The 10 Most Savage WWE Twitter Beefs

Professional wrestlers learn to improvise insults, often in bite-sized, backstage promos that are two minutes or less. It's just as important as selling and scripting out a match; the character work is what gets a wrestler "over" with the fans. It makes the audience care enough about a match that they would pay money to see it.

And this ability—to squeeze clever insults into a small amount of space—makes wrestlers particularly good at Twitter. Whether targeting fans, celebrities, their own company, or each other, WWE wrestlers enhance their storylines and likability by tweeting. The narrative is no longer confined to television; fans can follow online drama in real time, and more directly interact with their favorite stars than ever before.

Sometimes, though not often, we see real emotion and drama on WWE social media, scattered amongst the scripted bits. It becomes addictive to read, follow, and speculate. Is this a work? Is this a shoot? Do these people truly hate each other? And even if they are friends, will they still be friends after this many verbal low blows?

Here are 10 Savage WWE Twitter Beefs, involving WWE Superstars both past and present.

Kevin Owens has a dry, specifically Canadian, sense of humor. The smugness comes through easily, as evidenced by his multiple interactions with Renee Young and with Michael Cole. But those two people are also part of the WWE Universe and its fictional continuity. What happens when someone from outside the company tries to start trouble?

Melissa Joan Hart (Clarissa Explains It All, Sabrina the Teenage Witch) is a wrestling fan. And back in 2015, she decided to post this:

Not nice, but not unforgivable. And Owens responded with something similarly insulting, but not too harsh:

Kevin Owens is a lazy wrestler. Yeah, I said it. #WWETitle #MelissaExplainsRAW @WWE #RAW

— Melissa Joan Hart (@MelissaJoanHart) November 17, 2015

"Sorry, I watched one of your shows a few months ago and it put me in a slumber that has been hard to recover from."

That could have been the end of it. But instead, Hart decided to dig the hole deeper by arguing with WWE fans on Twitter. First, she explained that he wasn't athletic. Later, she backpedaled and said that she was criticizing Kevin Owens the character, not Kevin Owens the performer (yeah, right). And in the midst of this all, Owens blocked her, and fellow WWE Superstar Big E. started a hashtag—#IStandWithOwens—for other people to block her as well.

Winner: Owens

The Bulgarian Brute lost his temper with Pizza Hut earlier in 2018, and tweeted this in the middle of the afternoon, while trying to order a pizza to his home in Nashville:

Ok #RusevDay is done with @pizzahut you officially SUCK. YOU DONT WANT TO DELIVER PIZZA TO MY HOUSE FOR NO REASON. Any recommendations for other pizzas ?

— Rusev (@RusevBUL) March 29, 2018

It's one-sided. But what elevated this beef to the next level was that other fast food pizza chains subtweeted the thread. DiGiorno tweeted a waving hand emoji, and Little Caesar's and Blaze Pizza also joined in on the fun.

Winner: Rusev

Dave Meltzer is the foremost wrestling journalist, known for his decades-long coverage of professional wrestling and his oft-criticized star system for rating matches. But Meltzer showed his whole ass in public when he decided to criticize Peyton Royce for gaining weight on his podcast:

"She doesn’t stand out to me, when she was in NXT she did. She was a lot lighter.”

Royce hit back on Twitter:

So what would you have me do Dave... starve myself? 🤯🤯🤯 This is how nightmares for young women start. The females in your life must be proud. https://t.co/8MNpZNsR7m

— Peyton Royce (@PeytonRoyceWWE) August 15, 2018

Meltzer apologized and continued to apologize. He also told his fans not to defend him:

Again to everyone, I do want to apologize and I'm glad Peyton Royce sent her tweet because there was a valuable point there that we can all learn from.

— Dave Meltzer (@davemeltzerWON) August 15, 2018

However, that didn't stop the rest of the roster from piling on. Renee Young probably had the best burn of the whole ordeal:

What a true piece of sweltering hot garbage. You’re an angel too good for this earth. He’d be lucky if you gave him the time of day. Which you would, because you’re also a great person. Love ya girl. Let’s set better examples

— Renee Young (@ReneeYoungWWE) August 15, 2018

Winner: Peyton Royce

Wow, this got nasty in a hurry. When you get two men whose biggest fans are themselves, expect some fireworks. It started when Bret Hart was asked about how to improve TNA, and Hart said that he would tar and feather Hulk Hogan. Not the stuff of legend. But the next Tweet dug a little deeper:

“Hogan's nothing but a two-faced, backstabbing, steroid freak who deserved everything he got."

