All the world’s a microphone, and sometimes a WWE Superstar doesn’t have to wait until they’re in the ring to deliver their best verbal work. In fact, for each Paul Heyman barnburner that brings the crowd to its feet on Raw, there are four or five sneak-attack classics floating around YouTube, Twitter and the rest of the Internet from Superstars you might never expect had it in them. Well, consider this our way of bringing those talents to light. Here are the 10 best interviews that didn’t make it to TV.
(Ed. Note: Talking Smack was technically a TV show, so it doesn’t count. Plus, if it did, this whole list might just be The Miz.)
Most people think of The Shield (rightly) as a trio of tough guys dressed in black. Yet, the longer they ran together, The Hounds of Justice ended up showing that they were sneakily three of the funniest Superstars in WWE. Case in point: This victory lap turned familial squabble where Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns can’t quite agree on the proper verbiage for their super-sized finishing maneuver. (WWE.com’s copy editors can relate.)
For two guys who were thrown together due to random happenstance, it became clear early on that Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens had instant chemistry — especially at times it seemed like they had absolutely no idea what it was they were talking about. This rambler after their victory at SummerSlam 2016 is about as nonsensical as it gets, but their banter laid the foundation for one of 2016’s most entertaining partnerships … and, with Owens’ final sign-off, 2017’s most savage betrayal.
As Survivor Series 2017 drew closer, rivals took the Raw-vs.-SmackDown battle for supremacy to a more personal place than Baron Corbin and The Miz. The Lone Wolf, who was Team Blue’s U.S. Champion at the time, fired the first salvo with an insult at The A-Lister’s unborn daughter, so Miz — who held the Intercontinental Title on Raw — responded with this short, nasty and brutish rebuttal. Despite Miz’s boast that his best work is seen on worldwide TV, this clip and his Talking Smack highlight reel show he’s not being generous enough: All he needs is a working mic. The setting doesn’t matter.
Dean Ambrose is a wacky guy, but he’s also an educator who’s happy to discuss his winning strategy. Unfortunately, it’s on you to try and keep up with his teaching methods. Hence, this “Planet Earth”-esque yarn that re-examines the small package The Lunatic Fringe used to pin Tyler Breeze via a truly mind-bending metaphor about meadows and cows.
Superstars often use their YouTube time as a place to exercise their creativity and try some off-the-wall ideas in a smaller forum. Other times, they pour their hearts out and give you the most honest thing you’ll ever see. This Becky Lynch interview, captured moments after The Irish Lass Kicker became the first-ever SmackDown Women’s Champion, is the latter.
If you only watched Raw and didn’t keep up on YouTube or social media, you might have missed the running thread where Chris Jericho couldn’t tell the difference between Tom Phillips and Mike Rome. But if you’re remotely familiar with Jericho’s personality during his epic 2016-17 with WWE, you can probably guess what happened when both announcers cornered The Ayatollah of Rock ‘n’ Rolla at Payback 2017 and asked him the exact same question.
You can be forgiven for wondering what Mojo Rawley’s personality was like once he ditched the Zubaz and the Hype Bros …well, hype. But if you watch this scathing selfie video in which Rawley prowled and snarled around a dimly-lit gym while eviscerating Zack Ryder for taking day trips to Disney instead of finding his killer instinct, the only thing you’ll be wondering is when the next one of these is coming out.
Why did Sami Zayn and Becky Lynch fail to advance against Braun Strowman & Alexa Bliss in the Mixed Match Challenge? Is it because the WWE Universe didn’t snap their fingers as requested? Is it because Becky’s super-nice and Sami’s not? Or did they binge too much on Maiden Ireland’s B-day cake? We still don’t know, but it’s extremely funny to watch them try and figure it out.
Who ever said Daniel Bryan didn’t have a personality? The Beard’s interview after a verbal rundown from Big Cass on SmackDown LIVE revealed that the former WWE Champion remains uniquely talented when it comes to catchphrases — “shin bone to the dome when your mama ain’t home” went a little bit viral because of this — and witheringly savage when he wants to be. Case in point, his rebuttal to Cass’ promise that he would snap Bryan’s leg in half: “You don’t even know how.”
Come on, like it was going to be anybody else. The shock of The Undertaker’s loss to Brock Lesnar sucked the air out of New Orleans’ Mercedes-Benz SuperDome. However, Paul Heyman was breathing just fine, as evidenced in this interview with a baffled Renee Young that oozed supervillain snideness. Heyman’s frothing revival call of “My client Brock Lesnar conquered The Streak” would end up being the lasting trigger for the WWE Universe, but this comparatively calm interview is perhaps the purest distillation of the maniacal, mad-scientist glee Heyman felt on the night he ruined your childhood.