10 Best "Whodunnit" Mysteries In Wrestling
Cases of conundrums in the squared circle.
There are truly only so many story archetypes to write in TV, and when your show is structured around competitors throwing punches at each other in a ring, it can be tricky to write something wholly original.
That being said, there's nothing wrong with adapting an old classic, and a good tale with an element of mystery is sure to grab people's attention. If you can give your audience not just something to talk about but also speculate about then you're winning. After all, word of mouth is free advertising!
The "whodunnit" is a classic story trope throughout all kinds of fiction, and wrestling has had plenty in its time. Which is weird really, as they're a hard thing to get right. All that time, build-up, mystique, perhaps a red herring or two, and you've really got to stick the landing to meet expectations. Most of the time, wrestling mysteries are a dissatisfying thing, as your fanbase is really hard to surprise when they know your entire roster. And pulling a shock just for shock's sake? That's a risk all in itself.
There have been some successes however and even when they're bad they're at least entertaining in their own ways.
10. The Stalker
In the spring of 2001, a series of uncomfortable videos began to play on WWE programming. The vignettes shown consisted of hidden camera footage of Undertaker’s then-wife Sara going about her day whilst being watched from afar by an obsessive stalker. Vince McMahon provided a pitched-down voice to hide the character’s identity, mocking Sara from afar at how she had no idea how unsafe she truly was.
The videos drove The Undertaker, who had turned from his spooky gravedigger persona to something much more human a year prior, to new levels of rage. When it finally came time for the Stalker to unmask himself, fans were shocked and dismayed to find that it was former WCW Champion Diamond Dallas Page.
The reveal confused and mortified many, as DDP had been a top babyface in WCW and was a happily married man. Still, Page made the most of the strange decision and the ongoing feud really pushed good taste, such as that time DDP created a shrine to Sara in the locker room.
Whilst Bruce Prichard, the writer who devised the concept, has gone on record to say that he felt it was a “flop”, there’s no denying that the WWE’s production team created something truly eerie and disconcerting to watch. It’s just a shame that perhaps they picked the wrong perpetrator.