10 Times Wrestling Made You Lose Your Goddamn Mind

3. Keith Lee Becomes Keith Lee Again

Wheeler Yuta
AEW

A great booker doesn't just build new stars or tell engaging, intricately-plotted long-term storylines; sometimes, they prove themselves a great booker purely by using their instincts to create a fantastic, complementary dynamic.

Few fans would have paired Keith Lee and Isiah Kassidy together. Most when fantasy booking are preoccupied with creating dream matches of an epic length, but Tony Khan doesn't have that luxury. He has to book from a more resourceful perspective. He can't give everything away, but he has to make the journey to those big moments interesting. He has to make stars feel like stars without necessarily pairing them against stars every week, and to that end, Lee Vs. Kassidy was expert, inspired TV booking.

If it seemed so simple, why didn't anybody else fantasy book it?

Lee worked Kassidy in his incredible, rave-received TV debut. It flatted the new arrival immensely; in an instantly iconic spot, Lee yeeted Kassidy across the entire breadth of the ring. The combination of Lee's awe-inspiring strength and Kassidy's supernatural leaping ability created a mega-pop and elicited the stirring feeling that Keith Lee was back. This was a very literal application of this article's title: the match was so great that the idea of Bearcat Lee was vaporised by the excitement.

The most GIF'd spot of a fantastic year rid Lee of his also-ran stigma quicker than it took Kassidy to take the bump.

 
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!