The drama behind the scenes in the wrestling world can make for fascinating stories than the angles you see on television. Many describe the backstage life of wrestling to being like a high school cafeteria. There are many cliques, petty backstabbing and general disliking of each other. This can lead to confrontations outside of the television show. Past issues saw quite a few physical confrontations with wrestlers throwing fists at each other in the locker room. That has cooled down through the years with new issues being played out on social media with the wrestlers calling each other out there.

We will look at various ways wrestlers have confronted each other in anger through the years. Some were fights, others were arguments, and a few took place on social media. All these arguments led to wrestlers going at each other. Not every instance of drama here led to one person winning, but it was the case in a handful of incidents. Find out if your favorite wrestler had any backstage drama with a co-worker in the past or present. These are 23 behind the scenes confrontations that you’d never believe if it wasn’t proven to be true.

23 Michelle McCool and Rusev

A very recent instance of a confrontation on social media involved Rusev, Lana, Michelle McCool and The Undertaker. WWE booked a Casket Match between Undertaker and Rusev to go down at the Greatest Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia later this month. However, the match changed with Chris Jericho replacing Rusev against Undertaker. Considering Jericho was earlier advertised for the rumble match, it was a huge surprise.

Michelle McCool tweeted about Rusev and Lana calling out Undertaker in a TMZ video. Rusev talked about getting ready to beat up Undertaker and used an insulting term calling the legend old. McCool put them on blast on Twitter implying it wasn’t a smart move. The announcement of the match change was made just hours later. This timing can’t be a coincidence and the belief is Undertaker refused to work with Rusev after McCool found out about the quotes.

22 CM Punk and Kevin Owens

CM Punk and Kevin Owens never worked together in WWE, but they did have some drama earlier in their careers. Owens was getting his first big break in Ring of Honor back when Punk was still a part of the company. Punk was the face of ROH and didn’t like Owens wearing in a t-shirt and shorts. Upon being told to wrestle in a singlet, Owens had a disappointing performance and walked into Punk in the locker room.

Kevin made a comment asking Punk if he was happy now in an attempt of a joke. Punk did not react as such and completely berated him in front of the other wrestlers.

Owens thought this was the final shot he would get in ROH, but he ended up becoming a fixture in the company for many years. Both men have made peace through the years and we’d love to see them face off in a match someday.

21 Brock Lesnar and Vince McMahon

WrestleMania 34 gave us one of the most surprising swerves in company history. Following a year-long build, everyone expected Roman Reigns to get his win over Brock Lesnar to become the new Universal Champion. Reigns ended up getting decimated before Lesnar pinned him to remain the title. Everyone backstage was stunned at the event and things were even more confusing afterwards.

Lesnar reportedly confronted Vince McMahon angrily after the win regarding the crowd booing the match out of the building.

Dave Meltzer reported that Brock physically threw the title at Vince after yelling at him. There was some speculation that this was done as a work to fool the other wrestlers, but it’s hard to believe McMahon would be that elaborate. The confrontation sounds more exciting than the Brock versus Roman match.

20 Braun Strowman and Karen Jarrett

Braun Strowman is clearly a top rising star that WWE wants to make a huge part of the company going forward. The ridiculous segments and destruction with Braun helps set him apart from everyone else on the roster. Strowman even got to win the Raw Tag Team Championship with a small child before relinquishing it. However, one behind the scenes story can expose him.

Jeff Jarrett’s current wife and Kurt Angle’s ex wife Karen Jarrett attended the same event as Braun and some of the other WWE wrestlers after an episode of Raw. Karen reportedly wanted Strowman to sign an autograph for her son leading to Braun shutting her down. This infuriated Karen and she yelled at Strowman threatening to tell Kurt about him turning down their son’s autograph desire. Rumors indicate Strowman got on his knees and begged for an apology. Vince is thankful there’s no video of this.

19 Sasha Banks and Alexa Bliss

The war of words on social media between Sasha Banks and Alexa Bliss added another element to their on-screen feud. Both ladies are among the top women’s wrestlers on Raw which led to them having a great feud in the middle of 2017. The in-ring work was rather stiff, and the intensity was stronger than most other matches in the women’s division.

There appeared to be legitimate heat between the two going all the way back to NXT. Sasha showed this by trashing Bliss on a real level in promos and social media posts.

The claims of Banks were that Bliss was fake by pretending to love the wrestling industry. Bliss replied that Sasha was jealous of her and seemed to want to make it a work. Banks however continued to confront Bliss about her status behind the scenes.

18 Batista and Booker T

Commercial shoots are often the last place you will see wrestlers get into drama, but it sure did happen in 2006. Batista was the top face of the SmackDown brand at the time with Booker T being the top face. Both men were set to face off for multiple matches for the World Championship. However, their best match may have taken place behind the scenes without cameras filming them.

Booker and other veterans felt Batista had a poor attitude despite being the face of the SmackDown brand. Batista reportedly made snarky comments towards Booker a few times culminating in this confrontation. Booker challenged Batista to throw hands and the two had a real fight on the set. All reports indicated that Booker easily defeated Batista and humbled him going forward.

