Author: With much time on the road away from their families, many wrestlers pull ribs (or practical jokes) on one another to lift the mood. These stories capture fans’ interest as they show a side of wrestlers you would never see on camera.
Ribs and Practical Jokes in Professional Wrestling
Here are 20 of the best stories. Some of these pranks are lighthearted, while others are just plain cruel!
1. X-Pac on the Parting Gift for Sable
Sean Waltman, also known as X-Pac, was one of the best pranksters in wrestling. At one point, X-Pac revealed that Sable was very disliked, stating she was among the most unpopular superstars backstage in wrestling history. This was apparently because Sable took credit for the reason RAW would get such high ratings.
During her final show, along with Marc Mero, wrestlers backstage decided to make the two leave with a parting gift. An undisclosed wrestler would let out their "waste" in a cup, and just seconds before his music hit against Shane McMahon, X-Pac put it in Sables’ traveling bag.
Sable would travel all the way back home across the Atlantic past customs before finding the "gift." Upon hearing about how Sable was considering doing a DNA sample on the waste, X-Pac burst into laughter, thinking of that scenario.
You can hear what X-Pac had to say about this story on the Steve Austin Show podcast.
2. Mark Henry Eats a Sandwich He’ll Never Forget
Once again, another story involving X-Pac and "waste." Mark Henry was known as being very unpopular amongst other wrestlers in the locker room, back in his earlier days.
![A sandwich Mark Henry will never forget [Photo courtesy of Whatculture]](https://prowrestlingstories.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/ribs12.jpg "Ribs and Practical Jokes in Professional Wrestling | 20 of the Best Stories!")
While Henry left the lunch table, X-Pac decided to leave a little gift in Mark’s sandwich. Witnesses claim Henry actually bit into the sandwich, without even noticing the "waste" inside of it. Henry immediately ran to the bathroom and vomited, and once he came back, his crutches were gone, once again.
Before Henry would have the time to go crazy and scream at the wrestlers, Owen Hart told him Vince needed to see him immediately. Poor Henry began his journey across the entire arena with a banged-up leg, only to find out that McMahon had not been there all day. Talk about a tough day at the office.
3. 1-2-3 Kid (X-Pac / Sean Waltman) Gets His Eyebrows Shaved
Kevin Nash: "X-Pac did that angle when he was the 1-2-3 Kid. It was his 21st birthday, Kid’s, Hennig, and the Smoking Gunns took him out, Bart and Billy Gunn. The next day he shows up at TV, and he’s missing an eyebrow.
“They got him all f***ed up and shaved his eyebrow. Now Kid makes the decision to shave both his eyebrows. So he gets to TV and lo and behold, they’re going to shoot his 8×10. So that son of a b**** on his 8×10 has got no eyebrows. Back then, there wasn’t any money in the WWF, so I think that photo followed him for about two years."
"The funniest thing was he knew it was either the Smoking Gunns or Curt [Hennig, ‘Mr. Perfect’]. And because he and Curt were buddies for many [years], he made the calculation that it had to be the Smoking Gunns.
“We’re in El Paso, and I look over and see Kid’s over there, and he’s got super glue, and he’s putting it around the brim of the cowboy’s hats. I’m like what the f***. The Kid’s like a buck 70, Billy and Bart are two big ol’ raw bone dudes. That’s one thing people don’t realize. Until you shake hands with Billy Gunn, look him in the eyes, you have no idea how big that dude is. That’s a grown man. Bart was the same way.
"We go to the curtain, Smoking Gunns, they put their hats on, they go out there, shoot the pistols and go to pull off their hats and the s***’s glued to their hair. I about pissed myself.
“We looked down at Kid; he was standing there, he watched it, he turned, looked at us and smacked his hands together like f*** you, job well done. We said, ‘Dude, you’re going to need some protection. You need to get in our car.; He jumped in [with The Kliq] on that day there. I want this mother f***er in our car.
