Kevin Nash, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze, 1991
Stanislaus Zbyszko, Night and the City, 1950
Lenny “The Bull” Montana in The Godfather, 1972
André The Giant, The Princess Bride, 1987
Big John Studd (as John Minton), Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man, 1991
Sting in The Real Reason (Men Commit Crimes), 1998
The Undertaker, Suburban Commando, 1991
Everyone remembers this movie as a goofy Hulk Hogan vehicle, but the Undertaker’s cameo as an evil bounty hunter with the voice of a prepubescent girl is a gem that everyone seems to forget.
New list: Notoriously bad match finishes
Seth Rollins vs. the Fiend Bray Wyatt, Hell in a Cell 2019
Rollins lost a HIAC match by DQ for hitting the Fiend too many times after he refused to stay down for a pin. Given that Hell in a Cell is supposed to be no-DQ hardcore ultraviolence and the Fiend was supposed to be a supernatural being immune to pain, this made absolutely no sense, especially when they did a stretcher job and Michael Cole broke out the “Jerry Lawler just had a heart attack” serious tone of voice while expressing his concern that this demonic monster might be hurt. It killed Rollins’ babyface run and the Fiend’s mystique and had the audience chanting for AEW, which hadn’t even aired its first episode of Dynamite yet. They later tried to retcon this as Rollins winning via referee stoppage, but the damage was done.
Seth Rollins vs. the Fiend Bray Wyatt, Hell in a Cell 2019
Road Warriors vs. Warlord and Barbarian, NWA house match, early 80’s
It was a match I went to in Raleigh NC. Ivan Koloff was the co-manager of WL and Bar with Paul Jones AND NOT A MATCH PARTICIPANT. While Jones distracted the referee, Koloff held Hawk while Bar ran at him with a chain. Hawk ducked, Bar hit Koloff instead, Hawk pinned Koloff, and the referee counted Koloff out. It was the last match of the night and the show ended immediately after that. I was screaming bloody murder and my friends said “It’s wrestling. Get over it.”
Seth Rollins vs. the Fiend Bray Wyatt, Hell in a Cell 2019
Road Warriors vs. Warlord and Barbarian, NWA house match, early 80’s
Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage vs. Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Lex Luger, Kevin Sullivan, Meng, Barbarian, Z-Gangsta, and the F̶i̶n̶a̶l̶ Ultimate Solution in the Doomsday Cage, WCW Uncensored 1996.
Hogan and Savage basically bury everyone they’re against in this match and nobody involved really understood the rules. The set up and number of people in the ring made actual wrestling moves rare in the match as well. Eliminated wrestlers come back in to fight more, then Hogan and Savage get frying pans from Booty Man, Luger tries to hit Savage while wearing a gimmicked glove, Savage ducks, Luger hesitates then proceeds to punch Flair, Hogan and Savage leave the cage but Savage stops and goes back to pin Flair.
[quote=“Intergalactic_Gladiator, post:103, topic:1001674”] Notoriously bad match finishes
Seth Rollins vs. the Fiend Bray Wyatt, Hell in a Cell 2019
Road Warriors vs. Warlord and Barbarian, NWA house match, early 80’s
Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage vs. Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Lex Luger, Kevin Sullivan, Meng, Barbarian, Z-Gangsta, and the F̶i̶n̶a̶l̶ Ultimate Solution in the Doomsday Cage, WCW Uncensored 1996.
To this day, I don’t know what they wanted to accomplish with this other than to continue the feud another month. Practicing for the Montreal Screwjob? Backlund/Valentine, if my faulty memory can be trusted, were also the first double-pin ending I ever saw, where Backlund lifts his shoulder away from the referee just at the last second, but I couldn’t find a clip of that.
Seth Rollins vs. the Fiend Bray Wyatt, Hell in a Cell 2019
Road Warriors vs. Warlord and Barbarian, NWA house match, early 80’s
Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage vs. Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Lex Luger, Kevin Sullivan, Meng, Barbarian, Z-Gangsta, and the F̶i̶n̶a̶l̶ Ultimate Solution in the Doomsday Cage, WCW Uncensored 1996.
