Whether unintentional or not, over the years comedy and wrestling have collided on several occasions. Heat-seeking missile heels have occasionally said wild and outlandish things that are also really funny. Babyfaces have been able to pop crowds with a wink and a smile going in for the cheap pop but using comedy to do it.
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No matter how many old codgers in the industry like to say “funny doesn’t draw money,” there have been plenty of Superstars over the years that when they trash talk they also can make the crowd pop with laughter. Some wrestlers in WWE are so funny, that a few of them might actually be good at stand-up comedy.
10 The Hurricane
In WCW, as one half of 3-Count, Shane Helms was able to be goofy, playing a teen heartthrob. But when he donned the cape and cowl of The Hurricane, that’s when it really became apparent how funny he was, and how every wrestler, no matter where they were on the card would sell it.
The whoosh of The Hurricane in and out of a room would see even megastars like The Rock stare in hilarious amazement. In his most iconic and “heroic” moment, he tried to chokeslam both Triple H and Austin; a moment he’d recreate this past year at the Rumble, attempting to test his mettle against both Big E and Bobby Lashley.
9 The Ultimate Warrior
The Ultimate Warrior was unintentionally the ultimate goof. “Captain Schitzo,” as Bobby Heenan would famously call him would speak such inane babble in his promos, that it’s hard not to laugh at the madman. Many fans would laugh at him and try to decipher what in the world (or any galaxy) he was talking about.
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The spaceships, the rocket fuels, combined with weird snarls and grunts would make anyone scratch their head in confusion and then laugh about it.
8 CM Punk
Once WWE really let CM Punk be himself, that’s where his sarcasm began to shine. His humor shone through several times in his promos. But even more during some of his matches.
At Money In The Bank 2011 in his hometown, the crowd was on John Cena chanting “you can’t wrestle.” Punk joined in the fun, questioning who they were talking about. One other instance was when he put the Spanish announce table back together during a match instead of the usual smashing through it.
7 Mick Foley
For years, Mick Foley was known as the savage, brutal Cactus Jack. He was more known for his violence and his squealing. However, in ECW, the real Mick Foley started to show how funny he was too, thanks to his “I’m hardcore promos,” and his final strut out of the promotion. After a few years in WWE, he began to show that side as well, going for the “cheap pop,” from the crowds and laughing with formal rival Triple H about the snot coming out of Angle’s nose. Foley had no issue with being the brunt of the joke in order to make the WWE Universe smile.
6 Kurt Angle
In wrestling, some Superstars take themselves far too seriously and one might assume that an Olympic gold medalist would do the same. But despite being an absolute machine in the ring, Kurt Angle knew how to have a sense of humor too. He was unafraid to be foolish, such as teaming up with Edge and Christian as part of a jug band, mocking HBK’s theme song, or the infamous milk bash. But he also wouldn’t mind being the brunt of a joke either - wearing a tiny cowboy hat Stone Cold gave him or reading silly signs with Edge; it was clear Angle also had an Olympic-sized sense of humor as well.
5 The Rock
When he began as the fresh-faced babyface Rocky Maivia, The Rock looked kind of funny. But when he started talking trash and being himself as The Rock, that’s when he became the most electrifying man in sports entertainment.
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From the now-classic eye roll meme to the pie-eating, trash-talking, eyebrow-raising People’s Champion - no topic or insult was off-limits for The Rock, and the crowd ate up every minute of it.
4 Edge & Christian
The early 90s has Bill & Ted and Ren & Stimpy. The mid-90s was Beavis & Butthead and Wayne & Garth. Edge and Christian followed suit in the late 90s as being the completely idiotic duo to get a laugh. The duo of awesomeness was able to get toy kazoos over somehow - just by ridiculously playing other wrestlers’ theme songs. But when the former vampires started doing the “5-Second Pose,” that’s when the duo’s sense of humor began to reveal itself.
3 Rowdy Roddy Piper
The original mouth that roared, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper had no filter, and it usually was always good for a laugh. For many that haven’t seen the Piper’s Pit sequences of yesteryear, please remember that it was a much different time and nearly everything a heel Piper did was to get heat from the crowd. But so many of his one-liners became iconic and hysterical - watch some of the things he said about arch-rival Mr. T over the years for some cringe-inducing but funny bits. The Hot Rod was at his comic best though at WrestleMania V and Piper’s Pit where he was able to shut up two pretenders to the throne - Morton Downey and Brother Love.
2 Santino Marella
The King Of The Unibrows, Santino Marella wasn’t always meant to be a comedic character (he debuted winning the IC Title after all). But Santino was simply too funny to be denied. During a separate run as IC champ, he introduced the Honky-Meter because he claimed he would surpass The Honky Tonk(y) Man as the greatest IC Champion of all time.
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His time with Beth Phoenix as Glamarella put both Superstars on the map as good comedic characters out of the ring and at least Beth was seen as tough as nails in the ring. Santino returned at the 2020 Royal Rumble as Santina to remind us all that he’s one of the funniest wrestlers ever.
1 R-Truth
There isn’t a single situation that happens in the WWE that R-Truth can’t get a laugh out of. Truth can get pretty much any Superstar to break character. Just watch him on Raw Talk, chatting with Shayna Baszler about the fish in catering, or how “Bugs Bunny” stole the 24/7 Title. Truth also hosts the wildest game show on the Network or anywhere for that matter. There is literally nothing he can’t get a laugh out of.
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