10 Wrestling Matches Better Than They Had Any Right To Be

7. Beulah McGillicutty Vs. Bill Alfonso - ECW As Good As It Gets 1997

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WWE

Despite the aforementioned, careful preparation, there is inherent risk in placing a non-wrestler into a wrestling match. Pitting two non-wrestlers against one another - especially in the slapdash ECW, which wasn't subject to strict road agent oversight - could have ended in farce.

It didn't. Somehow, the impromptu match between Beulah McGillicutty and Bill Alfonso was an inconceivable triumph, proving not for the first time that there is a marked difference between being a great wrestler and a great worker.

The crowd were engaged within the first minute. Demonstrating not for the first time that, despite Jerry Lawler's naysaying, there was a cerebral component to ECW's blood and guts ethos, Beulah deceived the reviled Alfonso into punching a baking tray hidden under her t-shirt - before smashing him with the former and ripping off the latter to pop the braying faithful.

Despite the crowd reaction, Alfonso was the star of the match. He compensated for Beulah's weak Irish whips by gamely hurling himself over the barricade before adding a macabre comedic slant by incongruously signalling for a moonsault, a move he was demonstrably incapable of pulling off even if he wasn't weakened and drenched in his own blood.

Alfonso suffered for his improbable artistic achievement - if you believe the notoriously hyperbolic Paul Heyman, he lost a third of his blood count by charting so highly on the Muta Scale.

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!