Brock Lesnar, The Undertaker, Triple H and Others: 10 Times Pro Wrestlers Broke Characters
Over the years, several of the most famous wrestlers in WWE have either corpsed or lost their "working skins" to become actual people. That has happened to everyone, including Steve Austin, The Undertaker, and Roman Reigns. Let's look at the same.
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Shayna Baszler cracks up
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In the middle of her rant about poor company catering, Shayna was interrupted by Truth saying the "fried fish was good". Baszler couldn't maintain her menace any longer and had to hide her face from the camera so that people watching wouldn't see her laughing.
Jerry Lawler Gets Real
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At Over The Edge 1999, Owen Hart fell from the rafters into the ring. Eventually, Jim Ross and Jerry had to stare down the camera and announce that Owen had died. This marked a first for Lawler. He wasn't the heel 'King' here, and he wasn't going to interrupt Ross with some witty jokes or banter.
Michael Cole Sheds His Heel Skin
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Cole's co-commentator (and rival) Jerry Lawler suffered a heart attack live on air. He wasn't 'Michael Cole: Heel Announcer' anymore. Instead, Cole broke character, showed his real life humanity and prayed that Lawler would pull through.
Mankind Peels Back The Curtain
1997 marked a real shift in presentation for the WWF. Those sit-down interviews showed a human side to the previously-monstrous Mankind character. Before them, Mick stayed firmly in-gimmick by playing up to the tortured, psychopathic tendencies of the masked nightmare he was tasked with playing. The chats with JR changed that forever.
Dean Ambrose Corpses
Not many workers would laugh if a giant snake was dropped on top of them, but Dean Ambrose did. AEW's reborn mauler Jon Moxley wasn't giggling at the reptile though - he was corpsing because of something CM Punk said when standing over him.
R-Truth Breaks Brock Lesnar
Both R-Truth and Paul Heyman had made a bet behind the curtain that Truth wouldn't be able to make Brocky boy laugh. Truth's delusional babyface act was too much for Lesnar to take and he fell about the place laughing.
Roman Reigns Becomes Joe
Roman Reigns spoke to WWE fans as Joe Anoa'i, not Roman Reigns. He announced that he'd been battling leukaemia for most of his adult life, then said the cancer had come back again. So, in order to properly battle the disease head on, he was vacating the Universal Title and taking some time away from WWE.
Triple H Ditches Kayfabe
On 19 May 1996, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Diesel and Razor Ramon came together for a group hug. There was immediate panic and uproar backstage as they embraced in-ring and said their goodbyes to Scott Hall and Kevin Nash. Triple H stood out the most here. His snooty heel gimmick was ironclad, and he didn't deviate from it.
The Undertaker Shoots
The Undertaker came out in Matalan workout gear and cut a shoot promo on the 1 June 1998 Raw. He didn't rock out wearing traditional 'Taker gear, and he barely even spoke in gravelly tones. This was a bizarre character break. The Undertaker had spent the best part of eight years refining his mystique and staying in gimmick.
Steve Austin Hits The Giggles
After laying down some guest commentary for a Cactus Jack vs. Terry Funk main event, McMahon danced out on stage with some 'Dudettes'. That's when Austin corpsed and was visibly struggling to keep his composure and stay in-character when Vince hammed it up with the models on the ramp. 'Stone Cold' threw up a half-hearted middle finger and again turned away before a big grin crept across his face.