10 Wrestling Moments That Should Have Been Huge (But Weren't)
Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory
Whilst the minutiae of professional wrestling is there to be analysed with equal parts love and loathing, the whole point of the industry in the modern era is to craft moments that reach such an unfathomable height that they imprint themselves addictively on a supporter's very soul. It ensures the poor fools will always come back chasing a similar fix.
Unfortunately, characters, storylines and payoffs tiptoe along a delicate knife-edge. Personalities, politics and plot holes can all derail would should be the ultimate audience reward. Redemption for a performer matches similar vindication for the fans' shared journey alongside them, especially if the storyline twists and turns aren't the easiest to stick with on the way.
Magnificent booking can leave the proverbial goal wide open, before WWE somehow conspire to miss from close range. Sometimes, the organisation look perfectly placed to take advantage of happenstance or a half-baked idea come good, but similarly squander the superlative scene.
At its best, wrestling is a nuanced art-form better than many will ever give it credit for. At its worst, it stumbles over itself within touching distance of a glorious finale. The most infamous of these blown opportunities are virtually unforgivable.
10. Summer Of Discontent
When CM Punk dropped a 'pipebomb' on the Las Vegas audience and John Cena in one of Monday Night Raw's most memorable moments, he similarly smoke-bombed WWE's closed club of entitled headliners and small-minded sycophants.
Fogged out of their foxhole, Vince and Stephanie McMahon, Triple H, John Laurinaitis and others on WWE's upper deck were left uneasy by the home truths issued out by the 'Voice Of The Voiceless' in his earth-shattering and unscripted address. The angle in which his threatened walkout culminated in a WWE Title win remains as spine-tingling today as it was in 2011. His star was finally on the rise.
Unfortunately, those same overlords carefully curated its managed decline. Punk was lost to a pitiful storyline involving Kevin Nash as a mystery attacker, Laurinaitis as a manipulative toadie, and Triple H as both his irritated new boss and unconvincing ally.
The second coming of Steve Austin, this sadly wasn't.