10 Great Matches That Inadvertently Ruined Wrestling
6. Diesel Vs. Bret Hart - WWF Survivor Series 1995
Bret Hart heralded a tradition both thrilling and dubious when he took the first WWF table bump in his match with Diesel at Survivor Series 1995.
That was such an unprecedented sight that many of the ghoulish Maryland fans bum-rushed the guardrail to survey the car crash. Now, the spot is part of the Big WWE Match fabric. Nary a stipulation bout goes by without one of its combatants crashing through the Spanish announce desk. It has become a meme - an insurance policy to pop the crowd, more checklist item than moment of genuine drama.
More galling than the almost defensive transparency is the borderline polite manner in which such spots are set up. If you wish to harm your opponent to such an extent that you are willing to throw them through some furniture, why remove the monitors from it, with those nice, sharp, jagged edges? If the objective is to inflict pain on your opponent you couldn't otherwise administer in a straight singles bout, why remove the most painful-looking apparatus?
In those moments, the jig is up.
The contrivance is invariably supplanted by the still-spectacular visual, sure, but few of these spots really put anybody more over than they were prior to them. It is just something that happens.