10 Weirdest WWE Matches Ever
Thongs, wigs and pig sh*t.
Is wrestling boring now?
Sometimes, you need to exercise perspective. After a dismal period between 2009-11, WWE in recent years has finally replaced the likes of Shawn Michaels and Edge with a raft of incredible talent in AJ Styles and Seth Rollins. Thankfully, the days of R-Truth headlining Pay Per Views are over.
But there can be too much of a good thing. Match quality, arguably, is reaching an all-time great peak, and there is much variety within WWE's oeuvre - but the presentation of WWE television is fairly routine. As entertaining as it is to watch fifteen minute matches which eclipse in quality Pay Per View offerings of a decade prior - where is the so-bad-it's-good creativity? Where is the pure, unadulterated sh*t?
Wrestling is meant to be ludicrous, at least in part, but recently that ludicrousness has pervaded the entire landscape. Chris Jericho's List has no business anywhere near a main event-level programme. It's an admittedly funny shtick - but it's pure midcard. Would Steve Austin have dressed up like The Mountie? Wrestling ludicrousness should instead exist on its fringes - away from the serious business of drawing money and crafting absorbing blood feuds.
Here, we mourn, celebrate and denigrate the times WWE got real weird with it...
10. Chris Jericho Vs. William Regal - Duchess Of Queensbury Rules Match (Backlash 2001)
Like many of the matches which comprise this list, the Duchess of Queensbury Rules match was a one-off.
The idea was sound - in theory. The ridiculously-costumed Duchess - a sort of English-judge-cum-drag-queen - was positioned at ringside by commissioner William Regal to bend the unknown rules to his advantage. When Jericho drilled a prone Regal with the Lionsault, the Duchess ordained that the time limit for the first fall had expired. When Jericho "won" the match, with the Liontamer, the Duchess reversed the decision. The rules stipulated that submissions were outlawed - despite Regal employing his Regal Stretch just minutes earlier.
Adding to the weirdness, Paul Heyman on commentary remarked that the Duchess was "still mourning the death of Princess Di" - a full four years later. The tasteless jab made even less sense because she was smiling throughout.
Many at the time blasted the match as a stop-start, unfunny, one-note comedy affair which, if you'll excuse the pun, besmirched the technical ability of the men who contested it. But, in retrospect, it was a fairly creative offering which was, at the least, very different to their straight-laced WrestleMania X-Seven original.
Such variety is much missed, even if it was derided at the time.