Ultimo Dragon stumbling as he made his entrance foreshadowed the humbling and hurried exhibition of Cruiserweight action planned for the biggest night of the year. Arguably worse than getting shunted into a battle royal, the challengers had to suffer the ignominy of several insultingly short matches just to be part of the 11:31 sh*t show.
In a segment of the show shorter than most promos Triple H has ever cut on Raw, Dragon pinned Shannon Moore, Jamie Noble submitted Ultimo Dragon, Noble pinned Sho Funaki, Nunzio was counted out, Billy Kidman pinned Noble, Rey Mysterio pinned Kidman, Akio was green misted out of sight, Mysterio pinned Tajiri and Chavo Guerrero (the Champion going in) pinned Mysterio cheaply to retain his title.
Yes, everybody got their sh*t in, but that's a pretty fitting description of how everybody looked as a result.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett
