This week saw two new videos advertising returns to WWE and it made me think of some of the better reveals/surprises that have occurred in wrestling. So in this list I'm looking at wrestlers "revealing" themselves (not like that) or just general surprises, you'll get the idea when I start listing them off. So let us begin.
10) The Power Trip Begins
At Wrestlemania 17 Stone Cold challenged the Rock for the WWE title. This was one of the biggest matches at the time and the Reliant Astrodome was jammed packed, partly because of the great card (this Mania was one of the greatest ever in my view) and for their own Steve Austin going for the title. The match is still one of the best I've seen and is one of my personal favourite Mania main events. As the match went on Vince McMahon, who had been feuding with Steve Austin constantly for years, headed down to the ring. Everyone was worried about what he would do but no one expected him to help out Austin, it was a great twist. The biggest problem was where they did it, you could of had Steve Austin shot a bunny in the face with a shotgun and they still would of cheered him like crazy. Anywhere else and this would of worked so well but in Texas was a big mistake.
9) Andre wants his shot
Andre the Giant was one of the biggest stars in wrestling and probably one of the only true global stars when he was around, everyone knew who he was. Andre became one of the main guys in WWE and when they were looking to expand they hit the mother load with Hulk Hogan and he became just as big of a star as Andre maybe even bigger. The two biggest babyfaces had met in matches way before Hogan rejoined the WWE but it never really went down well. Hogan's reign as champion went well and he was beating everyone, we come to a Piper's Pit and a big surprise. During the segment out came Andre with Bobby Heenan, Bobby announced that that Andre wanted a title shot and that Hogan had been ducking him. It ended with Andre ripping Hogan's shirt off and necklace and walking away. At the time this was a massive deal and it was done so well that it drew 96,000 *cough* it didn't draw that many at all, they lied *cough* for Wrestlemania 3 and it became one of the most iconic matches ever.
8) They're Here
When Abyss mentioned that "They" were coming at 10/10/10 in TNA we all knew that it involved Hogan & Bischoff turning heel. The date was for Bound for Glory and as the night went on we were waiting to see Them at some point. They were so many rumours running around that Kurt Angle or Mr. Anderson would be involved in the group. As the main event began a Triple threat between Jeff Hardy, Kurt Angle and Mr Anderson, we were sure that They would show up to help Angle. So as we waited for an eternity for Hogan to make it down the ramp while Eric Bischoff was in the ring we thought it was time and then BAM it turned out Jeff Hardy was apart of them. Hardy was one of the biggest babyfaces at the time and the turn was a big surprise. I haven't been able to praise TNA much over the past two years but this was one of the better planned and executed turns.
7) You know that girl you want to marry, I married her first
First off this is one of the funniest things I've seen in wrestling. In 1999 Test was set to marry Stephanie McMahon (on-screen) and there were some big angles based around it, including a great match between Test and Shane. The ceremony had started but as it went on Triple H came out and said he had something to show the world. What was shown was a drugged up Stephanie being married to Triple H in a drive-thru ceremony. It was a truly hilarious and one of the better twists in wrestling, I really didn't see it coming and I think the fans didn't either. All I can say here is go and find it.
6) The Next Entrant is
I would love to write about one specific moment on this one but it's just too damn hard to pick one. Let's face it the Royal Rumble match is always one to watch every single year and in part it's due to the surprises that we expect, there are always surprise entrants or returns that gets a pop out of us. Whether it was RVD, Diesel, Booker T or the Honky Tonk Man we always get a pop from it. But the two bigger shockers in terms of Rumble surprises were the return of John Cena and Edge (in different years) both at the time were recovering from major injuries and hadn't been expected back for months, they received some of the biggest reactions and then went on to win the Rumble. The rumble is and will forever remain one of my favourite matches every year and the surprises is a key factor there.
5) I now pronounce you man and man?
Bischoff was playing the priest and then his monster squad (3 Minute Warning) destroyed everything. The reason why this is on the list is because you really couldn't tell that it was Bischoff or that it would end the way it did. You can look back now and say it "Oh I knew it was Bischoff" but I'm pretty sure that at the time you didn't, and if you still say you did then you're a liar a dirty, dirty liar.
4) Congratulation and I'm gonna beat you up
At Summerslam 2009 one of my personal favourite matches took place, the main event saw CM Punk face Jeff Hardy in a TLC match for the World Heavyweight title. Oh what a match it was, those two probably had the best series/feud that year to be sure. The ending to this match saw Jeff take himself out by Swantoning Punk on the outside, as Jeff was being taken off Punk began to climb. Hardy battled back and began to climb but was caught by a kick and Punk won the World title. Punk began to celebrate and even stood over Hardy to gloat. But then the lights went out and when they came back on the Undertake replaced Hardy and chokeslammed Punk. This was beautifully done and set up Punk's next feud while ending his previous feud. The problem then came with the fact Punk had to work Taker and Punk couldn't really win in that feud and he didn't.
3) The Millennium is here
When we saw the countdown clock we knew something special was coming. Ultimately that clock would lead us to one of the best debuts ever in wrestling. We all wondered what that clock would exactly lead to and it ended up being the debut of Chris Jericho. The debut became one of the greatest TV segments ever as the clock ran down while the Rock was in the ring, the two then proceeded to have a great back and fourth with each other and it showed that Jericho was going to be a big deal, he wasn't at first but he did in the end. Again all I can say is search this out as it's worth watching and harder to describe.
2) A King in a crap hole
Every wrestling fan See's the ECW arena as a holy grail in wrestling but it looks like a dump and the fans in their are mostly dicks (personal opinion I really don't like the arena fans). Anyways in 1997 a big program occurred in ECW with some of their guys (Rob Van Dam and Sabu) announcing their alliance to the company. ECW's main guy, Tommy Dreamer, was about to end his feud with Raven and just after he had won he was ambushed by RVD and then Sabu. ECW seemed to always have the lights go out on a show but after the first two times and big surprise came with the third as Jerry "The King" Lawler then appeared. No one expected to see The King, who truly hated ECW and still does to this day. While RVD and Sabu were ECW wrestlers claiming to be WWE guys this was a true WWE guy. The reaction the fans gave was one of true hatred so much so that the King had to sink out afterwards as he was truly afraid for his life. It was a great time to be a wrestling fan with angle likes this could happen.
1) Oh Yeah time to drop a leg
I may be a little predictable here but how could this not be number 1, we've all seen the Bash at the Beach in 1996 and the infamous third guy of the Outsiders. While the Outsiders were beating up Randy Savage everyone asked who could save WCW now, out came Hulk Hogan and the Outsiders ran. Hogan then proceeded to dropping a leg on Savage who was lying on the mat and Hogan became the third guy. The fans couldn't believe it and began to throw garbage into the ring, you could feel real passions from the fans. Hogan was the quintessential babyface and no one expected him to turn heel. This was one of the biggest heel turns ever and more to the point one of the biggest surprises we've seen in wrestling. Hence why it's number 1 on this list.
So that's my top 10 surprises/reveals, were you surprised? Probably not but hey I tried. Anyways let me know what you think and thanks for reading.
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