10 Hidden Wrestling Jokes Everybody Missed

6. 205 Live Enhancement Talent Gets Rib Ring Name

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The history of rib ring names is vast, and well-known.

Most everybody knows that Virgil was so named after Dusty Rhodes (and that, additionally Akeem's entire gimmick was a rib at Dusty's expense). Everybody knows that the Voodoo Kin Mafia were named that because the TNA act shared Vince McMahon's initials. Everybody knows that The Big Show was called that because the initials were 'TBS', as in, "Haha, you won't see him on TBS anymore!" - a strange flex, given that he was considered such a disappointment in the WWF that he was sent to OVW so that he couldn't bore people rigid on USA.

Few may know that the old 205 Live show continued this very petty and pointless tradition when a 'Tripp Bradshaw' debuted in order to mock JBL, who had fallen over on SmackDown the previous week.

"Somehow" missed is a bit of a stretch here, admittedly. You didn't "somehow" "miss" this one; you missed 205 Live because it was a bland and low-effort attempt to monopolise a style of wrestling that WWE had no real interest in promoting at all, much less authentically.

The entire pitch for the show was "Are the f*cking marks still droning on about "workrate"? Give 'em an hour, we have to be seen to be trying since they're still talking about this Bullet Club thing too much".

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Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!