10 Wrestlers Punished For Trying To Steal The Limelight
Silly, Don't Be A Hero
There are few humans on earth more attuned to the topsy turvy psyche of Vince McMahon than Pat Patterson. The French-Canadian wrestling icon's relationship with the Boss stretches back nearly 40 years, with Patterson working as a wrestler, announcer, agent and booker for the company, and almost always in close proximity with the gaffer.
Even in retirement, his sagacity has ensured a lifetime role as a creative consultant and sounding board for Vince on talents up and down the card. One of the few to understand McMahon's perplexing pliability, he once related the ever-changing whims of the Chairman to owning an ice cream shop; explaining to the struggling-to-adapt Chris Jericho in 1999 that "Sometimes he likes vanilla, sometimes he likes chocolate, sometimes he doesn't even like ice cream!"
The message, loosely, was that you're potentially f*cked either way, so it's best to sometimes give things a go in case it triggers that famous bellowing laugh by mistake. Erring on the side of caution is an all-too-common problem with today's talent roster in comparison to ballsy moments of greatness such as the improvised "Austin 3:16" promo or CM Punk's magnificent pipebomb, but the Icarus fear within today's talents isn't unearned. They've sadly seen more colleagues crash and burn than shine brighter for their gamble.
10. Paul London
Paul London sold a clothesline from Gene Snitsky as the most painful move in wrestling history as he fought to make his Royal Rumble 2005 elimination memorable, but his bosses had an all-too-clear recollection the next day.
Management were furious with his flamboyance, deeming the act selfish for stealing attention away from other spotlighted performers in the match. As Michael Hayes put it to him during a frosty backstage exchange "that was really good...but it was too good". His subsequent slide down the card was as forceful as his Rumble face-plant.
Marooned on C-Show Velocity, London was restricted to Cruiserweight jobbing duties in the aftermath. He'd wait out the punishment period long enough to find fleeting follow-up fame alongside Brian Kendrick, but the fact that their lengthy spell with SmackDown's Tag Team titles generated less buzz than this single bump only highlights how little he was thought of by then.