10 Most Embarrassing Wrestling Botches Of 2021 (So Far)
1. C-0 Explosions
Kenny Omega (with Don Callis) vs. Jon Moxley
AEW World Championship
AEW Revolution 2021
Due to their rarity, deathmatches have a mythic quality in mainstream Western wrestling. AEW’s Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch, a combination of an Explosion Deathmatch, Barbed Wire Ring Rope match, Double Hell Deathmatch, and Time Bomb Deathmatch, came with great expectations and fanfare that encouraged this.
The match itself was everything that fans expected, both men put their own, and each other’s, bodies through literal torture. It was the kind of match that sticks with a body through its natural life. Yet, all this sacrifice was severely diminished by the match’s conclusion. After Omega won the battle, he (and his allies) left Moxley handcuffed and badly beaten in the ring with the time bomb in its final minute.
Unable to free Moxley, Eddie Kingston heroically sacrificed his own body shielding Moxley as the count hit zero. However, the C-4 explosives amounted to little more than Goldberg’s (or even Gillberg’s) entrance pyro. This was unfortunately the final image before the pay-per-view went off air, resulting in a negative lasting impression.
Despite this Tony Khan isn’t deterred on future deathmatches. He stated on the Dan Le Batard Show that he will book the gimmick again citing the big number of buys for Double or Nothing 2021, the company’s next pay-per-view.