17 Jake Roberts and Davey Boy Smith Jr.

One of the most bizarre confrontations in wrestling history took place this past month during WrestleMania 34 weekend in New Orleans. WrestleCon runs an autograph signing event all weekend with many of the biggest names appearing to meet the fans. WWE only brings in a handful of former talents for Axxess leading to WrestleCon having a big attraction.

Active wrestler Davey Boy Smith Jr. confronted legend Jake Roberts by throwing a cup of hot coffee at him.

The son of the late “British Bulldog” Davey Boy Smith was mad at Roberts for trashing his father in recent shoot interviews. Smith Jr. felt the perfect revenge would be throwing hot coffee at the legend and running away before cops showed up to arrest him. The idea of throwing coffee at someone for insulting your dad and running away is something that can only happen in the wresting business.

16 Triple H and Goldberg

The hostile relationship between Triple H and Goldberg is well documented. It reached a peak in 2003-2004 when both men hated working with each other during a long feud. Goldberg feels that Triple H tried to sabotage him in WWE. Triple H used to believe Goldberg didn’t respect the wrestling business. They’ve made peace today for business, but their prior hostility started before most realized.

Goldberg and Triple H each represented WCW and WWE respectively at a large autograph event in 2000. Despite not being instigated, Goldberg randomly approached Triple H and started cursing him out until security separated them. This was referenced in Goldberg’s Hall of Fame speech when he discussed yelling at Triple H in front of Stephanie McMahon all those years ago.

15 Paige and Lana

Paige’s recent retirement and transition into becoming the SmackDown General Manager saw many of her former peers discuss how great she was to work with. Bayley referenced Paige being the one to welcome her into the company and trying to make her feel comfortable in the scary world of WWE. Almost every woman to work with Paige has nothing but kind things to say about her as a person.

However, Lana shared some insulting words about Paige a couple of years ago on social media. The claim was that Paige bullied Lana and was a rude person to interact with.

Paige called out Lana for making up lies to try get an angle going. Both ladies reportedly made peace by talking it out backstage at a show. They get along very well today following the small confrontations on Twitter and backstage.

14 Buff Bagwell and Shane Helms

The short lived experiment of Vince McMahon continuing to use WCW after purchasing the company was a huge failure. It didn’t take long until McMahon made the decision to end WCW and continue only using the WWE brand going forward. Buff Bagwell having a horrible match with Booker T on an episode of Raw essentially killed any chance of WCW living as its own brand.

Many of the WCW wrestlers blamed Buff for hurting their future, and they already hated him for having a huge ego before the company was sold. Bagwell tried to punk out Shane Helms during a workout day for all the WCW wrestlers. Helms realized this was no longer WCW and he didn’t have to fear of Bagwell’s star power hurting him. Instead of taking Buff’s antics, Helms hit him and won the fight to instantly earn respect in WWE.

13 Cody Rhodes and Disco Inferno

A recent instance of an entertaining wrestler confrontation featured Cody Rhodes absolutely destroying Disco Inferno on Twitter. The former WCW star has become a podcast personality on Konnan’s Keepin’ It 100 show. Disco often buries the current generation for not knowing how to work. Kenny Omega and Cody were the targets this time after Disco called them out for Cody getting busted open.

Cody took exception to Disco’s criticism and replied with one of the harshest burns you’ll ever read.

The comments of Rhodes went after Disco’s lack of talent and his ability to get by due to the backstage politics of being friends with important wrestlers. Cody has since said he regrets giving Disco any attention, but the social media numbers show that the fans loved it.

12 Mark Henry and Jerry Lawler

Jerry Lawler recently shared a story about Mark Henry confronting him in the locker room area. The words of Henry were that they “may have to fight” due to Lawler’s treatment of Peter Rosenberg. Henry is a close friend of Rosenberg and helped get him hired to be one of the broadcasters for the kick-off shows before PPVs. Rosenberg complained to Henry that Lawler was being a jerk to him on the pre-shows and felt it was a personal attack.

Lawler stated that he had to explain to Henry that he was trying to create humorous conflict as part of the show. Henry eventually agreed with Lawler and said Rosenberg was apparently being too sensitive. Rosenberg has become a punching bag for wrestlers on the kick-off show and he doesn’t seem thrilled about it if he is snitching to his friends on the roster.

11 Joey Styles and JBL

One of the most unbelievable stories in wrestling featured an unlikely winner in a fist fight. JBL was known for being among the biggest bullies in WWE. Countless wrestlers have shared stories about JBL going out of his way to make life miserable for them. This specific story featured JBL going after the non-wrestlers during a flight to Iraq for the Tribute to the Troops show.

Lilian Garcia was the first victim when JBL dumped a bucket of ice water on her for no reason. JBL tried to go after announcer Joey Styles next, but he was not having it on this fight. Styles confronted JBL during the attempt of bullying and punched him right in the face. JBL went down and sat quietly for the rest of the flight in the classic tale of a bully being humbled.

