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Mistakes, missteps and missing the point of the WrestleMania main event...
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00:00I personally do not like the term botch.
00:02The only person who gets how to use that is Matthew from Botchamania.
00:05And of course, you can always laugh at mistakes in the ring as long as everybody is okay.
00:09But to act like these things can't happen or now the wrestlers involved suck?
00:13Come on, bro, that is not fair.
00:14It is always going to happen as well because that's just the way of things and even the best of us have off nights.
00:19Do you know who's more aware of this as well?
00:21The people in the damn ring.
00:22They've experienced it.
00:24It's like when you make a mistake at work, all of a sudden you want to cry.
00:27So I am Simon of the Board A-Hole and let's go through some of the more famous one of these right now and try and figure it out.
00:33Number 9, The Undertaker vs. Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 33.
00:37Now this one did irk me a little bit at the time because the world title is not on the line, so why did it main event?
00:42Even if The Undertaker was planning on retiring, it kind of felt like we should have shouted about that more in the build and he carried on wrestling anyways.
00:49It just felt like it would have been better served in the middle of the card.
00:52Roman Reigns and The Undertaker are huge stars.
00:54You don't even need me to tell you directly because the dead man has spoken about this a lot.
00:59He hates this match.
01:00Feels like he didn't do right by Reigns because he was so beaten up, so it didn't go the way he would have liked it to.
01:06He's not wrong either because yeah.
01:08And numerous times throughout this they both slip or a move doesn't go to plan.
01:12There's then a lot of resetting as they try to get it going again.
01:15It's not that fun to see.
01:16The tombstone spot goes totally awry and it didn't really live up to expectations or what you'd want from a WrestleMania main event.
01:23This isn't something to be ridiculed however, in fact it's just a shame.
01:27I think if it happened today too, Roman would actually be able to save this with the added experience, but in 2017 it just wasn't going to happen.
01:34The real disappointment for me anyway was the next night on Raw, the big dog got booed out of the place,
01:39and that should have been the catalyst for the start of the Tribal Chief character.
01:43Nope.
01:44Whatever reason we carried on with the failed babyface push regardless, that was really weird.
01:49Number 8. Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 34
01:52You know something has gone bad when the man who just won the WrestleMania main event gets backstage and hurls his world title at Vince McMahon.
02:00Now it is wrestling, so maybe it was pre-planned, but you can see footage of Brock Lesnar doing this and he is pissed.
02:06I don't think Lesnar could fake that.
02:07That is not his lane.
02:09I'm not surprised either because this Roman match was ridiculous.
02:12It actually has nothing to do with the performers, and more this insistence that Reigns had to be kept babyfaced despite being booed in every single building.
02:20Most fans just accepted he finally would win the WWE Championship back at this mania, and fine.
02:25If that's what management wanted to do, stop delaying it, make the damn switch and we can see what happens.
02:31Furthermore, Brock doesn't really turn up to work, so at least Reigns will when somebody got cold feet.
02:36It was so silly because if McMahon really didn't believe in this project, then just change things.
02:41Instead, we had Lesnar win with one F5, and we held off the change for another month.
02:46I can only assume it's because Vince didn't want any backlash at the biggest show of the year.
02:50Well, he got it anyway.
02:51It just felt so disjointed.
02:53The match also struggles because the crowd just do not buy in because of all the above, so in that sense it did fall apart.
02:59The disparity between what fans wanted and what the creative team were going to give them was huge.
03:04It also sort of felt like no man was going anywhere.
03:07There was no set direction.
03:08And it kind of goes back to what we just talked about.
03:10This was Tribal Chief time, the TCT, and we didn't do that until the world literally stopped.
03:17Sometimes stubbornness is not the answer.
03:19Number 7, Hulk Hogan vs. Sid Justice at WrestleMania 7.
03:22This was much like our first entry as there was a selection of fans that felt slightly annoyed that Hulk Hogan was in the main event of WrestleMania just because he was Hulk Hogan.
03:31The world title had already been defended earlier in the night.
03:34If you switch those two matches around, this actually wouldn't have been that bad.
03:37Hogan himself had also taken a public relations kicking, so it was about to take some time off, and it all tied in.
03:43It was just a catalogue of bad news when the WWF turned Sid Justice heel so Hulk could work with a monster.
