In the world of pro wrestling, there are various personalities, codes of conduct, and just general situations that can happen backstage. Put all of that in a mix and there is surely going to be some conflicts that will arise out of it.
Sometimes the confrontations are too good to pass up; many times some of these have made it to the ring in exploitation goodness. Simply, WWE will make the most out of it if it draws attention and more importantly, money.
While most of us love a good, juicy story, you can’t help but to tune in anytime someone is having words on social media these days. A lot of times it is done in joking fashion but there are times where the argument gets real and you’re staying on Twitter with popcorn in hand.
Which it’s rather surprising that we haven’t seen too many personal wars of words make it into the ring in recent years. The current one going on is between Vader and Will Osperay, which stemmed from Vader’s criticism of Osperay’s highly praised match with Ricochet a few weeks back. While it’s non WWE related the attention it drew still speaks volumes in today’s social media world.
We all know about the good feuds over the years that got real personal, some before the boom of social media. Some of those made for the best feuds, because it was the Superstars’ outlets to hash out any anger they carried from the said incident or confrontations they had in the past. It made for good television, and who doesn’t love drama?
5. The Undertaker has a slight confrontation in the UFC
Remember when the internet exploded at the brief, but huge moment between The Undertaker and Brock Lesnar at UFC 121?
Back in 2010, The Undertaker was being interviewed by UFC reporter Ariel Helwani when Lesnar happened to walk by him after his fight.
As Taker was being interviewed Lesnar glared at him, leading for the veteran to turn from Helwani to ask “You wanna do it?” Taker wouldn’t disclose to Helwani anymore than “it’s personal” when asked about it, meaning there was more to that then what we saw. Whether it was legit or not is unknown. But four years later, we saw the most shocking moment in WrestleMania history when Lesnar conquered his undefeated streak.
4. Respect me, sucka!
One of the better known scuffles came from Booker T and Batista years ago during a photo shoot. It was protocol to address the veteran, which Batista failed to do. Booker took it as being disrespectful, and in so many words, the argument came to blows. Batista would say in his book years later that he was wrong for not addressing Booker at the photo shoot.
3. Flair and Foley’s back and forth rivalry
Even now, the bad blood between Mick Foley and Ric Flair is still ongoing (last time being in 2015).
This was more of a war of words in both aspects between books and backstage but it eventually made it to the squared circle. The heat started when Foley and Flair publically criticized each other in their respective books.
There were additional comments made over time, and then there was the infamous backstage brawl in 2004 when Foley refused to shake Flair’s hand but asked if Flair could sign his book for charity. The brawls and spats would lead for the two to have an intense rivalry in 2006, culminating at Summer Slam in an “I Quit” match. The two men would wrestle each other in both WWE and TNA in great showings.
2. An affair that changed careers
It’s hard to believe that it has been over ten years since the bombshell news of Lita’s affair with Edge had taken place. Lita was in a relationship with Matt Hardy, which was broadcasted over WWE television since the days when she paired up with the Hardy Boyz.
When Hardy was out with an injury, Lita was traveling with Edge, who was good friends with all parties. However more came out of that arrangement and it was not pretty when Hardy found out about it. He went online and bashed Lita and Edge leading to his subsequent firing.
Fans were outraged over the move, as Hardy was a victim in all of this. His emotional reaction was one that many people could relate to. Fans began to chant “You Screwed Matt” whenever Edge or Lita were out in the ring.
After a few weeks, Hardy was reinstated and brought back after injury to take the quarrel to screen. This was the beginning of Edge’s rise as the Rated R Superstar, and it catapulted him to the main event picture and essentially WWE immortality. It was a feud many fans remember, and to this day, all parties have smoothed things over and are back friends.
1. Wrestling’s famed scandal comes to life years later
Just about everyone knows about the infamous steroid scandal that the WWF found themselves in, in the mid-1990s. In the center of that scandal were Hulk Hogan and Vince McMahon.
Hogan ended up testifying against McMahon when the trial took place. While they were found not guilty, it didn’t stop McMahon from cashing in on the incident back in 2005 while feuding with Hogan in a WrestleMania XIX program. Emotions were put to the test during the buildup, as they called each other out in their parts of the scandal.
