Jim Duggan vs. Ted DiBiase in a Loser Leaves Town Tuxedo Coal Miner’s Glove on a Pole Steel Cage Match
Brock Lesnar vs. The Undertaker: No Mercy 2002
Eddie Guerrero vs. JBL: Judgement Day 2004 .
Abdullah the Butcher vs. anyone (if the rules allow this entry)
Taker gets his head slammed on the ‘steel’ steps and bleeds a lot. Lesnar bleeds also. Maybe both bladed.
Guerrero does blade himself and cuts an artery.
Abdullah always bled. Cut his opponents if they let him. Gave at least one guy hepatitis.
Easier to just say the Mass Transit incident. Blading mishap with 17 year old Mass Transit (Kulas) who allegedly misidentified himself and his training, and New Jack (Young) being New Jack and not having a single f**k to give about anyone.
Jim Duggan vs. Ted DiBiase in a Loser Leaves Town Tuxedo Coal Miner’s Glove on a Pole Steel Cage Match
Brock Lesnar vs. The Undertaker: No Mercy 2002
Eddie Guerrero vs. JBL: Judgement Day 2004 .
Abdullah the Butcher vs. anyone (if the rules allow this entry)
Jerome Young vs Erich Kulas, ECW, Revere, MA, 11/1996
Kevin Sullivan vs Wing Kanemura Smoky Mountain Wrestling 1993.
Kevin Sullivan wrestled Kanemura at a television taping for Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW) , which Kanemura won by disqualification after Sullivan opened uo Kanemura’s arm with a spike; the incident was censored on TV The injury required Kanemura to get fifty-eight stitches
Jim Duggan vs. Ted DiBiase in a Loser Leaves Town Tuxedo Coal Miner’s Glove on a Pole Steel Cage Match
Brock Lesnar vs. The Undertaker: No Mercy 2002
Eddie Guerrero vs. JBL: Judgement Day 2004 .
Abdullah the Butcher vs. anyone (if the rules allow this entry)
Jerome Young vs Erich Kulas, ECW, Revere, MA, 11/1996
Kevin Sullivan vs Wing Kanemura Smoky Mountain Wrestling 1993.
Cody Rhodes vs. Dustin Rhodes, AEW Double or Nothing 2019
Dustin’s first match since leaving WWE and retiring the Goldust character. This wasn’t their first time as opponents, but it was the highest profile match they’ve had, and they were both a bloody mess by the time Cody won and they congratulated each other.
Jim Duggan vs. Ted DiBiase in a Loser Leaves Town Tuxedo Coal Miner’s Glove on a Pole Steel Cage Match
Brock Lesnar vs. The Undertaker: No Mercy 2002
Eddie Guerrero vs. JBL: Judgement Day 2004 .
Abdullah the Butcher vs. anyone (if the rules allow this entry)
Jerome Young vs Erich Kulas, ECW, Revere, MA, 11/1996
Kevin Sullivan vs Wing Kanemura Smoky Mountain Wrestling 1993.
Cody Rhodes vs. Dustin Rhodes, AEW Double or Nothing 2019
Hardcore Holly vs. Rob Van Dam, ECW Sept. 2006
To be honest I don’t actually remember very much about this match. The one thing I remember about it is that there was a spot where either Holly or RVD was suplexing the other off the ring apron and threw a table that was set up at ringside. Holly hit it wrong in some way because when he got up there was a very long horizontal laceration across his lower back. Obviously unintentional and extremely gruesome. The footage is easy enough to find online now, I have very vivid memories of seeing this even though it seems, from a common sense stance, like the kind of thing they would cut around for a cable TV show. So I’m unsure.
Jim Duggan vs. Ted DiBiase in a Loser Leaves Town Tuxedo Coal Miner’s Glove on a Pole Steel Cage Match
Brock Lesnar vs. The Undertaker: No Mercy 2002
Eddie Guerrero vs. JBL: Judgement Day 2004 .
Abdullah the Butcher vs. anyone (if the rules allow this entry)
Jerome Young vs Erich Kulas, ECW, Revere, MA, 11/1996
Kevin Sullivan vs Wing Kanemura Smoky Mountain Wrestling 1993.
