8 Weirdest Wrestling Matches From Every Major Promotion

6. Reverse Battle Royal - TNA/IMPACT Wrestling, 24 October 2006

Paul Bearer Paul Ellering
TNA

Bro.

Bro.

Battle Royals are boring. bro. Bro: what if we do it in reverse, bro?

That was the extent of Vince Russo's pitifully on-brand thought process. With the Reverse Battle Royal, his hatred of pro wrestling manifested as doing literally the opposite of it, and the gaping plot hole didn't pass through the narcissistic recesses of his mind, because bro: why didn't they just sprint into the ring?

The objective, initially, before the Match Beyond Sense, was to actually enter the ring. Seems easy enough: simply gather the requisite momentum, and slide right into the sucker, as evidenced via run-in on virtually every pro wrestling event ever promoted. But here, the TNA roster had trouble. The idea was to subdue the opponent before getting in, which necessitated a mass brawl, but this being TNA, it was coordinated terribly; at various points, some wrestlers, actively looking to not win, apparently, just stood without a clue at ringside, looking to exchange half-hearted punches with their fellow entrants. At this and indeed most points, they could have just won by walking up to and climbing through a rope. Russo is fond of telling his base that the wrestlers of today are too busy memorising their spots to get over with the crowd in the throes of a naturalistic performance. None of them got over here because they couldn't get over the middle f*cking rope, something that didn't even vex Kelly Kelly or Giant Gonzalez.

The Reverse Battle Royal was a running race that - swerve! - nobody ran.

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!