10 Ultimate Wrestling Guilty Pleasures

In the pantheon of wrestling greatness, some moments stand the test of time, forever capable of enthralling fans and perhaps inspiring the next generation of talent. They not only captivate viewers but spark their emotions with all the precision of a well-crafted story.

And then there are moments notorious for all the wrong reasons. These infamous events and segments crash and burn like the Ultimate Warrior willing Hulk Hogan to take the controls of an airplane, but they sure entertain along the way. Perhaps these guilty pleasures push the absurdity of sports entertainment too far or were simply doomed to begin with, but why split hairs when the end result is this satisfying?

If loving these moments is wrong, well, we can accept that. It just won't change our feelings about them.

Here are 10 wrestling guilty pleasures that are hard to look away from...

To call late-era WCW an acquired taste would be an understatement to say the least. By August 2000's New Blood Rising, the inmates were clearly running the asylum, putting together a product that baffled fans and scuttled ratings. Failing to replicate Vince Russo's success in restoring WWE's fortunes during the Attitude Era, WCW was increasingly staring oblivion and irrelevance square in the face. As WCW travelled north for their second Canadian pay-per-view in history, there was no reason to expect anything other than the company's recent track record of hot messes and weak finishes.

Which isn't to say that New Blood Rising broke this trend by any stretch. The event was named after a faction that no longer existed by August 2000, after all. Yet despite a litany of problems, New Blood Rising is oddly appealing from start to finish. The boy band-inspired 3 Count winning a ladder match for a gold record is a fun opener, while Buff Bagwell defeating Kanyon in the legendary Judy Bagwell on a Forklift match demands to be witnessed at least once.

On a less thrilling note, the Four Corners match for the WCW Tag Team Championship is such a complete dumpster fire that nobody could rightly call themselves the winner, although Kronik officially defended the gold. To make matters worse, WCW's roster was so thin by this point that Kronik were booked again that same night in a losing effort to Vampiro and The Great Muta. On top of all that, Sting squashed the Kiss-themed Demon and Lance Storm screwed Mike Awesome out of the WCW United States Championship in a Canadian Rules match that reeked of overbooking.

Then, in New Blood Rising's penultimate match, Goldberg turned up following a kayfabe motorcycle accident, only to refuse a powerbomb from Kevin Nash in a bizarre worked shoot that comes across to modern viewers as laughably arrogant. It wasn't enough for Russo to wink at his own audience, he had to belittle them by screaming "wrestling's fake" until blue in the face. And for one ridiculous night it almost worked. Almost.