10 Lies About Famous Wrestling Matches That You Probably Believe

Hulk Hogan is involved in this list about lying - but shockingly enough, he isn't the liar!

Eric Bischoff Mabel
WWE

Wrestlers lie for a living because wrestling is a work.

It isn't World Shoot Entertainment, though it was when Nia Jax used to work there. Well, apart from the entertainment bit, obviously.

Wrestlers lie for all manner of reasons. They want you to think that they really hate the wrestler they are feuding with because that works in theory to deepen the emotion yielded by the storyline. Wrestlers lie that there is interest in their being a coveted free agent because what else are they going to say: "I bombed so hard that nobody wants me anymore"?

Those within the industry, desperate to retain their credibility and chase clout, will lie in the face of robust, printed evidence because they know that the subject of the lie can turn them babyface.

Wrestling fans in turn believe the lies because they are prepared to believe them. It helps the experience. They're also prone to regurgitating patently bullsh*t recollections of events because, being so invested in the thing they like, they'd like to appear as though they know what they're talking about.

Even if, in select few cases admittedly, they really don't...

10. "Dave Meltzer Is Biased"

Eric Bischoff Mabel
FiteTV

Dave Meltzer awarded Kenny Omega Vs. Kazuchika Okada from NJPW Wrestle Kingdom XI ******, and the internet has never truly recovered.

In an incidental lie, he didn't "break" his own star rating system, to which he never set a maximum limit in the first place. Manami Toyota had earned a '*****+' rating, and Meltzer also said that a Ric Flair Vs. Ricky Steamboat match was literally better than a televised match he had rated *****.

The real, poisonous lie is that Dave Meltzer is biased, and this single match proves it. "Six stars in the Tokyo Dome," they said, whenever Dave awarded a WWE match a mere 4.75 (John Cena Vs. AJ Styles, Royal Rumble 2017) which, as it happens, is a Match of the Year candidate.

And when the ******* match happened, Jesus Christ. A lot of people absolutely lost their minds. That match, Omega Vs. Okada IV, headlined Dominion 2018. The average Wrestling Observer Newsletter star rating for that show is 4.1. The average star rating for NXT TakeOver: New York?

4.6.

To reiterate, Dave Meltzer - who last week awarded two matches from a WWE show 4.5, where the highest-rated AEW match sat at 4.25 - rated WWE NXT TakeOver: New York a 4.6, positioning it higher than a show he described at the time as NJPW's best ever offering.

Dave Meltzer is an e-drone, if anything.

 
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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 surefire Undisputed WWE Universal 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!