10 Wrestling Moments More Important Than You Realised
Butterfly effects that changed WWE, AEW and the entire wrestling world.
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00:00Think of this, something you do today could change the world.
00:05No one ever knows when they're going to make a serious impact, so remember that.
00:09You may be about to hit levels you never thought capable of, you're basically a superhero.
00:14This is the same in wrestling too, but it's way more dumb, and therefore better.
00:18So I'm Simon from WhatCulture, please do hit that subscribe button, and this is 10
00:23Wrestling Moments More Important Than You Realised.
00:2510.
00:26Christian Doesn't Answer His Phone
00:27In 2001, Stone Cold Steve Austin rang Christian.
00:31They both had weird senses of humour, so the rattlesnake began to ask questions, answer
00:35them with the word what, before asking the question again.
00:38He thought this was so funny, he decided to do it live on the microphone, here we are.
00:4321 years later, and crowds are still doing it, much to the child grin of many.
00:47How mad is that?
00:49No one ever thought Austin buzzing his buddy was going to do this, and what if he had picked
00:52up?
00:53Maybe they would have shared a joke, and that would have been that, and random wrestlers
00:56wouldn't be wotted out of arenas.
00:58So a monster was born on this day, although fair play to Steve, he made a fortune off
01:02this in merchandise just by printing one word on a t-shirt.
01:06It's almost like he understands the wrestling business.
01:099.
01:10WCW Fires Paul Heyman
01:11Whoops, in hindsight WCW probably shouldn't have done this, but in terms of the fans,
01:17thank goodness they did.
01:18Modern fans may only know Paul as Roman Reigns or Brock Lesnar's friend, but a quick dip
01:22into his history and you shall see he is an innovator.
01:25Aside from being a decent manager in World Championship Wrestling, he was responsible
01:29for ECW, a promotion so influential that it shaped one of the most successful periods
01:34in all of wrestling.
01:35It didn't last as we know, but it really caused some disruption between the top two
01:39companies, and WCW must have kicked themselves for letting Heyman go in 1992.
01:44He soon signed on as Eddie Gilbert's assistant at the new ECW, and while the E meant Eastern
01:49at the time, it would soon be changed to Extreme, and we'd never look back.
01:548.
01:55Vince McMahon Pisses Off Ted Turner
01:59Today this is known as Black Saturday, or the 14th of July 1984.
02:04Using his money and power, Vince McMahon had done away with Georgia Championship Wrestling
02:07on Ted Turner's Superstation, and replaced it with his WWF show instead, So Far So TV.
02:13Fortunately, those used to GCW wanted nothing to do with the World Wrestling Federation,
02:18so they just stopped watching, and didn't see that coming.
02:21It meant Vince and Ted started to have more heated discussions, because ratings were the
02:24be all and end all, and when Turner realised this wasn't going to work, he decided to
02:29get more involved.
02:30As I'm sure you can figure out, the WWF was soon booted off this, and it's when WCW started
02:35to become a thing, and after a short while, that would be a viable competitor.
02:39You couldn't write this stuff.
02:40So if McMahon hadn't gone for this market, there's every chance none of this happens,
02:44and I'd tell you, that totally changes what wrestling is today.
02:48We may never have got that spark.
02:507.
02:51Vince McMahon Fires Jeff Jarrett Live On TV
02:53This is still mad if you watch it now, but one of the first things Vince McMahon did
02:57after he bought WCW in 2001, is sit there on Monday Night Raw, and fire Jeff Jarrett.
03:03This wasn't an angle either which sucked for Double J, because he thought it was.
03:07Nope.
03:08The real deal.
03:09It meant when his contract ran out, there weren't that many options, and as he was never
03:12going to go to WWE, he did what we all would do, he started his own company in 2002.
03:18Known as TNA, and I'm sure you've heard of it, it has now been around for 20 years,
03:22as it still runs as Impact Wrestling.
03:24I don't think Jarrett envisioned that when he had this idea, and while he's not involved
03:28with it at all anymore, it's still crazy.
03:30I wouldn't say TNA ever competed with WWE properly, but it had its moments, also had
03:35its bad times.
03:37See everything Hulk Hogan.
03:38If Vince had decided to play ball though, maybe Jarrett doesn't have the spite in his
03:41belly to wage this war, and that would also mean we never got that reverse battle royale
03:46if you know you know.
03:486. Dean Ambrose Gets Frustrated Wrestling Brock Lesnar
03:50Okay, so this is pure wrestling, but stay with me.
