10 Wrestling Matches Never Meant To Be This Good

Great wrestling from outta nowhere!

Trish Stratus stephanie mcmahon
WWE.com

"Wrestling promotion" has been something of a misnomer for WWE for several years now. Or, in the case of the "wrestling" side of that, nearly four decades.

Vince McMahon's pivot to "Sports Entertainment" was tax-based and tactical in the 1980s, but he was at least a promoter with a promotion, until very recently. For the longest time, television shows promoted house shows, house shows promoted other house shows, and both promoted occasional pay-per-views. All of those promoted the merchandise.

Then, house shows existed to promote television, television shows promoted pay-per-views, and pay-per-views promoted the idea that it was worth tuning in for more pay-per-views when it turned out the show you'd just watched wasn't the end of the known world.

The Network then ushered in everything everywhere existing to promote the Network, but that was a trojan horse for WWE's Content Production era, in which television shows are homogenised within an inch of their creative lives in order to foster a product generic enough to sell for billions to those who only needed the short-form notes.

Nothing promotes anything, but all of it promotes the presentation of an executive trying to put more money in Vince McMahon's pocket. Every great WWE match in 2021 is something of a surprise in this context. These had other things working against them...

10. John Cena Vs JBL (WWE Judgment Day 2005) 

Trish Stratus stephanie mcmahon
WWE.com

John Cena and John Bradshaw Layfield might have kicked off a rotten modern trend by keeping their match lowkey at WrestleMania 21.

The pair assembled a massively disappointing WWE Championship match at 2005's 'Show Of Shows', putting forth something less than television standard on a night designed to elevate Cena as one of the company's two brand new top stars.

They were saving their A+ performances for the B-Show.

With expectations subsequently diminished thanks to the first stinker (and the general malaise around the I Quit stipulation after too many turkeys), the pair shocked the world with a bloodthirsty war that rounded out Cena's CV at the top of the card. After months of failed attempts, Layfield found chemistry with a babyface rather than constantly taking countless chickensh*t shortcuts. That this came before WWE had given Cena's inhuman recuperative powers only made the match more impactful.

P*ssing blood and ready to bludgeon Bradshaw with a car part, Cena forced the former Champion to quit in sheer horror rather than through the pain of a hold. It was just one more ingenious element for a contest everybody had already written off.

Contributor
Contributor

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