dead’

Batista and Rey Mysterio were both friends and foes within the WWE storyline.

Batista has been both loved and loathed in the WWE, both for his decisions and his abilities. But on Oct. 30, 2009, he found a new way to get a reaction out of the crowd, and it wasn’t a positive one.

At the time, he was at odds with former friend Rey Mysterio. Both men were friends with the late Eddie Guerrero, which prompted Mysterio to bring Guerrero up as part of an appeal to Batista. The Animal responded by saying, “Eddie’s dead.”

Now the context and the way Batista said that phrase a little bit more palatable than some other similar cases on this list, but it was still not a well-received decision.

Flair recommends suicide

Ric Flair with a mic in his hand has become a somewhat alarming situation.

Due to well-known issues with alcohol, anytime Ric Flair touches a microphone, it can become an adventure. Look no further than his induction speech for Sting in the WWE Hall of Fame, when he spent more time talking about his own matches with Ricky Steamboat than he did about Sting.

That was nothing compared to what he did a few weeks later at an April 26 taping of SmackDown. While there’s no guarantee he was inebriated, he did respond to a promo by Natalya by telling her to kill herself. Since this was not a live program, it was edited from the TV broadcast, but it happened nonetheless.

Paige references dead Flair

Things got tense between Paige and Charlotte at a contract signing before Survivor Series.

Things have been surprisingly controversial in the women’s ranks recently. Just a few months before Ric Flair’s gaffe, his daughter Charlotte was the target of an equally shocking promo by Paige.

As the two prepared for a Nov. 17, 2015, contract signing for their then-Divas title match at Survivor Series, Paige got the mic to rip Charlotte. After the champion told Paige she was a fighter like the rest of her family, Paige said that there wasn’t much fight in Charlotte’s little brother.

That would’ve been a reference to Reid Flair, who died from a drug overdose. While it is assumed Charlotte agreed to the promo, Ric Flair was upset by the inclusion of his dead son. Of course, he was recommending suicide just a few months later.

Orton rips late Guerrero

Randy Orton has had his share of controversy in the WWE.

This was just the worst example of a feud that was doomed from the start and the worst of a few uses of Eddie Guerrero’s death. Just a few months after he died, Randy Orton was in a feud with Guerrero’s friend Rey Mysterio.

The writing was such that Mysterio was inspired by Guerrero and would often point to the sky and pray before matches. In reference to that, Orton said on a Feb. 2006 episode of Smackdown that Guerrero was, in fact, actually in hell instead of heaven. Even if Guerrero’s family approved that, it was way over the line for most fans.

Pipe bomb No. 1

Even the sitting position for Punk during his “pipe bomb” speech has since become famous.

This one certainly didn’t contain quite the controversial material as the others on this list, mainly because it didn’t involve anyone’s real or hypothetical death. But, right or wrong, the other four entries were scripted and planned as part of a storyline.

That seemingly wasn’t the case on June 27, 2011, when CM Punk sat down on the stage area for his infamous “pipe bomb” promo. Based on the fact that his contract was about to expire, Punk took shots at John Cena, the entire locker room, the fans, Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, John Laurinaitis and Triple H, whom he described as Vince’s “doofus son-in-law.”

Talk about explosive.