10 Creepy Wrestling Curses

8. The Armstrong Family Curse

Brutus Beefcake mask
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'Bullet' Bob Armstrong, a pro wrestling legend and impossibly tough bastard - he once wore a mask to conceal the hole where his nose used to be while wrestling through surgeries that reconstructed his entire face (!) - sired four sons.

Between them, their respective characteristics made up a megastar, but they each excelled at a particular facet of the art: Brad was the workhorse, Brian the charismatic talker, Scott the hoss, Steve the stud.

In a bid to conceal Brad's lack of onscreen magnetism, he was churned by a dire WCW creative regime through a repackage wringer that, notoriously, spat out the inadvertent n*nce that was the Candyman and the copyright law-triggering Arachnaman. Bemoaning his luck backstage, Armstrong claimed the Armstrong sons were "cursed," ostensibly breaking a mirror, since WCW's dismal creative was folded into onscreen canon by Larry Zbysko, essentially making it real through stigma.

Elsewhere in this list, a curse is best explained by wrestling's inherent toxicity; here, the Armstrong curse - though this did in the case of Steve 'Lance Cassidy' Armstrong extend to the WWF - is best explained by LOLWCW.

A quasi-kayfabe curse that invited fate's relish, Brian as the Road Dogg famously wore a t-shirt emblazoned with 'LOOK MOM NO CURSE' when an Armstrong son made it to a big match on the WrestleMania stage.

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Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!