Every WWE 'I Quit' Match Ranked - From Worst To Best
Not all 'I Quit' matches have a terrible finish, you know...
I'm going to say it right from the beginning; 'I Quit' matches suck.
On paper they don't, but professional wrestling doesn't happen on paper. Actually, the ironic thing is that professional wrestling pretty much does happen on paper (y'know, through the whole booking thing), but I digress...
'I Quit' matches suck.
Of course, they really shouldn't. Two men or women (or in one instance, a man and a woman), beating each other up until one of the two can no longer take it and feels it is right to utter those two words that all athletes fear so much; 'I quit'. We must forget that very often in pro wrestling heels walk out of matches on their own accord but, again, I digress...
There have been a grand total of 16 'I Quit' matches in WWE history, with the first coming way back at WrestleMania XI between Bret Hart and Bob Backlund. The most recent saw John Cena take on Rusev at Payback 2015. Luckily we've been spared the gimmick in 2016, although there are four months to go.
The problem is very rarely the actual match, as the intensity is always ramped up somewhat. The problem is generally the finish, and the fact that we get to constantly see Mike Chioda shouting at professional wrestlers. It rarely works. It just looks off.
Despite my gripes, here are the 16 WWE 'I Quit' matches ranked from worst to least worst.
16. Bret Hart Vs. Bob Backlund - WrestleMania XI
I hate, hate, hate, hate this match. Bret Hart was my favourite thing in the history of the colour pink as a child and Bob Backlund was quite obviously evil, so watching Bret beat up Bob for ten minutes and getting the crazy old b*stard to say 'I Quit' should have been wonderful.
In truth, it was as boring as 10 minutes of professional wrestling could be.
Bob Backlund was a relic even back then, and his style of grappling was never going to fit in with the intensity one would assume an 'I Quit' match should have. In many ways the same goes for Bret, but the bigger problem for The Hitman was hiding his disgust at working a middle of the card WrestleMania match whilst Lawrence Taylor took a spot in the main event.
To make a bad thing even worse, Backlund didn't even say 'I Quit' for the match to end. Nope, the WWE Hall of Famer just screamed unintelligibly into a microphone. Mercifully, guest referee 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper decided that was all he needed to hear and called for the bell.