10 Most Jaw-Dropping Wrestling Giant-Killings
Featuring Chris Jericho, John Cena - and even Triple H!
Wrestling is a sport, but fake.
Nothing wrong with that - it's designed to emulate the thrill of a live sporting contest with all the pre-designed excitement of a drama. What's not to love?
One of the great things about wrestling being fake is that bookers and wrestlers can control exactly how long a match goes and how competitive it is. Whilst a boxing match might only go one round and be a total knockout, a wrestling match can be guaranteed to go 20 minutes and be full of high-octane action.
But that's the thing. Real sports have short matches with unexpected finishes. So why can't wrestling be the same?
Whilst the following ten matches weren't all quick, they did all have outcomes that very few could have predicted. Davids slay giants in sports all the time, and pro wrestling is no exception.
Attempts have been made to limit this list to matches where the underdog got as clean a win as possible. So there's no James Ellsworth beating AJ Styles or Santino Marella beating Umaga on here.
With that out of the way, let's get onto some of the best upsets in wrestling history.
10. Action Andretti Beats Chris Jericho - Dynamite 2022
The most recent entry on this list (and its main inspiration) happened on the Winter is Coming 2022 special episode of AEW Dynamite.
Fresh off losing his Ring of Honor World Championship, Chris Jericho was looking for an easy win. He was booked to face an unknown talent named Action Andretti in what many assumed would be a squash match for the Ocho.
Unfortunately for Y2J, things didn't go to plan.
What should have been a quick victory turned in a competitive match with the young Andretti getting in plenty of offence against the JAS leader. Andretti got some near falls over the former Le Champion and even kicked out of his signature Codebreaker.
In the end, Andretti stunned everyone by delivering a running Shooting Star Press to a prone Jericho before pinning him for the win. The crowd went ballistic for their new hero, as Jericho looked shell-shocked in the ring.
It'll be very interesting to see what AEW does with Andretti going forward. Maybe we'll look back at this entry again when he wins the World title. Or, perhaps when he has his 1,000th match on Dark.
Who's to say?