10 Wrestling Moments That Had No Right Being THIS Good

Total, euphoric over-delivery - starring Sting, Pat McAfee, and Brandi Rhodes...

Roman Reigns Shocked
WWE

You know what you're likely to get with most wrestling angles, moments and matches.

For instance, when a WWE midcard champion wrestles a match on television, they are certain to lose. This makes no sense, it happens all of the time, and it happens so frequently that people no longer deem it worthy of pointing it out. If anything, this bullsh*t booking actually helps WWE in the ongoing AEW Vs. WWE culture war. WWE are almost lucky that genuine criticisms are too obvious to point out for all-important clout.

Additionally, whenever certain wrestlers step into the ring, there's an expectation of quality. Bryan Danielson isn't going to wrestle a bad match. The man is so terrific at his craft that anything below the level of "very good" is impossible. The man could work a ***1/2 match against Tom Magee.

Eddie Kington is always going to cut an outrageously brilliant promo. Randy Orton is always going to make an arena go apesh*t for his hot tag. Triple H is going to say "The fact of the matter is..." on no less than seven occasions every time he's in the vicinity of a microphone.

But these moments had no right to smash the level of expectation...

10. Kenny Omega Works A GREAT Match With A Child

Roman Reigns Shocked
STARDOM

Kenny Omega disgraced and exposed an industry that had been exposed for literally 100 f*cking years, if not longer, when he wrestled small child Haruka in a three minute comedy exhibition.

It absolutely rules.

It's not a straight farce. Omega doesn't mock the form. It isn't remotely mean-spirited; Omega, an exceptional comedy wrestler, was intelligent enough to both build Haruka's comeback to a halfway credible extent and grasp what was truly amusing about the premise.

Taking the piss out of wrestling?

Not funny.

Threatening to beat the ever-living sh*t out of a tiny child?

Funny.

He doesn't, of course, because that wouldn't be funny. He actually does at one point, with the safe, precise timing of a pro wrestling genius - and the comedic timing of a very funny man - but he mostly flexes, scrapes Haruka off his thigh as if she's a piece of sh*t, and sells the comeuppance of a bully. His face at the finish is priceless; when the time limit expires, and he's unable to throw the woefully outmatched opponent out of the ring, he looks despondent.

The existence of Scary Movie does not make Hereditary any less terrifying. Only in pro wrestling are brains so broken by carnies that this take still somehow prevails.

 
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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!