10 Terrible Wrestlers With One Incredible Match
3. Brodus Clay (Vs Curt Hawkins, WWE Raw January 9th 2012)
A bizarre and brilliant transgression from the norm that ever-so-briefly presented WWE has a fun organisation willing to take risks, Brodus Clay's 2012 re-debuted presented a gimmick that never could have been expected and sadly would never be this good again.
The company had teased out Clay's return as a common-or-garden monster for weeks, with the delay seemingly due to John Laurinaitis on and off-screen ineptitude. Instead, the eventual reveal exposed that there'd been an out-of-the-box rethink - the played out killer would instead be a dance-obsessed dinosaur.
The sheer absurdity of that specific pitch was crucial - even in 2022, some fans aren't ready for a wrestling dinosaur in AEW, but the fact that the relic could cut a rug made all the difference. As too did Clay's investment in the bit. Adopting a cartoonish tone as he abused the bewildered Curt Hawkins (faux-apologetic "My Bad"s were punctuated with a p*ss funny "Should I get him?!" as if he'd walked out of a Lancashire social club in 1976), big Brodus immediately endeared himself to children and adults alike with this strange and marvellous creation.
It was never as good again. Toning down and scaling back elements until the magic was lost in place of very generic WWE pantomime inside the body of a performer with obvious in-ring limitations, the joy of the original squash was never again recaptured.