Bob Backlund vs Greg Valentine MSG, 1981
Hulk Hogan vs Vader Strap Match WCW Uncensored 1995.
Hogan wins the match by dragging Ric Flair to all four corners and NOT his actual opponent VADER.
Seth Rollins vs. the Fiend Bray Wyatt, Hell in a Cell 2019
Road Warriors vs. Warlord and Barbarian, NWA house match, early 80’s
Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage vs. Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Lex Luger, Kevin Sullivan, Meng, Barbarian, Z-Gangsta, and the F̶i̶n̶a̶l̶ Ultimate Solution in the Doomsday Cage, WCW Uncensored 1996.
Bob Backlund vs Greg Valentine MSG, 1981
Hulk Hogan vs Vader Strap Match WCW Uncensored 1995.
Wendi Richter vs The Spider Lady (Fabulous Moolah) 1985
The original screwjob. Ref can’t even do a quick 3 count before Richter kicks out. Worse than the lame double pin when she won the title.
Seth Rollins vs. the Fiend Bray Wyatt, Hell in a Cell 2019
Road Warriors vs. Warlord and Barbarian, NWA house match, early 80’s
Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage vs. Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Lex Luger, Kevin Sullivan, Meng, Barbarian, Z-Gangsta, and the F̶i̶n̶a̶l̶ Ultimate Solution in the Doomsday Cage, WCW Uncensored 1996.
Bob Backlund vs Greg Valentine MSG, 1981
Hulk Hogan vs Vader Strap Match WCW Uncensored 1995.
Wendi Richter vs The Spider Lady (Fabulous Moolah) 1985
Fabulous Moolah vs Wendi Richter 1984
The lame double pin when Richter won the title. Ref already counted 3 by the time she got her shoulder up.
Seth Rollins vs. the Fiend Bray Wyatt, Hell in a Cell 2019
Road Warriors vs. Warlord and Barbarian, NWA house match, early 80’s
Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage vs. Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Lex Luger, Kevin Sullivan, Meng, Barbarian, Z-Gangsta, and the F̶i̶n̶a̶l̶ Ultimate Solution in the Doomsday Cage, WCW Uncensored 1996.
Bob Backlund vs Greg Valentine MSG, 1981
Hulk Hogan vs Vader Strap Match WCW Uncensored 1995.
Wendi Richter vs The Spider Lady (Fabulous Moolah) 1985
Fabulous Moolah vs Wendi Richter 1984
Al Snow and “Head” vs Too Much(Brian Christopher and Scott Taylor) King oof The Ring 1998
Brian Christopher attaches a bottle of Head & Shoulders Shampoo to a styrofoam head and then pins it to win the match!!! (This actually happened!!)
Seth Rollins vs. the Fiend Bray Wyatt, Hell in a Cell 2019
Road Warriors vs. Warlord and Barbarian, NWA house match, early 80’s
Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage vs. Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Lex Luger, Kevin Sullivan, Meng, Barbarian, Z-Gangsta, and the F̶i̶n̶a̶l̶ Ultimate Solution in the Doomsday Cage, WCW Uncensored 1996.
Bob Backlund vs Greg Valentine MSG, 1981
Hulk Hogan vs Vader Strap Match WCW Uncensored 1995.
Wendi Richter vs The Spider Lady (Fabulous Moolah) 1985
Fabulous Moolah vs Wendi Richter 1984
Al Snow and “Head” vs Too Much(Brian Christopher and Scott Taylor) King of The Ring 1998
Randy Orton vs. the Fiend Bray Wyatt, Wrestlemania 37
Yep, another Fiend match. Alexa Bliss appeared out of a giant jack-in-the-box (which Cole insisted on calling a “jack-in-the-box-like-structure”), squirted black goo down her face, and distracted the Fiend, which allowed Orton to hit him with a single RKO and pin him. Once again it made absolutely no sense and made a character who should’ve been the Undertaker of his generation look like a total chump.
Seth Rollins vs. the Fiend Bray Wyatt, Hell in a Cell 2019
Road Warriors vs. Warlord and Barbarian, NWA house match, early 80’s
Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage vs. Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Lex Luger, Kevin Sullivan, Meng, Barbarian, Z-Gangsta, and the F̶i̶n̶a̶l̶ Ultimate Solution in the Doomsday Cage, WCW Uncensored 1996.
