7 Classic Wrestling Storylines WWE Should Recycle

One of the greatest old-school heels in history, Nick Bockwinkel was a great talker as well as a great wrestling heel, working as an arrogant, big-talking villain in the vein of Buddy Rogers long before Ric Flair came along. One of Bockwinkel's best rivalries was with Jerry 'The King' Lawler in Memphis, which the two would often revisit.

In 1984, Bockwinkel and Lawler battled for the AWA World Title in Memphis, a match Lawler won by disqualification when Bockwinkel accidentally punched the referee. After the match, Bockwinkel cut a promo in which he claimed Lawler couldn't really do anything but brawl, and in a pure wrestling match, he would be no match for the champion.

Bockwinkel went on to offer Lawler a rematch for the title, but only if Lawler agreed to pay $500 for every punch he threw, assuming that the fines would keep 'the King' from throwing his legendary right hand. Lawler agreed to the match, but in his promo accepting the stipulation, he said that while $500 per punch was a lot of money, Lawler estimated that 20 punches would be enough to finish Bockwinkel off, and the $10,000 would be a good investment if it brought him the World Title.

WWE often does angles where a certain wrestler's finisher is banned but the move always comes into play anyway. The fine both puts over how devastating a certain move is without insulting the fans, who know it's going to be used anyway. The only WWE wrestler with a move similar to Lawler's punches would be Cesaro, whose European uppercut is both impressive and stiff in its delivery. Cesaro could challenge Kevin Owens for the Universal Championship, but Owens could claim that he'll only take the match if Cesaro agrees to pay $5,000 per uppercut.