- 4 months ago
Sports Entertainment: bringing grown adults to tears since the dawn of time...
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00:00Crying is good. I mean it. Do not be ashamed to shed those tears. You have them for a reason.
00:06This is true when it comes to wrestling too because it is meant to be an emotional sport.
00:10So let's revisit 10 moments that left fans with water coming out of their eyes.
00:15Number 10, the debut of the Wyatt Six.
00:17Without the context, this is a weird one.
00:19What's so sad about a bunch of spooky-wooky wrestlers in masks arriving in WWE and killing people?
00:24Well, the story behind it is actually quite heartbreaking.
00:27As we know, this was the original creation of Bray Wyatt, who tragically passed away in 2023 at just 36 years old.
00:34At the time, he was teasing some sort of union with Uncle Haldi, who was also his real-life brother Bro Dallas.
00:40So that's tick one. They were finally going to get to work together on the biggest stage.
00:44This had to be paused due to the above when we got to June 2024, and man, this was something else.
00:50Because at the end of an episode of Raw, the lights broke and the backstage WWE guerrilla position was ransacked,
00:55as it also seemed like Chad Gable had been murdered.
00:58Became a whole thing.
00:59The final shot was of the debut in Wyatt Sick, however, and I tell you, it was just a delight.
01:04I mean, the production alone was tremendous, but with the added meaning, this was essentially a live tribute to Bray.
01:09His vision finally coming to light.
01:11The return to family also weighed in about how touching this was, and you'd have to have a heart of stone not to be affected by this.
01:17It was next-level stuff.
01:19It also means Wyatt can always remain in our memories, too, and if we always do do that, he can remain a part of our lives forever.
01:26And sure, that is a little cheesy, but I also think it's true.
01:30Number nine, Cody finishes the story.
01:32So people bought into this hard.
01:34Wanna know how I know?
01:35Because even The Rock returning to WWE and being ready to wrestle wasn't enough to convince people that 2024 wasn't the year to finish Cody Rhodes' story.
01:44That is power.
01:45Let's not forget what this narrative was all about, either.
01:48From day one, after he came back to WWE, Cody made it clear.
01:52His late father, Dusty, had won the old WWF title in Madison Square Garden before a screwdrop ripped it from his hands.
01:59It was now Cody's dream to make sure that wrong was righted.
02:02It's so damn good.
02:03And man, he did it.
02:04I also think many fans bought into this because of the American Nightmare 2 and his own journey.
02:09This is the guy who left WWE in 2016 because the powers that be didn't think he had the chops to be a WrestleMania main eventer, and here he was for the second time doing it at Mania 40.
02:19This is also why people were so annoyed at Mania 39, but it all worked out long term.
02:24Why do you think Triple H aired that emotional video the next night on Raw?
02:28We had all seen him go out there and change the game, even from an AEW point of view.
02:32He has left his mark.
02:33Seeing Cody overwhelmed by this too will absolutely get you, because this man is just the best.
02:38A proper good guy babyface who people want to get behind.
02:42That is damn well perfect.
02:43Number 8, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn reunite.
02:46So really, this relationship goes back to the early days of Ring of Honor and PWG.
02:51It was a long old time ago.
02:52Triple H was more than aware, so as soon as both Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn were through the door in NXT, he kept it going.
02:58Instantly KO turned on his friend, and the war continued.
03:01This was the case on the main roster even under Vince McMahon, because both were being used in very bizarre ways.
03:07Remember the electric chair when from nowhere Zayn blurted out the initials AEW?
03:12What were we doing?
03:13It meant eventually they became buddies again and everything was so much better, which is why Triple H also decided to do it when he was in charge.
03:20This time though, he was going to tie into everything with the bloodline, and as we know, that is gold.
03:25It just works.
03:26I think the reason this hit home too is because of what the end result was going to be, because yep, they went and headlined Wrestlemania.
03:32I mean, there was a time when the word on the street was WWE would never even hire them.
03:37What a wonderful turnaround.
03:38The fact they did this because Sami needed Kevin to fight off the Usos made it even better, and then they went and won the tag team titles to boot.
03:46It just ruled, as did the fact they did it on the main event of the show of shows.
03:50From there, Owens would just sing the praises of his underrated friend too, and you just know it will happen again someday.
03:58They are the Batman and the Joker of the WWE, which is why I hope their final war is a singles match on the grandest stage.
04:05If anybody has earned it, right here.
04:08Number 7, The Madness of Wrestlemania 30.
04:10Daniel Bryan has gone on to be such a mainstay of what good wrestling is.
04:14I think some people forget this now.
04:17I suppose it was way back in 2014.
04:19We move on so fast.
04:21But when crowd support started to swell for Bryan back during this time, WWE wasn't interested.
04:27At all.
04:27This was when whoever was meant to be pushed is who did get pushed, and if you dared get in the way, the machine would try and finish you off ASAP.
04:34I mean, look at Zack Ryder.
04:36What happened to him was nonsense.
04:37The man was good to go.
04:38It got so frustrating, fans started taking over shows even when Bryan wasn't the focal point.
04:43If WWE weren't going to take it seriously, we would just make all the noise until they had to do something.
04:49Even then, it just resulted in teases like the ending to SummerSlam 2013, and by the time Wrestlemania was being talked about, it was all very clear.
04:57The main event was going to be Randy Orton vs Dave Bautista.
05:00Screw that.
05:01CM Punk then walked out of WWE, which triggered an incredible chain of events, and as the audience wouldn't let it go.
05:07Yep, at the 30th Wrestlemania, not only did Daniel defeat Triple H, he went and won the WWE title in the main event.
05:14It was just so awesome to see somebody who deserved it get his moment, even more so because we all had to will it into existence.
05:21Don't forget all that B-plus player stuff.
05:24It was a barrier.
05:25Make sure you do stare off into the crowd after he does win too.
05:28You will see people with tears in their eyes.
05:32It is great.
05:32Number 6, The Reunion of Liz and Randy
05:35We are going old school now, but this was old time.
05:38It was all sad times before Wrestlemania 7, as Randy Savage was a bad guy with Sherry Martell as his queen, because poor Miss Elizabeth had been moved aside.
05:46Now, to be fair, this was very antiquated, as the story was the woman needs to stand by their man, and yeah, that was dumb.
05:53But as the match of man and Liz had been joined at the hip for so long, fans were shocked when they were no longer a thing.
05:58It's like watching a damn soap opera.
06:00The main reason all of it worked, however, was the understated performance of Elizabeth, who just played the America's sweetheart role perfectly.
06:07So when Savage started being an asshole to her, man, it was like we'd all been attacked.
06:12It all led to this night, and as Randy lost to the Ultimate Warrior, as per the stipulations, he had to retire.
06:17Sherry then turned on him immediately, because what a loser he is.
06:20And who came to the ring to make the save?
06:22Miss Elizabeth.
06:23Randy played this great too, as he questioned the whole thing, until they did finally embrace.
06:27I don't know why it works so well.
06:30I suppose people just love these guys.
06:32So sure, yes, it is just two somewhat stereotypical characters tapping into what they knew worked at the time, but they were right.
06:38It summoned many a waterworks out of people's eyes, and there's a reason it's a legendary moment.
06:43Not anybody could have just pulled this off.
06:46Number five, I'm sorry I love you.
06:47I was there live for this encounter, which nine times out of ten makes any experience better.
06:52The thing is, given how this was shot, I had no idea about this extra wrinkle until I re-watched it at home.
06:58I do believe that's known as layering.
07:00Fans were always going to be crying during this, though, because at WrestleMania 24, Ric Flair was having his last match.
07:06Turned out that wasn't true, but we didn't know that at the time.
07:09And WWE had done a great job promoting all of this.
07:12Leave the memories alone.
07:14The story was there, too, as Flair wanted Shawn Michaels at the end, because there was somebody he saw as the current measuring stick.
07:20If I can't defeat you on the biggest stage, then even the Nature Boy would know that he was done.
07:25This brought us to the match, which is just a joy.
07:28Fans wanted to see Flair play the hit, so even though he was a mega babyface, he takes so many shortcuts.
07:34Cheats, pokes Shawn in the eye, he doesn't care.
07:36Even before you get to the proper goodbye, both guys are clearly quite emotional, too.
07:41They knew the gravitas of the situation.
07:42But when Michaels had got the upper hand and it was time to old yell at this guy, we hit a home run.
07:48Because instead of tuning up the band, HBK simply looked at Ric and said,
07:51I'm sorry, I love you, before whamming him with the sweet chin music and getting the win.
07:56That is flubbing wrestling.
07:58It once again left people in floods of tears, especially if you were an old school fan.
08:02Everybody had grown up on Flair, and now he was done.
08:05Sort of.
08:06Again?
08:07Let's not talk about it.
08:08Number four, the Conor Maholic tribute.
08:09So this is the most important entry on this list.
08:12It's great that wrestling can make you cry, but this was real life, and involved somebody who could inspire us all.
08:18Conor Maholic was an eight-year-old WWE fan who just loved wrestling.
08:21Such was his fandom.
08:22He even came up with a nickname for himself.
08:25He was the Crusher.
08:26The whole thing was great.
08:27Because sometimes life just isn't fair, Conor was diagnosed with brain cancer despite his age, and tragically passed away in April 2014.
08:35As you can imagine, it was just horrible.
08:37Before his last days, we learned that Conor had struck up a friendship with one Daniel Bryan, and thanks to videos that WWE put out there, there was a whole side quest where he was the main character.
