10 Ridiculous Wrestling Booking Decisions Nobody Can Explain

6. Bret Hart Vs. Vince McMahon, WrestleMania XXVI

Cesaro Mania XXX
WWE.com

A match years in the making - but a match that probably shouldn't have happened - Bret Hart was legally prohibited from and physically unable to take any bumps, necessitating some form of smoke and mirrors.

Still, given the starkest heel and babyface dynamic in the history of the industry, that WWE contrived to engineer sympathy on Vince's behalf must condemn this as the worst layout in the history of the industry. Bret simply battered Vince with a tire iron in the harrowing absolution of a 13-year nightmare. What a sh*tty weapon to introduce, too: with no audible thwack nor visual wow factor, the match instead resembled a real-life pensioner beatdown broadcast by the least reputable news agency known to man.

All anybody wanted to see was Vince receive some sort of reckoning. We did - but the whole thing circled back on itself to evoke feelings of unthinkable horror. Vince, as we are painfully aware, is a bloody lunatic. In order to remind fans of the tension and fashion a "moment" of it, he should have instructed Bret to blacken his eye in the pre-match, in a belated apologetic gesture - before covering the bruise with make up.

Then, after taking a worked punch and frantically removing the foundation in plain sight, Hart applies the Sharpshooter, taking us home with a visual promising catharsis, not pure nightmare fuel.

In this post: 
cesaro
 
First Posted On: 
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!