The wrestling industry is fun due to how unpredictable and compelling it can be at times. Many promotions or wrestlers like to have fun which extends over to how we enjoy the product. There have been instances of interesting things flying under the radar. These things that aren’t easily spotted are referred to as Easter eggs. It means that they are hidden to the average person like an egg hunt during Easter season. Wrestling has always been fascinating in part due to the inside news. Fans love reading about details from behind the scenes. Wrestlers and promotions have their fun as well by creating moments that entertain them.

These Easter eggs are not meant for fans to easily find or figure out. The average fan likely would never think about these things. However, many diehard fans love to look into things and understand the inner workings of WWE and other promotions. We will share some of the interesting tidbits that were not easily spotted. They ranged from fun little inside jokes to the explanations for strange things to just visuals that were hidden. Fans weren’t intended to figure them out but luckily, we did. Find out what odd things wrestling promotions and wrestlers have done that most won’t realize. These are twenty wrestling Easter eggs to go down through the years that only diehard fans noticed.

20 Dolph Ziggler and The Miz recreated CM Punk losing UFC fight

via sportsillustrated.com

CM Punk leaving WWE led to a few petty moments of WWE looking to throw shade at the former main event star. Punk's move to UFC has not gone well, with two losses in embarrassing fashion. WWE decided to parody one of those losses during a match between The Miz and Dolph Ziggler.

Both men faced off at Backlash 2016 shortly after Punk suffered a loss to Mickey Gall at UFC 203. Ziggler and Miz executed a move exchange that featured a double leg takedown into a rare naked choke. Anyone to watch both clips back to back would see that it was intentionally done to make fun of Punk losing.

19 Virgil's name has always been a rib

Virgil

The career of Virgil is remembered as a punchline. Virgil spent time in both WWE and WCW often working as an enforcer or sidekick helping bigger stars. The years have seen Virgil become a cult figure due to his lack of a crowd at autograph conventions.

WWE named him Virgil after the real name of Dusty Rhodes. Vince McMahon apparently wanted to rib Rhodes for his role as a booker for Jim Crockett Promotions. Meanwhile, WCW did the same thing when they signed him. The new name was Vincent during his time in the New World Order named after Vince McMahon. At one point, he was called Shane as he must always be referred to with the name of someone you want to mock from a rival company.

18 The New Day’s Mr. Bootyworth was played by Mick Foley’s son

via TPWW.net

One of the less compelling segments on WWE television in recent memory featured The New Day attempting to make pancakes with their unofficial mascot Mr. Bootyworth. It ended with Sheamus and Cesaro attacking New Day before pouring the batter all over Bootyworth in an attempt at comedy.

The Easter egg here is that Mr. Bootyworth was played by WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley’s son, Dewey Foley. Dewey currently works backstage for the company as a writing assistant, hoping to become a full-time writer moving forward. WWE utilized him in the segment, with the only the biggest fans realizing it.

17 Diesel wore Shawn Michaels shirt and referenced The Kliq

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The '90s would rarely feature wrestlers breaking kayfabe by referencing their friendships with others outside of the storylines. This started to change when The Kliq would merge fiction with reality. Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Diesel, Razor Ramon, and the 123 Kid made up the group of backstage friends banding together.

One on-screen segment featured Diesel wearing the t-shirt of Michaels out of the blue. When asked about it, Diesel simply said he was a part of The Kliq like everyone else. Michaels started referring to his fans as The Kliq. It allowed Diesel to slip in the inside joke on camera.

16 Rachel Evers' name is inspired by Lance Storm

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Rachael Ellering is the second-generation wrestler and daughter of manager Paul Ellering. However, WWE would have her appear on television under the name of Rachel Evers. For whatever reason, the company did not want her using the same surname as her father on NXT.

The name Evers was an inside reference to her trainer Lance Storm. Rachael trained at The Storm Academy in Canada to learn from one of the best wrestling schools in the world. Lance’s real last name is Evers and it was used by Rachael during her appearances for WWE in NXT and the Mae Young Classic.

15 WWE recycled Ernest Miller's music for Brodus Clay

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Brodus Clay had one of the strangest repackages in WWE history. The company aired vignettes where he exuded intensity. Everyone expected Clay to continue portraying a monster heel character. However, he appeared with a dancing gimmick and was known as the Funkasaurus.

Clay came out to the song titled “Somebody Call My Mama” that was clearly meant for dancing. WWE used this song in the past when attempting to push Ernest “The Cat” Miller as a wrestler. Miller joined a few years after WCW ended and came out to the song. WWE would move him to the commentary table shortly, after which he retired the theme song until it was recycled for Clay.

