The jokes often shared in the wrestling community will find popularity in a variety of one-liners on various forms of the internet. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit and websites like ours are all places where wrestling fans love indulging in content about the sport. Humorous jokes to get passed along frequently will catch on if they remain funny throughout the time.
We will look at some of the running jokes that may hard to figure out at first glance given the meaning behind them can get lost. All these jokes started off small and caught fire with the amazing momentum among wrestling fans. Find out the original intent and why fans loved these comedic backstories. These are the top ten running jokes of the IWC explained.
10 Keep Roman strong
CM Punk’s infamous podcast appearance on the Art of Wrestling featured him revealing many huge WWE secrets. One of the memorable stories came when Punk revealed Vince McMahon always used the phrase “keep Roman strong” when discussing matches of The Shield.
Given the booking support of Reigns, fans have started using the joke “keep Roman strong” when discussing any of his matches. The joke has slowed down compared to prior years, but it’s still alive as Punk created that narrative about WWE’s viewing of his matches.
9 Kevin Nash's quads
Kevin Nash had the unfortunate luck of tearing his quad muscles a few times in his wrestling career. The most memorable moment came in a Raw main event where Nash unofficially led to the New World Order faction ending for the final time when getting injured.
Fans have made this joke after wrestlers had fun with it in promos. Nash has been accused of tearing his quads walking to the ring, appearing backstage or even just replying to tweets according to the running joke on social media. A few instances would see Nash even joke about it himself.
8 What's (insert name here) doing in the Impact Zone?
TNA developed a negative reputation for stealing all the lower-tier WWE stars for their growth into a bigger promotion. Commentary would overhype the reveals of big surprises that weren’t necessarily difference makers in the grand scheme of things.
Names like Junior Fatu (Rikishi) or Andrew Martin (Test) would be treated like huge deals as the announcers shouted: “What is he doing in the Impact Zone?!” Fans started making running jokes about it asking about what second-tier wrestlers are doing there along with a modification on the wrestlers' names whenever someone wants to leave WWE.
7 Big Show heel turns
The career of Big Show would see him go back and forth with various character roles in WWE. Unlike wrestlers like Rey Mysterio or John Cena that kept one role for most of their prime, Big Show had many heel and face turns.
WWE just continued going with it and even making light of it with shorter heel turns in recent memory. Fans always joke on social media that Big Show is going to turn heel again the second he appears on the screen. Even at the Hall of Fame, we will wonder if he plans to punch out the friend inducting him.
6 4 out of 10
Bret Hart’s interviews about his opinions on WWE will see him deliver outstanding quotes that are quite blunt. The hot takes of Hart have seen him upset many, but the words of criticism towards Triple H always stand out as the most person.
One humorous joke would come when Bret stated Triple H's match with The Undertaker at WrestleMania 28 was a “4 out of 10” as a wrestler. Fans started joking that Hart’s general feeling of being unimpressed will have him rate any talent that crosses him a 4 out of 10 in dry humor fashion.
5 Steiner math
Scott Steiner developed a reputation for going off the handle in promos. The unpredictable nature of Steiner made him intimidating in his prime WCW days, but it became endearing and entertaining during his later years in TNA.
A memorable promo would see Steiner attempt to list the odds of Samoa Joe winning a triple threat match. Steiner’s inability to follow basic math made up a new formula that fans call “Steiner math.” Wrestling fans still reference it often. A Jeopardy contestant even used the promo as trash talk to his opponents on social media.
4 Triple H's golden shovel
The glory days of Triple H as an in-ring performer featured him dominating the world title picture for many years. Triple H specifically took control of the Raw brand in 2002-2005 with consistent World Championship reigns.
Fans would start saying Triple H had the golden shovel as the boss’ son in law using it to bury the likes of Booker T, Rob Van Dam and Scott Steiner. Wrestlers looking weak against Triple H became the norm. A few wrestlers like Batista and John Cena would get put over by Triple H eventually, but they were few and far between.
3 Teddy Long’s tag team matches
Teddy Long’s lengthy run as the Smackdown General Manager made him a humorous figure in wrestling. One frequent thing to come from Long’s run as the person in charge of the show was his love of tag team matches or at least booking them.
Many opening segments featured at least four wrestlers having issues in a promo battle. Long would interrupt them and state there would be a tag team match. It became common enough for fans to joke about this any time his music played. WWE even had Long comically book a tag team in one of his more recent returns to Smackdown.
2 Cody's listening
The Being the Elite joke that Cody Rhodes has the ability to hear from far would see a gif of him listening become popular. AEW forming with Cody as a Vice President just gave it more relevance thanks to the rumors of many unhappy WWE stars
Any time a wrestler posts about being frustrated in WWE or a report comes out at someone wants to leave, at least a handful of fans will post a reply with the gif of Cody listening. Even Cody has used the gif at times to express humor when the situation calls for it.
1 Where is John Cena?
The catchphrase of “you can’t see me” would see fans turn John Cena into a legendary meme in recent years. Many photos of Cena will be posted with fans asking why no one is in the photograph. There is also the opposite effect of pictures without a person being advertised as Cena in them.
Years of Cena saying we couldn’t see him now has him struggling to keep up with the memes about him. The part-time status of Cena has fans wishing they could see him more in WWE again, but the jokes will never end thanks to the catch phrase sticking.