10 Wrestlers Who Won Despite Taking The Finish

8. Brock Lesnar (WWE Greatest Royal Rumble)

Braun Strowman Kevin Owens
WWE

Considering how they've persisted with the inane and counter-intuitive escape rule for so many years, it's a wonder versions of this finish don't account for every entry on this list.

By 2018, just about everybody other than Vince McMahon had given up on the Roman Reigns: Top Babyface project, not least because of the company's hare-brained treatment of 'The Big Dog'.

Reigns had just lost to Lesnar in a ludicrous and horrifically-received WrestleMania 34 main event ahead of a Saudi Arabia rematch, but the very existence of this contest seemed to be the justification. WWE were making headlines for this brand new deal with the Sports Authority, and it was thought that a Universal Title switch on the very first event was part of the agreement.

WWE, too fittingly, instead didn't bother with much of a finish at all. Not a conclusive one anyway. Challenger speared Champion out of a steel cage (revealing some plastic ties barely holding it together in the first place), but the latter landing first secured him the win. All of this was made worse when even minor scrutiny revealed that this wasn't even technically the case.

Mutants defended it, but didn't even stop to consider what might have served as the inspiration...

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett