10 Best Wrestling Whodunit Mysteries
Spoiler alert: It was Rikishi, in the parking lot, with a rental car, for da Rock.
After a long drought devoid of storyline sleuthing, this summer has seen an impressive number of wrestling mysteries. Raw had both Kurt Angle's secret and a proper whodunit with the mystery of "who attacked Enzo Amore?", while Smackdown Live is (supposedly) set to wrap up the long-running "Who trashed Breezango's office?" whodunit.
This trio of mysteries marks a welcome return to a storytelling style that WWE in particular, and wrestling in general, had abandoned for the most part. Sure, there will always be unmaskings and that sort of thing, but a proper whodunit can carry a wrestling angle for months, elevating both the victim and the major suspects while keeping the audience engaged and guessing.
And yes, let's be honest: most of the time, the reveal is desperately lacking. One need only think back to the "Who texted Kevin Nash to attack CM Punk?" mystery to remember a recent one that landed with a resounding thud.
That being said, whodunits and mysteries are not just about the reveal -- although, admittedly, that is what people tend to remember most -- but the build as well. And the build for some of these was masterful, no matter how poorly the reveal went.
After all, the Fashion Police storyline is probably going to end with Rowan and Harper as the culprits, as some have expected for a while, but that hasn't made the journey any less enjoyable.
10. Who Is The Anonymous Raw GM?
It's easy to forget, but for months, the mystery of the identity of the anonymous Raw General Manager was thoroughly enjoyable TV.
The GM's pronouncements -- read by Michael Cole via a laptop at ringside -- frequently dropped references to catchphrases by various WWE superstars, past and present, offering numerous red herrings and possibilities for the GM's identity.
It could have been a clever way to bring back a past name or elevate a new superstar. Maybe they'd blackmailed McMahon into letting them run Raw, or a hacker had seized control of the gimmick from the original anonymous GM. So much storytelling potential.
Unfortunately, what could have been a brilliant long-form whodunit simply petered out after a year of noncommittal effort. Then the storyline was retroactively ruined years later when the WWE's go-to misadventure storyline closer, Hornswoggle, was blamed.
Although it was later implied that, perhaps, Hornswoggle wasn't the real anonymous Raw GM, it doesn't matter. The storyline is dead and buried. But, for a while, it was an entertaining twist on the heel authority figure character.