7 Times Wrestlers Got Chewed Out LIVE ON-AIR

2. Carlito

Imagine two wrestlers absolutely aeons apart in legacy and age that also happen to be nowhere near one another in storylines. Now imagine, out of absolutely nowhere, in the middle of an episode of Raw, the older one collars the younger one and says; "maybe you're a lazy, underachieving son of a bitch - lucky to be walking the halls of this building, lucky to be on the RAW roster! Lucky to be here at all!"

Imagine the younger guy just standing there taking it without reply as the old guy continues; "You're really pissin' me off right now!". When the incredulous and shellshocked young guy asks what the hell the problem is, the veteran says; "I'll tell you what my problem is! GUYS LIKE YOU! That they have no passion! No guts! You want all the money, you want all the glory, you wanna fly first class, you wanna walk around with someone like her [Torrie Wilson]! You don't deserve it! You haven't worked for it!...I'm walking around trying to figure out why GUYS LIKE YOU are taking MY spot? YEAH! GUYS LIKE YOU are taking my spot! I've been here forever and I'm gonna work my ass off to stay here...it's not cool, it's pathetic! PATHETIC!".

This was the gist of an unhinged Ric Flair/Carlito segment on a February 2007 edition of the flagship show, with all various reports from the time suggesting that the 'Nature Boy's barely-filtered verbal thrashing was entirely unscripted and produced in order to try and actually motivate the ailing second generation star. Channeling some of the very real self-confidence issues he'd experienced on and off for the better part of the decade in league with something of a psychotic dedication to the living the life of a pro wrestler, Flair ripped into him for not respecting his spot. It was easily, easily one of the best promos of the year, even though much of the tension existed in the space somewhere between reality and fiction. 

The end result was was nothing more than a milquetoast tag team run for the pair, forged on Carlito actually earning Flair's respect. It rapidly fizzled, but the promo survived much of the slop from the time to stand up to rewatch nearly two decades later.