10 Car Crash Wrestling Matches That You Absolutely Adore
Wrestling that has driven off the cliff and taken all of the audience with it.
There is an endless supply of good technical or narrative wrestling in the world.
With the power of the Internet, you can access some of the best wrestling throughout history, from the Four Pillars of Japan, to classic Mask vs Mask contests in Mexico, to countless hours of modern day puroresu and American independent work. Even just on the WWE Network, there is so much contemporary and historical greatness throughout the database, with so many hidden gems just waiting to be found and reappraised for modern audiences.
There will always be more brilliant work and workers to discover, which is both reassuring and overwhelming.
However, sometimes you don't want to watch a traditional professional wrestling match. Sometimes you just want some carnage, explosive nonsense designed to appeal the worst, most carny instincts of the industry. Matches that disregard logic and tradition in favour of creative havoc. WWE is one of the most maddening companies in the world for their inconsistency, but the one thing no one can deny them is that they're steadfastly committed to the creation of unforgettable moments. These matches are all of those, worthy of their place in wrestling history, even if they throw the standards of good taste out of the window.
Some of these are genuine masterpieces; others are just breathtaking in their own unique way.
10. Chyna Vs. Jeff Jarrett - No Mercy 1999
This is the most intentionally silly match on the list, a contest designed to be as dazzlingly incoherent and comedic as possible - and it wholeheartedly succeeds at that ambition.
The novelty of a woman challenging for a traditionally men's title in 1999 was worked into the narrative of the misogynistic Jeff Jarrett believing that Chyna didn't belong in the wrestling ring. This could have been a straight up wrestling match to prove simply that Chyna was more than capable of not only holding her ground, but that she could beat Jarrett - however, it was the Attitude Era, and sensationalism is what sold.
The Good Housekeeping match for the uninitiated is exactly what it sounds, Jarrett trying to prove that Chyna belongs in the home cleaning and cooking by beating her up with kitchen equipment, cleaning tools and an assortment of truly surreal weapons. It's the kind of stipulation that could have easily gone over the wrong way, but due to a committed babyface performance from Chyna and the engagement of the crowd, it became a weirdly entertaining trainwreck that delivered in getting audiences to accept a female Intercontinental champion.
This match becomes even funnier when you remember that Jeff Jarrett, the eternal master of scamming, held up Vince for back payments in exchange for dropping the belt since his contract expired before the PPV. Vince McMahon paying Double J hundreds of thousands of dollars to work in the Good Housekeeping match is maybe the greatest thing that's ever happened.
It's definitely not an all time classic, but it worked for the time and holds up as a testament to how special Chyna was, and how much more we should have gotten from her.