5 times WWE fans were genuinely fooled by scripted moments
One of the best things about WWE and wrestling, in general, is that there can be a "real life" element used in storylines. Not many forms of entertainment can draw the line between fiction and reality, but WWE has done that on numerous occasions.
Let's look at five instances where WWE fans were genuinely fooled by scripted moments.
#5. CM Punk's Pipebomb - The start of WWE's "Summer of Punk"
Let's start with the most famous example of the "pipebomb" from the last few decades in WWE. The term "pipebomb" itself was rarely used by WWE fans and only popularized after CM Punk's promo on RAW.
CM Punk didn't have the best start to 2011, but he emerged as the number one contender to John Cena and the WWE Championship before the summer. After becoming the number one contender, he dropped a bombshell, revealing that his WWE contract was set to expire.
The entire basis of why WWE fans weren't able to draw the line between fiction and reality was because of how real the storyline felt. In fact, CM Punk's WWE contract was set to expire at Money in the Bank 2011 - where he was challenging for the WWE title in his hometown of Chicago.
The stars couldn't have aligned better, and after assisting a situation that saw John Cena go through a table on RAW, CM Punk let his true feelings known.
In what has come to be a career-defining promo, Punk took the mic and essentially broke the fourth wall. He vented several of his real-life frustrations with Superstars, Vince McMahon, and the entirety of WWE.
Telling John Cena that he's the best at kissing Vince McMahon's a** (naming Hulk Hogan and The Rock in that same category), revealing himself to be a Paul Heyman guy, expressing frustration over WWE's lack of promotion for him, and much more.
He even dropped the line "I'd like to think that the company will be better off when Vince McMahon is dead," before stating that he knows it won't be because McMahon's "idiotic daughter" (Stephanie McMahon) and "doofus son-in-law" will eventually take over the company.
Everything about it felt real. And when he was seemingly ready to talk about Vince McMahon and the "bully campaign" ("Be A Star"), his mic was promptly cut off. WWE fans hadn't seen anything like that in a long time, and many believe that the promo is vital in how the PG era shaped up.
Although fans believed that CM Punk went off script, it was all planned by WWE, with Punk taking a free reign of the microphone. He ended up becoming the WWE Champion at Money in the Bank 2011 in what was considered one of the best matches of the decade.
It also kickstarted WWE's "Summer of Punk" and led to him holding the World Title for a record-breaking 434 days.