03:48Now look, I love Sid.
03:49The man was crazy, but this was not the right last bout for WrestleMania 7.
03:54It fell apart.
03:54It was the ending where this was most evident, because after the leg drop of Doom, Papa Shango was meant to run to the ring and break up the pin.
04:02Charles Wright, for whatever reason, then didn't get his time cue, though, so he was late, meaning Sid just had to kick out.
04:09So that's bad news number one.
04:10People did not just kick out of Hulk Hogan's finish.
04:13You also see Shango freeze in real time, because what does he do now?
04:16He is super late.
04:18Well, he just whacked Hogan in the penis, and the beatdown was on.
04:21Do make sure you watch the clip of this, because you can see Papa slow down when running to the ring as he realizes what's happened.
04:26We've all been there.
04:27I know that feeling.
04:28Should be in the dictionary as, oh no.
04:31Of course, it was sort of saved by the return of the Ultimate Warrior, but poor Bobby Heenan and Gorilla Monsoon.
04:36They had to ignore all of this, because they knew what the proper finish was, and they didn't want to draw attention to it.
04:42I don't want to be horrible, but at least parts of this are quite funny.
04:45Number 6, Cody Rhodes vs. John Cena at WrestleMania 42
04:48Let us throw a more recent match in there for your brain, and I blame this on one human.
04:53One human alone?
04:54Travis Scott.
04:55Because before he'd take 68,678 years to walk to the ring, John Cena vs. Cody Rhodes is fun.
05:02Seeing John go full heel with punches and kicks is just a treat, and they seem to be having a ball in there.
05:07I don't think the crowd was necessarily into Cena's heel turn, but they still made a lot of noise.
05:12The atmosphere was great.
05:13When you do get Scott's song blaring over the speakers, though, it just goes sideways, mostly because the crowd mistook this for The Rock.
05:20I think that is what pops the bubble, too, because Las Vegas soon realised they were getting Travis and not Dwayne Johnson, and, well, that's not what they wanted.
05:28It affected the match, because at this point on, it's all over the place, and by the time Cena had cheated to win his 17th world title, the vibe was weird.
05:36I think people were trying to catch up.
05:38I still don't get why Travis Scott took so long, either, because that disturbed the flow of the thing.
05:42Cody knew he had to thump him, so he was just hanging out playing Nintendo.
05:46Rhodes also sort of hinted at this recently, saying he sees the Mania and SummerSlam matches as a part one and part two, so I would assume he is aware.
05:53If you do go back-to-back with him, it's way better, and just fast-forward past the interference during match one, and then hit stop after Cena and Cody embrace a SummerSlam.
06:03You know what I'm talking about.
06:04You do not need it.
06:05Number 5, Triple H vs Scott Steiner at the 2003 Royal Rumble.
06:08I find it hard to take too many shots at this, because it all comes down to age.
06:13I was a fetus watching this, and because it was two massive dudes crashing into each other, well, I thought it was awesome.
06:19Scott Steiner had also come from WCW, which I thought was cool.
06:23Sometimes you do have to watch things with a kid brain.
06:25Your innocence does vanish eventually, though, and yeah, if you watch this today, it ain't great.
06:30Mostly because poor Scott can't walk.
06:32I've no idea what WCW was thinking, but Steiner had a serious case of drop foot during his last run of the company,
06:38and yet they sort of ignored it.
06:40Maybe that was his choice, but don't put a guy with that sort of ailment in long matches.
06:45Keep them short and intense.
06:46Push the strengths.
06:47Hide the weaknesses.
06:48Instead, this went 18 minutes, and really, I don't think Triple H and Scott Steiner liked each other.
06:54Neither gives an inch, and you can almost hear them saying,
06:56I'm going to outflex you during this.
06:59There was a definite case of wanting to literally be the big man.
07:02Steiner also runs out of gas juice to his size and this injury, and WWE knows it too.
07:07Soon after this, he was moved down the card, but the damage had already been done.
07:11It was a massive shame because in 2003, you did need matches like this.
07:15It felt fresh, but it just didn't click.
07:18In fact, it went the other way.
07:19You don't even need to see it now.
07:21You're just going to be a little bit upset.