"The thing was that mother f***er could go. He’s been going since he was 17, you know, so he was a working mother f***er. He was another one of the people that loved to talk about the business.
4. Mr. Perfect Leaves a Little Something Under the Ring with Ultimate Warrior
Mr. Perfect, another wrestler known for his backstage antics, once filled a bucket full of feces and left it under the ring. This was significant as Warrior had to spend over three hours under there with it before he made a surprise appearance where he would enter from under the ring.
5. Randy Orton Pulls a Tanning Bed Prank on Cody Rhodes
Randy Orton: "We were in Alabama at a tanning salon, and there were six of us: Evan Bourne, me, Santino, Chris Masters, Cody Rhodes, and Ted DiBiase.
"Cody was the last one in the tanning bed, and it’s a common prank amongst us that if you leave the tanning bed door open while you’re tanning, we’ll go in there and steal your clothes.
"So it all started off with me finding out what room Cody was in, sneaking up, trying the door, and finding out the door was unlocked. Next thing you know, I’m in his room, and I steal all of his clothes. Everyone is laughing outside, but I decide, ‘Let’s take this a step farther.’
"So I went back inside his room, and of course, he’s tanning, so he’s got a towel over his face, and he has no idea what’s going on.
"So I take my foot and open the door, and there is Cody Rhodes with only a towel over his face, and he’s, let’s just say, standing at attention.
"A picture was taken, but we had to delete it so Cody would stop complaining. It probably was the most embarrassing moment of his life."
6. Ahmed Johnson on the Early Entrance Music Rib
Ahmed Johnson tells a story of being in the middle of a dark match when his entrance music played early. Ahmed took that as a cue to "go home" so he did. Backstage, Mike Rotunda (IRS) was the agent for the match and flipped out because the match ended early. Moments later, they saw Owen and Davey walk out of the sound truck, and Rotunda threatened to call Vince as Owen and Davey blamed each other for what happened.
7. The Jay Leno Show Rib
Ahmed Johnson was at his first WrestleMania (WM XII) and was in his room when he got a call from someone at the Jay Leno show asking for him to be a guest.
Ahmed said he spent $4,000 on a suit and bought a chain, stating he was "pimped out from head-to-toe."
He was waiting outside for the limo that was supposed to be there at 8 pm. Davey walked out and asked him where he was going and when Davey found out, he was mad that Ahmed got that opportunity, and he hadn’t, despite being with the company longer.
It’s long past 8, and Owen inquires to Ahmed, "I thought your limo coming at 8?"
Ahmed says it is, but it must be late- then Ahmed realizes that he never told them what time his limo was to arrive. Ahmed then realized that he was pranked by Owen, who pretended to be from Leno’s show.
Ahmed said that Owen and Davey were hysterically laughing and that Bret almost fell into the bushes because he was laughing so hard.
8. The Stink Bomb on Hand Rib
When Ahmed Johnson was doing arm-wrestling matches against Davey, he was supposed to meet his future wife’s parents before the show. Ahmed saw Owen and Davey and figured they were up to no good.
Well, it turns out Davey had broken a stink bomb on his hand and locked up with Ahmed, who couldn’t do anything about it because they were on live TV. Ahmed said it smelled like dog s***, and when he went to meet his wife’s parents, he smelt awful.
9. Turning the Heat on Rib
Ahmed Johnson said that Owen and Davey would get a key to your hotel room and s*** in your toilet, then turn up the heat so the room would reek. Ahmed then said that Bret told him Owen would only rib people he liked.
10. Jonathan Coachman Gets Ribbed by Vince McMahon
Jonathan Coachman: "Jerry Brisco came up to me in 2001 in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and he said he wanted me to run a football pool. $10 to pick all the games, and everybody did it. And I started on a Tuesday. It was a Smackdown taping, I’ll never forget it.
"I had my own room I did interviews in, and all the sudden two cops show up. They were very serious and said, ‘I understand you’re running a gambling pool. You sold one to one of our undercover cops here. It’s a felony in North Carolina, and we’re going to have to take you in.’
