8 Times WWE Stars Couldn't Hide Their Boo-Boo Face
Wrestling's not real, but these wrestlers forgot to let their faces know
Jonathan Gresham was 15 years into the business when he became Ring Of Honor World Heavyweight Champion in 2021. It was a show of respect from the organisation for a wrestler that had paid his dues, earned the billing and even managed to sustain his popularity through a pandemic that was rough enough on wrestlers that worked for the majors let alone the extremely minor league ROH had become by then.
Staving off meat-and-potatoes workrate accusations and completely misguided/wilfully ignorant criticisms of his size, Gresham proudly ascended, and even landed a unique look with an Octopus/Cthulhu mask that became key to his entrance and aura as the organisation's top guy. Unfortunately for him, Tony Khan didn't particularly see it that way when he purchased the promotion wholesale in 2022, and decided to turn him heel on an edition of Rampage ahead of switching the belt to Claudio Castagnoli in the opener of Death Before Dishonor. It emerged that Gresham had read the tea leaves and requested his release before the match, perhaps explaining the boo-boo/disinterested that was completely visible because he'd entered without his mask and without much interest in what he had coming up.
It wasn't ideal, but it wasn't a one-off. This isn't some shot across the bow at All Elite Wrestling or Ring Of Honor having a sloppy shop on Gresham's behalf. It's just as prevalent in WWE, whether the performers have cared to admit it or not. Even vaunted locker room leaders get the lip on...
8. The Undertaker
Though not exactly a perfect encapsulation of his work and/or contributions to the wrestling industry, The Undertaker getting on his bike for a bit in 1999 before doing so literally in 2000 was the best thing that could have happened to his career, and at a crucial point.
Going full satanist had won him his third WWE Championship and kept him on top with Stone Cold Steve Austin despite their self-admitted lousy chemistry, but the injuries were piling up alongside negative reviews that were putting him out to pasture as a completely busted flush. He'd been given the remainder of his BSK mates to hang around with on television, but crucifixions turning into Russo-fixations resulted in the Corporate Ministry coalition and 'The Deadman' forming a cursed alliance with The Big Show when he was goosed less than six months into his run too.
All of this came to head on an August edition of Monday Night Raw, where Undertaker cut a promo so infamously awful about going out to the desert and wearing skin as coats that it even had Show pulling faces in the ring wondering what on earth he was on about. What many people forget is that, when Chris Jericho interrupted doing his above-it-all shtick about being what the company desperately needed, he was right. When he cut The Rock off during his debut, the fans were in disbelief at how he could come for 'The Great One'. Here, he was saying what everybody felt, and doing it so sardonically that the hot new heel was getting babyface pops.
Undertaker was not happy, and like others in the locker room, he didn't take too kindly to this Atlanta yay-hoo coming North and not respecting the business. Visibly rattled, he noted that he "had more shower time than Jericho had ring-time", but the fans cared as much about that as they did for his stand-up act.