10 Bubba the Love Sponge and Awesome Kong

Another entertaining tale of a horrible person getting humbled took place in TNA. Hulk Hogan brought in many useless talents when taking over, but the worst of them was radio personality Bubba the Love Sponge. The close friendship led to Bubba joining the company to deliver backstage interviews. His Twitter rants were common at the time and he made offensive comments mocking the victims of a Haiti earthquake.

Awesome Kong took exception to this and confronted him at the following Impact taping. Things got physical as she punched him in the face and destroyed him. Bubba was humiliated and tried furthering the flames on social media. TNA responded by firing him for being more trouble than any backstage interviewer is worth, especially one of the worst ones.

9 Ryback and Rusev

Two active wrestlers to have a strange confrontation on social featured Rusev getting annoyed at Ryback. The antics of Ryback following his WWE departure have seen him make odd choices. Ryback buries many of his former co-workers still in WWE today. This reached a new level when Ryback joined Rusev’s live Instagram chat a few months ago.

Rusev was having fun with Ryback and even plugged Ryback’s new workout products. However, Ryback decided to respond by asking if Rusev was a part of the scandal involving allegations towards Roman Reigns and other WWE stars. Rusev was floored at Ryback saying that and decided to end the stream. Ryback has taken a few more shots at Rusev since then likely trying to get attention given he is losing his relevance.

8 Scott Steiner and Diamond Dallas Page

Most examples so far have featured small fights or harmless social media drama. This is one of the most terrifying confrontations based on the reports from wrestlers to witness it. Scott Steiner was a train wreck towards the final year of WCW often cutting unscripted promos on the live broadcast of Nitro.

Most of his promos saw him bury the wrestlers on the roster he had issues with. One promo featured him going after Diamond Dallas Page’s wife Kimberly.

Steiner’s behavior was a strong reason Kimberly decided to leave the company. DDP tried to defend his wife’s honor by confronting Steiner backstage at one of the shows. Steiner and Page ended up having a one-sided fight with Steiner absolutely destroying DDP. The wrestlers to witness it claim Steiner may have legitimately killed Page if others weren’t there to break it up in time.

7 Mick Foley and Summer Rae

A sillier confrontation featured Mick Foley being naive with his use of social media. During his time as the Raw General Manager, Foley often took to Facebook and Twitter to defend the storylines going down on WWE television. Many fans were critical of the women’s division on Raw in the time frame. Charlotte Flair and Sasha Banks were the only ladies being spotlighted in the early months of the brand split.

Foley replied in a private direct message to one fan asking why Summer Rae wasn’t getting a chance to shine. The comment of Foley saw him state Summer wasn’t on the level of Banks and Flair and didn’t deserve the spot. This fan shared a screenshot of the message exchange leading to Summer being upset. Rae threw shade at Foley having conversations with fans that essentially insulted her.

6 Kenny Omega and Roman Reigns

Most instances of drama will see wrestlers in the same company having issues with each other. One rare case of two wrestlers not knowing each other but having beef features Roman Reigns and Kenny Omega. The position of Reigns is currently the face of WWE as the company pushes him harder than anyone else. Omega is the consensus pick of the best wrestler in the world by diehard fans.

It all started when Reigns insulted Omega, Cody Rhodes and other members of the Bullet Club by saying WWE doesn’t need them doing the “too sweet” every week.

Another comment came during WrestleMania weekend when Roman said he was the best in the world, not Kenny, for main eventing four WrestleMania shows in a row. Omega recently confronted Reigns on Twitter when Roman said he’s down to face anyone at any time.

5 Rob Van Dam and Taz

ECW featured wrestlers getting into trouble more than other promotions in the 90s. The locker room was full of loud personalities that had no fear of ticking others off. Taz had a huge attitude at the time trying to bring his on-screen character to the locker room. Most of the other wrestlers hated working with Taz or interacting with him due to his belief that he was the toughest guy in the world.

Rob Van Dam was the first wrestler to get annoyed enough with Taz to confront him. The sly move of Van Dam saw him ask Taz to pick a hand with no context. Taz picked one of the hands and RVD used that one to slap him across the face. The shock of the moment saw Taz do nothing about it. It was a huge humbling experience for Taz to finally get his comeuppance after talking down to the other wrestlers.

4 Chris Jericho and Goldberg

Goldberg is another wrestler that tried to live his gimmick of being tougher than everyone else. Many wrestlers were sick of Goldberg’s attitude back in WCW when he was the top dog. A move to WWE many years later saw these same wrestlers no longer worrying about his power. Chris Jericho was a former enemy of Goldberg in WCW that saw the bad blood carry over to WWE.

Goldberg ran down Jericho backstage during one of his matches. Upon finding out, Jericho confronted Goldberg and told him the old antics wouldn’t fly here. Goldberg put his hand around the throat of Jericho leading to a melee between the two. Jericho got the better of Goldberg and placed him in a headlock. The locker room loved knowing Jericho was the one to kill the mystique of Goldberg backstage.