Sly burials, coded signs and deafening silence - featuring Triple H, the Undertaker and more...
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00:00Now, wrestlers tend not to be the most subtle of creatures, bless them. By trade,
00:04they are theatrical performers who are meant to project their star power and the stories they
00:08tell to the back row of a major arena. And since wrestling is a performance art, it relies heavily
00:13upon audience interaction. So therefore, they have to be the opposite of subtle in most cases
00:18to get something over. But that doesn't mean that there haven't been secret messages that
00:22wrestlers have sent to each other, their loved ones, or even their enemies from time to time.
00:27So let's take a look at them as I'm Jules, this is WhatCoach.com,
00:30and these are 10 Secret Messages Wrestlers Sent.
00:33Number 10. Triple H has a moment of madness on Twitter
00:36Now, the relationship between Triple H and Vince McMahon became fascinating post-NXT. Prior to that,
00:42it felt like they shared the same mind. Triple H did more to put over the hulking Batista than
00:47anybody else. He was bang up for burying Daniel Bryan in 2013, and he and Vince shared the same
00:52puerile sense of humor. And then Triple H committed the cardinal sin. In a bid to get
00:57over by osmosis, he started promoting shorter pro wrestlers and actually pleasing the marks.
01:02Vince appeared to be more disgusted with his air by the month as the 2010s faded. Half-hearted
01:07debuts on the Raw after WrestleMania evolved into Vince carelessly plugging in a total of
01:1110 wrestlers from NXT across January and February 2019. It was clear that Vince had lost complete
01:17faith in the process. He didn't want stars. He didn't think Triple H was capable of building
01:21stars. He just wanted bodies under the pretense of refreshing a product so rotten that he had
01:26to apologize for how sh** it was in December of 2018. Triple H must have been frustrated,
01:31we all thought. And you know what? He was. In May 2019, he was caught on Twitter liking
01:35posts critical of McMahon in a telling, passive-aggressive secret hint towards his frustration.
01:41At this stage of his corporate career, he had been sent a grapefruit basket,
01:44and he was spitting out the bloody seeds.
01:46Number 9. Various wrestlers say the quiet part loud about the Velveteen Dream
01:50Velveteen Dream was, and you'll understand that care must be taken when phrasing this entry,
01:55accused of deeply unsavory sexual advances towards minors in 2020.
02:00WWE conducted some sort of internal investigation or other, and it can be inferred from the fact
02:04that he continued to appear on television that WWE, at least, found no wrongdoing.
02:09"'We looked into what was there,' Triple H told Brent Brookhouse of CBS Sports,
02:13and we didn't find anything."
02:15Certain hints cropped up that this view wasn't exactly shared by Patrick Clark's peers.
02:19At NXT TakeOver XXX, after Clark was accused amidst the hashtag
02:24speaking-out moment for, indeed, a second time, he worked the five-way ladder match
02:28for the North American title. At this phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, various wrestlers
02:32cosplayed as fans to emulate something approaching to a normal atmosphere. As such, they were
02:37performative, popping for entrances and expressing shock and awe in reaction to high spots.
02:42Not so with Clark. Everything he did was met with blanket, seemingly defiant silence.
02:48Meanwhile, Rhea Ripley liked a tweet imploring Dream to be fired,
02:51and when her partner Adam Cole was announced as working Clark on the December 23,
02:552020 NXT show, Britt Baker tweeted,
02:58"'LOL' with no context."
03:00Now, this might be nothing. It should be noted. Perhaps this is all just connecting
03:03dots that simply aren't there, but Clark certainly didn't appear to be popular in
03:07wrestling circles. Many talents seem to let their feelings be known in subtle, secretive ways.
03:118. Ryback is self-deprecating
03:14Let's face it. Ryback is a pretty weird guy. He was a weird guy even before he realized
03:18that nobody was ever going to hire him and fell off the deep end entirely. But he was also
03:22absolute, pure banter. Now, very little of this was on purpose. He's not an intellectual.
03:28In one of the funniest pro wrestling stories ever, according to Cody Rhodes and Bryan Danielson,
03:32Ryback thought that James Cameron named his movie Terminator 2 because there were two
03:36feuding Terminators in it. He was also banter in a deliberate way as well. Referring to himself
03:41as the big guy in the third person was funny in a way that is difficult to articulate,
03:45and he was prone to a bit of self-deprecation. In addition to admitting to CM Punk that he was
03:49dumb as f—, he also sent a sly message to Creative with a message on his white belt in
03:542016, when he had officially checked out. He printed,
03:57"'The pre-show stopper willfully no-selling the mandated WWE speak of kickoff as a means
04:02of sending up his role as yet another demoted main event act that Vince had lost interest in.'"
