Rib

In professional wrestling, a rib is a prank played on a wrestler, or backstage employee of a wrestling promotion, by another wrestler. Ribs may be practiced as a form of stress relief from the grueling schedule of traveling, experiencing the physical exertion of wrestling, and sleeping in a different town most nights. The largest wrestling company, WWE, are reported to require their wrestlers to perform 4 nights per week, so the backstage environment can become tense and in need of the relief that could be found in ribbing. Examples of Ribs Ribs are not necessarily strictly good natured. Scott Hall cites wrestlers including Mr. Fuji, "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig, and X-Pac as having defecated in another wrestler's bag or belongings. The situation involving X-Pac has become very well known amongst wrestling fans. He defecated in Sable's bag, ostensibly because she was poorly liked backstage. Hall further states that the same prank was pulled on Alundra Blayze and Sunny and Skip. There is also an enduring legend that Mr. Fuji once cooked another wrestler's dog and served it to him to eat, though the story may be apocryphal. Roddy Piper claimed in an interview that the unnamed wrestler had taken work from Fuji, while Hulk Hogan recalled, on Eric Bischoff's podcast, that Tor Kamata was the victim of the rib, and that his pet cat was cooked, not his dog. Mr. Fuji was notorious for his mean-spirited ribs, as he has been alleged to have slipped laxatives into other wrestlers' drinks, nailed and glued their clothes to the ceiling, cancelled their flights, removed the engine from Bobby Eaton's car, and many others. Jules Strongbow allegedly got his revenge on Mr. Fuji. He had heard that Mr. Fuji was very ticklish, so he tickled Fuji's feet to the point that he (Fuji) was in pain. Some ribs do not pertain to one particular prank, as such. For example, the ring name of wrestlers Simon Dean and Virgil were considered ribs. Simon Dean's name came from "Dean Simon," which is the real name of fellow professional wrestler Dean Malenko. As for Virgil, he was ribbed by being given the first name of Virgil Runnels, better known by his ring name, Dusty Rhodes, as Rhodes worked for a variety of promotions that tried to compete against the WWE.