8 Times Game Of Thrones Booked Pro Wrestling Better Than WWE
George R. R. Martin presents: GoTW...
Well that was it: the last episode of Game Of Thrones and whether you loved the final season or signed a petition to have it removed from the show’s cannon, we just closed the books on an unparalleled run of episodic television...
And then there’s WWE.
As the world attempts to get over the ending of one of the greatest television shows of all time, wrestling fans everywhere continue to slam their collective heads into their hands as we watch the once proud (like 20 years ago?) wrestling organization continue its loose-limbed free-fall into pathetic wrestling slop.
One of the amazing things about being a wrestling fan and watching Game of thrones for 8 seasons is that it becomes more and more clear the more you watch that George “The Animal” Martin and his stable of TV acolytes understand basic pro wrestling psychology better that biggest pro wrestling company on the planet.
Thrones has spent 8 seasons telling the kind of entertaining violence-based stories that used to echo from the inside stadium walls and bingo halls, baby!
8. Ned Vs. Jaime
To watch Game of Thrones is to watch a masterclass of classic pro wrestling booking. Episode 5 of the first season saw the writers deliver on a solid build to give us GoTW’s first main event. “The Lion and The Wolf” sees Ned Stark and Jaime Lannister face off inside a literal “ring” of soldiers.
The show spends the first four episodes putting both men over as two of the most respected fighters in the seven kingdoms. Ned is the tough and gritty northern war veteran and Jaime is the preternaturally skilled son of the most powerful man in westeros. We even get a good promo battle out of it:
Jaime: “People have been swinging at me for years and they always seem to miss”
Ned: “You’ve chosen your opponents wisely then”
This is Flair/Steamboat if Steamboat were better on the mic.
The match itself ends in a DQ finish when the Gold Cloak stabs Ned in the back of the leg, but even that’s done in the name of character development for Jaime, who KOs the offending soldier and shows the audience that there might just be some semblance of honor hiding beneath the surface.