04:077. MJF quickly deletes tweet
04:09Now, if it's difficult to ascertain what's exactly going on with MJF,
04:13then that is surely the point. In collaboration with Tony Khan,
04:16probably, pro wrestling's most compelling week-to-week storyteller, he's now cultivating
04:20a blurry mystery. He is legitimately pissed off with what he's earning, as he should be,
04:25which has informed the realism of the story. He's also so good and such a thoughtful storyteller
04:30that his nuance continues to pose questions. He wore a boo-hoo face at Double or Nothing,
04:34and it was so glorious in its subtlety that it still feels like he's on the way out,
04:38even if, ironically, him calling Tony Khan a f***ing mark on the next Dynamite was indicative
04:43of a repaired relationship. In another beautiful detail, MJF, again, provided this is all 100% of
04:48work, used technology to advance the arc by tweeting, "'I'm running on fumes,' a week
04:52or so removed from Double or Nothing." He deleted it almost immediately after,
04:56knowing that someone, somewhere, would screenshot it for posterity as a candid,
05:00secretive post that he thought better of sharing. In short, it's quite brilliant, really.
05:046. Stardust uses subtext
05:07When evolving his post-WWE character, Cody Rhodes was inspired by several industry luminaries. His
05:13father was a key influence, of course. He was a very measured and articulate man,
05:17drawing indirect inspiration from Nick Bockwinkle, albeit as a face.
05:20Cody played a besuited, elegant, timeless figure in contrast to the athletic hybrid
05:25super-workers that had almost become indistinguishable from one another. Deep
05:28into his AEW run, Cody, by sacrificing his body in an artful, forward-thinking way,
05:33operated in a similar way to Mick Foley. He was intent on putting his opponents over,
05:37and accomplished it with his structural brilliance. He was also, incredibly enough,
05:41inspired by Stardust. On February 23, 2015, under the paint with a barely suppressed fury,
05:47Cody cut a .com digital exclusive promo away from the scripted confines of TV,
05:52bemoaning the state of the industry. It was barely in character.
05:55"'I want a steak,' he ranted. But before I get it, I have to cut the fat. The slack is
06:00gold dust, but he's not alone. The slack is Big Show, is Kane, is Mark Henry. My only word is get
06:06the attitude out." More famously, when accepting the challenge of Dustin Rhodes again in 2019,
06:10Cody claimed that he was here to kill the attitude era. In 2015, he was letting people
06:15in on a secret. He was sick to the stomach of WWE recycling its past, and was planning,
06:20right here, to change wrestling's future.
06:225. Kenny Omega's Incredibly Subtle Burial of WWE
06:27AEW is less than subtle when aiming digs at WWE. CM Punk enthusiastically and viciously ripped the
06:34piss out of WWE, begging fans to attend WrestleMania with buy-one-get-one-free
06:38offers. Several wrestlers have been glimpsed watching the action on Dynamite from physically
06:42impossible angles. The imaginary brass ring is often referred to when an ex-WWE performer reveals
06:47their intent to become the next best version of themselves in a promotion that will allow them to
06:51be it. And throughout 2021, Kenny Omega had some fun at WWE's expense as well. But it was so subtle
06:56that it scant as a secretive in-joke of sorts. When cutting a promo building his program with
07:01Hangman Page, he reminded Tony of a conversation that they'd had earlier today. Schiavone was
07:06nonplussed. They hadn't talked. This was Omega covertly burying Michael Cole's very unconvincing
07:11signature exposition dump. Omega's patter was so sly in 2021 that it escaped the usual toxic
07:17reception because many tribal fans just didn't pick up on it. Perhaps that was the real punchline.
07:22His priceless non-sports numbnuts insult didn't get a rise out of the usual dickheads.
07:264. The Big Show is a Big Softie
07:29Now, The Big Show isn't exactly famed for his loyalty. In fact, he's notorious for turning
07:33on a once-every-few-months basis. Whenever John Cena needed a stopgap opponent for a B-level
07:38pay-per-view, Show was there. Whenever Vince McMahon wanted an elephant-teen man to do comedy
07:43because it's just simply funnier that way, Show, cosplaying as Hulk Hogan, was there.