So Hogan struck back:

“Listen to where Brett's speaking from, it's funny he's done everything he's saying I did.”

Then Bret came over the top with this chair shot of an insult:

@HulkHogan4Real That's not what John Graziano thinks, dickhead.

— Bret Hart (@BretHart) March 3, 2011

When Nick Hogan, Hulk's son, got in a car accident, Michael Graziano, brother of John, was the passenger, and the crash put him in a permanently vegetative state. Hogan took the high road at this point:

“Last and only comment for Brett, I hope he finds happiness in life, I feel bad for him and I have totally forgiven him much respect.”

Hart had the meanest insult, but Hogan escaped with his self-respect in tact. It's a pretty close call.

Winner: Draw

The best wrestling beefs cross over from scripted to real life. And the one between The Rock and John Cena in the early 2010's nearly came to backstage blows. The social media feud was equally heated and featured multiple exchanges over a period of weeks and months.

We'll highlight just two of the best ones. Here's Rock commenting on Cena breaking kayfabe:

@RavishingRude "Breaking kayfabe" is easy, cheap and never entertaining. Boys who are desperate do it all the time.

— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) March 14, 2012

Cena responded by saying this, poking fun at the Rock's one-dimensional promos:

"People should stick to the difficult stuff like mom jokes, sexuality, and making light of someones appearance."

This second example is decimation. The Rock implied that he slept with Cena's mother on live television, and Cena hit back with two hard shots:

"As smart as @therock may be... He dont know squat! 500lbs for 5 #WM28... Making sure im clean for @therock at #WM28 315 pound clean at end of day ... This is why @therock thinks i got #ladyparts cause he heard i had a strong #snatch 225lb #WM28"

And he wasn't done.

"Oh and @therock my mom is sweet but tough and says if yer starving for #sex that bad.. Then go f#ck yourself :) #WM28 #mymomwouldwhipya"

Winner: John Cena

In 2017, for unknown reasons, WWE sent Kevin Owens home for the European tour, leaving people to speculate on whether it was an attitude problem or a compliance issue.

And when Kevin Owens showed up unexpected to a fan's wedding in the States, Orton, who was still on the European tour, had something to say about it:

Of course he stopped by...... it was a DESSERT PARTY.🍩🍪🍭🍰🎂 https://t.co/FsCOsEkiFw

— Randy Orton (@RandyOrton) November 12, 2017

To which Owens responded:

"You vape."

To which Orton responded:

I actually quit vaping this European tour, but you wouldn’t know because you ain’t here. https://t.co/PjDtQIo95N

— Randy Orton (@RandyOrton) November 12, 2017

Owens went on a Twitter spree after that, but the damage was already done. To be fair though, he started this argument from a place of weakness. It's hard to call someone out if you're the one in the doghouse with the boss.

Winner: Randy Orton

In 2015, AJ Lee embarrassed her boss, Stephanie McMahon, on Twitter.

Patricia Arquette had made a speech in favor of wage equality at the Academy Awards, and Stephanie decided to throw her support behind the Hollywood actress with a Tweet:

Thank You @PattyArquette for having the courage to fight for #WomensRights on such a grand platform. #UseYourVoice pic.twitter.com/q71acxMExU

— Stephanie McMahon (@StephMcMahon) February 23, 2015

AJ decided to take that hashtag to heart, and she sent out a pair of tweets, calling out WWE for its treatment of women.

