In wrestling, some of the biggest names are also known for being the toughest men and women walking the face of God’s green earth, as Harley Race (a respected tough guy) might intone. There’s an old adage in wrestling that “funny don’t equal money.” Even guys like Jim Ross subscribe to that theory. It certainly does hold some weight, as most top stars and world champions aren’t exactly laugh riots.
However, there have been several exceptions to the rule over the years. Mostly because the guys that do like to clown around can also decimate any opponent in their way and the fans know it. Once the bell rings, the yuck-yucks stop.
10 Kurt Angle
With an Olympic gold medal to prove it - Kurt Angle is a highly trained and highly skilled shoot fighter. There isn’t a person on this planet that Kurt Angle can’t drag a five-star match out of, but some of his greatest moments are also some of the funniest.
Besides letting everyone know he won a gold medal “with a broken freaking neck,” Angle also dove right into ridiculous things like wearing tiny cowboy hats, dousing The Alliance in a massive milk bath, and singing “Sexy Kurt.”
9 Stone Cold Steve Austin
What?! Yes those chants certainly sound like nails on a chalkboard to plenty of superstars and even fans. However, go back and watch The Rattlesnake’s turn from stalwart BMF babyface to paranoid heel, this is the period when the tiny cowboy hats and bad country singing were taking over Monday Night Raw.
It’s also when the “What” chants first started. When Austin was the one engaging in them and the fans were going nuts, it was a hilarious sight to see.
8 Chad Gable
When the ridiculous way you say one word winds up on a shirt, you know you’ve got something cooking. Just listen to The Master, Chad Gable ramble on Monday nights before “Shooooshing” the crowd. The more full of himself Gable gets, the more over The Alpha Academy gets.
This current run has shown just how much range as a character Gable has, and hopefully the brass is watching and will let him off the leash and straight to the top.
7 Otis
Conversely, to Chad Gable, his pupil Otis is currently devoid of all the humor he once had running around trying to woo Mandy Rose. He was not just a fan favorite, but the epitome of WWE’s mantra of putting smiles on people’s faces.
The big guy was able to do that preaching the workout routine of “steaks and weights,” and generally being wrestling’s version of Chris Farley, using his girth for laughs.
6 Brock Lesnar
For nearly 20 years, Brock Lesnar has cut a terrifying path through both the WWE and UFC rosters. He’s done so without a shred of humor and created a character that solely was hellbent on obliterating opponents and winning titles.
When The Beast returned at SummerSlam this past year, he literally and physically let his hair down. Lensar gained a personality and had no problem laughing and smiling. Somehow a funny Brock was even more terrifying.
5 The Big Show
Generally speaking, any wrestler who is as humongous as The Big Show is going to be a force in the ring no matter how terrible he is booked. Most fans can agree he was booked pretty bad during his entire WWE run.
However, he also got the chance to show a funnier side to himself when he did a lot of different impressions and even got to star in his own sitcom, The Big Show Show.
4 Riddle
As Monday Night Raw’s resident goofball, it’s very hard to see Riddle as a confident and capable fighter. But the tag champion, much like Brock Lesnar and Ronda Rousey had an extensive career in UFC with eight fights to his career.
His carefree stoner humor that tends to set him off on tangents is perfect for WWE and allows opponents to let their guard down and underestimate him.
3 William Regal
While currently, the funniest thing William Regal does is refer to Excalibur simply as “man with a mask.” But the master technician and leader of The Blackpool Combat Club also had a stellar in ring career loaded with nearly as much humor as it did hard-hitting matches.
If the former commissioner’s facial expressions weren’t comic gold enough, check out his shenanigans with Tajiri for more laughs.
2 Eddie Guerrero
Not only was Eddie Guerrero one of the greatest technicians and Luchadors in the sport, he also had the capability to be one of the funnest and funniest wrestlers around. The Los Guerreros skits with Chavo featured the cousins playing of Mexican stereotypes. But Eddie’s greatest but also helped him win a lot of matches.
10 Things People Forget About Eddie Guerrero's WCW Career
He’d hurl a chair At his opponents and hits the floor and acts like he got nailed with the chair. When the ref called for the bell, Latino Heat would start laughing it up.
1 Santino Marella
It didn’t make it to the main roster, but coming up in OVW, Santino Marella was using a shoot fighter gimmick that helped create and air of toughness around him. While he didn’t play a tough guy character on TV, WWE’s biggest comic character ever, Santino Marella was indeed a real life tough guy.
In real life, Marella was a judoka and founded his own Martial Arts academy - Battle Arts.