10 Wrestling Matches That Buried Top Stars ON PURPOSE

1. Diesel Vs. Bob Backlund - WWF MSG House Show, November 26, 1994

Bray Wyatt John Cena
WWE.com

Vince McMahon had the Hulk Hogan-sized push in mind for Diesel, so he strapped him up in the same way: in a short, decisive match at the Garden against a transitional heel champion.

Also, a feature-length match would have sucked sh*t. Christ, can you imagine?

Backlund doing absolutely nowt on the mat, as Diesel lay there selling his leg getting hugged in a match even more boring than that atrocity against the Bulldog. Vince thought this through, avoided what would have looked like a gentle physiotherapy session, and instead had Diesel truck Backlund in eight seconds. TV revenue wasn't as important in that era, and the footage shown on RAW sufficed. The juxtaposition of a cool '90s monster demolishing a pale '70s leftover was a tremendous advert for the New Generation.

Shortly afterwards, Vince put the 'Die' in 'Diesel' by instructing this elusive, cool badass to become an overgrown chipper boy scout who just loved to have f*cking fun for f*ck's f*cking sake. He didn't dance or anything too daft like that, but his disposition was all too different.

Vince had Hulk Hogan in general in mind for Diesel, just stopping short of shaving him bald and making him say racist things with pesky recording devices around.

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!