5 Most Insane Things Happening In Wrestling Right Now (July 6)

1. VAR And Away The Best Patter Of The Week

Daniel Bryan Red Card
Twitter (@ddtpro)

For those who don't follow football/soccer - you poor people - VAR (Video Assistant Referee) is an experimental technological advancement in officiating inexplicably, brilliantly, debuted at the highest level of competition: the World Cup.

VAR ostensibly leaves no margin for error but, football being football, the referees, even when confronted with incontrovertible evidence of their own oversight, instead opt to ignore it. And, DDT being DDT - a treasure we don't deserve - the promotion has recently parodied it to hilarious effect.

In the midst of a tag team encounter, a wrestler scored a pinfall following an illegal low blow. The referee, alerted to the transgression via the new technology, referred to the video footage, stroking his chin in thought. In an absurd twist, he declared not a "No Fall" but instead "No Goal" - a potentially on-the-nose gag subverted, superbly, with the award of a "penalty kick". Cue a not-bad-at-all Katsuyori Shibata tribute spot set up by the referee (!) with a snapmare takedown. What's even better is that this simultaneously poked fun at football and WWE officiating.

The bit was framed, unapologetically, as a bit, in which everybody willingly looked silly...and still, this chin-stroking referee looked miles more competent than the black and white-striped blind dumbasses tasked with maintaining order in a WWE ring. DDT is meant to be the joke promotion.

This was both topical parody and incredible satire.

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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!