14 Matt Hardy promoted ROH on WWE TV

via wwe.com

Matt Hardy getting fired from WWE in 2005 was one of the biggest stories in the industry. The love triangle between Hardy, Lita and Edge led to WWE choosing to get rid of Hardy due to valuing the other two wrestlers more. This was around the time insider news became more known on the internet and fans chanted “We Want Matt” at live events.

Hardy was appearing for Ring of Honor at the time as they were in their smaller stages trying to grow. WWE made the call to bring Matt back and have him feud with Edge and Lita to make money off the drama. Hardy portrayed that he was sneaking into the arenas to attack Edge. One of these moments featured him promoting a Ring of Honor show he would be appearing at when grabbing the microphone. Most fans didn’t even know what ROH was at the time, but it created a cool Easter egg.

13 Jillian Hall's bad singing gimmick was a rib on Brooke Hogan

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Jillian Hall extended her career in WWE by adopting a bad singing gimmick. Getting heel heat was easy as Hall would intentionally sing poorly while pretending she was a great talent. Many assumed Hall’s gimmick was meant to parody someone like Britney Spears, but it was actually done as a wrestling joke.

Hulk Hogan’s daughter, Brooke Hogan, was given a huge opportunity by reality shows and studio labels to become a star as a singer. Unfortunately, Brooke was not that great at it and flopped as a musician. WWE had heat with Hulk due to his latest departure at the time and wanted Hall to parody Brooke as a petty insult.

12 There was an ICOPRO banner at Raw 25

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Long-time WWE fans will have a laugh whenever the term ICOPRO is referenced at any point. Vince McMahon’s project of the World Bodybuilding Federation in the early 90s and the idea was made to sell a bodybuilding supplement as well. ICOPRO was the line of supplements created by Vince and there would be banner ads for it at the Manhattan Center for Monday Night Raw.

WWE delivered the fun throwback Easter egg of having another ICOPRO banner brought in for the Raw 25 special in 2018. The old banner was back to provide the throwback feel of the segments and matches to take place inside of the Manhattan Center that night.

11 The Big Show's name was meant to rib TBS

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WWE creating the name Big Show for a wrestler seemed a bit odd. It has been reported that this wasn’t the actual name suggested for him at first. WWE signed The Giant away from WCW with huge plans to push him to the moon. There was a rumor that WWE was going to give him the name of The Titan when debuting there.

Eric Bischoff referenced this in The Giant’s last WCW appearance when getting a beat down by the New World Order. The questioning of “what kind of Titan is he?” would end those plans. Vince McMahon instead named him The Big Show as a rib on Turner Network’s TBS channel where WCW was doing poorly in the ratings for the Thunder show on Thursdays.

10 Triple H had special patches on his WM 34 entrance jacket

via Sports Illustrated

The annual WrestleMania entrance for Triple H is highly anticipated. Everyone loves a huge entrance at the biggest show of the year. Triple H had consistently tried to make it a huge part of his WrestleMania performance. Last year featured Triple H and Stephanie McMahon coming out together for their Mixed Tag match against Ronda Rousey and Kurt Angle.

Triple H wore a jacket that fans did not think too much about. However, there were a few interesting patches on them. There was one for NXT to celebrate the developmental brand coming off arguably the greatest TakeOver show of all time. Another one was for Motorhead as Triple H wanted to pay tribute to his favorite brand.

9 Dolph Ziggler referred to Daniel Bryan as Daniel Bryanson

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WWE did not start letting independent wrestlers keep their names until a few years ago. Samoa Joe selling a lot of merchandise and finding success with his name proved that it could be worth it. WWE has since let most signings keep the name that fans already associate them with.

Daniel Bryan is one of the wrestlers that had to lose his independent name. The real name of Bryan Danielson was changed to Daniel Bryan so WWE could own it. Dolph Ziggler made jokes about it during a season of NXT during the old competition days. The inside joke of “Daniel Bryanson” was used when Ziggler referred to him in promos and on commentary.

8 Eric Bischoff referenced Sid's scissors incident in promo

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One of the most controversial moments in wrestling history featured WCW wrestlers Sid Vicious and Arn Anderson. They got into a fight in a hotel room that led to Sid picking up a pair of scissors and using it in the scuffle. Anderson would end up okay, but it was a bad situation.