"So we’re walking down the hallway, and we stop in front of Vince’s office, and they said we should probably let him know because you’re not going to be here for a while. We walk in, and it’s Vince, Triple H, Stephanie, The Rock, Kevin Dunn, and Jerry Brisco.
"I should have known that, with Jerry in the room, something was going on, but I was so terrified because I was 26 years old.
"The real cops proceeded to tell Vince they’ve caught me in a gambling pool and we need to take him downtown. Vince got in my face, and he was an inch away from my nose. He was cursing, telling me my priorities were bad, and spending company time to run a gambling pool. This entire riff lasted 45 minutes.
"At the end of the office bit, the officer said it was $1,500 to get me out, and Vince said F-no, he’s on his own. They handcuffed me, and I asked if there was anything I could put over my face. Vince threw me a pair of sweaty gym shorts that got stuck on my face.
"I walked out of the office, and the first person I see is The Undertaker. He looks at me with shock, and it was so real because no one else was in on it except those people in the office.
"They walked me out, and all the fans could see me, and they drove me about a mile down the road, and got a call on the radio that they had to come back to pick up something. They turn around, come back, and everyone’s there with Vince in front of everybody laughing their a***es off.
"Greatest rib in the history of the business, and for about 10 minutes, I literally walked to a place in the building and started crying. I thought my career was over. I thought, ‘How can I tell my dad I got fired over a $10 football pool?’"
11. “The British Bulldog” Davey Boy Smith Ribs Lex Luger
Davey Boy Smith: "We were in Virginia, and there were some plain clothes police officers there, and I had a water gun.
I was shooting water at them secretly, and they were getting really mad. They approached me and asked who was doing it.
I said, ‘Lex Luger.’
They said, ‘We would like to get him.’
I told them that he’s driving the car tonight back to the hotel; why don’t you try to follow us?
Lex is notorious for driving through stop signs and red lights.
That night he was driving real good, so I yanked the wheel out of his hands, and he was like, ‘What are you doing??’ The police then sped up behind us in a ghost car.
I told Lex it was Shawn Michaels, and he was trying to race us.
So he drove faster.
Now the police were getting really mad. The cops put a light on the roof, and Lex says, ‘Davey, it’s the police!’ It was me and Lex in the front and Owen Hart in the back.
The police pulled us over.
After taking his license and registration, the police walked back toward their car. I yelled out after him: ‘Blow it out your a**!’
The cop turned around immediately, walked back to our car, and told Lex to get out of the car. Lex said, ‘It wasn’t me! It wasn’t me..!’
The officer looked in the back seat and asked Owen, ‘Who said it?’
Owen points and says, ‘It was Lex.’
The police officer takes Lex out of the car, spreads his arms and legs, and pats him down.
Then he says, ‘HE’S GOT A GUN!’
I had put the water pistol in Lex’s sweat pants, and he didn’t know it.
I go to get out of the car to tell the police that the rib has gone far enough, and then Lex says, ‘Please, Davey, get back in the car – you are making things worse!’
This wasn’t far from the arena, and there were a bunch of wrestling fans watching.
Even Vince McMahon in his limo saw it all going down…"
12. Shelton Benjamin Ribs Gas Station Cashiers with Rey Mysterio
Shelton Benjamin: "When I first got on the road with the Smackdown! crew, there were a lot of us traveling together. I was in a group with Charlie Haas, Rikishi, Rey Mysterio, and a few other guys. Altogether, there would be about ten of us.
"We would rent a few SUVs or minivans and follow each other around from town to town. But what Rey and I would do, we’d stop for gas and walk into a convenience store.
"Obviously, no one would know who we are because a lot of people don’t recognize Rey without the mask, and at the time I was so new, I could pretty much walk around unnoticed. But me and Rey would always do this thing where, right in front of the cashier, we’d bump into each other like we were going to fight. Like, ‘Hey man, watch where you’re going!’
