8 Weirdest Wrestling Matches From Every Major Promotion

8. NXT: The Authors Of Pain Vs. TM-61 - TakeOver: Toronto Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Final

NXT is such thrilling tonic at its best because it isn't sports entertainment.

This part of its appeal doesn't feel like it's there anymore, for several reasons, but the NXT of 2016 felt vital. It was so drastically different from and superior to the main roster and, because the main roster once dominated the conversation in totality before the Elite changed everything, it was the escape. And then, because WWE went shark cage batsh*t around the same time, the territory-influenced Triple H, in order to pay tribute to the Last Battle of Atlanta, had to borrow a toy Vince McMahon only bought to trigger Enzo Amore's acrophobia.

"I'm a vile piece of sh*t, and you can't teach that. And this right here? This is Kevin Dunn, and his teeth are seven foot tall, and you can't teach that. And this right here? This is Stephanie McMahon, and she's hot as hell, and you can't teach that. Bada boom, highest guy in the room: how you doin'?"

The Authors' manager Paul Ellering was suspended above the ring to prevent him from interfering, even though he was mostly an American mouthpiece used to connect Akam and Rezar to American crowds. Akam and Rezar deceptively caught Shane Thorne's massive dive from the base of what was an IRL toy set - this being NXT, that was weird, too - and when Ellering threw down a chain to assist his men, that chain didn't play into the story of the match at all.

Genuinely, it was as if an actual child with no attention span had laid this thing out with the actual toy.