Cody Rhodes vs. Dustin Rhodes, AEW Double or Nothing 2019
Hardcore Holly vs. Rob Van Dam, ECW Sept. 2006
Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Orton, Summerslam 2016
Brock took his gloves off and legitimately cracked Orton’s forehead open. Orton rolled over and started gushing blood onto the mat and they rang the bell and declared Brock the winner by TKO. To this day I’m not sure if anyone besides Brock and Vince McMahon knows whether it was supposed to go that way or if Brock went into business for himself, and there was reportedly a backstage brawl between Brock and Chris Jericho afterward.
Jim Duggan vs. Ted DiBiase in a Loser Leaves Town Tuxedo Coal Miner’s Glove on a Pole Steel Cage Match
Brock Lesnar vs. The Undertaker: No Mercy 2002
Eddie Guerrero vs. JBL: Judgement Day 2004 .
Abdullah the Butcher vs. anyone (if the rules allow this entry)
Jerome Young vs Erich Kulas, ECW, Revere, MA, 11/1996
Kevin Sullivan vs Wing Kanemura Smoky Mountain Wrestling 1993.
Cody Rhodes vs. Dustin Rhodes, AEW Double or Nothing 2019
Hardcore Holly vs. Rob Van Dam, ECW Sept. 2006
Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Orton, Summerslam 2016
MNM vs. Paul London and Brian Kendrick vs. The Hardy Boys vs. William Regal and Dave Taylor, WWE Tag Team Title, Armageddon 2006
Oh, dear Lord. So, a ladder was placed horizontally against another ladder. Jeff Hardy came off the top rope and propelled the ladder into Joey Mercury’s face. BAM. Blood EVERYWHERE. Mercury broke his nose and orbital bone, and immediately left the match, going to the ER and getting 30 stitches.
To their credit, and much unlike the time when Vader tore off Mick Foley’s ear, WWE turned it into an angle.
Next category:
Shocking betrayals
Shawn Michaels superkicks Hulk Hogan after their tag-team match, RAW, July 4, 2005
I remember where I was and what I was doing when this happened. I was writing a live RAW recap for CRZ’s message board, called the Weinerboard back then, and now called The W. I had my head down looking at my computer and didn’t even see the superkick when it happened. I was like, “Wait, WHAT?!”
Shawn Michaels superkicks Hulk Hogan after their tag-team match, RAW, July 4, 2005
Nick Wayne betrays Darby Allin, AEW Wrestledream 2023
I was in the arena for this one. It was an especially big shock to us as many of those in attendance (like myself) had previously seen Nick Wayne come up as a rookie in DEFY, just as Darby had a few years before him, and they’d previously been joined at the hip since in real life Darby was trained by Nick’s dad and had known him since Nick was nine. And yet despite all that, he accepted Christian’s offer as a replacement for his own late father and turned on Darby right when he had the TNT championship all but won.
Shawn Michaels superkicks Hulk Hogan after their tag-team match, RAW, July 4, 2005
Nick Wayne betrays Darby Allin, AEW Wrestledream 2023
Seth Rollins betrays The Shield, RAW, June 2, 2014
The Shield had just beaten Evolution in two consecutive PPV matches, and after Triple H refused to give Batista a title shot at Daniel Bryan, he took his ball and went home.
But there’s always a plan B. Rollins hit Roman Reigns in the back with a chair and then laid out Dean Ambrose, joining The Authority and putting himself (and ultimately all three men) on the path to becoming WWE Champion.
Reigns’ obsession with this moment and getting even with Rollins would cost him his 3-year reign as Universal Champion at WrestleMania XL in 2024, when he chose to avenge himself on Rollins with a chair rather than attack Cody Rhodes with it. Brilliant, brilliant storytelling.
Shawn Michaels superkicks Hulk Hogan after their tag-team match, RAW, July 4, 2005
Nick Wayne betrays Darby Allin, AEW Wrestledream 2023
Seth Rollins betrays The Shield, RAW, June 2, 2014
Ole Anderson betrays Dusty Rhodes, 1980
This was a masterful example of long-term storytelling. Anderson had more or less retired and became an authority figure in Georgia Championship Wrestling. Dusty had a feud with the Assassins at the time. They kept jumping him 2 on 1 and leaving him bloody. In his promos, Dusty said he was looking for somebody who was vicious enough to take on the Assassins, somebody who had no problems breaking the rules and “taking care of bithneth!”
