10 Times Wrestlers Visibly Corpsed On WWE TV

The word “corpsing” is a term most commonly used in acting, referring to when an actor breaks character, usually by laughing at something happening on stage.

Wrestling is just one big theatre production with steel chairs instead of pantomime horses, and as a result, some of our favourite grapplers have also been caught off-guard when the cameras are rolling.

This is 10 Times Wrestlers Visibly Corpsed On TV.

10. The Bloodline & Sami Zayn's "Ucey" Comments

Forget the excellent matches or the emotional high points, the word “Ucey” was one of the greatest things to come from the Sami Zayn/Bloodline story.

Sami Zayn is known to be a very funny guy to the point he even holds his own stand-up shows. His greatest comedic moments on WWE TV came during segments with - and at the expense of - Roman Reigns and his stable of cousins.

The most famous example of this had to be from the October 28, 2022 edition of SmackDown.

After Jey Uso accidentally insulted the Tribal Chief, Zayn stepped in to try and smooth things over. He apologised for Jey’s behaviour, saying that his insubordination is down to him not feeling very “Ucey”.

Things then fell apart.

Reigns, who was deadly serious just moments ago, broke out into laughter for all the world to see. Jey did a slightly better job of holding in the giggles, until Roman then says the word.

Normally, wrestlers breaking character during a deadly serious segment would be seen as a bad thing. However, since this is one with Zayn we’re talking about, it was a work of genius.

9. Randy Orton at Backlash 2017

The Bollywood Boyz from the Cruiserweight Classic were quickly repackaged as Jinder Mahal’s smartly-dressed henchmen The Singh Brothers when Vince McMahon forced us all to live through the fever dream that was his WWE Title reign.

The Singhs, Sunil and Samir, had three jobs whilst working for Jinder. Help him win his matches, call The Great Khali for his interference spot at Battleground, and get beaten to a pulp by Randy Orton.

Randy was Jinder’s first feud as champion, after The Modern Day Maharaja beat The Viper for the title at Backlash. During that match, the Singhs ran interference on their boss’ behalf, causing Orton to go become The Viper on them.

After dumping Sunil over one announce table, Orton went to do the same to his brother.

However, he forgot that Samir Singh wasn’t the same size as him and chucked him in the air so high that he came crashing down on the side of the table.

Normally, this wouldn’t be funny, but Randy’s face when walking away from the incident is absolute comedy gold.

Thankfully, Samir was fine.

8. Marty Jannetty Sees Vince McMahon's Bottom

Before he became the most unhinged wrestler on the internet, Marty Jannetty was part of a very successful tag team called The Rockers

You might not know (or remember) that Jannetty actually made a comeback to WWE in 2005, sticking around until around 2009 give or take a firing or five.

In February of 2006, the former Intercontinental Champion was making his case to be signed to a full-time contract. Mr. McMahon agreed, but only on the condition that Jannetty join the Kiss My Ass Club.

When Vince dropped his trousers to reveal his billionaire buttocks, Jannetty totally lost it. You can see him turning away from the camera to hide his laughter at the sight of a very rich man’s very bare backside staring him directly in the face.

We’d like to say this is the weirdest thing that’s ever happened to Marty Jannetty, but his internet history would tend to disagree with that.

7. Cody Rhodes After Triple H Asks Where Kofi Kingston's Jamaican Accent Went

When Kofi Kingston defeated Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 35, he became the first African-born individual to win the prestigious WWE Championship.

Which is why it makes perfect sense that, when he debuted for WWE, he was billed as being from… Jamaica.

To be fair to WWE, Kofi himself was using the Jamaican gimmick on the indies before signing with the company. He ran with the character, accent and all, for almost two years before dropping any connection to the island nation.

But Triple H remembers. Triple H always remembers.

In a segment building up to Bragging Rights 2009, Kingston got on the mic to try and pull together his disorganised team. He finished his pep talk with, “Any questions?”, which was a bad idea as The Game then asked him, “Aren’t you supposed to be Jamaican?”

Kofi sold this like he had just had his biggest secret revealed on live TV, but this may or may not be some stellar acting. However, look out for Cody Rhodes in the background, chuckling away like there’s no tomorrow.

6. John Cena Following A Fan Heckle

At SummerSlam 2013, Daniel Bryan defeated John Cena to become WWE Champion for the first time. Moments later, Randy Orton would cash in Money in the Bank, ending Bryan’s fairytale, and setting in motion the chain of events that would lead us to WrestleMania 30.

In the build-up to the match, Bryan and Cena had a promo segment on Raw. Bryan ran the champion down, telling him he had become a parody of a professional wrestler. It’s a killer line, but someone in the audience that night was about to go one better.

In response, Cena listed off the names of some of the greats he’d beaten over the years. Bryan cut in, pointing out how Cena was talking about those people like they were better than him. Quick as a flash, someone in the crowd shouted out “They are!”

