The best storylines in wrestling are those that blur the line between reality and fiction–when the fan doesn’t know whether the animosity in the ring is as a result of terrific acting or because the performers actually want to tear each other’s throats out, there are cases when wrestlers might not even have a rivalry on screen but absolutely loathe each other backstage, like regular co-workers.
Many real-life grudges are not always dealt with or dealt with, as many wrestlers still believe in kayfabe principles. I want you to believe that, so you don’t have to demystify them by revealing secrets. There is, and the hatred flows as Emperor Palpatine likes.
So let’s take a look at a professional wrestler who actually likes nothing more than banging a chair over his opponent’s head.
Bret Hart and Goldberg
Bret “The Hitman” Hart and Goldberg had an amazing match at “Starrcade 1999.” The Hitman saw stars amidst the bout–until he suffered a concussion from a stiff kick from his opponent.
Unfortunately, this concussion compounded with other similar injuries that Bret sustained resulted in him retiring from in-ring competition indefinitely.
This was an example of a controversial comment made during the Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions show, where Goldberg wanted to dispel any notions he used dangerous moves on Hart in their match.
In a recent interview with Inside the Ropes, Bill Goldberg defended how professional he was in his career as well as pointing out that Hart would not be able to talk about it had Goldberg done something nefarious.
CM Punk and Ryback
Punk faced many opponents during his long reign as WWE Champion. Having stepped in the ring with rivals like Daniel Bryan, Chris Jericho, and The Rock, no one was prepared for the battles to be against Ryback.
Punk appears on Colt Cabana’s podcast show The Art of Wrestling, where he puts Ryback down hard. He says that working with fellow former Skip Sheffield took decades from his life.
Punk is tired, he’s in pain, he does not want to fight with that wrestler. He puts it bluntly: “He’s very hurtful. Sometimes deliberate.”
Punk experienced this one time when the wrestler kicked him right in the stomach as hard as he could and broke his ribs at the tail end. And even after this happened, Punk never received an apology from that guy.
In response to Punk, Byrick announced he will continue to say hurtful things about him on social media because Punk’s comments about his professional status were inaccurate.
After Punk revealed that he had to have surgery a week before winning the AEW World Championship, Bryck took to Twitter and posted: “Karma rules.” It doesn’t appear like these two will be attending a Living Color concert together in the immediate future.
Hurricane Helms and Shawn Michaels
HBK who is traditionally called Shawn Michaels and Hurricane Helms never had the title reigns or fanfare that turned “The Heartbreak Kid” into the showstopper, main event, and icon.
HBK thought Shawn Michaels was a major self promoter, tweeting in 2011: “Ric Flair got over people that absolutely SUCKED!! Shawn hadn’t gotten over anyone but himself in the last 10 years!!”
A fan took issue with Helms’ comment on the topic, asking him why he came at Michaels so forcefully. Helms responded that HBK had harmed his career just because he could and added that Michaels loved to lie for his own benefit.
In 2019, Helms told 411 Wrestling Interviews Podcast that he didn’t have any problems with Michaels because the two were working for WWE behind the scenes and getting along well.
Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair
Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair are two of the biggest stars in sports entertainment and each have been good friends with each other since coming up, though they didn’t want to be the Marty Jannetty of the group.
They had a heated backstage confrontation after an incident on SmackDown where it is said that she went off script, weakening her image in the eyes of fans.
Lynch have told SI’s media podcast she and Flair used to be friends but it’s not the case anymore after a fight in the locker room.
She added that “the locker room needs a hero sometimes and we’re all here trying to be our best selves.” Lynch said that it was difficult working with someone whose own real-life tension, since wrestling is built on trust.
Hulk Hogan and Bret Hart
While Hulk Hogan might have been the face of wrestling in the 80s, the Hulkster built a reputation as being one of the greatest backstage politicians. There have been multiple stories about his legendary off-screen feuds due to his tendency to go into business for himself.
One person that holds Hogan in the lowest regard is Bret “The Hitman.” Calgary’s favourite son has never missed a beat when discussing Hogan, calling him every name in the book.
It’s rumored that their initial heat started after Hogan refused to put Hart over at “WrestleMania IX.”
Even in the year Hart was scheduled to be inducted into the Canada Walk of Fame, he couldn’t help but send another parting shot to his rival.
“I think if you look back at wrestling when it was the Hulk Hogan show,” Hart told the Calgary Sun, “he was six-foot-eight and a one-out-of-three wrestler. He didn’t know a headlock from a headlamp. He didn’t know very much.
He knew how to do a clothesline and maybe a body slam.” The grudge between Hart and Hogan has been ongoing for decades, even outlasting the high-profile feud that Hart had with Shawn Michaels.
Will Ospreay and Seth Rollins
Seth “Freakin'” Rollins made a vow on his Q&A panel this past January. Rollins promised to be one of the greatest heels in wrestling history by calling AEW and other companies “minor leagues.”
He also took this insult a step further by tweeting from his Twitter account, stating that no wrestlers were good enough to lace up in his boots.
In response to Will Ospreay’s comments, Seth Rollins made a now-deleted tweet. His tweet received backlash from the wrestling community but it is clear that he was trying to do damage control for the WWE.
It is likely that his comment and insinuation that Ospreay was the “wish version” of himself was a calculated work.
