10 Wrestling Matches Booked Out Of Spite

8. Goldberg Vs The Fiend (WWE Super ShowDown 2020)

Goldberg The Fiend
WWE.com

How else could one explain it if it wasn't spite?

Never has the assumption felt safer that Vince McMahon hates just about everything he promotes than in the 202s. He's shown open disdain to his talents in front of 24/7 Network cameras, he's fired at will (or at very least signed off on Nick Khan spreadsheet deletions) in mass releases, and he's killed gimmicks dead just for the sake of it so often it's become one of WWE's troubling new normals.

The latter philosophy never looked as apparent than at pandemic curtain-raiser Super ShowDown 2020. He hates his consumer base because they don't pay him as much as shareholder investments or Saudi Arabian paymasters, and both were presumably satisfied enough with the record profits that they didn't care much for Bray Wyatt's spooky clown character getting bulldozed by a visibly ageing WCW relic with mere weeks to go before a planned WrestleMania title defence against Roman Reigns.

McMahon got out of his balmy bed that day and decided that the whole thing sucked (he wasn't wrong, but he shouldn't have booked that either), and crushed Wyatt so emphatically that it took an epic John Cena WrestleMania rebuild to remotely salvage it for one last stay of execution.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 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 30 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz", Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 50,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, 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