10 Horrible Decisions That Gave Us Great Wrestling

9. The Curtain Call

With Scott Hall and Kevin Nash about to leave the WWF for WCW, their cosy little band of backstage bullies and power players the Kliq decided to have an emotional in-ring farewell. On May 19th 1996, the WWF were working a house show at Madison Square Garden. Evil heel Triple H was due to wrestle babyface Scott €˜Razor Ramon€™ Hall, while babyfaced Shawn Michaels was up against a heel Kevin Nash, aka Diesel. Immediately after the match took place, Razor entered the ring and hugged Michaels, which wasn€™t an issue, as they were both babyfaces. However, then Triple H and Nash joined the group hug, shattering the illusion of kayfabe. To make matters worse, all four men raised their arms together to the MSG crowd as the night drew to a close. Obviously, this was seen as being terrible etiquette, and Vince McMahon was hopping mad. At least, he was hopping mad when he realised how annoyed the old school wrestlers in the back were. Someone needed to be punished, but Hall and Nash were on their way out, and the Heartbreak Kid was too high-profile to be moved down the card or punished in any overt way. The only man in that MSG ring who was vulnerable was Triple H, then the junior member of the group. That meant that The Game was the one to take all the heat: he was entered into a programme of humiliating losses, and his big push delayed until the following year. The problem was that Triple H had been due to win the King Of The Ring tournament the following month. Of course, as everyone knows, €˜Stone Cold€™ Steve Austin was the next guy along. Austin brought his A-game to become the 1996 King Of The Ring, debuting the Stunner on that night and confirming with the legendary Austin 3:16 promo that he was here to stay. A star was born, thanks to a series of events triggered by guys flagrantly exposing the business.