Top 5 Times Pro Wrestling Promos Went Off The Rails.
Written By Patrick O'malley.
Intro.
Keeping things on track is one of the most important things in the Pro Wrestling business, and whilst wrestlers take the fans on a journey through storytelling, they have to maintain a level of professionalism, but what happens when that Professionalism becomes personal, and in some areas become difficult to watch. These are the moments that have made Pro Wrestling fans squirm, for all of the wrong reasons. So sit back, and get a drink, and give this list a read.
5. Sunny Days May 1997.
This to this day remains one of those moments in Pro Wrestling, that most fans still talk about, because of just how personal things got between Shawn Michaels, and. Bret The Hit Man Hart. It's well documented how much how these two hated each other in the period of 1995 to 1997, the annimousity between these two had become so heated that physical brawls would happen, with Pat Patterson getting caught in the middle. This segment took place on the 19th of May 1997 edition of Raw Is War. At the time this segment blurred the lines between fiction, and keyfabe. Shawn in recent years has come out and said that he regretted his actions. Shawn was going through his own issues at the time. Instigating the thoughts that someone is having an affair isn't big or clever.
4. Reid Flair November 2015.
This one might've been scripted, but it took the fans by suprise. This aired on WWE TV's flagship show Monday Night Raw, during a in ring segment between Paige, and. Charlotte Flair, were Paige could be heard saying the words. Your little Brother didn't have much fight in him did he. This segment was highly controversial, as it brought up the real life death of Charlotte's brother Reid, who passed away in April of 2013 from a drug overdose. I remember watching this when it aired, and the first thing that went through my head was, who ok'd this segment? because Charlottes face said everything, she looked distraught.
3. Tiify Time March 2025.
Charlotte Flair has been involved in multiple segments over the years, that have gone off the rails, and her most recent happened during the build up to last years WrestleMania. From Tiffany Stratton bringing up issues within Flairs personal life. Charlotte claiming that Tiffany has a squeeky voice, to the the daughter of the Nature claiming that Tiffany's boyfriend Ludvig Kaiser has slid into Charlottes dm's. This stemmed from a segment came from an edition of Friday Night Smackdown, when Tiffany was set up against flair following a segment from the weeks Prior, when they were in Barcelona, and the pair had a side by side split screen segment. In which Charlotte went off script, to try and Pull Tiffany under. I remember watching this back, and I could tell that something wasn't right. But it did make for fascinating viewing.
2. Eddie Kingston And Cm Punk November 2021.
Some people say that this segment was well timed, but to me this was a deeply routed look at how annimousity can develop over decades. I remember when AEW aired this on Rampage, and as it went on. I got the sense that something wasn't quite right. Both men were bringing up real life heat from there days in ROH, and there delivery had a sense of anger, that had been missing in AEW Promos at this point. I think both men went off script, and it showed.
Hounarable Mentions.
The Rock Lambasts Cody Rhodes.
When you dig beneath the surface, and backstage politics that centred WrestleMania 40, the lead was created around how Dwayne failed to read the room. He came back and took Cody's spot in the main event in the show of shows. This led to a large fan backlash, put it was the following weeks that showed things go off the rails. The Rock would take on the role of the showman, as his Final Boss Character took centre stage. These promo segments would often over run, and take time away from other superstars, all Dwayne had to say was. What can I say except your welcome.
Belt Swap.
This took place on the draft edition of Friday Night Smackdown in october of 2021, and it was the famous belt swap segment between Charlotte Flair, and. Becky Lynch. This was due to hand the belt over to Becky, but instead she dropped it on the ring mat. This was dentred around the souring of the relationship between Lynch, and. Flair, who at one point were road friends.
Cowboy S***.
In june of 2022 just before AEW's relationship with NJPW would start to with the inaugaral Fordidden Door PPV. Cm Punk was due to headline it, defending his AEW World Heavyweight Championship against Jon Moxley, but just a few days beforehand Punk injured his foot, whilst jumping into the crowd. However during his time off, the issues between him and The Elite would elevate to a new level, so when he returned he called out Hangman Adam Page, calling him a coward for his workers rights promo from back in April of that year.
1. Workers Rights.
Some fans have pointed this segment, as the moment that AEW went off the rail. Backstage issues were being reported on by the likes of Dave Meltzer, and John Pollock, and this came to the forefront in April of 2022, when a planned segment between Cm Punk, and. Hangman Adam Page went of the rails, due to a misunderstanding, surrounding the time when Punk went on his then friend Colt Cobana's Podcast. If you know, this relationship went sour when Colt pulled alledged out of a lawsuit against WWE. Hangman thought that Tony had fired Punk on the orders of |Cm Punk, which turned out to not be true, because he was moved to ROH, after Tony Khan had purchased the fledgling promotion from Sinclair.