07:23Number four, Charlotte Flair vs. Nia Jax on the 30th of August 2021 Raw.
07:27To this day, I want to know what happened here.
07:30The feeling was good in WWE in the summer of 2021, because fans were finally allowed back
07:35into the building, and shows didn't feel like a funeral.
07:38It also meant the audience was pretty forgiving, and it was just nice to be back.
07:41It was the same as Charlotte Flair and Nia Jax on this episode of Raw, when it just stopped.
07:46And I mean that literally.
07:47One day, I hope we get a book on this, because there was some sort of communication breakdown
07:51when they paused and looked at each other.
07:54That's right, the fighting ended, and stare.
07:57It was like a T-Rex had turned up.
07:58They then started sandbagging and seemingly punching each other in the face for real,
08:02which created even more confusion.
08:04This is fascinating to watch.
08:05It's like they forgot thousands of people were looking on.
08:08Because it's not collaborative at all, it looks mad.
08:11And how wrestling would be if it was legit, I suppose.
08:14Nia's face at 1.2.
08:16She looks genuinely aghast Flair has done whatever she thinks he's done.
08:20I don't have more information, so I can't tell you.
08:22Now, there is something fun to it, because you rarely see two pros fall apart to this degree
08:26on Raw.
08:27And I would guess that a few hard shots just pissed one of them off.
08:30To sum up in a headline, though, this was totally mad.
08:33Number 3, Goldust vs. The Ultimate Warrior at In Your House 7.
08:37Right, let's go the other way.
08:39Something that's totally lost to the passages of time.
08:41Now, we do need some caveats.
08:43Goldust was the Intercontinental Champion, but did this match basically in pieces.
08:48He had a serious injury.
08:49And in 1996, the Warrior's mere presence in the company was weird.
08:53He'd fallen out with Vince McMahon so many damn times.
08:56Due to all the above, though, they knew they needed to stall for time.
08:59So they did.
09:01Warrior went and smoked Marlena's cigar, because that'll be up some minutes.
09:04And he then kind of wore their wardrobe, which sent the hills crazy,
09:08when they ran around the place literally for minutes.
09:10Goldust then got the cigar and burned Warrior's hand, which set him off.
09:14And the bad guys were so scared, they got counted out.
09:17Also meant Dust was still the icy champ.
09:19The belt can't change hands on a countout.
09:22It also means there's basically zero wrestling in this, and I mean none.
09:26Begs the question why the WWF didn't cancel it, or do a replacement contest.
09:30Even if some fans had been disappointed, it would have made them feel way better than this did.
09:34If you put the Benny Hill music over the top, well, that's the vibe.
09:37Vince McMahon took it hard publicly, too, as he had been promoting the show as the new era,
09:41and the new generation.
09:42It was meant to be a fresh beginning, and if this was the plan going forward,
09:46then my gosh, let's get off the wagon now.
09:49I would say you should go check this out after listening to me,
09:51because you will laugh your ass off.
09:53It's such nonsense, but maybe that's the beauty of wrestling.
09:57You can actually do whatever the flub you want.
09:59Number 2, Chris Jericho vs Neville at the 14th 2016 Raw.
10:02So I wanted to include this one to show you how a true pro can handle things.
10:06It didn't go exactly according to the new plan, but honestly,
10:09if you are an up-and-coming wrestler and need a blueprint on how to balance mistakes,
10:13Chris Jericho smashed it.
10:15Now, people forget this match with Neville is also really good,
10:17as Jericho was having a great 2016.
10:20Neville was Neville.
10:21The man didn't know how to have a bad match.
10:23They were rocking and rolling when Neville went to dive through Chris's legs, though,
10:26and rolled his ankle.
10:28You could tell it was bad as he just stopped moving,
10:30and Jericho realized instantly, too, he went into ring general mode.
10:34He instantly rolled up his opponent and held the tights to be an asshole while telling referee
10:38Charles Robinson to ignore the original plan, as we gotta go home.
10:42I don't think Charles heard him.
10:44He counts the one to ooh, and man, Chris went nuts.
10:47Got in his face and screamed, he's hurt.
10:49He even gave him a shove.
10:51This was most definitely a real reaction.
10:52This is where Robinson's brain kicked in, too, though, because he got the message
10:56and disqualified Jericho for laying his hands on an official.
