10 Totally Embarrassing WWE Pyro Botches
A look at WWE's most embarrassing pyrotechnic mishaps, causing unexpected and awkward moments.
When it comes to putting on an entertaining pro wrestling event, every wrestling promotion will ensure the show has a healthy balance of in-ring action, storytelling, and presentation. While the wrestlers take care of the first two aspects, the companies have a dedicated team to take care of the presentation part, and a vital component of that is the pyrotechnics.
Pyro displays add more value to the larger-than-life characters of the wrestlers and enhance the moments the wrestlers walk into the ring and celebrate their huge victories.
WWE has been using pyrotechnics as part of its programming for many decades, but not all instances turned out the way the company envisioned. It also eats up a sizeable amount of the production budget, and WWE even stopped using it in 2017 as a cost-cutting measure until bringing it back in 2019.
Wrestling fans have witnessed multiple pyro mishaps in WWE like the infamous moment at Extreme Rules 2010 where The Undertaker got caught in the fire, and the instance in which the WrestleMania 24 set caught on fire. Some moments turned out to be hilarious and some ended up disastrous, and some just made the unforgettable....forgettable...
10. Kofi Kingston's Entrance At WrestleMania 26
Remember when Kofi Kingston was The Jamaican Sensation and had that fake accent? He ditched that character in late 2009, and the only part of that gimmick that stuck with him was his entrance. He kept the theme song and entrance routine until joining The New Day in 2014.
His usual entrance would see him do the thunderclaps on the stage and then run for a bit before leaping onto the ramp, with the pyro going off in sync. However, things didn't work out that way when he made his entrance at WrestleMania 26 to compete in the Money in the Bank ladder match.
He walked out to the stage and did his usual entrance, and the pyro went off only for the first clap and did not go off as Kingston did the rest of the routine. Despite the early botch, he went on to deliver a good performance in the match, and the spot in which he tried to use a broken ladder as stilts in an attempt to retrieve the briefcase got him a big pop from the crowd. However, that wasn't his time, as he had to wait nine more years before he got his big WrestleMania moment.