There are certain moves you expect a given wrestler to do in the ring most nights. If Goldberg didn't Spear someone in his match, it was strange. If Undertaker doesn't hit the Old School spot over the course of thirty minutes, it just doesn't feel right. But then there are oddly specific spots that certain wrestlers do in the ring over and over and over again that are just straight-up weird. Some of them aren't even specific maneuvers so much as distinctive happenings that seem to occur only when that particular person is in the ring. It can range from the very basic (why is that guy the only person who sidestep's Goldberg's Spear?) to the incredibly elaborate (why does that guy always take three chair shots to the head before flicking his opponent in the balls?), and once you see the pattern, it makes you look at all of their matches like a game of 'Spot the Differences'. On that note, I want to wish you good luck watching any of these wrestler's matches again without thinking about how goddamn weird (and weirdly consistent) these spots are.
8. Mick Foley Gets Hung By His Neck In The Ring Ropes
We could spend days wondering why Rey Mysterio's opponents never fail to find themselves with their arms and necks resting on the middle rope, when literally no one does this outside of a Rey Mysterio match. But the obvious answer is: "Dude, it sets up the 619, stop overthinking this and go spend some time outdoors". So that's not outright "weird" so much as it's a compulsory setup for Rey's finishing move. But Mick Foley's neck getting twisted up inside the ropes after his opponent attempts to toss him outside doesn't set up anything, other than a perilous sequence where the audience is left to wonder whether this will finally be the night Foley hangs himself on live television. Have you ever seen another wrestler get hung up this way? No! And with good reason, too. It's an incredibly dangerous spot - technically referred to as the hangman position - and is actually how Foley lost a chunk of his ear during a match with Vader. In WCW, the ring ropes were much rougher, essentially just elevator cables stuffed inside a rubber casing, and had very little give to them. Thus, when Foley got his neck kayfabe caught in them during the match and had difficulty pulling the ropes apart, he legitimately had to squirm his way out or suffer major neck injuries and potential brain damage. He sacrificed a portion of his ear to avoid something worse. And yet the guy STILL continued doing the move in about 20 percent of his matches as Mankind in the WWF.
