10 Unbelievable Wrestling Coincidences

6. ...And That's Not All

Daniel Bryan Kane
WWE

Bear in mind that an entire decade passed between WrestleMania XX and XXX.

An entire decade.

Between WrestleMania X and XX, everything had changed. Two entirely separate eras came and went; the New Generation era that was launched (outrageous irony notwithstanding) at King Of The Ring 1994, and the Attitude Era that was launched in December 1997. WWE was two years into what was meant to be another sweeping refresh, even if 'Ruthless Aggression' was just a continuation of Attitude. The sets, the colour of the ring ropes, the ring style, the narrative thrust, the TV format, the undercard, midcard, main event scene: between 1994 and 2004, everything had changed. 'Mania XX acted as the swansong of a WWE legend, the Rock, who was two years away from debuting in MSG before it played host to 'Mania X.

And yet, two of those technical doyens - Benoit and Bryan - went on to face Kane as their first new rival. After the formality of a rematch at Backlash, Benoit successfully defended against Kane at Bad Blood, where Bryan successfully defended against Kane at Extreme Rules. In another wrinkle to that trivia note, the Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer awarded each match the same star rating: ***1/2. In one more spot of trivia related to that, ***1/2 remains the highest ever score that Dave gave a Kane singles outing.

Coincidence?

Or was WWE creatively bankrupt for much of the 21st century?

 
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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!