10 Terrible Wrestling Moments (Saved With One Genius Fix)

1. The AEW Revolution Dud

Dud Explosion Thumb
AEW

The terrible moment:

After a sensational modernisation of a fabled match genre you could scarcely believe was real from the description alone, Kenny Omega fails to explode Jon Moxley at Revolution 2020. He did a better job of blowing up Rich Swann. It's such a shame too, because the Exploding Barbed Wire Death match is so well thought-out. The core feature of suspense is both preserved and subverted; the unique environment is utilised to both deliver and protect (!) an absolutely ingenious One-Winged Angel near-fall; the explosions without being insane were adequate at the very least. And then the whole thing blew up in AEW's face, figuratively of course, because the external production unit Tony Khan hired turned out to be a crew of absolute clown grifters.

The genius fix:

There are two.

1) Ask the guy you filmed to hype the lore of the match, Atsushi Onita, for help. He was saddened by the pyro display and even bettered it in collaboration with US indie H20 (Hardcore Hustle Organisation), which hardly has the same budget as AEW. Slip him a few more quid and he'd have obliged, surely.

2) Knowing ECW's cursed luck, anticipate that this sort of thing is doomed stateside, buy some party kazoos in advance and quickly put them in the hands of Omega and the Good Brothers. Activate Plan B as a deliberate humiliation and pretend it was the original ide. Make Jon Moxley feel like Dean Ambrose again. That's more painful to him than any bomb.

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!