8 Weirdest Wrestling Matches From Every Major Promotion

It's been A Year for deeply weird match graphics.

When the King Of The Ring tournament commenced, did you expect a Shane McMahon vs. Chad Gable semi-final? Probably not, since Shane wasn't scheduled for the tournament, and the last time he entered one, unannounced and at the last minute, everybody absolutely hated it. And not in a 'Heel Heat 101' way, but a 'Perhaps it's time I moved on with my life' sort of way.

When the King Of The Ring tournament ended, did you expect a Baron Corbin vs. Chad Gable match graphic? Most certainly, since uninspired rematches are mandatory - but did you expect a Baron Corbin vs. Shorty Gable match graphic? Probably, since expectations are so low that if CM Punk were to come back, he'd steal one from Bobby Lashley two weeks into his three week push. Every match was a Two out of Three falls match for a while. Alicia Fox was chosen to go 50/50 with Becky Lynch weeks after her major 'Mania Moment. Alicia Fox.

Is 2019 the weirdest year even in WWE's batsh*t history? Paul Heyman has a degree of creative control on RAW (!) and it's even more of a soap opera (!).

Competition is fierce, within its own history and beyond...

*"Major" here is classed as those traditionally considered by such by the WhatCulture readership.

NXT is such thrilling tonic at its best because it isn't sports entertainment.

This part of its appeal doesn't feel like it's there anymore, for several reasons, but the NXT of 2016 felt vital. It was so drastically different from and superior to the main roster and, because the main roster once dominated the conversation in totality before the Elite changed everything, it was the escape. And then, because WWE went shark cage batsh*t around the same time, the territory-influenced Triple H, in order to pay tribute to the Last Battle of Atlanta, had to borrow a toy Vince McMahon only bought to trigger Enzo Amore's acrophobia.

"I'm a vile piece of sh*t, and you can't teach that. And this right here? This is Kevin Dunn, and his teeth are seven foot tall, and you can't teach that. And this right here? This is Stephanie McMahon, and she's hot as hell, and you can't teach that. Bada boom, highest guy in the room: how you doin'?"

The Authors' manager Paul Ellering was suspended above the ring to prevent him from interfering, even though he was mostly an American mouthpiece used to connect Akam and Rezar to American crowds. Akam and Rezar deceptively caught Shane Thorne's massive dive from the base of what was an IRL toy set - this being NXT, that was weird, too - and when Ellering threw down a chain to assist his men, that chain didn't play into the story of the match at all.

Genuinely, it was as if an actual child with no attention span had laid this thing out with the actual toy.