8 Times Game Of Thrones Booked Pro Wrestling Better Than WWE

The shock ending on this one is absolutely ripe for use in the world of pro wrestling. Oberyn Martell is another fighter whose reputation precedes any on-screen display of warrior prowess. We see him in brothels and in verbal jousts with various formidable characters before he picks up a weapon, but when he finally does pick one up, he’s confidently staring down the barrel-chest of none other the Ser Gregor Clegane. The Mountain himself.

There's a case to be made that Ser Gregor has been at the top of GoTW’s power rankings from the very beginning of the show, and has never relinquished it. The fact that he’s now the Seven Kingdoms version of a Frankenstein monster with an Abby-normal brain has done nothing to diminish the strength of that argument.

But before he was putting on the ritz as a member of Circe’s queensguard he was just your average everyday 6-foot 8-inch powerlifter-sized knight with a work history that included setting his brothers face on fire, cutting various horses in half, and raping/murdering/killing the children of Elia Martell on the orders of Tywin Lannister. Elia Martell you may recall, just so happened to be the sister of a certain Red Viper of Dorne… So there's tension there

The history between the two characters creates a perfect backdrop for the ensuing showdown, which sees Oberyn put his legendary fighting ability on full display. The show of technique he puts on while fighting the bigger man would have made The Dynamite Kid blush. The Viper spins and flips and dodges his way through the defenses of his much larger opponent, before deftly moving out of range again (one could almost hear the collective IWC shouting “See! Size is no defense for twirling gymnastic ability! Take that Vader!”).

And despite a couple of close calls, it doesn’t ever seem as though Oberyn is ever in any real peril of losing. It’s a borderline squash match as he taunts the monster heel, takes out his considerable base before stabbing him through the chest…

Then things get interesting. Oberyn is so incensed at the memory of his dead family members that he lets his guard down for one moment too long. The Mountain, who remember has just been stabbed in the chest, knocks the would-be triumphant babyface to the ground, smashes his every tooth from his head with a single punch, and proceeds to crush Oberyn Martell’s head like a grapefruit…

That, ladies and gentlemen is how you swerve an audience.

The match was over and done. It was just a matter of getting the obligatory 1-2-3, and then the heel practically returns from the grave to defeat his opponent in the most horrifying way imaginable. If WWE doesn’t give this story to Braun Strowman and John Cena at some WrestleMania down the road as a way to put Cena out to pasture, then there is no justice...