Eric Bischoff would reference this fight many years later during a promo. The feud between the New Blood and Millionaire’s Club featured Bischoff demanding Sid relinquish the WCW Championship. Bischoff asked Sid if he was going to get a pair of scissors when upset. This was a bit far, but not many fans even knew about the story in the '90s.

7 Simon Dean's name comes from Dean Malenko's real name

Simon Dean

Simon Dean is remembered as a flopped gimmick in WWE history. The exercise gimmick would see Simon try to sell a scamming weight-loss system known as the Simon System. It was one of the Ruthless Aggression Era's biggest flops.

The most entertaining thing about the character is that the name was a nod to Dean Malenko. Many fans love Malenko for his WCW work and he has worked for WWE as a producer for a long time now. His real name is Dean Simon, which led to the name Simon Dean being given to Mike Bucci, who was previously known on ECW as Nova. Malenko is likely just happy he didn’t have to work the gimmick.

6 Linda McMahon's theme song was old WrestleMania music

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Linda McMahon has not been a WWE character in many years, but she was part of a few storylines during her time on-screen. The wife of Vince McMahon almost always played a face character despite the family being associated with heel antics.

An Easter egg for Linda would see her come out to an entrance music theme that was the WrestleMania theme song for a few years. WWE decided to go with individual songs each year and this generic theme became the official song for Linda. Quite a few fans likely grew up thinking that song was only used for Linda, but the long-time fans will always associate it with WrestleMania first.

5 Someone put a Post-It note over CM Punk's face on backstage poster

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CM Punk left WWE after the 2014 Royal Rumble due to frustration with the company. The bitter ending to Punk and WWE’s relationship featured both sides throwing shade in a major way. WWE started to go out of their way to prevent talent from referencing Punk or the chants in his favor.

One interesting moment showed WWE going above and beyond to stop any reference of Punk even in the backstage area. A documentary feature about the Ultimate Warrior returning to WWE showed a poster of the Royal Rumble in the background. There was a blank Post-It note blocking the face of Punk to show just how much WWE wanted him out of the picture.

4 Dean Ambrose quoted Jake Roberts during heel turn on Seth Rollins

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There have been a large number of heel turns in WWE throughout the years. Dean Ambrose channeled one of his favorite wrestlers Jake Roberts when turning on Seth Rollins to end The Shield. Roberts had a similar turn on Ricky Steamboat in the '80s that stuck with fans of the era.

The quote Ambrose used came from Roberts' turn on The Ultimate Warrior: “I told you this would happen, trust me!” while talking trash to Rollins throughout the attack. The feud between Rollins and Ambrose did not live up to the expectations most had for it, but the turn itself was a memorable moment. If you watched Roberts' heel turn in the '80s, this Easter egg would add even more fun to the moment.

3 Ric Flair lost big matches when wearing red trunks

via TPWW.net

Ric Flair is considered among the greatest wrestlers of all-time. Flair's matches would often deliver must-see moments for the fans. Flair also was appreciated for having some of the best gear thanks to his extravagant robes.

One gear remembered for the wrong reason by a small percentage of diehard fans is the red one. Flair would wear the red gear when he would lose big matches. The red gear was worn for a WrestleMania VIII title loss to Randy Savage and a few high-profile WCW losses as well. Flair would wear blue in the early '90s for the big wins and red when he took the loss, according to fans that read into. We can’t be 100% sure this isn’t a coincidence, but it would be a fun Easter egg for sure.

2 Triple H did not want to shake Miz's hand after WWE Championship win

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The first WWE Championship win for a wrestler is a huge moment. An ideal scenario would feature Vince McMahon and Triple H embracing the wrestler with congratulations for such an accomplishment. The Miz’s moment was tainted a little, due to an Easter egg noticed by some fans.

Vince gave Miz a big hug and expressed his pride in the new champion. Triple H, however, did not look too thrilled and hesitated for a second when Miz offered a handshake. The two did shake hands, but it came off as a very awkward moment. Triple H is now known for being the first person to greet a wrestler winning a title and taking the picture that fans now love as a running bit.

1 AJ Lee wore Bayley shirt in her last match

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AJ Lee retired from pro wrestling when leaving WWE in 2015. The run of Lee came mostly due to how things ended between the company and her husband CM Punk. Lee has found happiness writing a highly successful book since leaving wrestling.

There was one fun thing that AJ did in her final match on Raw. During a Six-Woman Tag match, Lee wore a Bayley t-shirt to the ring and wrestled with it. Not too many average fans knew Bayley at the time as NXT was still growing, but Lee wanted to show support to the up-and-coming star. Fans would love to see the two face off one day if AJ ever comes out of retirement.