10 Totally Insane Wrestling Crowd Moments

2. The Great Atlanta Riot

Enzo Amore Survivor Series Thumb
WWE.com

The riot, mercifully, is a thing of the past.

It's the sort of thing that old school wrestlers wear as a badge of honour under the belief that their work was so effective that it almost got them killed. In reality, it was far more a reflection of the psyche of the human collective at the time. Riots were more commonplace at every sort of event in the 20th century; people back then hadn't been ground to dust by how utterly broken the world is and actually had the energy to give a sh*t about things. Now, escapism is precisely that. There's enough to hate earnestly without giving a sh*t about Jim Cornette winding up his fists and pretending to hit people in the front row.

Roddy Piper and Cornette were just two of many men capable of eliciting bloodlust from a crowd ready to storm in with fists. The riot is an undeniable spectacle to watch back in archive form years removed from when they were commonplace, and if a riot was ever art, it was art when Ole Anderson turned on Dusty Rhodes in Atlanta in '85 after pretending to be his ally for a full year.

A years' worth of misplaced trust erupted amongst a fandom that came perilously close to breaking into the cage.

 
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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!