08:46You can see a lot of this on YouTube.
08:48It's equal parts lovely and heartbreaking.
08:50The company then made an excellent tribute for the Crusher after he passed away, which aired both on Raw and SmackDown, and to be totally honest, it's next to impossible to watch.
08:59Seeing these events unfold was almost unbearable.
09:02A huge part of this was how entertaining Conor was as he told AJ Lee she needed to stop being crazy, and his interactions with Bryan were just the best thing ever.
09:09I don't think this kid had any idea of the impact he was having on these stars.
09:13You also get the footage of Conor winning a match featuring Triple H for a special title that WWE made for him.
09:19So yeah, this is just too much to be honest, and a reminder that we have to enjoy every day as it comes, because you really do never know.
09:27Number 3, Daniel Bryan's Retirement Speech
09:29So this is even worse in many ways today.
09:31While we know that the now Bryan Danielson was able to return to wrestling in the following years,
09:35he also told us how much he loves this wrestling madness.
09:38So to now see it get stripped away in such a fashion, sheesh, it will get you.
09:43This was February 2016 though, and yeah, WWE had decided Bryan was suffering from way too many concussions,
09:50and therefore he was banned from in-ring competition.
09:52It was even worse because Daniel had been suffering from a host of injuries following his Big Mania 30 win.
09:57Just as it seemed he was getting back involved, nope, instead he was done forever.
10:02What a horrible 180.
10:03Watching Bryan give his goodbye speech will finish you off too, because the emotion is everywhere.
10:07The yes man bursts into tears himself, and there's a good minute where he can't even find the words.
10:13Daniel then talks about how much he loved his family, and then there's that picture that did the rounds afterwards,
10:17where he and Brie Bella are backstage, talk about an image telling you all you need to know.
10:22When you do put all this in your brain too, it's no surprise Bryan did everything and anything he could to get back into the ring.
10:27I'm not actually sure anybody has more passion for sports entertainment than he does.
10:32Number two, Kofi Mania.
10:34This wasn't even meant to happen, talk about a wonderful out of nowhere moment.
10:38It does start again with Daniel Bryan, who before WrestleMania 35 was just the best asshole.
10:43He was the planet's WWE champion, and he hated everyone, especially the fans, they were fickle.
10:49When Planet Mania opponent Mustafa Ali got injured though, Kofi Kingston was subbed into place.
10:54This is when Bryan went all in. He was going to subvert his own role and tell Kingston he was nothing but a B-plus player.
11:01It was great stuff.
11:02It also allowed Kofi to get everybody on board, as we basically had a new yes moment, and even people like the Usos bought into this.
11:08As Vince McMahon put constant hurdles in front of Kofi, Jimmy and Jay sacrificed their opportunity because they knew how much Kingston deserved this.
11:16That is really well thought out.
11:18The match itself too is an underrated classic, as Bryan is able to act like he is the best wrestler in the world,
11:23meaning Kingston has to become super vicious afterwards to keep up.
11:26It's totally mad we didn't let Kofi keep doing this afterwards.
11:30By the time he wins and becomes the WWE champion, the world went crazy too.
11:34Let's not forget how important this was to the black community.
11:37We need more of it.
11:38See, Big E and Xavier Woods' breakdown is the icing on the cake as well, because you see what this means firsthand.
11:43It's why the way we booked Kofi Kingston afterwards was a joke.
11:47We did not do right by that guy.
11:48Number one, Roman's remission.
11:50This is another of those entries that is way more important than wrestling.
11:54It's about real life.
11:55I'm not sure anybody saw this coming either, because in October 2018, not only did we not get Roman Reigns on that evening,
12:01because Joe Anawaii was here instead, but as we learned, he had leukemia.
12:06It was an illness he'd been fighting for years, and now had returned to such a degree,
12:10he had no choice but to go away for a while and focus on his health.
12:13I mean, talk about a bombshell.
12:15If nothing else, this was a solid reminder that wrestlers are just humans and going through who knows what in their personal lives,
12:20and as you expect, a lot of individuals were worried.
12:23What did it all mean?
12:24Thankfully, when February 2019 rolled around, Roman returned to Raw,
12:28and with an absolutely gigantic smile on his face said,
12:31I'm in remission, y'all.
12:33It may have been one of the best moments ever.
12:35If nothing else, here was a guy who got to do what he loved again and had the support of his family to boot,
12:40as he told us.
12:41So this is what matters in the grand scheme of things.
12:45It really was quite the day.
12:46Know of any other moments that made you cry like a damn baby?
12:49Make sure you let me know in the comments below before you like the video, share the video,
12:52and please, please hit that subscribe button.
12:55You can also click the video on the screen, which will be me running down some more wrestling trivia,
12:59but otherwise, my friends, have a terrific day, and I'll talk to you again soon.
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