The split-second moments of magic that changed EVERYTHING for performers and the very fate of WWE.
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00:00 So for a time there, WWE got a little bit predictable.
00:03 It was likely due to the fact they were the only game in town, but still, sometimes you
00:07 want a bit of madness and it never arrived.
00:10 The reason we did want it, though, is because WWE has done it a lot of times before.
00:15 A lot of times.
00:16 So yes, I am signed for WhatCulture, please do go and massage that subscribe button.
00:20 This is 10 Precise Turning Points When WWE Did The Impossible.
00:24 10.
00:25 Finn Balor Kicks Edge Out Of The Judgment Day
00:27 So at first, this seems stupid.
00:29 The Judgment Day had just defeated the team of Finn Balor, AJ Styles and Liv Morgan at
00:33 Hell in a Cell 2022, and within 24 hours, they'd turned on leader Edge and booted him
00:39 out of the group.
00:40 Furthermore, they recruited Balor, so all of this was very confusing.
00:42 It was like playing Top Trumps in reverse.
00:45 As it turned out, Vince McMahon wanted to add some spookiness to the faction, and because
00:49 the rated R superstar didn't fancy that, we made some changes.
00:52 Little did we know how good this was going to be.
00:55 Because a month after this, we did get that seismic shift where McMahon was forced out
00:58 of the company and Triple H took over.
01:01 And do you want to know who really benefited from that?
01:03 The Flippin' Judgment Day.
01:05 They went right after the Mysterios as they actually tried to turn Dominik, and rather
01:08 than just have Edge return to save the day, he failed.
01:12 Domi-Boy was corrupted, and it was the best damn decision of the year.
01:16 It turned Mini Mysterio into a wonderful dickhead, and the whole group now is one of the best
01:20 aspects of Raw.
01:21 No one had that on their bingo cards, with many advocating for WWE to cut their losses
01:25 and start again.
01:26 This is the way to do it though.
01:28 Fix the problems, see what does succeed, and ride that into the future.
01:32 I genuinely hope these guys are together forever.
01:35 9.
01:36 New Day Heel Turn
01:37 So this was quite the revelation.
01:39 WWE actually listened to their wrestlers, and what do you know, they were right.
01:43 As soon as Big E, Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston were given the original New Day gimmick, they
01:47 knew it was going to be a disaster.
01:49 Motivational Singers was never going to get them over, so why don't we go the other way
01:53 with it, be infuriatingly positive, so that fans would happily boo them out the building.
01:58 Kinda sounds like me on this channel.
01:59 They had to go through the ringer with this though, as Vince McMahon was dead set on them
02:03 being good guys.
02:04 But as soon as those New Day sucks chants began, they had their ammunition to fight
02:08 back.
02:09 As such, Woods went to Vince and basically put his career on the line, and promised the
02:13 boss if they just let the trio run with it, within weeks they'd be among the most hated
02:17 acts on the roster.
02:18 And man, he smashed that, didn't he?
02:20 Within no time at all, what felt like a mistake became a proper Hall of Fame act that is still
02:24 going strong today.
02:25 I don't actually think I could love them any more than I do.
02:28 They are the best.
02:29 8.
02:30 John Cena Returns At The 2008 Raw Rumble
02:32 This still makes no sense.
02:34 I don't care what your argument for it is.
02:36 John Cena tore his pec in a random Raw match against Mr. Kennedy, and was going to be out
02:42 for at least eight months.
02:43 Even coming back in that time frame would be amazing.
02:46 This is a serious injury.
02:47 And then we got to January, which by the way, using your wrestling maths, is only three
02:51 months later, and Cena was the surprise number 30 entrant in the Rumble.
02:55 How?
02:56 I need answers.
02:57 It was one of the great moments of the show, and go and listen to the fans.
03:01 Even though we were in New York, a crowd notorious for never giving John an easy ride, they erupted
03:05 when his music hit because they couldn't believe it.
03:08 This wasn't logical.
03:09 The best part is, within seconds they go back to booing him as they remember how much they
03:12 disliked Big Match John, but it doesn't matter.
03:15 This is still so good even today.
03:17 It was impossible though, even though somehow we did see it happen.
03:21 7.
03:22 Gunther Paying Off An Accidental 25 Year Story
03:25 So let us be honest here.
03:26 Every Intercontinental Champion from about 2003 to 2022 had the same story.
03:32 They were going to bring prominence back to the title, and finally we could care about
03:35 it again.
03:36 Nope.
03:37 Some were more successful than others, but the problem was, this never lasted.