"‘No, you watch where you’re going!’
"We would get to the point where we’d be really loud and animated, and we did it just to get a rise out of the cashiers.
"The cashier would always be like, ‘Please, guys, calm down. Please don’t fight in here. Just calm down.’
"We’ve done it so many times, and I swear, it’s the funniest thing ever when these cashiers think a fight is about to break out in their store.
"The best was one time, Rey said something and I was like, ‘Fine, we’ll see… I’ll get you!’
"So I walk out of the store and hop in the van we rented. Then when Rey walked out the front door, we sped the van in front of the store, slammed on the brakes, threw the door open, and snatched Rey into the van before speeding off. We looked back, and the cashier was freaking out like you couldn’t believe. He thought we just kidnapped one of his customers.
"I don’t know if he ever called the cops or what. All I know is it was funny as hell."
13. Diamond Dallas Page and the Cookies in Bed Rib
Mick Foley: "[This] story occurred somewhere in the Carolinas in the middle of 1993. I was traveling with DDP, and Stunning (not quite Stone Cold yet) Steve Austin, and we were in the second day of a week-long loop.
"Now, you’ve got to understand, despite all the cartoonish characteristics, Dallas was a very intense individual, so intense in fact that he used to ask us to videotape his match every night. He’d then study those d*** things for hours, looking to improve in any way he could.
"Often, Steve and I would goof on Page by supplying color commentary during the matches. Dallas jokes now that he could get a fortune for these homemade videos with Stone Cold and Mankind making the calls.
"Because of his intensity, Dallas was easy to rile up on a road trip. On the first day of this particular trip, Steve and I made a little bet. ‘How quick do you think we can crack Page?’ I asked, looking forward to this somewhat cruel pleasure.
"‘Three days, replied Austin, looking forward to the challenge. Three was good, but I had just a little bit more faith. ‘We can crack him in two days,’ I stated solemnly, giving Austin my best Jack Lord’ Book him, Danna’ look. The race was on.
"The first day started with a quality shot. Austin fired it. ‘My wife wanted me to pick up a couple of antiques on this trip,’ Steve innocently said.
"‘What did you tell her?’ Page responded.
"‘I told her I’d already picked up DDP at the airport,’ Austin said, laughing. Man, an age joke, an especially sensitive subject for the man who claimed he’d never had a bad day in his life. The verbal blow was a good one, but the aging Page shrugged it off.
"By day two, however, he wasn’t shrugging anything off-he was downright cranky. We checked into a hotel after the evening’s show, and a still sweaty Dallas was looking forward to a hot shower. He stormed out of the bathroom, angered that no towels had been left for us. He called immediately and demanded that housekeeping bring some on the double.
"The towels arrived while DDP was down the hall, getting ice for his many nagging injuries-the guy strapped so many ice packs to his body that I often suggested he just buy a huge cooler and just lie in it. Steve and I looked at each other-Page was on the verge of cracking-we couldn’t let up now.
"Thinking quickly, Austin hid all the towels except two under a bed. When Page inquired about the status of the towels, I informed him that the towels had indeed come, and that housekeeping had left them in the bathroom.
“No sooner had Page walked into the john than he came storming out. ‘This is what they brought us,’ he screamed, holding aloft one hand towel and a washcloth for Steve and me to see. ‘Goddammit, I’m going to get them myself.’
"The moment Page walked out, Steve reached under the bed and pulled out about eight plush bath towels that he placed directly on the TV so that it would be the first thing Page saw upon his reentry to the room. ‘What a maroon,’ I said in my best Bugs Bunny impression. ‘He’s just about done.’
"Dallas finally did take his shower, and he emerged from the bathroom in typical fashion: in nothing except for an ice pack on his shoulder and Saran wrap around his knees (that he claimed kept the joints loose). He then began his pre-sleep ritual that included thumbtacking the blinds to the wall, so as not to allow even the faintest ray of sunshine into the room in the morning.
