10 Scathing Wrestling Promos We Thought Were Shoots But Were Actually Worked

The art of the worked shoot promo is to convince the audience that the wrestler delivering a promo is breaking the script. Fans get more interested in the words if they feel the rare moment of reality passing entertainment is playing out on the television screen. Promotions will try to pull it off with the hopes of it leading to the fans caring more about the content.

A real shoot promo would see some of the wrestlers in the locker room even wondering how much of what they are watching is legitimate or scripted. The best wrestling promos can walk the line between both worlds to ensure how things play out. Find out which ones might have fooled you. The following scathing promos were worked shoots planned before taking place on television.

10 AJ Lee burying the Total Divas cast

The “pipe bombshell” promo from AJ Lee saw her burying the rest of the women’s division after the Total Diva cast members took part in a tag match. Lee cut her promo from the stage burying all the ladies at ringside.

The comments about their presence on the reality show moved into referencing the Bella Twins’ relationships with John Cena and Daniel Bryan. Lee recently revealed that Vince McMahon loved the promo pitched by her and made her go the extra mile with it.

9 Eric Bischoff asking Sid about his scissors

WCW started to spend too much time with the worked shoot angles in 2000. Eric Bischoff and Vince Russo’s time working together was a nightmare, and it all started with the first night of the New Blood storyline.

The opening promo saw Bischoff and Russo vacating all the titles and demanding Sid Vicious gave up the WCW Championship. Bischoff asked Sid about his scissors referencing an incident where Sid stabbed Arn Anderson in a real fight. Commentators hyped it up as Bischoff breaking the fourth wall, but it was clearly planned.

8 Bret Hart's rant towards Vince McMahon

Bret Hart delivered one of the first truly great worked shoot promos in WWE. The outstanding matches of Hart became his calling card as a main eventer, but he started to add some layers to his character work.

Vince McMahon was shoved to the mat by Bret as he unleashed a vicious tirade about the unfair treatment in the WWE. The fans bought it and reacted with awe at the promo. Hart utilized this later on when turning heel tapping into this side of his skills.

7 The Undertaker breaking character for the first time

June of 1998 was the first time The Undertaker broke character in WWE. Fans were stunned when Undertaker walked to the ring in his sweats without the usual pageantry of his entrance music or general effects.

Undertaker’s worked shoot saw him calling out Vince McMahon for not showing him respect after all his hard work and sacrifices. The promo was outstanding and ahead of its time. McMahon came to the ring and gave him a chance to win a title shot, but it was against his brother Kane.

6 Dustin Rhodes' Seven gimmick

WCW tried another character based on the worked shoot promo when Dustin Rhodes made his return with a strange gimmick of Seven. The eerie character Seven had vignettes showing a dark side that had fans thinking it would be WCW’s version of The Undertaker.

Seven making his way to the ring would see a huge swerve when Dustin revealed that the gimmick was a farce. Rhodes cut a promo running down WCW for giving him such a poor gimmick. This was done to get him over without an outlandish gimmick, but fans just felt confused at the end of it.

5 Paul Heyman claiming Vince McMahon ripped off ECW

The Invasion storyline was a huge disaster despite millions of fans badly wanting a storyline of WWE vs WCW and ECW. Paul Heyman was one of the rare bright spots when he was cutting the promos for The Alliance instead of Shane and Stephanie McMahon.

The best promo from Heyman saw him calling out Vince for his face for stealing ECW’s edgy concept for the Attitude Era. Heyman’s intensity had fans believing it was real, especially since there was some truth to it. Vince however wanted this since it added to the big Survivor Series match to end the feud.

4 Mick Foley running down ECW fans

Mick Foley’s time in ECW was huge for his career after the WCW run ended poorly. The great work of Foley in ECW saw him both having must-see violent matches and delivering some of the best promos in the industry.

Foley’s infamous “Cane Dewey” promo saw him trashing the bloodthirsty ECW fans when one had a sign referencing Mick’s young son in a disrespectful manner. Despite there being truth and real inspiration behind it, Foley planned this out ahead of time for his heel character and appreciated the positive side of the ECW fans.

3 Joey Styles burying WWE

The Spirit Squad pranking Joey Styles saw him leading the commentary table in disgust when Jerry Lawler laughed at him. Styles bashed Lawler, WWE and the fans for their version of sports entertainment disrespecting pro wrestling.

The promo received a lot of positive attention since it created a mystery behind the authenticity of it. Styles was instructed by WWE to cut a promo quitting Raw that would bring him back to ECW brand a few months later.

2 X-Pac joining DX

D-Generation X entered a new chapter when Shawn Michaels retired at WrestleMania 14 and Triple H became the leader the next night. The New Age Outlaws and X-Pac joined Triple H and Chyna in the faction.

X-Pac’s promo was a worked shoot calling out Eric Bischoff for firing him during an injury in WCW. Hulk Hogan was trashed by X-Pac for making negative comments. X-Pac even referenced his friends Kevin Nash and Scott Hall in positive fashion. WWE told X-Pac to air out all his grievances since it added to the cutting-edge nature of DX’s identity.

1 CM Punk's pipe bomb

The greatest worked shoot promo of all-time was the “pipe bomb” that made CM Punk a bigger star. Punk delivered vicious words towards Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon and Triple H about how they were running WWE.

The main gist of the promo referenced his contract legitimately ending in a few weeks, but Punk made fans believe it was an unscripted promo by referencing Ring of Honor, New Japan and Colt Cabana. WWE cutting off Punk’s microphone at the end was the perfect touch to close the show. Punk was approved to deliver this promo and it helped make him the hottest star in the business.

NEXT: 10 Awesome CM Punk Promos You Forgot About