10 Good Matches From Wrestlers You Wouldn't Expect
When wrestlers overcame the obstacles of their own limitations.
Not everyone can be a great wrestler, but everyone wrestler has the capacity for a good match. It may be buried deep, it may be contrary to all opinions and evidence, but it is always there, somewhere.
For many wrestlers that potential is never realised and they go their whole careers without having a single humdinger in the ring.
Plenty of unsung wrestlers, however, have found the right combination of motivation, opponent and the alignment of the stars to put on an unexpectedly good performance. Many times they're helped out by an outstanding partner in the ring, but it takes two to tango and even the more limited or less experienced partner has to pull out the stops to make a match really good.
Other wrestlers never have the chance to show what they can really do on the big stage and are relegated to bit performers or comedy acts, yet every now and again find a way to demonstrate their qualities.
The results of these rare confluences of events were good, sometimes great. They serve not only as a reminder of the qualities of the wrestlers involved, but of the fact everyone has a chance at an outstanding moment in the ring.
10. The Big Show (vs. John Cena & CM Punk) - Summerslam 2012
The Big Show's lumbering pace and methodical, punch-based offence have won few admirers among fans of wrestling's technical skill and athleticism. Instead the Big Show's career owes its existence to his seven foot frame (and, to a lesser extent, ability to cry on cue).
The Big Show's Triple Threat match for the WWE Championship seems to have been booked solely to prove a match featuring the Big Show could be great. His opponents were John Cena and champion CM Punk, and while the chemistry those two had is well documented, the match wasn't about them.
It was about the Big Show, and both men gave absolutely everything to make Show seem like an inevitable, unstoppable engine of destruction.
Punk and Cena bounced off Show and were hurled around the ring, making the big guy look like a million dollars and getting the crowd genuinely invested in the story of who was going to bring this monster down. Even a shady restart ending sequence didn't dilute the fact this was a rock solid match with an excellent big man performance from the Show.