03:40 Sure, for a few weeks it felt like we had re-established its former glory, and then
03:44 more ridiculous things would happen, or people would literally forget they were even the
03:49 champion.
03:50 Great.
03:51 I'd give a pass to The Miz who was able to treat it like the biggest prize in the
03:53 game for a short while there, but even his attempts don't compare to Gunther's.
03:58 The big man won the IC belt ages ago, and ever since has been singing its praises and
04:02 defending it like nothing else matters.
04:04 You do need to give credit to Triple H who clearly made this a priority, as well as the
04:07 likes of Rey Mysterio, Ricochet and Sheamus who also played their role wonderfully.
04:12 But ultimately, Gunther has been given the freedom to care, and look at that, now we
04:16 care too.
04:17 It's also just a good sign for future independent talents who join WWE, because again, there
04:22 was a time when no matter who you were, nothing was guaranteed, so Gunther is spearheading
04:26 that revolution.
04:27 6.
04:28 Making The Best Of Beating The Streak
04:30 Even though The Undertaker himself has said differently in many an interview, I still
04:34 think Brock Lesnar beating The Streak was a success.
04:37 Vince McMahon made this call on the day of WrestleMania 30 as he told the dead man, if
04:41 not Brock, who will ever defeat you at WrestleMania?
04:43 I like to think he knew, and what am I talking about?
04:47 Well.
04:48 After the piece of return a couple of years prior, he came across like a megastar.
04:52 As the powers that be were upset he left back in 2004, however, Lesnar had to be punished.
04:57 Therefore he lost to John Cena, he lost to Triple H, and any momentum he had was diminished.
05:02 I saw it first hand, it was stupid.
05:04 And sure there were other ways to light a fire under his ass, but you can't say this
05:08 didn't work.
05:09 Soon as Brock handed the Fiend Arm his first loss at the show of shows, he became the company's
05:13 end of level boss.
05:14 So he did use this to spur him forward to the point he's still riding those waves
05:18 today.
05:19 It got even better when Lesnar destroyed Cena at Summerslam later that year, and both of
05:23 these events were deemed impossible.
05:25 Nobody ever thought The Undertaker would lose at the granddaddy of them all, and Cena was
05:29 the golden boy.
05:30 Seeing him manhandled this way was a genuine shock.
05:33 So this is the wrestling hill that I'm happy to die on, because we did indeed take
05:37 an unthinkable scenario and had Brock dominate both of them.
05:40 The results, as far as I'm concerned, are there for all to see.
05:44 5.
05:45 Vince McMahon Tries To Reason With Steve Austin
05:47 The 22nd of September 1997 Raw is widely considered as the show where the then WWF strapped a
05:53 rocket to Steve Austin.
05:54 This is when Stone Cold did finally drop Vince McMahon with a stunner, and the rest, as they
05:58 say, is history.
05:59 Kinda.
06:00 Because while it has been chatted about to death, the events of that year's Survivor
06:03 Series cannot be overlooked.
06:05 The Rattlesnake was already destined for huge things, but when McMahon had to come out in
06:09 defence of the Monstrual Screwdrop only to turn himself mega heel, Austin had the perfect
06:13 foil.
06:14 Everybody now wanted to see Vince have his ass kicked, so he could do that week in and
06:18 week out to thunderous approval.
06:19 It got better in December when Vince demanded Steve forfeit the Intercontinental title and
06:23 give it to The Rock, which of course not opened the door for that rivalry, but set Austin
06:28 on a course for the World Championship.
06:30 He was away.
06:31 I suppose the shock side of it is that it wasn't Shawn Michaels or another wrestler
06:34 who was going to spark Stone Cold into life, it was the owner of the company who had basically
06:39 been a lead commentator up to this point.
06:41 I mean, did anybody predict this?
06:43 I doubt it.
06:44 4.
06:45 Randy Savage Falls Upwards
06:46 If you want to say that WrestleMania 4 was Randy Savage's WWF highlight, I get it.
06:51 He won the one night only tournament and became the WWF Champion.
06:55 That was great.
06:56 They were also thinking long term here because during celebrations a quick glance at Hulk
07:00 Hogan and Miss Elizabeth was going to plant the seeds for the mega powers.
07:03 In 12 months time the two would be at loggerheads thanks to one of the best stories in wrestling
07:08 history.
07:09 The real twist with this one is that it almost didn't happen.
07:11 On the same night Hogan had been screwed out of the title courtesy of Andre the Giant and
07:15 Ted DiBiase, with the original plan calling for the Macho Man to defeat the Honky Tonk
07:19 Man for the Intercontinental belt.