"I found the whole nude thing a little uncomfortable, to tell you the truth. Usually, the only guys who walked around in the buff were the midgets, who seemed proud of what some people call ‘God’s practical joke,’ and guys like Scorpio, who was kind of like a genitalactic freak of nature.
“DDP was more or less a normal white guy. Hey, I’m no peeker checker, but with Page’s protruding peter bouncing around, it was hard not to notice. The guy’s thing was everywhere.
"Poor Page turned the lights off and settled into his bed for a long comfortable nap. Little did he know that his evening wasn’t quite over. Earlier, a fan had given us a whole batch of chocolate chip cookies that she had baked.
“While Dallas showered, Steve and I had dumped approximately thirty-six soft, chewy beauties between the sheets of DDP’s bed, and now as he lay there, I could tell that those delicious tollhouses were starting to take effect. It started with a little wriggle, and then grew to the point where he knew something was wrong.
""What, what, what’s this?’ Dallas said, to no one in particular. Steve and I remained silent. Suddenly, it hit him.
"‘There’s f***ng cookies in my bed, he yelled. ‘Someone put f***ing cookies in my bed.’
"Silence. Dallas was now screaming at the top of his lungs. ‘I want to know who put f***ing cookies in my bed, right now!’
"I soon gave myself away. I was laughing so hard under my covers that I couldn’t help myself. By holding in this laugh, my stomach was rising up and down rapidly, and Dallas detected the quick in-and-out breathing from my nostrils.
"‘You,’ he yelled and jumped from his bed, turning on the light and throwing back the covers to reveal a plethora of crumbs, chunks, and chips that a helpful fan had hoped would be eaten by three of her favorite sports-entertainers.
"Instead, in an ironic twist, her baking bid had backfired! Instead of being eaten, these innocent cookies had eaten up the livid Page, who was now hell-bent on vengeance. Dallas lunged for me and threw back my sheets-unlike the stripped Page; I was attired in Fruit of the Looms. He then gathered as many of the broken pieces as he could carry and threw them on top of me.
"It wasn’t enough; he wanted to make sure the cookies would torture me and ruin my sleep, the way that I had ruined his. He sat on me and began jumping, trying to grind the offending cookies into my body, as I listened to the strange symphony of bouncing bedsprings and crackling Saran wrap.
"‘There,’ he yelled, ‘how do you like it, how do you like f***ing cookies in your bed!’ He waited for my reply.
"‘Well,’ I started, ‘it’s not the cookies that I mind, it’s the fact that you’re rubbing your a** all over me.’
"DDP got up slowly. He was a defeated man. He went back to his bed and swept away the remaining cookie parts. He turned off the light and lay back down. After about a minute, he spoke. Quietly. Sadly. ‘Guys,’ he began, ‘I think I’m going to get my own room tomorrow.’
"The King of Ribs" Owen Hart
"Owen was the type of guy who’d give a cop the finger just to get you pulled over."
– Al Snow
The following rib stories are dedicated to "The King of Ribs" – Owen Hart.
14. Steve Blackman and the Blue Blazer Mask
On the night he died, and for several weeks previous to that, Owen Hart competed under a mask as the Blue Blazer. The storyline was that Owen claimed that he wasn’t the Blazer, although it was obvious that he was.
During that time, Owen often traveled with Steve Blackman. According to Al Snow, Owen would often get lost on purpose so that he could have Blackman put on the Blue Blazer mask and ask directions (because people weren’t supposed to know that Owen was the Blazer)!
15. Gangrel and His "Lost" Watch
Christian: "Back when I was in the Brood, we were wrestling in Philadelphia one time, and when we got back to the locker room, Gangrel couldn’t find his watch.
"He said he’d left it right on his bag. As he was looking for it, Owen came up to him and asked what time it was. Gangrel said he didn’t know because he had lost his watch.