10:59So, sure, seeing it get real for a second ain't ideal,
11:02but they do hide it well, and there's no lost time.
11:04Nobody freezes in the moment, and they carry on regardless.
11:07If Robinson had heard Jericho the first time,
11:10this would have been on every single training synopsis,
11:12protect your opponent, get the match done.
11:15It is still very well pulled off, though, even with the slight miscommunication.
11:18I mean, compare and contrast it with other entries on this list.
11:22That's not even close.
11:23Number one, Tiffany Stratton vs. Jay Cargill vs. Nia Jax
11:26for the 26th of September 2025 SmackDown.
11:28So, we will throw the one in there that happened recently
11:30that everybody wanted to talk about,
11:32and if you've watched any of my content, you know my opinion on this.
11:35Sometimes bad things happen in the ring,
11:38and I suppose this goes back to the intro.
11:40I don't put any blame on anybody's shoulders.
11:42We all go to our jobs and sometimes make a mistake,
11:45and that's what happened here.
11:46Now, things have actually already taken a turn before this
11:48when poor Jay Cargill was thrown into Simba the Still Steps by Nia Jax,
11:52and good grief the cut that she suffered.
11:54She had to have that thing stitched up.
11:56You can go on her social media now to see the damage.
11:59It will make your stomach turn.
12:01I just hope she's alright.
12:02This also could have been the reason they went straight to the finish,
12:04but essentially, after Jay Cargill had slammed Nia Jax to the floor,
12:07she went to get the 1-2-3,
12:09when Tiffany Stratton was meant to run in and boot Jade
12:11and try and steal the pin herself.
12:13The issue was Tiffany was a little bit late,
12:15meaning Jax had to kick out.
12:17So when Stratton went to get the pin,
12:19well, I think the referee assumed,
12:20well, Nia's going to have to kick out again.
12:22She's not suffered any more damage,
12:23so why would she lay down for the 1-2-3?
12:26As far as Nia Jax was concerned, though,
12:28she had been told it was time to go home,
12:30so she didn't kick out at all,
12:32meaning the referee did the 1, did the 2.
12:35And, well, the 3 should have come,
12:36but instead, nope, we just got silence.
12:38And what really makes this somewhat amusing
12:40is that Nia Jax looks at the official like,
12:42what are you doing, dude?
12:43Before she realizes, oh, I better kick out.
12:45And she does.
12:46Now, of course, WWE was just trying to pull off their favorite finish,
12:49which was somebody is about to win in a triple threat
12:51when somebody else steals the pin.
12:53And look, Tiffany Stratton does go up to the top rope.
12:56She hits the PME.
12:57She gets the 1-2-3, and that rhymes,
12:58so it must be true.
12:59I really wouldn't put the blame on anybody, though,
13:01and especially not referee Daphne LaShawn.
13:03I think she was just trying to do what was right in the moment,
13:07and given that there was a lot of miscommunication,
13:08nobody actually knew what that was.
13:11Doesn't mean that it was fun to watch
13:12from a professional wrestling standpoint,
13:14but as we've talked about,
13:15Tiffany, Jade, and Nia will know this,
13:17and I bet they got to the back and face palmed,
13:20whereas today they're probably laughing about it,
13:22because, yeah, it all fell to pieces,
13:24but that can happen.
13:25It still wasn't great, though,
13:26and nobody would pretend otherwise,
13:27but listen, my friends,
13:29it won't be the first time you see it,
13:30and it absolutely won't be the last,
13:32because this is what makes sports entertainment
13:34so damn good to begin with.
13:35You are flying by the seat of your pants,
13:37and there's absolutely no safety net,
13:39and with great risk comes great reward.
13:42I've run out of Instagram quotes now.
13:44Let's just end the video,
13:45because you can certainly throw in more of these
13:47that may be in your brain in the comments below
13:48before you like the video,
13:49share the video, and subscribe,
13:50and if you would like more information about WWE List Form,
13:53well, you can click the video on the screen right now.
13:55Otherwise, I just appreciate having you
13:57for the last 15 minutes or so,
13:58and hope you have a terrific day.
14:00This is Bold A-Hole.
14:01We'll talk to you soon.
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