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Various stories have emerged over the years about WWE Superstars landing themselves in trouble for something that happened in a match, but did you know that some Superstars have been reprimanded by the company’s higher-ups after a disappointing promo segment?
Depending on who you listen to, some former WWE Superstars were forced to read promos word-for-word whenever they appeared on television, while others were given the freedom to work off bullet points and make adjustments that made sense for their character.
Now, as we’re about to find out, WWE Superstars having freedom with their promos does not always go according to plan, especially if they are greeted by an angry Vince McMahon when they make their way to the backstage area after a segment.
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In this article, let’s take a look at five times that Superstars got in trouble after promos.
#5 Rusev (League of Nations segment, WWE RAW)
The inspiration for this article comes from Rusev, who has been very open about his WWE career on his Twitch and YouTube channels since leaving WWE in April 2020.
“The Bulgarian Brute” spoke to one of his closest friends in WWE, Sheamus, about their time together on the main roster, including their brief alliance as part of The League of Nations faction.
Sheamus and Rusev made it clear throughout their conversation that they thought The League of Nations, which also included Alberto Del Rio and Wade Barrett, were made to look extremely weak after they lost a 4-on-1 handicap match against Roman Reigns.
Rusev even revealed that the four members of the group got in trouble when they did not react to jokes that their WrestleMania 32 rivals, The New Day, made about them during a promo.
The three-time WWE United States Champion tried to go along with The New Day’s jokes by pretending to wash his armpits when they mocked his hygiene, but that did not go down well backstage.
“All four of us, we got too fed up with it. Way too fed up. Then we got in trouble because we were not selling what they were insulting us. What are we supposed to sell? They’re insulting us like we’re little kids.”
The League of Nations went on to defeat The New Day at WrestleMania 32, but the match is best remembered for the appearances of three WWE Hall of Famers – Mick Foley, Shawn Michaels and Steve Austin – in a post-match segment.
#4 Wade Barrett (DDP misunderstanding, WWE RAW)
In June 2014, Wade Barrett was forced to vacate the WWE Intercontinental Championship due to a shoulder injury. Six months later, he made his return on an episode of WWE RAW to answer an open challenge from Cesaro.
This was supposed to be a big moment for Barrett after spending the second half of 2014 away from the ring, but he found himself in trouble with Vince McMahon due to the promo that preceded his three-minute victory.
At the time, the former Nexus leader was known as Bad News Barrett (aka BNB), so he decided to mark his return by paying homage to DDP, whose WWE theme song began with the phrase, “It’s me, it’s me, it’s DDP!”
As you can see from the 01:10 mark of the video above, Barrett started his promo by saying, “It’s me, it’s me, it’s BNB!”
Unfortunately, he was greeted backstage by a “furious” Vince McMahon, who thought he introduced himself to the crowd as DDP.
“At this point, he was too far deep in yelling at me for me to actually correct him, so I just took it on the chin. ‘Okay, okay, got it boss. Won’t happen again.’ When he gets off on a tangent like that and starts getting furious, stay clear of him.” [H/T WhatCulture Wrestling]
Barrett added that he never corrected McMahon and he still does not know whether the WWE Chairman is aware that he actually said “BNB” in his promo.
#3 Braun Strowman (WWE RAW ‘title shot’)
Braun Strowman’s first WWE Universal Championship storyline began when Kevin Owens promised “The Monster Among Men” an opportunity at his title if he defeated Roman Reigns at the 2017 Royal Rumble.
Owens retained his title in the match, courtesy of interference from Strowman, and the former Wyatt Family member told the then-Universal Champion on the next episode of RAW, “I want the title shot that you promised me.”
This might not seem like the worst WWE rule break, but anybody who has seen the leaked list of banned WWE words/phrases will know that “title shot” is a phrase that WWE Superstars are forbidden from saying.
Mick Foley, who performed as the RAW General Manager at the time, said on Lilian Garcia’s Afterbuzz show in February 2017 that Strowman “got chewed out” by Vince McMahon when he made his way back through the curtain.
McMahon wants his Superstars to say “title match” instead of “title shot”, but even Foley was unaware of the rule before he saw Strowman’s interaction with his boss.
You can see Strowman saying “title shot” at 02:00 in the video above.
#2 Seth Rollins (mentioning CM Punk, WWE RAW)
CM Punk’s possible return to wrestling has been speculated ever since he walked out of WWE before the post-Royal Rumble episode of RAW in January 2014.
It never seriously looked as though “The Best in the World” could return to WWE until he was announced as an analyst on FS1 show WWE Backstage, even though he officially worked for FOX, as opposed to WWE.
The technicalities of Punk’s deal did not stop various Superstars, notably Seth Rollins, from discussing the possibility of facing the former WWE Champion one day.
Rollins mentioned Punk in multiple social media posts and interviews, while he even alluded to a possible match against his former WWE colleague when fans began chanting “CM Punk! CM Punk!” at him during a promo segment in Chicago.
“I tried to get him [CM Punk] here, I'm sorry, he didn't want to show up. He wants to sit behind a desk in Los Angeles and talk about a change he's too afraid to make himself.”
According to the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer, Vince McMahon was “furious” and “really upset” that Rollins spoke about Punk in his promo, as the WWE Chairman does not like it when Superstars tease matches that are not going to happen.
#1 Mick Foley and The Rock (‘This Is Your Life’, WWE RAW)
The most famous example of WWE Superstars getting in trouble following a promo came in September 1999 when Mick Foley and The Rock took part in a ‘This Is Your Life’ segment on WWE RAW.
The segment drew an 8.4 rating, making it one of the most-watched moments in the history of WWE, but Vince McMahon was less than impressed with his Superstars going 14 minutes over their allocated time.
Foley said during a live show in 2019 that McMahon disliked the ‘This Is Your Life’ parody so much that he even considered walking down to the ring to bring an early end to the segment.
However, as Foley recalled to Bleacher Report, the WWE Chairman had a different take on the segment after he found out how well it performed in the ratings.
“Once the ratings were revealed, he was kind of like, 'OK, you guys can do whatever you want from now on.' And we had the freedom to pretty much do what we wanted.”
To this day, the ‘This Is Your Life’ segment remains one of the most memorable moments from WWE’s Attitude Era.