07:21 For some reason Honky decided he didn't want to do that, so as a make good, Vince McMahon
07:25 decided why not just go one step further with Savage.
07:28 And we did.
07:29 On top of all of this though, you can't do the stuff with Randy and Hulk, and technically
07:33 it wasn't even the original plan.
07:35 Wrestling is bonkers.
07:36 3.
07:37 Sami Zayn Joins The Bloodline
07:39 April 2022.
07:41 This is the first occasion when Sami Zayn started to flutter around the bloodline, and
07:45 if anyone predicted the fallout, I don't believe you.
07:48 Nobody thought this was going to happen.
07:49 It's important to remember that this group was put in place to help establish Roman Reigns
07:53 as the Mega Champion, which is why we had all that drama with the Usos in 2021, when
07:58 Jimmy and Jey eventually joined up.
07:59 It was a little disappointing, it just happened.
08:02 As soon as Zayn was included though, everybody benefited.
08:05 The Usos were all of a sudden more than just bumping machines for Roman, whereas Reigns'
08:09 feuds had that extra something something, because it would always relate to Sami somehow.
08:13 Seeing him slowly win everybody over was amazing.
08:15 It gave all this so much more drama, which was even more surprising because weeks before
08:20 this Zayn had been feuding with Johnny Knoxville.
08:22 Now that rocked, but did anybody start saying "oh I know where this will go"?
08:26 Of course not, and that's the beauty of it.
08:29 There was plenty more that happened because of this, which is why…
08:31 2.
08:32 Cody Rhodes and Sami Zayn get over at the same time
08:35 Amazingly, before Cody Rhodes won the 2023 Royal Rumble, there was a fear that fans were
08:40 going to turn on the American Nightmare.
08:42 That didn't happen.
08:43 I get the logic behind this as Sami Zayn was so over and on a collision course with Roman
08:47 Reigns at the Elimination Chamber, maybe all of this could go wrong.
08:50 The Daniel Bryan situation was used as a comparison, but there was a huge difference here.
08:54 No matter what happened at that Premium Live event, people were still very much into what
08:58 Cody was doing.
08:59 The joy of this is that WWE handled it all so well, we now have two top babyfaces that
09:05 have the audience in their pocket.
09:07 The company has been wanting that for years, and while this isn't stone cold on The Rock,
09:10 it has helped no end.
09:12 All the numbers are going up and therefore everybody is happy.
09:14 It's also resulted in some tremendous storytelling that has helped WrestleMania feel like a huge
09:18 deal.
09:19 And don't forget all of this assisted the Elimination Chamber show too.
09:23 That's very much considered a B event, and yet the anticipation going in was off the
09:27 charts.
09:28 You just don't get that in this era anymore, so it's pats on the back all round.
09:32 Everybody has just done such a good job here.
09:34 1.
09:35 Jey Uso Turns On Sami Zayn
09:37 And it's also potentially set up two WrestleMania main events.
09:41 And as you can tell, yes I really like the bloodline angle.
09:44 On the March 6th, 2022 episode of Raw though, Sami Zayn and Jey Uso hugged, before Jey slapped
09:50 the shib out of Sami, shouting the whole time "this is about family".
09:53 The honorary Us was done.
09:55 He got a great reaction from the fans, because people are invested in this madness.
09:58 And the whole scenario ended with Cody Rhodes coming out to save the day as both he and
10:02 Zayn sent the Usos packing.
10:04 This just ties into everything we were just talking about.
10:06 The absolute joy of joys though, is that now, should WWE choose to, they can headline night
10:12 1 of Mania with Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn vs The Usos for the tag titles, and then night
10:17 2 with Rhodes vs Roman Reigns.
10:19 This isn't set in stone, but good grief, that's incredible.
10:22 And if Cody is successful, we are going to go home with some serious warm and fuzzy feelings
10:27 in our tum-tums.
10:28 It's not like this is a happy accident either.
10:30 We have been building all of these for at least 8 months, and that should be the way.
10:34 That's why it's impossible too.
10:35 You think Vince McMahon would have done this?
10:37 The amount of scripts ripped up in the process would have stopped it dead in its tracks.
10:41 And that, my friends, is why I just can't wait.
10:45 Know of any other precise turning points when WWE did the impossible?
10:48 Make sure you let us know in the comments below and then don't forget to like the video,
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11:00 And if you would like to watch another video, kapow, there's some on the screen right now.
11:05 Thank you very much for joining me as always and remember, today I want you to go out there
11:09 and live all of your dreams, the world is your oyster and I totally believe in you.