10 Most Perfectly Timed Wrestling Spots Ever

4. Hayabusa Gets Double Exploded

Triple H The Undertaker Shawn Michaels WrestleMania XXVIII
FMW

Does wrestling get any cooler than the dangerous, big-time spectacle of peak Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling?

No.

And the dangerous, big-time spectacle of peak Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling didn't get any better than this: Atsushi Onita and Hayabusa's Exploding Barbed Wire Steel Cage Death Match in front of 58,000 fans at Kawasaki Stadium.

You could hear every last one of them gasp, too, whenever Hayabusa advanced the suspense element of the genre by using his incredible athleticism to race into and just stop short of the triggered explosives following an Irish whip.

The drone of the sirens during the doomsday countdown remains indelibly terrifying, and the frantic, urgent exchange of near-falls was the perfect accompaniment to the agonising desperation. And then, with perfect timing, Hayabusa triggered an explosion and then took the brunt of the full ring explosion at the exact same time. The resulting visual effect was so amazing that it appeared he had been vaporised.

He hadn't - he and Onita completed the match under a blanket of soot in another incredibly atmospheric scene - but that bump was such badass overkill that it remains the peak of a genre that captivated fans like no other.

Contributor
Contributor

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 current Undisputed WWE 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!