Scott Steiner and Ric Flair
Whenever someone talks about WCW, there are two names that feature in most conversations: “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair and “Big Poppa Pump” Scott Steiner.
With Flair at the head of the main event scene most of his time as WCW President, Steiner was a tag-team specialist until he reached the pinnacle and defeated Booker T for the WCW World Championship at Mayhem 2000. Despite being part of the company for so long, Steiner was not a fan or friend of Flair’s.
Arn Anderson revealed on his ARN podcast that the issues between the two cast members began in 1991. Steiner reportedly said that Flair didn’t want him to understand. So I believed that the performance was degraded on purpose.
After that, Steiner did not have time to show his talent. Ultimately, the feud culminated with Steiner providing film promotion about Flair in a 2000 episode of Nitro.
Time does not heal old wounds, as The Nature Boy still holds a grudge when it comes to Flair. Appearing on the Highspots Sign-It-Live stream (via Wrestling News), Steiner said ‘we hate him’, in typical Big Poppa Pump fashion.
In typical Big Poppa Pump fashion, he yelled “He ain’t no old friend of mine! I would kill him! I’d destroy him. Yeah, everybody wants to see him get beat up.”
Konnan and Joe Hennig
It is often thought of as the act of a coward, but consider that the showdown would be boring if everyone put it off for longer than it takes to tweet about it. So both Konnan and Joe Hennig went head-to-head on Twitter, resulting in a rousing discussion among the followers.
Konnan responded to a tweet from a fan asking him which performers he would fire if he had the chance; Hennig was on the list including with the comment “I have no charisma” and “questionable in-ring abilities.”
Three years later, a fan tweeted gunning for Konnan in agreement. Konnan agreed, stating “Konnan agrees” which led to a ripped off Hennig calling them both marks.
There was some back and forth between Konnan and Hennig, with Konnan offering to squash their beef.
Hennig refused and shot back that Konnan sounded like an old guy his dad hated putting over,” referring to Curt Hennig.
Eddie Kingston and Claudio Castagnoli
Interviews with Eddie Kingston are a hoot. As cliché as it sounds, he is honest about his thoughts on topics and other people, including his peers.
He expressed that the feud with CM Punk was based on real-life animosity, and not just a story for the audience. There also seems to be some sort of tension between him and another former WWE superstar.
“There are people who don’t like wrestling,” Kingston told NY News 12 Long Island. “Punk is one of them. Cesaro is also WWE‘s Swiss idiot. I know him as Claudio (Castagnoli). I don’t like him, I don’t respect him.
During a commercial-free Q&A on the show (via EWrestling News), Kingston claimed that Castagnoli was supposed to bring him in before leaving Chikara to go to WWE, which he didn’t do.
Batista and Bully Ray
Looking at the size of Dave Batista, it’s difficult to imagine anyone messing with him. Maybe a gorilla or Bigfoot because those are the only two creatures that could smash him with their own Batista Bombs.
Yet, Batista revealed that one fellow WWE alum decided to pick on him and Randy Orton when they were coming up in the company and part of popular stable Evolution: Bully Ray, then known as Bubba Ray Dudley.
The Dudley Boyz had a confrontation with Randy Orton and Batista during their Scrap “Evolution” match. They walked out of the contest with multiple injuries, and there were some hard feelings about whether they purposefully stuffed each other.
However, the version of events differed depending on who was asked. Batista thought that Bully Ray wasn’t a fan of him or Orton because of jealousy and that just being the fact that he was jealous of the two men’s position with Ric Flair and Triple H.
He said: “I think it was because they were two big muscular guys– they’re now with Ric Flair and Triple H– he probably just didn’t like them.”
Hardcore Holly and the Kliq
With a time efficient AI, you can create relevant blog posts in minutes, rather than hours. There are countless shoot interviews on YouTube that will pop up when you type “The Kliq” into the search bar.
Most of them aren’t complimentary of the faction as a multitude of wrestlers believed Shawn Michaels, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Triple H, and Sean Waltman tried to elevate themselves at the expense of others.
Having been consistently around the WWE in the mid-’90s at the peak of The Kliq’s powers, Hardcore Holly had his own encounters with them.
In an interview with a shoot, Bob didn’t hold back on his thoughts. “I hated them,” he said. “Just because of the way they acted, guys had no chance with them around.”
Holly added that he wasn’t sure of what they said about him backstage or if they actively tried to sabotage him, but he knew of their influence in ruining careers and it was something he didn’t like to see. In his autobiography,
“The Hardcore Truth: The Bob Holly Story,” he claimed that The Kliq wasn’t as unified as it presented itself and that members would backstab each other all the time too.
CM Punk and Triple H
CM Punk hated the backstage politics of the WWE, and he was not eager to re-enter that world. CM Punk despised having to work Triple H again.
Disgruntled after losing the majority of his matches, Punk revealed on Colt Cabana’s podcast that he was resentful and doubted if it was the best move for business to have Triple H defeat him.
Vince McMahon suggested Punk fight Triple-H at WrestleMania XXX and when Punk glanced in Triple H’s direction with a look of defiance, Triple H answered back with “All due respect, I do not need to wrestle you–you need to wrestle me.”
In a recent appearance on the Steve Austin Show, Triple H denied any involvement in Punk’s relationship with the WWE and blamed Punk for not communicating issues to management. However, Triple H expressed regret that the situation had unfolded as it did.
