10 Worst WCW ‘On A Pole’ Matches

9. Tank Abbott Vs. Big Al - SuperBrawl 2000

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Object atop: a leather jacket (but that's not all...)

Tank Abbott was Vince Russo's grand plan as his WCW World Heavyweight champion - not his grandest, that was C-list actor David Arquette - but a man in whom he placed a ridiculous amount of misplaced confidence.

If he had to immediately debut on national television, a veteran worker should have been installed to guide him through his first matches, in an attempt to conceal his greenness and hasten his in-ring development. That's what a competent organisation would have done. WCW was not a competent organisation, so Big Al - hardly a technical wizard - was selected as his second PPV opponent. This was only nominally a wrestling match; Abbott and Al simply threw potato shots in one another's temple as they called each other "f*ckers" and "p*ssies" for five minutes. The match is otherwise infamous for the post-match angle, in which Abbott - having almost sent Al tumbling to a grisly head-first death - retrieved the titular jacket and, from it, a legit shoot knife.

"I could f*cking kill you," Abbott screamed, as he pressed the knife against Al's throat. Terrified production staffers cut away - but this being WCW, they were also inept production staffers, and thus the profanity-laced attempted murder scene was essentially captured in full. Adding a blackly comedic element to the proceedings, Tony Schiavone unleashed the very worst attempt at spin. Ever.

"I think maybe that was a pair of scissors, and he was gonna cut off his beard or something."

It was a knife, and Al was clean-shaven.

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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!