10 Most Humiliating Wrestling Moves
3. "I'm Not Done With You", Various
Wrestling's stylistic evolution, while controversial and ugly fodder for tedious conversations, is necessary. A 1980s style match isn't getting over with modern audiences because it isn't timeless. It's not even more believable. Much of it leant heavily on slapstick, and the sheer volume of punches that somehow don't result in a black eye is just as revealing as the assist on a Canadian destroyer.
Still, it can feel like wrestling has left too much of the old magic behind. It's impossible to watch the finish to WrestleMania 13 and not think that something fundamental is missing.
Happily, some things have endured as classic staples of the form. Nobody has dared square the wheel of the incredible "I'm not done with you" squash match staple in which a monster or badass lifts their victim's head from the mat before the referee counts the three. This arrogant display of humiliation is always great for its unnecessary cruelty. These hapless f*ckers are finished, evidently, but the squash purveyor is not.
Athena, under her new (and awesome) sh*t-kicker character, is the latest wrestler to dust off the old classic. It's a great tool with which to get the compelling mean streak over.
The great thing about wrestling's stylistic evolution is that classic story beats can be subverted, as was the case at Full Gear 2020, at which Hikaru Shida stood up to the bully Nyla Rose and lifted the monster's head from the canvas to indicate that she hadn't exacted enough revenge yet.