Dusty made an impassioned plea to Anderson to take his side on TV and Anderson accepted, setting up a cage match against the Assassins with 2 referees of each side’s choosing. The Assassins chose Ivan Koloff, and Dusty and Ole chose Ole’s brother Gene. Dusty went in first, getting off his crowd-popping moves until the Assassins eventually turned the tables. From then on, it was a heroic struggle for Dusty to reach for the tag, and when he finally got close enough, Ole turned on him. Ole beat on Rhodes while the Assassins feigned surprise. Ole and Gene double teamed on Dusty, and eventually the Assassins and Koloff joined in on the fun. Dusty became a bloody mess. The fans went apoplectic. Some of Dusty’s friends tried climbing the cage to rescue him and the heels kept knocking them off the top of the cage.
Rhodes later got Andre the Giant to partner with him in a tag match vs the Andersons, but the brothers cheated so much, they got disqualified. I don’t recall if Rhodes ever got his proper revenge, but damn was that a riveting storyline.
Shawn Michaels superkicks Hulk Hogan after their tag-team match, RAW, July 4, 2005
Nick Wayne betrays Darby Allin, AEW Wrestledream 2023
Seth Rollins betrays The Shield, RAW, June 2, 2014
Ole Anderson betrays Dusty Rhodes, 1980
Hulk Hogan betrays WCW, Bash at the Beach 1996
‘Mr. Wonderful’ Paul Orndorff betrays Hulk Hogan, 1984
Hogan appears a lot on this list, doesn’t he? Orndorff was the first tag partner and “friend” to turn on Hogan as WWF Champion (though certainly not the last). Orndorff also had the most televised title shots against Hogan during his first run. The two had been a tag team in Japan 4 years earlier and had good ring chemistry, and Orndorff, unlike his manager Roddy Piper, didn’t mind taking the L as long as he was getting paid.
This was the greatest heel turn in wrestling to that point in time. Zbyszko was known as “Bruno’s kid” up to that point, a straight up face, while Bruno was beloved by the fans. The resulting set of fights between them were the biggest wrestling events of that era.
Sting hits Hulk Hogan with a bat to beat him for the WCW Championship, Fall Brawl 1999
After a metric shit-ton of interference from DDP, Bret, Sid, and Luger, Sting picked up a baseball bat that had been left in the ring by Luger and nailed Hogan with it, pinning him to win the World Title. Sting had turned heel for the first time in his career.
And somehow, Sting, Luger, and DDP were heels while Hogan was a face. Go figure. WCW.
Sting hits Hulk Hogan with a bat to beat him for the WCW Championship, Fall Brawl 1999
Roddy Piper turns on his pal Don Muraco, 1982
Heel Piper was announcing along with Gordon Solie in GCW. When his friend and cohort Don Muraco started pushing Solie around Roddy took exception to it. Muraco pushed back. Shortly after that in a ring confrontation Piper knocked Muraco out with a punch which scattered the roll of quarters Piper held in his closed fist.
Next: Best Crazy/Insane Gimmick
The Wolfman (Vilmos ‘Willie’ Farkas), WWWF , 1970s
After defeating an oppponent he would appear to be biting the man’s neck while the guy lay on the mat. On TV a big black X would be displayed on the screen over the action because of “The unnatural act being performed” according to announcer Vince.
The Wolfman (Vilmos ‘Willie’ Farkas), WWWF , 1970s
George “The Animal” Steele, WWF, 1970s - 1980s
George was a hairy ape who would eat turnbuckles. Long heel run, but turned face against (I think) Randy Savage, championing and protecting Miss Elizabeth. When not wrestling, he was a teacher.
I remember Piper, when he brought in a masked Don Muraco, telling people he was smuggling coconuts in his shoulders. I had an opportunity to be in the same gym Muraco was working out in way way back in NYC. Muraco was doing butterflies with more than I could bench press once - and I was in decent shape back then. Insane.