10 Stupidest Things WWE EVER Promoted

2. Jeff Hardy & Randy Orton Shake Hands

Raw Handshake
WWE

Forced into ceasing fire ahead of their Royal Rumble 2008 WWE Championship match, Jeff Hardy and Randy Orton were ordered by Vince McMahon to show respect for one another via handshake.

All fine, mostly. WWE's certainly done dafter stuff in backstage segments or used valuable television time on zanier, wackier builds. But this wasn't held in McMahon's television office, nor was it some vignette at the Hardy Compound saw 'The Legend Killer" chased away by a drone or Hardy's brother Matt riding a lawnmower.

No, the two men came to the ring, Hardy shook the hands of everybody he respected, (literally everybody in the building apart from Orton himself), then struck him with a sneaky Twist Of Fate to show that he did have dishonourable traits after all. Despite the fact he got over as a babyface by just being a good guy people actually liked and connected to for a hot second.

"Not in WWE, pal. 'Charismatic Enigma' or not, you're going out there to be snarky and not deliver what we've advertised."

(No smiles were put on faces in the production of this segment)

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for 10 years. Alongside the production of daily written, audio and video content covering WWE and AEW, he also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot on the UK's wrestling podcast charts with over 10,000 episodes and 70,000,000 total downloads. He also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House!, Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast, and has guested on long-running Sunderland AFC podcast Wise Men Say. With WhatCulture, he has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. He has also been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana, 411Mania and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in music and culture magazines The Crack, Pilot as well as Sunderland AFC's premiere fanzine A Love Supreme. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it every other Saturday at the Stadium Of Light, and at Cribs gigs nationwide.