10 Wrestling Matches That Were Difficult To Watch Live
Real revulsion in wrestling's fake world.
Wrestling is a ghoulish, stomach-churning business in which workers are grossly exploited as "independent contractors," death is trivialised for storylines, and bigots and criminals are lionised posthumously, but the violence portrayed in its kayfabe world isn't usually part of this.
Outwith the remaining cluster of deathmatch promotions, video nasties aren't the sport's goal. Matches are calibrated to generate drama and provoke a gamut of emotions from its audiences. Shock, awe, and in some cases, revulsion, are all part of this, but bouts aren't supposed to be so ghastly they leave viewers struggling to watch, questioning their fandom, or worst of all, tuning out entirely.
But it happens. A sport that regularly pushes the envelope so far were inevitably cross over to the wrong side of the line every now and then, and whether intentional or otherwise, the matches within left viewers wincing.
Deathmatch wrestling isn't without merit, but their unparalleled brutality would cheapen the rest of the list, so they're excluded. So too are honourable mentions like Cactus Jack vs. Vader (1993), Abyss vs. Sabu (2004), and the entire Heroes Of Wrestling card (1999), all of which are best viewed through one's fingers...
10. Kurt Angle Vs. Brock Lesnar (WrestleMania XIX)
Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle usually had awesome matches together. This WrestleMania main event was among the finest, but closed with one of the most worrying bumps WWE fans had seen in years.
When 'The Beast' was down in OVW, wrestling media had him pegged as a freak athlete capable of executing moves usually reserved for performers 100lbs lighter, with his Shooting Star Press regularly picked out for praise. He abandoned the move when he was called up to the main roster, but, depending on who you believe, was talked into doing it at 'Mania XIX by either Angle or John Laurinaitis.
It went horribly wrong. Lesnar dived off the top rope, came up short, and barely even connected with his opponent. He was knocked loopy as soon as his head hit the mat. This left Kurt to walk an obviously concussed Lesnar through the mercifully short closing stretch, with 'The Next Big Thing' emerging victorious following an F5.
This brief portion was easily the hardest to endure, but watching a wrestler in Angle's declining physical state going against one of WWE's most brutish competitors was tough enough in the first place.