Bob Backlund vs Greg Valentine MSG, 1981
Hulk Hogan vs Vader Strap Match WCW Uncensored 1995.
Wendi Richter vs The Spider Lady (Fabulous Moolah) 1985
Fabulous Moolah vs Wendi Richter 1984
Al Snow and “Head” vs Too Much(Brian Christopher and Scott Taylor) King of The Ring 1998
Randy Orton vs. the Fiend Bray Wyatt, Wrestlemania 37
Mankind vs. The Rock, I-Quit Match, Royal Rumble 1999
Someone played a clip from a pre-recorded interview in which Foley had said “I quit!”, which ended the match.
Clever Match Finishes
John Cena vs. Kurt Angle vs. Chris Masters, Submission Match, RAW, 2005
Cena was put in the match because he didn’t have a submission finisher, while Angle had the Ankle Lock and Masters had the Master Lock. So he debuted one - the STFU.
John Cena vs. Kurt Angle vs. Chris Masters, Submission Match, RAW, 2005
Braun Strowman vs. Baron Corbin, No-DQ, TLC 2018
Braun had a broken arm and wasn’t cleared to wrestle, but came out anyway. As soon as the bell rang, Corbin, whose job as Stephanie’s “constable” was on the line, grabbed a mic and taunted Braun for agreeing to a no-DQ match in his state. Braun responded that since it was no-DQ, anyone who had a beef with Corbin could get involved - and then one by one every single babyface that Corbin had wronged since he hecame an authority figure came down the ramp and beat the piss out of him, letting Braun plant a boot on his chest for the pin.
John Cena vs. Kurt Angle vs. Chris Masters, Submission Match, RAW, 2005
Braun Strowman vs. Baron Corbin, No-DQ, TLC 2018
John Cena vs. Batista, Last Man Standing Match for the WWE Championship, Extreme Rules 2010
Ric Flair vs Hacksaw Butch Reed, Championship Wrestling from Florida
While it was probably not the first time this happened, it was my first time seeing this ending. Butch Reed had challenged Ric Flair for the title, and it went to a 20 minute draw. Flair asked for 5 more minutes, but then lost cleanly in that time. But the title was only on the line for the 20 minute match, so Flair retreated beaten, but still champion.
John Cena vs. Kurt Angle vs. Chris Masters, Submission Match, RAW, 2005
Braun Strowman vs. Baron Corbin, No-DQ, TLC 2018
John Cena vs. Batista, Last Man Standing Match for the WWE Championship, Extreme Rules 2010
Ric Flair vs Hacksaw Butch Reed, Championship Wrestling from Florida
Swerve Strickland vs. Austin Aries, DEFY Championship/TNA World Championship, DEFY Wrestling, 2018
Similar to the above example. Austin Aries won by countout, but then took the mic and asked Swerve if he’d agree to restart the match with no countouts. Swerve agreed and they rang the bell. There was a ref bump and a second ref ran out, and Swerve got a pin and was declared TNA Champion. Then the first ref came to and announced Aries was DQed for knocking him out and declared Swerve the winner but not the champ. This time Swerve asked Aries if he’d agree to continue with a no-DQ match. He agreed, they rang the bell, and Aries immediately low-blowed Swerve and pinned him to add the DEFY title to his collection of like five or six indy titles he had at the time. Dusty Rhodes would’ve been proud.
John Cena vs. Kurt Angle vs. Chris Masters, Submission Match, RAW, 2005
Braun Strowman vs. Baron Corbin, No-DQ, TLC 2018
John Cena vs. Batista, Last Man Standing Match for the WWE Championship, Extreme Rules 2010
Ric Flair vs Hacksaw Butch Reed, Championship Wrestling from Florida
Swerve Strickland vs. Austin Aries, DEFY Championship/TNA World Championship, DEFY Wrestling, 2018
Abdullah the Butcher vs. Maniac Mark Lewin
I remember hearing manager Gary Hart in a podcast interview talk about how he tricked Abdullah into taking the loss. Abdullah would only consent to lose a match by being disqualified, so Hart told him his match with Lewin would be 2 out of 3 falls. Abdullah would lose the first round to Lewin’s sleeper, then pick up the 2nd and 3rd wins. After Lewin won the match, Hart went up to Abdullah and told him “I lied.”