This unbelievable heckle momentarily made Cena corpse. You can see and hear him smile and laugh as he turned his head away, before snapping back into promo mode shortly thereafter.

Even Super Cena is vulnerable to some comedy kryptonite every now and then.

5. Stone Cold Steve Austin After The Worst Stunner Of All Time

Before WrestleMania 38, the last time Steve Austin and Vince McMahon wrestled on the same show was WrestleMania 19 way back in 2003. However, the two Attitude Era staples both inexplicably had matches over the Mania weekend in 2022.

The Rattlesnake ended up getting involved in McMahon’s business after the 76-year-old tycoon “defeated” Pat McAfee in a “match”. After celebrating with one Austin - Austin Theory that is - McMahon’s good times were spoiled by another.

After stunning the young star, Stone Cold offered his old boss a beer. The pensioner tentatively accepted, before getting kicked in the gut. And then…

It was like a piece of performance art; something from the annals of the Renaissance. McMahon fell into the ropes, almost went totally over on the ground, got pulled up by Austin, and then collapsed in a heap in a manner no way resembling a Stone Cold Stunner.

It was hilarious and Austin clearly thought so. He can be seen cackling away like nobody’s watching after getting up from the move, clearly having the absolute time of his life.

4. Dean Ambrose with Jake 'The Snake' Roberts

For those who know the story of Jake Roberts, you’ll know it had a very sad part in the middle.

Years of substance abuse left the legendary wrestler on the brink of death, until his life was turned around thanks in no small part to the efforts of Diamond Dallas Page.

On the January 6, 2014 “Old School” Edition of Raw, Roberts’ incredible theme music played over the loudspeakers and The Snake stepped out in front of a WWE audience for the first time in almost nine years.

Everyone was thrilled to see him, including Dean Ambrose (who was standing in the ring). Roberts was one of his heroes growing up, and now here he was face-to-face with him.

After a GTS from CM Punk, Ambrose was out cold. This allowed Roberts to pull his trademark trick of laying a live snake across the body of his fallen foe.

The Shield member was supposed to be unconscious, but you can clearly see a smile creep across his face as he lives out a childhood dream.

3. Mick Foley Breaks The Rock

It was a rare sight to see The Rock speechless across his WWE career. The Great One is one of the best speakers in wrestling history, a skill he has parlayed into the world of acting with bank-busting results.

However, he is not invincible on the mic. On the March 7, 2000 edition of Raw, Commissioner Mick Foley welcomed his old enemy-turned-friend down to the ring. He congratulated The Brahma Bull on his five reigns with the WWE Title, saying that it put him amongst the elite of the wrestling world.

He asked The Rock how that felt and, without a second thought, Dwayne walked right into Mick’s trap.

After raising his microphone to his lips and attempting to speak, Rocky was ambushed by Foley who yelled out “It doesn’t matter how you feel!” in true Rock style.

The crowd went ballistic, chanting and cheering Foley on as he ran around the ring in celebration. The Rock had nothing to say to this; instead, he just stood in the ring, smiling at being outplayed at his own game by one of his best mates.

2. R-Truth Breaks Brock Lesnar

R-Truth is not everyone’s cup of tea but he has had some great moments over the years, including this gem from the build to the 2020 Royal Rumble.

After cutting an impassioned promo about how his client Brock Lesnar was going to win the Men’s match, Paul Heyman was cut off by the 24/7 Champion.

As soon as Truth started talking, you can see Lesnar start to go. Once Truth mentioned his “childhood hero John Cena”, a smile crept across his face. Then, when Truth said he was going to eliminate Paul Heyman from the Rumble instead of Lesnar, The Beast completely caved in.

Lesnar laughed his entire bottom off after this line, even when Heyman tried to get the segment back on track.

According to the man himself, Truth was dared to try and break the former UFC Champion and that’s exactly what he did.

1. Daniel Bryan Pranks William Regal

As we know from their days in AEW, William Regal and Bryan Danielson are very close.

The Blackpool native helped to train the former Daniel Bryan and the two have remained good friends ever since. Such good friends in fact, that one can prank the other during a TV taping and get away with it.

The two men were set to wrestle each other in Liverpool, England on an episode of Superstars. After the home country lad received a suitably loud pop, Regal made his way to ring, looking ready for a fight.

And then a whistle blew.

This signalled the start of “Real Man’s Man”, Regal’s so-bad-it’s good theme music from his hard hat-wearing lumberjack days. Bryan planned this audio cue as a joke and it absolutely cracked Regal up.

What started as a smirk blossomed into a full-blown grin as The American Dragon absolutely beamed in the ring. It’s one of the best things to ever happen on an episode of Superstars, which, to be fair, isn’t saying much.

It’s a really sweet moment between two old friends, who then proceeded to batter the living hell out of each other for our entertainment.