10 Wrestlers Who Innovated New Stipulation Matches

10. Dusty Rhodes - WarGames

The first WarGames matches were incredible spectacles that hold up to 2020 scrutiny because f*ck improved athletic standards: they were fights so brutal steel had to contain them.

The presentation of the match was a perfect hybrid of outrageous theatre and gritty realism. If it looked overblown, in an awesome sort of way - two rings! Two cages! - it felt ultra-violent, with all that disgusting plasma appearing to ooze from the magazine pages that captured its jaw-dropping allure.

The structural formula Dusty Rhodes devised was another perfect fusion: of anticipation and brutality.

One feeling informed and intensified the other. As the heels outnumbered the babyfaces, a sense of wrongness drove bloodthirsty vengeance; the red claret cascading from the heads of the battered heroes was reflected in the red mist of the tormented fans, who punched the air when the parity was restored. The build and release cycle began anew, as the drama graduated to a brutal blur of a crescendo, culminating in the Match Beyond - a phase so punishing, a combatant had to yield to it for mercy.

Rhodes created the match having drawn inspiration from Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, and was very keen to credit Klondike Bill for facilitating his vision "like a mad scientist".