10 Most Controversial Wrestling Match Finishes Ever
Can create cash. Often makes a hash.
If you're to believe a certain silver-haired former general manager and one-time mobile meat merchant, controversy creates cash (or more specifically, "ca$h").
As Eric Bischoff attested, wrestling has raked in a tidy profit as a consequence of controversy - whether by artifice or by accident. Many of the industry's highlights are an imbroglio of high drama, talking points which glued eyes to the screen and suffocated box-offices. Talk may be cheap, but its golden when magnified by the thousands.
Often, it's the finish of a match which gets gossip into gear. On more than one occasion in wrestling's rich history, savvy bookers have taken advantage of its status as a pseudo-sport to engineer an outcome leaving piqued punters asking: "was that supposed to happen?" Brock Lesnar bashing Randy Orton's skull open with his elbow springs to mind.
Sometimes, this ambiguity is by error. When Batista and John Cena clumsily crashed to the ground at Royal Rumble 2005, a predictably tedious ending suddenly became a fascinating - albeit farcical - one.
And then there are those times when it is impossible to know either way. Just over a week ago, Joe Hendry bested Martin Kirby for the WCPW title after an apparent concussion, with many fans appalled the match wasn't stopped. But was the controversy all part of the script? Had fans been cleverly worked in the great pro-wrestling tradition?
Of course, controversy can just lead to chaos. Whatever the circumstances though - if not cash - it always creates comment.
10. The Fingerpoke Of Doom
A single finger was all it took for Hulk Hogan to defeat Kevin Nash on a night when WCW pointed one straight at their audience.
Throughout the show, Eric Bischoff’s hyperactive commentary had all the restraint of a town crier high on glue, but it was his suicidal booking where things really came unstuck.
The ever-orange Hogan was far from evergreen, and few wanted to see him dominate the top of the WCW landscape at the end of the millennium. Elsewhere, rivals WWF were set to put their belt on Mick Foley in a pre-taped episode of Raw.
With a degree of foresight comparable to an myopic mole, Nitro’s lead shill Tony Schiavone announced WWF’s plans in an attempt to dissuade fans from turning over. It didn’t work: they switched channels in their droves.
Those who stuck around soon wished they hadn’t. After a preliminary stare-down, Hogan stepped up to Nash before flooring him with a poke to the chest, claiming the title and tediously reuniting the warring nWo factions in the process. A series of run-ins followed, with Schiavone’s words, “Thank goodness for Lex Luger,” perfectly capturing what a farce this was. Never since or before has such a phrase been spoken.
Did the ‘Fingerpoke of Doom’ presage WCW’s downfall? It took more than a single bait-and-switch finish to turn cheated fans off the product for good, but it was the start. After all, it only takes one digit to push that first domino over.