Remember when Matt Hardy fought Evander Holyfield in a WWE ring? Probably not...
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00:00Brace yourself for one hell of a ridiculous, shocking and just generally odd history lesson,
00:04folks, because it's time to unpack some of those wholly strange and sometimes mind-boggling WWE
00:10moments that have largely been forgotten by the average wrestling fan. Gareth here from
00:14WhatCultureWrestling and here are 10 Forgotten WWE Moments You Won't Believe Actually Happened.
00:2010. Braun Strowman's Massive Splash Clash of Champions 2019
00:24Seth Rollins' Universal Championship defence against one-time tag partner Braun Strowman
00:29didn't exactly immortalise itself on the night of Clash of Champions 2019. With the pair already
00:34losing their Raw Tag Team Championships earlier in the evening, their largely forgettable rivalry
00:38was mercifully cut short on the back of the Architect's emphatic win over the Monster Among
00:43Men. There was one rather fun highlight to be found within this pre-Fiend-Rollins calamity,
00:48though, in the form of the absolutely sensational visual of the gigantic challenger soaring through
00:53the sky like a damn cruiserweight at one point. Despite already showing off an ability to nail
00:57opponents with highly athletic dropkicks and flip many a vehicle, Strowman's monstrous splash from
01:02the top rope easily ranks as the most audacious of his many unexpected physical feats. But you'd
01:08definitely be forgiven for forgetting this even popped the crowd on the night. This was the same
01:12PLE that sent the audience home seemingly happy, with the fateful sight of Bray's clownish demon
01:17force-feeding his leather glove to the defending champ after all.
01:219. Baron Corbin's Forgotten Night Smackdown 2020
01:24Baron Corbin hasn't half had his fair share of gimmick and role changes over the years.
01:29After initially rocking up on the main roster in his lone wolf guise, Corbin would ultimately
01:33transition into the wholly derided Constable of Raw, before eventually shifting into everything
01:38from a kingly new look to an ill-fated modern day wrestling god. And it was during the dying
01:43days of his spell as the aforementioned King of the Ring, winning pain in the ass, that it's often
01:48forgotten that Corbin assembled himself yet another crew of annoying henchmen to help him achieve his
01:53dastardly goals. After being split from their fellow forgotten son, Jackson Ryker, on the back
01:57of the heat sent his way for some controversial Twitter activity, Wesley Blake and Steve Cutler
02:02were suddenly revealed as Corbin's new allies on the December 4th 2020 edition of Smackdown.
02:07The hilariously titled Knights of the Lone Wolf didn't stick around too long, of course,
02:11being disbanded shortly after due to Cutler and Blake eventually getting released from the company.
02:15And so they simply became yet another reminder of WWE depressingly making it up as they went along
02:20during this often painful period. Speaking of which, the Knights of the Lone Wolf
02:28weren't the only units suddenly given some main roster time to shine, before quickly being dragged
02:33off TV during the barmy-est of years known as 2020. In the wake of making an unexpected return
02:38to WWE at that year's Royal Rumble, MVP eventually went on to become something of a regular on Monday
02:43Night Raw. But just before he went about putting the pieces in place for the eventual Hurt Business
02:48Squad, the former United States Champion actually dusted off his manager's jacket for another bunch
02:53of lads on April 27th. None other than future Retribution and Chase You members Shane Thorne
02:58and Brandon Vink, respectively, had already made their presence known on the red show since March,
03:02yet aligning with MVP felt like a clear attempt to elevate the TMDK members above the level of
03:08forgettable jobbers during the excruciatingly silent early crowdless era. Vink and Thorne
03:13swiftly getting sent back down to NXT before quietly being disbanded as a team, alongside
03:17the fact very few can even recall this bizarre faction becoming a thing in the first place,
03:21tells you all you need to know about how successful this thrown-together alliance ultimately was.
03:267. Shelton Benjamin's Distracted Promos Smackdown 2019
03:31A fun enough team-up with Ultimate Tag Team Utility player Chad Gable would kick off Shelton
03:36Benjamin's long-awaited WWE comeback in 2017. But by 2019, the former Intercontinental Champion
03:42had largely gotten lost in the mid-card shuffle, and it was during that hugely forgettable chapter
03:46in his career that the veteran suddenly found himself being thrown into some of the strangest
03:50backstage promo segments of modern times. Dumped in front of a camera before being asked everything
03:55from who will win an upcoming WWE title match, to whether he'd be interested in competing for the
04:0024-7 gold, Shelton's silent response and odd stares around the room were definitely something.
