Cringiest lines delivered by babyfaces

[Aceorton]

A lot of promo material doesn't hold up when watched back years later, but what are some of the worst examples you can remember of babyfaces saying something that fell flat in the moment? I'm talking about attempted burns that were just terrible or lines that were meant to sound cool but came out lame and embarrassing.

Paul Orndorff used to be the king of this, especially during his babyface run from post-WM1 until he turned on Hogan. He'd try to take down Piper verbally but would just hang himself with lines like Piper "used to go skin-diving for Roto-Rooter! How do you like that, boy!" (from the October '85 SNME).

For a while, it felt like every Ricky Steamboat promo had to include him saying "This dragon will breathe fire," and it just got more awkward every time.

Cena had some rap lines that were notoriously stupid.

What else?

[Red Mage Riot]

I mean, it wasn't a spoken line, but...."JBL is poopy".

[TWERKIN' MAGGLE]

Anything Roman Reigns said during his feud with John Cena.

[BorneAgain]

Its remarkable that Reigns ever recovered from Sufferin Succotash.

There was a Shelton line to Eric Bischoff I still remember because how lame it was: "It sounds like your breath smells... it stinks."

[XIII]

Did “cookie puss” get over? Because that was pretty bad even by late period Rock standards.

[Mozenrath]

Rollins suggesting he was going to go to Stephanie's house to get Triple H to attack him. Fair enough, until, "What if one of your daughters answers the door?" Paraphrasing, but the energy just absolutely got sucked out of the crowd. I assume Seth was trying to suggest he'd beat Triple H up in front of his kids, but it sounded a whole lot more like he was going to assault Hunter and Steph's daughters, and the crowd was not terribly impressed.

[Rumble McSkirmish]

When John Cena called Chris Jericho: Y2-Cheap, I knew the bloom was off of that particular babyface rose.

[…Yeah!]

[Stu]

What word did Maven try to use as a bad acronym after Survivor Series 2004?

[fg]

How about John Cena calling Kurt Angle a ham sandwich (what?)

How about Matt Hardy sarcastically wishing Edge would die in a car crash?

How about Bobby Lashley saying that Vince McMahon is as old as his (meaning Bobby’s) Dad’s Uncle?

There was also a line that Tori said in 1999 that I thought was bad. It was “ Word on the street X-PAC is that you are the one with a small penis.” This was after X-PAC said that Kane had a small penis.

[Hypnosis]

Bayley on Raw in a sit-down interview after suffering a loss to Alexa Bliss in a Kendo Stick match:"I'm not here to put bruises on people's backs, or to send people to the hospital.  I'm here to put smiles on people's faces."

It seriously made Bayley come off spineless as a face, since she did take a brutal beating before Extreme Rules back in 2017.

[Aceorton]

Feb 26, 2023 21:56:01 GMT -5 fg said:

There was also a line that Tori said in 1999 that I thought was bad. It was “ Word on the street X-PAC is that you are the one with a small penis.” This was after X-PAC said that Kane had a small penis.

Oh, jeez. I don't even need to see the clip to know how brutal the delivery must have been here.

[A Platypus Rave]

Feb 26, 2023 19:52:57 GMT -5 XIII said:

Did “cookie puss” get over? Because that was pretty bad even by late period Rock standards.

and it was Carvel Slander... cookie puss is an amazing cake >_>

[A Platypus Rave]

Feb 26, 2023 22:09:09 GMT -5 Hypnosis said:

Bayley on Raw in a sit-down interview after suffering a loss to Alexa Bliss in a Kendo Stick match:"I'm not here to put bruises on people's backs, or to send people to the hospital.  I'm here to put smiles on people's faces."

It seriously made Bayley come off spineless as a face, since she did take a brutal beating before Extreme Rules back in 2017.

Yeah... them basically making Bayley an actual child was awful... and almost completely ruined her career... she's recovered somewhat but I find her heel run pretty one note and she's nowhere near where she could have been had they not completely botched her face run.

[mc74]

God, I remember the "baloney, fudge, and mustard" line Cena cut back in 2010. That one was cringey, but I didn't find that one as bad as Roman's "sufferin' succotash" and "tater tots" lines.

Oh well, kick or be kickin', I guess. =P

[Chiral]

"CM SUCKS, YOU SUCK CM SUCKS, CM SUCKS IS SUCKS AND HE SUCKS AND HE'S CM SUCKS."

[Confused Mark Wahlberg]

Cena doing that whole Star Wars promo where everyone (including him) looked like they couldn't wait for it to be over.

[mc74]

Feb 26, 2023 23:17:42 GMT -5 Confused Mark Wahlberg said:

Cena doing that whole Star Wars promo where everyone (including him) looked like they couldn't wait for it to be over.

Another moment in 2012 to go down in that thread. Totally forgot about that one! (thankfully, I did)

[4real]

DDP was a great face but his Hollywood Scum Hogan line was always cringe.

Roman’s whole Jack in the Beanstalk promo on Big Show was looking through your fingers cringe.

[DiBiase is Good]

In the build-up to Bret vs Diesel match at Survivor Series 1995, there’s a video package and one of the lines Diesel comes out with about the title is “I know it’s important to you but it’s dear to me too”. Although there’s nothing wrong with the line, it just sounds wrong there.