7 Times Wrestlers Got Chewed Out LIVE ON-AIR

5. Kofi Kingston

Randy Orton Kofi Kingston
WWE

Back in late-2009, rising babyface Kofi Kingston was just another game midcarder trying his absolute hardest to get over and get rich in a company that had long lost its grip on reality and failed profoundly to make any new stars beyond John Cena, Dave Batista, and to a lesser extent Randy Orton.

It was around Survivor Series season where he found himself the recipient of a half-decent push, and after a victory over Orton in the elimination match setting, the 'Apex Predator' levelled the series to take them to a doomed Raw match at the start of 2010. 'The Viper' was a domineering heel at the time, but wasn't exactly set to go back-to-back with Rumble wins and was perhaps smarting at a WrestleMania season frozen out the conversation. Whatever had annoyed him before the match, when he decided to take that mood out on Kingston after he slightly botched the end of the match, and did a lot to destroy his momentum. In an infamous outburst, he screamed "STUPID! STUPID!" after he hit an RKO, and made the cover in an obnoxious fashion before continuing his tirade without worry about cameras or the crowd catching it. 

In hindsight, a Madison Square Garden Boom Drop legdrop a couple of months earlier on Orton was the only big capital-M Moment from the storyline, but the the Raw b*llocking at such a pivotal time of year kicked his push miles and miles into the long grass. It took a full decade before they were brought back together for a follow-up feud, and by then, Kofi had won the WWE Championship - with no help from Orton along the way. 

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for nearly 10 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but 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 in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with over 70,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana, 411Mania and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and 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. 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.