10 Wrestlers Who Couldn't Hide Their Anger At A REAL Insult
Roman Reigns, Hulk Hogan and others smile through the pain...
Scientists really could do with studying the professional wrestler, for they have defied the laws of biology. They somehow have skin that is thick and thin, all at the same time.
These people are spotlight-craving lunatics who exist to generate the reaction that validates their existence. They live for the pop, the adulation, and when they're not in the arena, far too many of them will hop on Twitter and vanity search their own name. They will find criticism - criticism not directed at them - and go apesh*t.
(Nobody with a conscience would ever condone targeted abuse, just to be clear.)
They go apesh*t in a gotten-to meltdown, and yet, as part of their job, they must reveal their deepest insecurities to their peers in order to build interest in their feuds and make them appear real. They willingly allow themselves to look foolish, not in great shape, politically ruthless, or over the hill. That last one is a particularly frequent occurrence. "You haven't done sh*t recently" or words to that effect are used all the time.
"Can I say that your best years are behind you and that you are fundamentally uninteresting? Thanks!"
This is a part of the business, dissonant as it is - but sometimes, the reactions are very personal...
10. Jim Ross
Jim Ross was a figure of ridicule in the WWF.
Even at his authoritative, pearl-clutching best, a commentator so crucial and iconic that lapsed fans recall his contributions to the Attitude Era as fondly as they do the Austin Vs. McMahon saga, Vince McMahon taunted him mercilessly.
Bullying Ross became one of Vince's favourite pastimes in the 2000s when, bored and eating comfortably as the WWF monopolised all of North American wrestling, he indulged himself. He buried Ross for enduring a potentially life-threatening surgical procedure. He began to scream at him though the headset for daring to use a pronoun.
He also completely upended JR's actual life with no prior warning. Ross obviously had a sentimental attachment to Raw, and beyond that, it was the A show. In an insult to his standing in WWE, he was demoted to what was the B show, SmackDown, live on television, in 2008.
Live!
On TV!
Imagine finding out that you are being phased out of the job you love in front of millions of people, Christ. This was unconscionable on the part of Vince McMahon. He was - and is! - a terrible human being.
A computer (Michael Cole) took JR's place, daddy, in what was a live version of the f*cking hard times promo. The man looked devastated.