As an aside I remember someone played that trick on Lou Thesz early in his career and he refused to lose the first fall in any 2 out of 3 fall match for the rest of his career.
John Cena vs. Kurt Angle vs. Chris Masters, Submission Match, RAW, 2005
Braun Strowman vs. Baron Corbin, No-DQ, TLC 2018
John Cena vs. Batista, Last Man Standing Match for the WWE Championship, Extreme Rules 2010
Ric Flair vs Hacksaw Butch Reed, Championship Wrestling from Florida
Swerve Strickland vs. Austin Aries, DEFY Championship/TNA World Championship, DEFY Wrestling, 2018
Abdullah the Butcher vs. Maniac Mark Lewin
Eddie Guerrero vs. Kurt Angle for the WWE Championship, Wrestlemania 20
Fantastic technical encounter between two of the greatest ever. The finish though completely encapsulates Eddie’s character. With Angle using his superior size and wrestling acumen to great effect during the match and Eddie countering with his lucha influenced offense, it all comes down to Guerrero outsmarting his opponent. Guerrero had done his best to stay away from the ankle lock the entire match, but knowing Kurt has to go for it again Eddie waits for both Kurt and the ref to be distracted and then he very conspicuously loosens his bootlaces. Of course the next time Angle goes for the ankle lock, Eddie’s boot slips off right in Kurt’s hands. Clearly surprised, Kurt hesitates a moment before rushing Eddie who’s still laying on the mat. That one second is enough for Guerrero to catch Angle in a small package and pick up the three count.
John Cena vs. Kurt Angle vs. Chris Masters, Submission Match, RAW, 2005
Braun Strowman vs. Baron Corbin, No-DQ, TLC 2018
John Cena vs. Batista, Last Man Standing Match for the WWE Championship, Extreme Rules 2010
Ric Flair vs Hacksaw Butch Reed, Championship Wrestling from Florida
Swerve Strickland vs. Austin Aries, DEFY Championship/TNA World Championship, DEFY Wrestling, 2018
Abdullah the Butcher vs. Maniac Mark Lewin
Eddie Guerrero vs. Kurt Angle for the WWE Championship, Wrestlemania 20
Big Show vs Brock Lesnar, SmackDown Superflex Ring Collapse, 2003
Cody Rhodes vs. Big Show, Tables Match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship, Extreme Rules 2012
There was a table set up on the floor. Cody drop kicked Big Show as he was coming back into the ring, and one of his feet went through the table. He wasn’t even hurt or knocked down. But he’d technically gone through the table. Match over. New champion!
John Cena vs. Kurt Angle vs. Chris Masters, Submission Match, RAW, 2005
Braun Strowman vs. Baron Corbin, No-DQ, TLC 2018
John Cena vs. Batista, Last Man Standing Match for the WWE Championship, Extreme Rules 2010
Ric Flair vs Hacksaw Butch Reed, Championship Wrestling from Florida
Swerve Strickland vs. Austin Aries, DEFY Championship/TNA World Championship, DEFY Wrestling, 2018
Abdullah the Butcher vs. Maniac Mark Lewin
Eddie Guerrero vs. Kurt Angle for the WWE Championship, Wrestlemania 20
Big Show vs Brock Lesnar, SmackDown Superflex Ring Collapse, 2003
Cody Rhodes vs. Big Show, Tables Match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship, Extreme Rules 2012
Owen Hart vs. Bret Hart, Wrestlemania X
Not clever in any gimmicky way but a great wrestling clinic by two great workers. Owen wins by blocking a victory roll and getting the pin. Bret wins the WWF Championship later so Owen gets automatically boosted from midcard with his win and their feud is set up to run after.
Next: Well that got bloody
Jim Duggan vs. Ted DiBiase in a Loser Leaves Town Tuxedo Coal Miner’s Glove on a Pole Steel Cage Match