I know they say 'rules are made to be broken', but sometimes they're only broken because of the rebellious nature of an individual. The WWE is known to be the land of the wacky and unpredictable, but there are still rules in place, rules made for a good reason.
Due to the dangerous nature of wrestling, rules are made to protect the safety of the wrestlers and performers involved. However, despite the good intentions behind these rules, a lot of wrestlers over the years have refused to follow them. Not only did they refuse to follow them, but they were also simply allowed to rebel too......
Here are five WWE superstars that constantly disobeyed the rules and ran rough-shot over their peers backstage.
#5 Randy Orton
When you're part of the golden OVW generation and one of the most naturally gifted wrestlers of all time, there's a lot you can seemingly get away with. In his early years, it's no secret that Randy Orton was a menace backstage, on several occasions, he was accused of disgustingly defacing co-worker's luggage bags and playing costly pranks on other wrestlers.
As a gifted youngster, perhaps, it was all too much too soon, for the son of the great Bob Orton Jr. With a lack of guidance and an abundance of immaturity, Randy found himself on the wrong end of several wellness violation suspensions due to his constant flirting with marijuana.
Orton in an interview with the WWE magazine (which no longer exists) in 2006, stated that he used marijuana as a coping mechanism for his anger management issues. It's been widely reported that Orton often smoked joints in his dressing room and officials turned a blind eye to it, due to a third wellness violation signalling the end of his career.
Perhaps, due to his status as a top star, he was allowed to have one-off joints backstage, without it being a violation. However, these rebellious days are now behind Orton, who has just welcomed into the world a new baby daughter with his wife.
#4 Kevin Nash
This one wasn't a surprise was it, we all know how rebellious the Kliq members were. I suppose Nash wasn't the ring leader of the group, but he was definitely the enforcer. He was rumoured to push other wrestlers around physically and verbally violate them.
Even the ‘King’ Jerry Lawler, was subject to abuse backstage, rumour has it that the Kliq left excrement in the King's crown prop one time. It's surprising that a such an imposing and ruthless figure like Vince McMahon, would allow a disposable figure like Kevin Nash to walk all over him, but walk all over him he did.
Perhaps his ties with Michaels provided Nash leverage when dealing with Vince, but one thing is for sure, the boss turned a blind eye to Nash's backstage antics on several occasions.
#3 Triple H
Marrying the Chairman's daughter certainly has its perks, both financially and status-wise. Despite not wrestling as frequently as he once did, Hunter is still one of the top-earners in the company. This is indicative of his backstage presence and power. But in the past it was Hunter who was disobeying the rules, not making them.
It's been widely reported that Hunter gained so much backstage power, that he was literally allowed to run rough-shot over everybody, even officials. Several creative writers have come out in the past and talked about awkward encounters they had with the Game, about the booking of matches.
As long as he was going over he didn't care about the script for the match, but if he wasn't going over he'd rip up the script in front of the writer and book the match himself. This happened countless times, until Vince himself had to step in and plead with Hunter.
The 14-time World Champion had no regard for the rules and knew his relationship with Stephanie was an assured insurance policy.
#2 Brock Lesnar
The badass, the beast, the rule-breaker. Brock Lesnar has never been a stickler for the rules. Perhaps due to his athletic ability or intimidating presence, Lesnar has always been treated differently by the WWE to his peers. From an early age, Lesnar knew his worth.
After enrolling in OVW for only one year, the former NCAA champion quit the developmental brand and went home, demanding that the WWE send him to the main roster or never call him again. Needless to say, Vince bowed down to his demands instantly.
And a decade later things hadn't changed, upon his return to the ring, Brock Lesnar was allowed to return to the WWE with his own merchandise sponsors. We all know that Vince has a strict policy pertaining to the marketing of his Superstars, but for Brock, he made a rare exception to the rules.
#1 Shawn Michaels
It's no locker room secret that Shawn Michaels back in the late 80s and early 90s was literally untouchable from a booking standpoint and a financial one. Vince loved Shawn, and Shawn loved the love. Vince literally put all his eggs in one basket with Shawn, backing him in every decision, most notably the Montreal Screw job.
However, Shawn constantly pushed his luck and knew he could do what he wanted. The one golden rule of professional wrestling has always been to NEVER break kayfabe, regardless of whether you're in front of twenty people or a three million-strong TV audience, always stay in character.
Infamously known as the Madison Square Garden incident, Michaels, Hunter, Nash & Hall would break kayfabe and hug each other in front of a packed crowd. This moment was so significant as it showed the adoring wrestling public that wrestling truly isn't real. On the flipside, Titus O’Neil was handed a suspension after he playfully hugged Vince McMahon during Daniel Bryan’s retirement ceremony on Raw and has been effectively buried ever since.
For Nash & Hall the repercussions were irrelevant because they were already on their way out, but for Michaels & HHH they'd have to stay and face the consequences if any. But as we all know when you're the apple of the boss's eye, there is no such thing as consequences.
If he wanted to, Shawn could have called himself the boss at times, the way he saw himself as above his peers. You only have to read the various accounts from ex-wrestlers who have come out and talked about how Shawn constantly abused them backstage, without any official intervening. Shawn not only broke the rules, he made the damn rules.
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