"A couple of months later, we were in Philadelphia again, and Gangrel got back to the locker room after his match, only to find his watch on his bag, just as he’d left it months before. And just like the last time, Owen Hart came up to him and asked what time it was.
16. Edge on Owen Hart’s Clobbering, Hidden Foreign Object
Edge recalls a match in Germany when Owen used a very interesting object to clobber his opponents. "He kept hitting us with something and then putting it in his armpit to hide it," Edge said. "And when the ref made him lift his arm, a napkin floated out, and everyone saw that he has been attacking us with a napkin."
See this match below:
17. Owen Hart and the Sardines Camel Clutch
Bret Hart shared a story on the Steve Austin show of the time when he was having a match with brother Owen. Owen had hidden some sardines in one of the turnbuckles before the card. During the match, Owen stuffed the sardines in Bret’s mouth and held Bret’s mouth shut in a Camel Clutch so he couldn’t spit them out. Bret had no choice but to swallow it down.
18. Owen Hart Ribs Oscar from Men on a Mission
Between matches, Owen Hart occupied himself with orchestrating ribs in the dressing room. One of his latest victims was Oscar, the fat rapper manager of a new black tag team called Men on a Mission, or M.O.M.
Three-hundred-pound Mo was cool and mellow with a dyed-white buzz cut and carried the team. Mabel was a 450-pound mass with a white mohawk, who didn’t do much but stand there in hideous, baggy purple silk pants. But their gimmick capitalized on the new rap sound, and when Oscar came out shouting on the live mic, "Get your hands up in the air!" he really pumped up the crowd.
Owen egged on The 1-2-3 Kid until he tried to seize the heavy, out-of-shape Oscar in close quarters. Kid expected to manhandle Oscar and jumped right on his back, but Oscar panicked, charging back and forth into the walls and knocking Kid silly!
19. Owen Hart and The British Bulldog Introduce Michael Cole to the Business
Michael Cole will most certainly never forget his first-ever interview with WWE.
During a live event, Cole waited nervously as he was about to interview Owen Hart. Cole recalls being so nervous and so shaky minutes before the live interview took place. Just before the interview went live, Owen and the British Bulldog decided to pull a little joke on the new employee.
The two proceeded to pour a liter of coke down the tuxedo pants of Michael Cole just before the interview went live.
Not having any time to react, Cole conducted the interview as if nothing happened, despite having a liter of coke down his pants. It was certainly a moment Michael Cole will never forget!
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20. Harley Race Gives Owen Hart a Piece of His Own Medicine!
Finally, someone got The King of Harts back!
Owen Hart initially pranked Harley Race by replacing a bottle of BBQ sauce with a bottle of the hottest of hot sauce at one of Harley’s legendary barbecues.
In reprisal, King Harley probably went a step too far when he tasered Hart backstage at a subsequent Raw.
It was obviously meant to be the classic handshake prank where the prankster has a buzzer concealed in his palm to give his victim a small shock, but instead of a buzzer, Race had a taser of sorts.
Owen dropped to the floor and was knocked unconscious. Thankfully, this didn’t stop Owen from his quest to become the greatest prankster in the history of the business.
These stories may also interest you:
- Christian and the Chris Jericho Deaf Fan Rib
- "The King of Ribs" Owen Hart – Stories of Heart, Humor, and Humility
- Brian Blair on Paul Orndorff, Shoot Fights, Ribs, and More!
Sources used in this article: /r/SquaredCircle, officialfan.proboards.com, WrestleZone, Highspots Shoot Interview with Ahmed Johnson (2006), backsportspage.com interview with Jonathon Coachman, Wrestling Observer, Mick Foley’s autobiography ‘Have A Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks’, Bret Hart’s autobiography ‘Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling’, The Richest, WhatCulture
Some quotes used in this article compiled by Matt Pender and shared here with thanks to our friends over at ‘Wrestling’s Glory Days’ Facebook page.
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