10 Times WWE's Fake World Got Dangerously Real

5. Putting The Dumb In Dumb Fun

Kurt angle gammy neck
WWE

WWE’s Symphony of Destruction is one of the silliest modern gimmick match creations. The latest in a long and mostly bad line of stipulations bespoke to a specific character - the Ambrose Asylum, the Undertaker’s Buried Alive match - mercifully, it appears to have disappeared in parallel with Elias and his musician persona. 

The first such match took place on the February 21, 2020 SmackDown. Elias teamed with Braun Strowman to take on Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura. 

This was not a main event programme. The Symphony of Destruction match existed to pay off a daft midcard feud on TV and, as such, was a daft spectacle played for laughs. The tone of the match only necessitated, for example, a few balsa wood guitar shots aimed across the spine - a loud and visually appealing yet relatively safe special effect. Perhaps somebody could have been thrown through a table with some musical notes daubed on it. 

Instead, the WWE brain trust devised a spot in which Braun drilled Nakamura through a piano. Now, it wasn’t a grand mahogany piano, but it was so sturdy that it didn’t even splinter on impact. Was it even gimmicked? 

The back of Nakamura’s head exploded, a pool of blood collected below it, and he required nine stitches to repair the gash. 

Given the tone of the match, this was a clown nearly choking to death on a custard pie.

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!