@StephMcMahon Your female wrestlers have record selling merchandise & have starred in the highest rated segment of the show several times,

— AJ (@TheAJMendez) February 25, 2015

@StephMcMahon And yet they receive a fraction of the wages & screen time of the majority of the male roster. #UseYourVoice

— AJ (@TheAJMendez) February 25, 2015

Stephanie sent back what may be the most awkward, cordial reply back, given the circumstances:

Thank you @WWEAJLee, I appreciate your opinion.  #UseYourVoice

— Stephanie McMahon (@StephMcMahon) February 25, 2015

To be fair Stephanie did not dig herself deeper or get defensive. She took the shot on the chin and moved on. It's little acts of rebellion like AJ's that made the WWE women's division what it is today.

Winner: AJ Lee

For all his bluster, Conor McGregor is very good at getting under his opponent's skin; this talent lets him win fights before he even enters the Octagon. And when he took a little time out of his schedule to insult professional wrestling, many wrestlers struck back.

It started during a media call,  when McGregor said the following in reference to Brock Lesnar:

"For the most part, those WWE guys are pussies, to be honest," McGregor said. "They're messed up pussies, if you ask me. Fair play to Brock [Lesnar], he got in and fought, but at the end of the day he was juiced up to the fucking eye balls, so how can I respect that? And then what's the other guy? The other guy [CM Punk] hasn't fought yet, so I don't know about him yet."

"There's some dons in that wrestling game. The McMahons, they're dons. Triple H is a don. The Rock is a don. But the rest of them are pussies."

He then posted a non-apology on Twitter:

I didn't mean no disrespect to the @wwe fans. What I meant to say was that I'd slap the head off your entire roster. And twice on Sunday's.

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) August 7, 2016

Which caused numerous wrestlers to go off. Roman Reigns probably had the best dig of the night:

Your the size of my leg. Shut up. https://t.co/fBVEdf8hE1

— Roman Reigns (@WWERomanReigns) August 7, 2016

But the WWE wrestlers ended up looking a little silly. Conor's got a point: fighting and performance are two very different things (as CM Punk has proven on two occasions). The WWE Superstars shouldn't have taken the bait, but they did.

Winner: Conor McGregor

CM Punk started this feud in 2012, but he also managed to finish it.

When Chris Brown won a Grammy in 2012, despite pleading guilty to beating up Rihanna in 2009, CM Punk decided to say something about it on Twitter:

I would like @chrisbrown fight somebody that can defend themselves. Me curb stomping that turd would be a #wrestlemania moment.

— Coach (@CMPunk) February 20, 2012

Chris Brown got back at him by comparing number of Twitter followers—not the best way to win an argument. He also mentioned roids, apparently unaware of CM Punk's straight-edge lifestyle.

"@CMpunk needs more followers. He's such a leader! Not to mention the roids hes on has made it utterly impossible for him pleasure a women."

And then CM Punk then came over the top with a video, which was the figurative knockout blow. Among other things, he said that he wanted to fight Brown, and make him feel “as weak and as powerless, and scared and alone as any woman who has had the misfortune of knowing a sad, cowardly little boy such as yourself.” CM Punk hasn't had a great career as an MMA fighter, but this fight? We'd absolutely pay money to see it.

Winner: CM Punk

2018 is going to be remembered as the Year of Becky. After years of being the purest babyface on the roster, and having her "best friend" Charlotte Flair treat her like a doormat, Becky finally grew a spine, turned heel, and decked Charlotte in the ring. She followed that by winning the Smackdown women's championship off Charlotte and nicknaming herself "The Man," after Ric Flair's catchphrase, "To be the man, you gotta beat the man."

But one of the best aspects of Becky's heel turn has been her non-stop savage Twitter game. When Charlotte criticized her for taking time off due to a concussion, Becky responded by pointing out that Charlotte took a month off to get breast implants. She even posted before and after pictures to make her point.

And when she verbally went toe-to-toe with Ronda Rousey (please wrestling gods, let this be the main event for WrestleMania 35), she decimated her by going there, and referencing Rousey's embarrassing UFC losses to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes:

Ronnie, TL/DR. When I got my face broke I got up, owned you THEN showed up the next day looking to fight some more. When you got your face broke you hid for a year under your blankie. Your mind is as weak as your jaw, & I’m going to move heaven & earth to come destroy them both. https://t.co/8oDubzNYr4

— The Man (@BeckyLynchWWE) November 14, 2018

Stop! Stop! She's already dead!

Winner: Becky Lynch