5 WWE Superstars who threatened to ignore the script

Becky Lynch, Ronda Rousey and The Big Show
Becky Lynch, Ronda Rousey and The Big Show

Superstars including Drew McIntyre and Seth Rollins often clarify in media interviews that, contrary to what some people might think, the men and women of WWE do have the freedom to go off-script when the opportunity presents itself.

For example, in January 2020, Brock Lesnar was told to work without a script during his comedy segment with R-Truth on RAW, and “The Beast” enjoyed the interaction so much that he requested to work with Truth again.

Two years earlier, Lesnar went off-script during a match when he legitimately punched Braun Strowman in the head at the 2018 Royal Rumble after taking a strong knee to the jaw from “The Monster Among Men”.

While those examples show that a Superstar of Lesnar’s star power can get away with producing unscripted moments, did you know that two WWE Superstars have used social media to threaten that they will ignore the script when they next see their rival on WWE television?

Let’s take a look at the full stories behind those two rivalries, plus three others, as we count down five times that WWE Superstars considered going against the script.


#5 Nia Jax (if Ronda Rousey returns to WWE)

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The inspiration for this article comes from Nia Jax, who took exception to Ronda Rousey’s April 2020 comments about WWE simply being “fake fighting”.

Writing on Twitter, Jax said she will risk her job by “knocking the f***” out of Rousey if they ever meet again in WWE, regardless of what the script says.

“I can’t wait for Ronda 2 one day return 2 WWE. Even if WWE orders me to make Ronda look good in the ring, which is the ONLY way for Ronda 2 look good in the ring w/me. I’ll risk my job 2 go down in history as the one from this biz that knocked her the F*** out! #TestMeB****”

The animosity between Jax and Rousey dates back to the 2018 rivalry between “The Baddest Woman on the Planet” and one of Jax’s best friends, Alexa Bliss.

Bliss suffered two concussions against Rousey in separate matches in September and October of that year, causing the five-time Women’s Champion to miss the all-women’s Evolution pay-per-view.

Jax revealed in 2020 that she complained to WWE management about Rousey’s in-ring style and offered to replace the injured Bliss in the storyline.

#4 The Big Show (Floyd Mayweather segment on WWE RAW)

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The Big Show has had lots of memorable WrestleMania moments during his two decades in WWE, but none came bigger than his WrestleMania 24 match against boxer Floyd Mayweather.

In the build-up to the event, Mayweather legitimately punched The Big Show in the face multiple times on an episode of RAW, breaking the 7-footer’s nose.

Reflecting on the match in 2017 with WWE commentator Michael Cole, The Big Show revealed that he was ready to ignore the script and attack Mayweather until Shane McMahon stepped in and calmed him down.

“If I’d have got my hands on Floyd Mayweather, there never would have been a WrestleMania angle. The only guy that had the guts to stand in front of me to calm me down was Shane McMahon. Shane comes over to me, he goes, ‘Hey, you okay?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’m fine.’ He goes, ‘That was awesome!’ Then it all clicked. I was like, ‘People are gonna talk about this.’”

Mayweather went on to pick up the victory in the No Disqualification encounter after striking The Big Show in the face with a pair of brass knuckles, knocking the WWE Superstar out for a 10-count.

#3 Shawn Michaels (WWE WrestleMania 14)

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Arguably the most famous example of a WWE Superstar threatening to go off-script came before the WrestleMania 14 main event between Shawn Michaels and Steve Austin.

In fact, simply saying 'off-script' is an understatement. Michaels not only threatened to do that, but he implied on the day of the show that he might not even compete in the match due to what many people believed to be a fake injury.

Speaking on WWE Network show 'Something Else To Wrestle', WWE creative team member Bruce Prichard said Michaels did not receive much sympathy for his injury problems, especially as he had been involved in a similar situation one year earlier.

“People didn't know if it was legitimate, which, by the way, it was a legitimate injury and it was a very bad injury. The timing of it, though, didn't help. And it certainly didn't help that, Shawn being Shawn, wasn't talking to a lot of people and I think that he didn't allow anyone to feel sorry for him, really.” [H/T Wrestling Inc.]

This is the famous match where The Undertaker taped up his fists as a warning to Michaels that he would be waiting backstage for "The Heartbreak Kid" if he ignored the script or sabotaged the match in any way.

As it turned out, everything went according to plan and Michaels lost the match to Austin, who celebrated with special enforcer Mike Tyson to end the PPV.

#2 Drew McIntyre (WWE WrestleMania 36)

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Drew McIntyre won the 2020 Men’s Royal Rumble to set up a match against Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 36.

After gaining a ton of momentum in his physical encounters with Lesnar in the weeks leading up to WrestleMania, McIntyre defeated his rival in the show’s main event to win the WWE Championship for the first time in his career.

Although the Scot spoke very highly of his opponent in media interviews in the build-up to their match, he also made an interesting comment on The Bump after WrestleMania which implied that he was prepared to go off-script if Lesnar tried to “pull any funny business” during their pre-match staredown.

“No matter the situation, he was ready to fight and I was ready to fight. That was my favorite moment as we locked eyes. If you could’ve read my mind, I was thinking, ‘If you pull any funny business, Brock, I’ll drop you right now.’ That’s literally what was going through my head.”

Fortunately, there was no “funny business” and McIntyre picked up the victory after hitting Lesnar with three consecutive Claymore Kicks.

#1 Ronda Rousey (during Becky Lynch feud in WWE)

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While some of the off-script threats in this list were clearly considered in the heat of the moment, it is still unknown how much of the Ronda Rousey-Becky Lynch WWE rivalry was legitimate.

Lynch transformed from “The Irish Lass Kicker” to “The Man” in August 2018, coinciding with Rousey’s rise as WWE RAW Women’s Champion.

From November 2018 to April 2019, Lynch repeatedly taunted Rousey on social media, most notably in February 2019 when one particular Twitter exchange quickly got out of hand.

The non-PG back-and-forth, which you can view in full here, ended with Rousey threatening to go off-script in their next WWE segment together after Lynch insulted her husband, Travis Browne.

"Rebecca Quin, I don’t care what the script says, I’m beating the living s*** out of you the next time I see you."

Lynch went on to win the RAW Women’s Championship and SmackDown Women’s Championship in a Triple Threat match against Rousey and Charlotte Flair in the main event of WrestleMania 35.

Meet the man who called CM Punk the softest man alive HERE