04:05Then they just stopped. The closest thing to a payoff came about when Benjamin finally uttered
04:10the word Shorty to his former pre-Shorty G Pal Gable backstage. But away from that,
04:14this just ranks as one of the weirdest and most random, unremembered running segments to pop up
04:19on the blue brand. 6. Matt Hardy Fights
04:21Evander Holyfield Saturday Night's Main Event 2007
04:25This one definitely feels like something that went down in another corner of the multiverse.
04:29However, the record does somehow show that Matt Hardy once went one-on-one with a former
04:33World Championship-winning boxer in our timeline. With the Hardy Boy being challenged to a boxing
04:38match by then-rival MVP on the upcoming edition of Saturday Night's Main Event back in 2007,
04:44the fact the latter was suddenly unable to compete due to being diagnosed with Wolf
04:48Parkinson White Syndrome soon paved the way for a pretty shocking upgrade.
04:51Along with roping in Michael Buffer to announce the brilliantly ridiculous circus set to unfold,
04:56a horrified Matt Hardy found himself sharing the squared circle with genuine boxing great
05:00Evander Holyfield. And as expected, the heavyweight former champ proceeded to work-beat
05:05the stuffing out of the ladder lover. The dreamlike sequence, one also equipped with
05:09everything from WWE Diva Ring Girls to Corner Men, ultimately ended in a no-contest after an
05:14irritating MVP decided to intervene, a move that resulted in him eating one hell of a right for
05:20his troubles. However, while many are quick to remember the likes of Tyson Fury and Mike Tyson
05:24stopping by to KO WWE's unfortunate full-time faces, Evander's bizarre wander into the world
05:30of sports entertainment isn't revisited anywhere near as much. 5. Howard Finkels
05:34Jericho Association Smackdown 1999
05:37Howard the Fink Finkel has quite rightly gone down in history as one of the very best announcers ever
05:42to do it. But there were actually a number of occasions over the years when the iconic voice
05:46found himself getting a little too close to the action. And perhaps the most easily forgotten of
05:50his few on-screen storylines involved the mighty Fink eventually donning a mask and going by the
05:55name of El Dopo. That is right, whilst allying himself with a recently debuting Chris Jericho
06:01on WWE programming back in 1999, Fink suddenly wound up in a hilariously wacky scenario that
06:06involved him clashing with Y2J's then-rival Ken Shamrock under a Luchador mask. Sure enough,
06:11his time as a dodgy Smackdown referee was cut somewhat short after a brassed-off Shamrock
06:16saw through Fink's incredible disguise and fake accent upon being wrongly DQ'd against
06:21Curtis Hughes on September 16th. Again, a great many fondly remember Fink's unmatched work on
06:26the stick during his 40-year stint with the company. But you'll struggle to find anyone
06:30who can honestly recall this rare sight of El Dopo doing Jericho's bidding on the blue show.
06:35Bobby Lashley collides with Aleister Black on the strangest stage, WrestleMania 36. Returning
06:41to the all-round bizarro world that was 2020 now, and to the Performance Center show of shows that
06:46played host to countless intriguing matches that have since been generally ignored-slash-forgotten
06:51by both fans and WWE themselves. Now sure, the company have begrudgingly acknowledged the likes
06:56of Drew McIntyre's long-awaited WWE Championship win, the Firefly Funhouse and Boneyard matches,
07:01and even most recently shone a spotlight on Charlotte Flair and Rhea Ripley's first battle
07:05on the Mania stage. But when it comes to one-time dream encounters like former NXT Champion Aleister
07:10Black colliding with the dominant Bobby Lashley on the grandest stage of them all, the average
07:14wrestling fan or even WWE employee likely couldn't tell you a single thing about said hard-hitting
07:19battle. Given absolutely zero build in the lead-up to the early pandemic mania, a Lashley fresh off
07:24of the god-awful Rusev love triangle saga with Lana ate a deliciously timed Black Mass counter
07:30mid-spear for the Aleister win in the end. And while the impromptu battle wasn't dreadful by
07:35any means, it still joined the likes of Liv Morgan vs Natalya, Cesaro vs Drew Gulak, a Smackdown
07:40Women's Championship 5-way, and Elias vs Baron Corbin as one of the many matches few even remember
07:46being on this strangest card of them all. 3. Bret Hart dethrones United States Champion The Miz
07:53Had Bret Hart's hotly anticipated WWE return reached its dramatic end with his plodding
