10 Wrestlers Who Innovated New Stipulation Matches

5. Carlos Colón - Inferno

Bray Wyatt John Cena
WWE.com

The Inferno match is a strange one to parse.

Visually, it's compelling pro wrestling theatre, and the shooting flames add a totally cosmetic and pointless - but stupidly fun - spectacle element, which is ideal, since every version in WWE involved boring old f*cking Kane. But it never drew, the oxygen-deprived talent hated working them, and the very fractional increase in entertainment value probably wasn't worth the very real risk of incineration and, in the not too improbable event of those flames torching the crowd, mass litigation.

TL:DR: not worth the effort, as pretty as that picture^ looks.

An inherently dangerous match that hardly facilitated a technical classic, almost naturally, its origins can be traced to the mythically wild and scary Puerto Rico territory. "Once the show starts, chaos is there," as Savio Vega told Kayfabe Commentaries.

The 'Fire' match, an invention of legendary, controversial WWC figurehead Carlos Colón, functioned in much the same way as a Japanese barbed wire death match; a suspenseful thriller in which the drama is engineered mostly in the space between the action.

It's an on-the-nose take, but the visual of the fire fused perfectly with legendarily rabid locals to create a spectacle you'd be afraid to take in live.

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!