10 Totally Bizarre WWE Moments You'd Never Remember Without This Article!

6. King Mabel Rocks Up In The Attitude Era

AJ Styles Vince McMahon
WWE

This all felt so wrong and weird. See, time used to move differently in WWE. And by that, it is meant that time used to actually f*cking move.

Time no longer moves in WWE.

Michael Cole, Brock Lesnar, giant LED screens masquerading as sets, red and blue hues barely lighting uninterested, dead crowds, passé authority figures. It's 2002 and 2022, all at once. The only appreciable difference is that the fist once seen on the SmackDown stage is now pummelling your investment over and over and over again, right in the cack.

1995 and 1998 were more radically different, which made the sight of King Mabel absolutely astonishing in the Attitude Era. Having been sequestered in the old quasi-developmental territory USWA, King Mabel was drafted back in on a one-night basis to get Ken Shamrock over as the real King of the Ring. Mabel attacked Shamrock, who issued the challenge for later that night - 1998 and 2022 are more similar than 1995 and 1998, Christ almighty will the ghost of Vince Russo ever be exorcised? - before defeating the behemoth in full New Gen regalia.

It might as well have been George Hackenschmidt turning up.

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!