10 Wrestler Names That Ribbed Other Wrestlers

Pranks and inside jokes are part of the wrestling business. Known as ribs in Wrestling argot, these pranks have consisted of everything from putting padlocks on wrestlers' gym bags (making them weigh more) to befouling Jerry "The King" Lawler's crown by using it as a toilet.

Pranks are one thing, but sometimes, it's taken to another level. Sometimes, they tarnish a wrestler's entire persona. Naming a wrestler or character on your program after another wrestler or personality is a fairly blatant way to call them out, either through direct mockery or idiocy by association.

Now, we're not talking about HHH dressing up like Vince McMahon and growling his way through promos. That was a segment about WWE characters within a WWE context. For the most part, these mockeries involve people outside the company, often in rival promotions, and although the entire concept is silly, there's no doubt that it's practically wrestling tradition at this point. What's more amazing is that wrestlers with no beef with the party in question are often the ones saddled with these goofy, derivative gimmicks, just to give somebody backstage their jollies.

Inside jokes in the public eye are rarely a good thing, and in these cases, they're mostly totally baffling.

No, Dave Meltzer and Jim Ross didn't make their names as wrestlers. But there's no denying that both of them have made a mark in the wrestling business, and both of them were disrespected with halfwit mockeries in the past.

In WCW, Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara masterminded the Oklahoma character, who mocked JR's Bell's Palsy-affected speech and appearance, as well as his cowboy hat, his announcing style, and anything else those two reprobates could come up with.

It's one of the few things Vince Russo has actually apologized for over the years. But it's still stupid and shameful and downright embarrassing.

As for the man behind The Wrestling Observer, he raised the ire of Mr. Electricity himself, Herb Abrams (the, ahem, jazzed-up founder of the UWF), a man who didn't appreciate Meltzer's criticism of his promotion. So he responded by naming a jobber after Meltzer and beating him on practically every episode of Fury Hour.

That is world-class pettiness, which is the benchmark you need to limbo under to make this list.