10 Wrestling Finishes Performed On The Fly

7. When Things Fall Apart

CM Punk ECW Title
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From two examples of flawless improvisation, to two examples of the polar opposite: this is what happens when there’s no ring general or management backstage thinking on their feet to save a match that’s fallen to pieces.

The main event of Sin, WCW’s January 2001 pay-per-view, featured a four-way match for the WCW world heavyweight championship between title-holder and uber-heel Scott Steiner, his sidekick Jeff Jarrett, babyface challenger Sid Vicious and a mystery opponent.

Kayfabe boss Ric Flair, supposedly running scared of Steiner, claimed he’d brought in the fourth man to ensure that the nutjob didn’t leave Sin with the company’s top title. In the weeks leading up to the pay-per-view, they’d tried to muddy the waters by first having this masked mystery man attack Steiner, then by having Steiner attack Vicious dressed in the same weird gimp suit.

Of course, everyone remembers this match as the one in which Sid wrecked his leg, suffering a horrible compound fracture of both tibia and fibula in an ill-advised jump from the second turnbuckle. What they don’t remember is how badly this destroyed the angle in question.

Flair was supposed to turn heel and announce the formation of his new stable of main event heel hosses the next night on Nitro: Sin would see the swerve that led into this turn, his vaunted mystery man suddenly siding with Steiner to take out Sid Vicious. However, by the time the masked man - Road Warrior Animal - ponderously sauntered to the ring, Vicious had taken himself out.

In the interim, and in the absence of any brilliant ideas, Jarrett and Steiner could do nothing except stall. They couldn’t fight each other, and neither man could do any more than deliver the odd worked kick to the fallen babyface, so severe was his injury. Steiner even started doing press-ups in the middle of the ring while they waited for the mystery man to show up. The match had crumbled like wet cake, exposing the business.

When the masked Animal finally showed up, he was in the same boat, delivering a single anticlimactic axe handle to Sid’s shoulders to finally give Steiner the cue to pin him. In all that time, Sid had barely moved from the spot he landed in, so great was the pain he was suffering.

Flair’s swerve was ruined, as was his heel turn, as was Animal’s debut, as was the main event - as was Sid’s career, which never recovered from the horrendous injury.

Management could have called an audible, could have sent in the Insiders (babyfaces Kevin Nash and Diamond Dallas Page) to back Sid up and give the mystery man someone to attack before the pinfall. Steiner could have worked the crowd harder; Flair could have come to ringside to sell some of the drama and distract the crowd’s attention. Instead, the whole thing was a mess.

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Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.