Match outcomes that genuinely surprised you

EJRMAN513

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Lets try to leave obvious answers like Brock ending the streak off of here.

For me one that comes off the top of my head is Wrestlemania 24: triple threat between Orton, Cena and HHH. Orton was one of my favorites at the time and I thought there was no way Orton walked out of there still champion. HHH had returned from his second quad tear I believe 9 months earlier at Summerslam and it looked to be culminating in a title win here and you had Cena at some of the height of his Super Cenery including the surprise Rumble win he wasn't even supposed to be in due to an injured pectoral so him winning wouldn't have been surprising neither.

Orton to my pleasant surprise got the win and further established himself as one of THE guys at the time and for years to come. He would go on to lose the belt to HHH at Backlash the next PPV but him getting the win at Mania was surprising due to how Cena and HHH were being built at the time and imo solidified Ortons status at the top of the card.
 
I know I've been surprised, but its a tough one for me because so many of my favorite and most memorable matches were ones I didn't see live. I'm gonna do some thinking.

EDIT--didn't see it live, but Ultimo Dragon unifying the WCW cruiserweight title with his 100 other titles against Dean Malenko was a shock for me. I thought Ultimo was gonna go down and I was happy to see one of my favorite wrestlers of all-time get the win over...well, one of my favorite wrestlers of all-time.
 
Orton vs hhh Mania 25. They talked about how Ortons career could never take off because everyone still remembered hhh kicking him out of evolution. The feud was fucking awesome. Wwe had finally built up a huge heel in Orton and I thought Orton vs hhh could last months after mania, but Orton had to win to keep the heat going. He should have won by a shocking rko or I would have accepted him cheating.
Instead we get this lackluster match with hunter going over. It killed the damn feud. The fact that hhh went over Cena twice clean(whereas Cena only beat him once) and he went over countless times over Orton is mind boggling
 
When Goldberg beat Hogan clean. Everyone expected a screwy finish.
Or Luger making Hogan submit right before the Aug 97 PPV.
 
Recently I watched, for the first time, the 2001 HITC match with Austin, Rock, Angle, Taker, Rakishi, and HHH.

Way back then, it was the PPV match I was desperate to watch, but my folks refused to pay for it. The night after I saw Angle still had the championship, and was disappointed and figured it wasn't worth watching.

Well, I watched it a few weeks ago, and it was awesome. 10/10 chaos match between six of the greatest wrestlers of that era. The storytelling was perfect, though there was so much action going on between the six men that it was obvious the director in the back was having a very hard time deciding when to cut to what action between two pairs of wrestlers.

Surprisingly, Steve Austin seemed like he had 4 minutes of screentime between the 30+ minutes, and very few standout moments in what was the only HITC match of his career.

If you guys haven't seen it, I highly recommend it, but the lowpoint was the finish. Steve Austin stunned Rock, and HHH attacked Austin before he could pin Rock, and Angle crawled over to pin Rock to win the match.

Lame.

Very very lame.

Angle hardly had any stand-out moments and didn't even hit an Angle Slam or Ankle Lock on anyone.

Hell of a match, but a shitty finish that satisfied no one.
 
Recent ones that come to mind Ryback vs Mark Henry Wrestlemania 29, Goldberg vs Brock Lesnar Survivor Series 2016 and Randy Orton winning the 2017 Royal Rumble.

Yes, the last was leaked early in the day, but it still felt totally out of left field and nobody was picking him before that.

edit wrong SS
 
Triple H going over at WM 2000. Had a heel ever gone over at Mania before? Not that I can recall. The big title change with Rock going over is what everyone expected, but WWE had the heel go over and did the title change at Backlash instead.
 
I guess Booker T vs Lance Storm for all the belts in WCW surprised me. I mean, it was spine-tingling and I wasn't sure what would happen. I was rooting hard for Booker T and hoping he would win but I wasn't sure which way it would go. It wasn't exactly that I thought he would lose but that as a major fan I was afraid he would and was elated when he came through.
 
Recently I watched, for the first time, the 2001 HITC match with Austin, Rock, Angle, Taker, Rakishi, and HHH.

Way back then, it was the PPV match I was desperate to watch, but my folks refused to pay for it. The night after I saw Angle still had the championship, and was disappointed and figured it wasn't worth watching.

Well, I watched it a few weeks ago, and it was awesome. 10/10 chaos match between six of the greatest wrestlers of that era. The storytelling was perfect, though there was so much action going on between the six men that it was obvious the director in the back was having a very hard time deciding when to cut to what action between two pairs of wrestlers.

Surprisingly, Steve Austin seemed like he had 4 minutes of screentime between the 30+ minutes, and very few standout moments in what was the only HITC match of his career.

If you guys haven't seen it, I highly recommend it, but the lowpoint was the finish. Steve Austin stunned Rock, and HHH attacked Austin before he could pin Rock, and Angle crawled over to pin Rock to win the match.

Lame.

Very very lame.

Angle hardly had any stand-out moments and didn't even hit an Angle Slam or Ankle Lock on anyone.

Hell of a match, but a shitty finish that satisfied no one.
The thing I remember most is Vince driving the truck full of sawdust out and Rikishi falling backwards into it. Still don't know why that happened.
 
I was surprised when Cena beat HHH at WM22, especially making him tap when Trips was right there next to the ropes. People in the crowd looked so pissed (Chicago smarks cheering for HHH, imagine that).
 
I was at the Joe the first time Cena pinned the Undertaker.

I was thee only person that stood up and cheered. Heel Cena was over for me at that time. This was way back.
 
The thing I remember most is Vince driving the truck full of sawdust out and Rikishi falling backwards into it. Still don't know why that happened.

Oh, that's because the build-up storyline to the match was Mick Foley made it while he was GM, and Vince was completely against it because it was hyped up to be extremely dangerous to have six wrestlers in a HITC match and it would cause injuries and end careers, which would cost him money.

So he tried to take down the HITC in the middle of the match.


By the way, I saw an interview with Rakishi about that match and he mentioned he and Taker did two test runs of that fall off the cage, and it went perfectly but he was still scared as hell to do it in the match. All he could do is trust Taker.

My question is - He was at least 350 pounds, falling 15 feet, and landed perfectly and uninjured into the back of the truck. What in the hell was in that flatbed that absorbed the impact so perfectly?
 
That's...tough.


I think the whole Daniel Bryan WM30 run was surprising. He was in, he was out, he had to win to get into the match against HHH...

Intentional or not, it was a good saga.
 
Sheamus beating Cena for the WWE Championship 5 months after he debuted on WWECW.
 
Oh, that's because the build-up storyline to the match was Mick Foley made it while he was GM, and Vince was completely against it because it was hyped up to be extremely dangerous to have six wrestlers in a HITC match and it would cause injuries and end careers, which would cost him money.

So he tried to take down the HITC in the middle of the match.


By the way, I saw an interview with Rakishi about that match and he mentioned he and Taker did two test runs of that fall off the cage, and it went perfectly but he was still scared as hell to do it in the match. All he could do is trust Taker.

My question is - He was at least 350 pounds, falling 15 feet, and landed perfectly and uninjured into the back of the truck. What in the hell was in that flatbed that absorbed the impact so perfectly?
His big fat ass probably did a good job of breaking his fall.
 
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