10 Wrestling Matches That Were NOTHING Like You Expected

3. Al Snow Vs. The Big Boss Man Kennel From Hell Match - WWF Unforgiven 1999

John Cena The Undertaker
WWE.com

The Kennel From Hell - the Attitude Era's biggest gimmick match failure, not Roman Reigns' personalised red Hell In A Cell structure - promised something legit unprecedented.

The old blue bar steel cage dwarfed by the ominous Cell, still potent in its gore. A pack of foaming attack dogs primed to tear chunks of flesh from the evil Big Boss Man character. Total gimmick overdrive to cap off a goofy but improbably entertaining midcard programme. We were only months removed from WrestleMania XV, at which Boss Man was "hanged"; the prospect of a foaming Rottweiler going for his throat was genuinely plausible.

Unfortunately, the good boys were good boys on the night. As tame as a 2018 scripted promo, they carried no threat. In a potent visual metaphor, they sh*t all over the ringside matting, on leads, with Finn Bálor-sized dopey smiles, as Snow and the Boss Man wrestled a subpar brawl and just sort of scaled both cages and blasted one another with the assorted weaponry the fans had been similarly bludgeoned with.

Vince Russo broke Hollywood's golden "Don't work with children or animals" rule. If Stephen Spielberg couldn't get the kids to calm down on the set of Close Encounters, how the f*ck was Russo gonna manage?

 
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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!