10 Times Wrestling Recklessly Abused Kayfabe On-Air
1. The Professionals
A slightly forgotten moment of madness from WCW's final days saw Bill Goldberg positioned as a real life heel as well as an on-screen one he was badly miscast as.
It started in July when the heel character Goldberg defeated Kevin Nash to cheaply deny Scott Hall's return to the company. 'Big Sexy' then mentioned in a spurious worked shoot sitdown interview with Scott Hudson, in which he indignantly inferred that if he fought Big Bill, he'd 'go over'.
This insanity was to build tension for a match featuring both men and Scott Steiner at WCW's disastrous New Blood Rising pay-per-view later that month.
The three way dance wasn't particularly engaging until the final third, when Nash set Goldberg up for the Jackknife. Bill slipped out, briefly stared Nash down, then marched off to the back.
He was met half way by Vince Russo, who ostensibly instructed him to get back in the ring before being left alone courtesy of a middle finger and a 'f**k you' from one of WCW's greatest ever homegrown creations.
As commentators waffled nonsense about 'improvising', Nash polished off Steiner with his finisher, as Mark Madden cynically uttered 'at least he went up for it Goldberg', attempting to aid the useless facade.
The wrestling business may have been relatively well exposed by 2000, but such senseless objectification of the parameters undercut literally everything else a viewer had seen before or after the broadcast, draining what little credibility WCW still had left.