10 Mistakes That Actually Enhanced WWE Matches

9. The Rebounding Chair (Backlash 2018)

AJ Styles Shinsuke Nakamura
WWE.com

Botch: During his WrestleMania 34 rematch against newly-turned heel Shinsuke Nakamura, AJ Styles went to dodge his foe's Kinshasa knee strike by throwing a steel chair at his legs. That same chair rebounded on Shin's erm...shins and cracked AJ in the face. The blow bloodied him up bad.

How It Enhanced The Match: And it looked cool as sh*t.

Nakamura deserved some pain after cracking AJ in the nuts at 'Mania and repeating the trick before Backlash on SmackDown. By putting himself in harm's way and accepting a shiner of his own to shut Nakamura's pouncing finish down, Styles gave instant credibility to the Kinshasa's match-ending quality too.

Besides, seeing a little bit of blood can be a sneaky thrill in WWE these days, especially when it's not planned. AJ was OK in the long run, but his match had way more drama because of this incident.

Advertisement
Contributor

Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.