07:47Whenever a bloodied and pretty much murdered Kurt Angle turned heel and needed his babyface murderer
07:51to feud with, Show was there. Whenever that uppity vegan Daniel Bryan needed a punch to the
07:56mush, Show was there. Whenever Vince remembered that his fearsome monster could cry because he
08:01was a gifted actor by the standards of a wrestling giant, Show was there to turn face. It was a bit
08:05like making The Undertaker wrestle in neon yellow, but still, Show was definitely there.
08:09But Show is actually fiercely loyal to his wife, and if you've ever spotted him squeezing his arm
08:14three times, that's Show sending a coded I love you message to her. That's love as ironclad as
08:19the contract that he wouldn't shut the f— up about in 2012.
08:223. Alexa Bliss checks out
08:24According to a report from the reputable Fightful Select last year, Alexa Bliss had
08:28vocally expressed her displeasure with the company following the bizarre aimless vignette shot
08:32heralding her return to Raw. She actually returned to the Elimination Chamber and missed out on a
08:37WrestleMania season. It was reported that she voiced her frustrations directly to Vince McMahon.
08:41If this was all hush-hush leaked stuff and not something meant for public consumption,
08:45Alexa Bliss said a lot without saying much on the May 23rd edition of Raw Talk on the WWE Network.
08:51Now, what follows is pure speculation, but the interview conducted by Sarah
08:54Schreiber following Alexa's actual return to Raw was deeply, deeply awkward.
08:58Alexa was asked what it meant to pick up her third straight victory opposite former
09:02partner Nikki Ash. Yeah, she said, appearing apprehensive. Nikki is on her own path,
09:07she offered up, which was clearly a euphemistic code for, she's trapped in a s— DOA gimmick.
09:12And when asked about her own path, in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, Alexa looks to
09:16the ground. When asked about her momentum, Alexa's eyes darted, as she says, insincerely that she was
09:21really excited about where it takes her. This all might be a reach, but Alexa really does
09:26seem to be communicating that she hasn't got a f—ing clue what this new character is,
09:30what she'll actually be doing next.
09:322. The Undertaker and pals are bonded by ink
09:35Now, the Bone Street crew has to be the funniest gang name ever. It's even funnier if you try to
09:40picture the discussion in which the name was arrived at. We're tight, like brothers. We're
09:44in a gang. We need to come up with a name, the Undertaker must have said at one point,
09:47and his brothers nodded along. Hell yeah, we do. It needs to sound tough, like Henry O. Godwin said.
09:51We ain't no namby-bamby click types. I reckon you're right, Taker said. Hey, what about this?
09:57We kick ass, right? We break bones. Bones. What if we break so many bones that we could
10:01make a street full of them? And then Phineas Godwin said, what about the Bone Street boys?
10:05And Taker just spat out his tobacco, disgusted, saying that it sounded like a boy band.
10:09But it's all less funny when you recall that bone was actually an informal word for dominoes,
10:13which Taker and pals play backstage. But the misspelling of crew is still priceless.
10:18And number one, there was a secret subliminal lyric in the brood's theme. Now, let's face it,
10:23the brood were, on reflection, pretty cringeworthy. However, at the time,
10:28and as a lover of floofy shirts, I absolutely love them. Gangrel, edge, Christian, just look
10:35at them rising out of there. I mean, yeah, sure, the spitting of the blood and all the other
10:38gimmicks with the vampire stuff, absolute bollocks, but I loved it. Yeah. And you have
10:43to admire Gangrel as well, who went the absolute distance and put shoot fangs in his mouth.
10:48And the level of commitment wasn't actually merely physical. In a bid to develop a cult following,
10:52which was the aim after all, Gangrel, in league with then-in-house composer The Great Jim Johnston,
10:57apparently inserted subliminal backward lyrics into the stable's entrance theme. He said,
11:02If you have the right skills and technology to play it backwards, it says, I buried Paul,
11:06walk with me. Gangrel said that Johnston's love of the Beatles informed the 1980s-style
11:11moral panic tribute. And there also appears to be a Twin Peaks reference there,
11:15in addition to the Paul is dead myth.
11:17And there we go, my friends. Those were 10 secret messages wrestlers sent. I hope that
11:21you enjoyed that, and please let me know what you thought about it down in the comments section
11:24below. As always, I've been Jules. You can go follow me over on Instagram, where it's
11:27RetroJay, but the O is a zero. Hope to see you over there, and you can check out all my Warhammer
11:31paintings that I've been doing. Yes, I'm a nerd. As always, I've been Jules. You have been awesome.
11:36Never forget that, and I'll speak to you soon. Bye.