10 Incredible Wrestling FIRSTS You Didn't Know About

3. The First "This Is Awesome!" Chant

First ladder match
ImpactWrestling

You hear it every week.

You hear it so often, in matches that are merely very good and will leave no cultural footprint, that Tony Khan, when promoting the action on Dynamite on Twitter, is careful to post "justified this is awesome chants". He knows that some wrestling fans will chant it any old time a convoluted reversal sequence ends up with both wrestlers lying on the floor.

It used to actually mean something. When WWE fans co-opted it, praising to the hilt CM Punk Vs. Daniel Bryan at Over The Limit 2012, it felt, naively, that the promotion couldn't not rebuild itself in the image of a more gritty, technically-minded style. That never happened, at least on the main roster.

In a strange echo, those two men were thought to be the beneficiaries of the very first instance of the chant ever, in a sublime 2005 effort for ROH sister promotion Full Impact Pro. Internet sleuths however have debunked this, citing the TNA Monster's Ball match from Victory Road 2004. The chant erupted as the plunder brawl intensified just before Raven smashed Abyss through a table on the outside. Lance Storm meanwhile contends though that he heard it in the ECW Arena in the '90s.

The exact origin might remain unknown, but it would be very TNA if they got fans to chant it for the first time, only to turn around and say "You think that's awesome? Wait 'til you get a load of the Nasty Boys in 2010!"

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!