10 Ways DDT Did WWE Better Than WWE At WrestleMania 35 Weekend

2. Getting Extreme

DDT Coming To America
DDTPro.com/Scott Finkelstein

"Extreme" wrestling is a fallacy in WWE's PG environment.

While the rating has been a net positive overall, and we certainly don't need to see Seth Rollins and Braun Strowman blading and taking unprotected chair shots, WWE can no longer deliver the kind of tooth-rattling plunder brawls they promise to. Does this stop them? Does it b*llocks. Gimmick pay-per-views are always marketed around the supposed peril that bouts like Hell In A Cell and Tables, Ladders and Chairs used to guarantee.

Coming To America's main event brought that sense of danger out. Sasaki vs. Takeshita started as a limb isolation match highlighted by the challenger's awesome heel work, but unfolded into an edge-of-control bumpfest. These two battered their's bodies in a way that gave the impression they were trying to kill each other. Sasaki's bumping was so impressive that he had the crowd gasping every time he landed, and his diving elbow over the top rope, across the barricade, to a grounded Takeshita sent reverberations through the whole room.

This wasn't even branded as an extreme match: it just was, and that made it all the more exciting.

Channel Manager
Channel Manager

Andy has been with WhatCulture for eight years and is currently WhatCulture's Wrestling Channel Manager. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.