10 Dumbest Match Finishes In Modern Wrestling History

"They only remember the finish."

This isn't quite true - some people associated with wrestling think you only remember the finish because carnies think you are as dumb as f*ck - but it's the most important part of the match.

Just to get this out of the way: the Exploding Barbed Wire Death Match finish wasn't dumb. It was a disaster, but it wasn't dumb; the idea, to blow up Jon Moxley and turn Eddie Kingston in the process, was a deft advancement of the legendary Funk/Onita finish that was to inform the next, riotous phase of the storyline and establish Kingston as the cult hero of the promotion. The execution was horrendous, obviously, but to put into perspective just how great the idea was, Kingston did get over as the cult hero even after being subjected to such embarrassment. Almost 18 months later, fans are still campaigning for him to win the World Title.

A finish should be easy. One wrestler wins, the other loses. If the promoter wishes to protect the loser in defeat, because they have major plans for them subsequently, either don't book the f*cking match in the first place, or book them to go out like a badass.

It's not a good idea to make them look like a dumbsh*t, but wrestling has this weird fascination with that...

Charlotte Flair, by virtue of being a 12-time Women's Champion, is the fourth or fifth-most decorated titleholder in WWE history. The Raw and SmackDown Women's championships are positioned as the top accomplishments in a division that "has parity" with the men's singles. She is below only John Cena, Randy Orton, Triple H and Ric Flair as a canonical in-ring great.

An uneven worker phenomenal when in top form, that barely matters; looking upon WWE as a fictional world, Charlotte Flair is among the absolute elite of talent, past and present. Achieving that many goals requires skill, perseverance, intelligence, focus, and a strong mentality.

You'd think, then, to preserve the concept of what it means to be a champion, that Vince McMahon would book one of his most decorated stars ever to be able to tell the time.

Not so Charlotte, who, on the May 31, 2021 Raw, failed to defeat Nikki Cross in a Beat The Clock match because she, in the midst of an argument with Rhea Ripley, with whom she was battling for momentum, temporarily forgot about the concept of time. Nikki drained the run-time by wiggling her hand next to her face and going "Ner ner ner ner ner".

Can you imagine Baba booking Kobashi to lose a match like this? Watts?

Hell: can you imagine Vince McMahon booking a man to lose a match like this?