10 Great Wrestling Matches (That Ruined Everything)

9. Steve Austin Vs. Dude Love - WWF Over The Edge 1998

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WWE

On the April 25, 2022 Monday Night RAW, Sonya Deville invoked her match-making powers to wrestle three separate matches with Bianca Belair. Every time she lost, she simply made another match preventing an identical result from reoccurring. She lost by count-out, then disqualification, and subsequently by pinfall.

It was sh*te.

At least Belair holds a title, something she'd actually want. She hated Naomi for no discernible reason. Actually, there was a discernible reason: heel authority figures automatically hate babyface because that's how matches happen.

Competition is how matches actually happen, but this sort of sporting nonsense doesn't matter - unless of course WWE are negotiating a televisions rights fee, at which point Vince suddenly becomes Antonio Inoki at the table.

8,730 days, 209,520 hours, 12,571,200 minutes or 754,272,000 seconds prior, the on-fire, super-creative WWF promoted Steve Austin Vs. Dude Love. It was a masterpiece of match that fused together a world-class brawl with episodic TV beats. The structure of the match essentially allowed Steve Austin to make a million comebacks, all of which made the fans go apesh*t.

A seminal and unique blend of comedy, violence, tension and catharsis, it was so good that WWE ruined its entire storytelling model for almost a quarter of century.

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!