10 Embarrassing Matches Wrestling Stars Want You To Forget

8. AJ Styles Vs. Kevin Owens - WWE Battleground

Shawn Michaels
WWE.com

A thoroughly bizarre match to cap off a thoroughly bizarre series, AJ Styles and Kevin Owens shared an inexplicable anti-chemistry.

As flat as the earth is not, AJ, the programme never once exploded into the life everybody expected of two crazy talented individuals. Perhaps their hearts had sank at the production meeting ahead of Backlash - "AJ, your flat foot is going to get stuck in the announce table, making you look like a total dumbsh*t!" - and they lost the appetite to tear it down at Battleground. The finish was as confused as AJ was by a Gillette commercial.

Hardly memorable, much of the match wasn't too bad at all, by the standards of the WWE indie adaptation; Owens as the heel had to wear AJ down, manifesting in the usual, drab heat spots, but AJ came back with a cracking blitzkrieg of strikes. Otherwise, it was a victim of strange pacing; every near-fall was followed by the mandated "slow it down for the benefit of those poor, thick marks" selling. It never built into anything truly compelling, and oddly, it completely fell apart by the finish.

Kevin Owens reversed a crossface and pinned AJ. Immediately, everybody in the ring looked shaken.

This wasn't meant to happen - even the commentary team barely registered what had happened - and AJ shook his head ruefully, as if confronted by a globe.

Contributor
Contributor

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!