07:58beatdown of Vince McMahon at WrestleMania 26, many would have just been happy to see the hitman
08:02given one last and much-deserved moment in the sports entertainment sun. But this absolute icon
08:07was surprisingly far from finished, folks. In a marvelously insane turn of events, after falling
08:12to Tyson Kidd on the May 10th episode of Raw, The Miz offered one of the Hart family the chance to
08:17challenge for his United States Championship, and with the hopes of embarrassing the dynasty in
08:21their home country of Canada, Miz opted for a battle with good ol' Bret. A week on, that's
08:26precisely what went down, with Wladimir Kozlov and William Regal being taken out by Kidd and
08:31David Hart Smith early on, QA villainous Chris Jericho popping into the ring in a suit and
08:36getting walloped by Natalya, with Miz also soon comically eating crap in the form of a heart
08:40attack before being locked in a glorious sharpshooter for a simply extraordinary hitman
08:45victory. In between stepping back into the ring for the first time in years at Mania, and
08:49delightfully joining Team WWE at that year's SummerSlam, most overlooked that this all-time
08:54legend also found time to add an unlikely additional piece of gold to his mighty collection
08:58upon making his epic comeback too. Look, if it wasn't clear already,
09:07based on many of the forgotten entries found in this very list, 2019-2020 was about as peculiar
09:12as it gets in this already frequently absurd world of sports entertainment. With Vince McMahon going,
09:17well, full Vince McMahon as the 2010s reached their end and the 2020s got underway, the one-time
09:22head of creative frequently became strangely obsessed with everything from gauntlet encounters
09:27to backstage fight clubs. But amidst the always baffling content folks remember being pumped into
09:32WWE TV around this time, it's often forgotten just how much Vinnie Mac got a kick out of two
09:37out of three falls matches at one point as well. This wasn't simply a case of the boss suddenly
09:41feeling that one fall just wasn't enough though. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter,
09:46the never-ending stream of two-out-of-three falls, elimination bouts and match-restarting madness
09:50was actually WWE's way of adjusting to McMahon's new edict of performers hilariously now not being
09:55allowed to wrestle during commercial breaks. Because they don't do that in real sports,
09:59dammit! As with just about any entirely odd Vinnie Mac rule, this one too was ultimately
10:04scrapped later down the road. But never forget that there was a time there when two-out-of-three
10:08became a weird main roster norm. 1. Edge speared Jeff Hardy off the ladder
10:12before WrestleMania X-7 Raw 2000
10:15The charismatic enigma famously snapped the Rated-R Superstar in half at WrestleMania 23
10:20after falling from up high. But easily the pair's most notable instance of total innovative chaos
10:25came six years earlier during TLC 2. In truth though, many forget that this wasn't actually
10:30the first time Edge had executed this sort of death-defying spear on a vulnerable Hardy
10:35mid-tag team ladder contest though. SummerSlam 2000 saw the Hardy Boyz battling against Edge
10:40and the Dudley Boyz in the inaugural TLC battle of course, and that match also saw the future
10:45world champion collide with Hardy high in the air. When it comes to the exact spot involving
10:49Jeff dangling from some belts before getting snapped in two by his soaring rival though,
10:53that precise moment actually went down a whole six months before WrestleMania X-7 on an episode
10:58of Raw. Once again, fighting against Ian C in a ladder bout, it's largely forgotten that the
11:03Hardy Boyz pretty much rehearsed the very bump that would immortalise him and Edge on the grandest
11:07stage forever during a random September 25th 2000 edition of the Red Show. What a time to be alive,
11:13eh? And that's our list. Know of any other forgotten WWE moments people won't believe
11:17actually happened? Let us know all about them in the comments section right down below,
11:20and do not forget to like, share and click on that subscribe button while you're at it.
11:23Also, if this sort of forgotten magic is your kind of thing, then head on over to
11:27WhatCulture.com and find some more fantastic articles just like the one this video you're
11:31watching right now is based on. I've been Gareth from WhatCulture Wrestling, thank you as always
11:35for watching this lovely video today. Hopefully I'll see your faces very,
11:38very soon, but in the meantime, just be good to yourself. Bye bye!