10 Hilarious Times Wrestling Didn't Take Itself Too Seriously

The nature of professional wrestling means that its practitioners need to take things pretty seriously. The results may be predetermined, but the risks are real, so when you step into the ring with a fellow athlete, you’re obliged to take things seriously to avoid risk, and to more accurately simulate a shoot fight, thereby elevating the product.

Still, at its core, wrestling is a pretty silly business. There are oversized personalities, ridiculous match stipulations, blood feuds that suddenly end after a conclusive match. Sometimes, there’s nothing better for the business than for those involved to cut loose, indulge their playful sides, and embrace the ridiculousness of it all.

Wrestling and comedy doesn’t always go well together, and in WWE especially the focus is often on the scatological and sophomoric (i.e Vince’s sense of humour), but when it works, it can be more entertaining than any technical masterpiece or grizzly bloodbath.

The business is built on intensity, athleticism, and drama, but all that darkness needs shading with a little levity. These moments demonstrate that even the biggest bruisers like a laugh from time to time.

Vince McMahon would be terrifying to work for, but in some ways he’s the world’s best boss. He’ll never ask anything of his staff that he wouldn’t do himself, including but not limited to making himself look a prize fool on national TV.

The dying days of Hulk Hogan’s return saw the Hulkster masquerading as the masked Mr America. In order to catch him out, Vince hooked America to a polygraph test; the masked man denied being Hogan, and passed. An irate McMahon submitted himself to the lie detector to prove it was crocked, and you can see where we’re going from here.

Vince commits himself completely to the bit, with the detector confirming that he’s a power crazed pervert who doesn’t care a jot about the fans and is only in it for himself. We could have guessed most of this, but he goes on to detail what he does in his alone time (it involves Tori Wilson’s Playboy shoot and photos of Mae Young).

For all Vince’s egoism and short-sighted decision making, he proves here that he’s willing to do anything in his power to amuse and entertain a crowd.