03:53Before Jon Moxley was Jon Moxley, he was Dean Ambrose, and he had a plan.
03:57At WrestleMania 32, he was going to have an insane match with Brock Lesnar, and that would
04:01show everyone that his character needed a shake up.
04:03On paper, this sounded awesome.
04:05He even came up with some brutal spots that Brock could do to him, until Lesnar put the
04:09brakes on that, and basically any and all ideas, because he wasn't into it.
04:14Probably half that he didn't want to work with Ambrose, and half that he was training
04:17for a secret UFC return and didn't want to get hurt.
04:20Treating Dean in this fashion was one of the earliest lightbulbs mentioned when Mox realised
04:24he probably needed to get out at some point.
04:26Obviously, there's loads more to the story than that, and Ambrose was still around for
04:29a while, but you gotta imagine that had Brock said, yeah cool, let's go bonkers, it may
04:34have opened up other doors that the man was desperate to walk through.
04:37Instead, Jon Moxley did do that, but he just so happened to do it in a company called AEW.
04:435. The WWF Signs Mark Merrow
04:46This story will make you laugh.
04:47Kinda.
04:48Not really.
04:49But when Jim Ross signed Mark Merrow and introduced him to Vince McMahon, Merrow's wife just
04:53happened to be present.
04:54Her name was Rina, and Vince took one look at her and said, there's a star, and months
04:59later we were introduced to Sable.
05:01There was more to this though, because it all happened in 1996, when Mark also got the
05:06first ever WWF guaranteed contract.
05:09They're commonplace today, but 25 plus years ago, it was Scott Hall and Kevin Nash going
05:13to WCW that started these off, meaning McMahon felt eventually like he was gonna have to
05:17follow suit.
05:18Therefore, even if the wild man gimmick didn't work out, Mark was still going to get every
05:23single penny promised to him, and that's exactly what happened.
05:26From this point on it became the norm, so while a big nod needs to go to Razor and Diesel,
05:30it was Merrow who was the benefactor of it all, changing the way that WWF did business
05:35forever.
05:36I mean, it seems like it's only fair, but at one point, it absolutely was not.
05:404. A Random Raw Divas Match
05:42From 2015 to 2018, WWE got very strong with the Women's Revolution push.
05:47It was long overdue and should have happened years prior, but we don't really talk about
05:50the trigger to all of this, which was a random Raw in February 2015.
05:54On that show, we had Paige and Emma vs The Bella Twins, and it was over so fast, I'm
05:59not sure what any of them were meant to do.
06:01It was also the final nail in the coffin as the hashtag Give Divas a Chance started to
06:05trend, backed up by a legend such as Mick Foley agreeing the women needed more TV time.
06:10So these 30 seconds got the attention of everyone, fans started chanting it in the
06:14arenas, and before long, the change was on and the female talent were finally being portrayed
06:18as they deserved.
06:20Even on the running order that day, this match was basically the least important thing on
06:23the broadcast, so little did we know, thank goodness too, because it really was getting
06:27ridiculous.
06:283. Medusa Trashes The WWF Women's Title In WCW
06:32This is not here for the reason you're thinking.
06:35Yes, Medusa joining WCW as the WWF Women's Champ and throwing it in the bin did spark
06:39a lot of madness, but there was something else here that changed everything, because
06:43look at it like this.
06:44If this hadn't have happened 2 years prior, do you really think Vince McMahon would have
06:48been that worried about what Bret Hart may or may not do with his title after the Survivor
06:52Series 1997?
06:53I mean, you can argue it either way, but it certainly does raise an eyebrow.
06:58I would bet nobody would have even thought about this, because it only became a thing
07:02after it was a thing.
07:03And I'm not saying Medusa is responsible, and she has talked about why she did it a
07:06lot, but the WCW-WWF war was so personal by this stage, I imagine it did play a part.
07:13So if that doesn't happen, maybe we don't get the Montreal Screwdrop or the birth of
07:17the Mr. McMahon character, and given how much we use that as a jumping off point, my word
07:22it burns your brain.
07:232. Chris Jericho Gets Chewed Out
07:26Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho were excited about WrestleMania 33, because as far as they
07:30knew, they were going to be fighting for the Universal Title, so I can see why they would
07:34be pumped.
07:36The program in 2017 was great anyways, but this would be the icing on the cake, and then
07:40Vince McMahon changed his mind.
07:42After Goldberg's comeback the previous year had done the numbers, the championship was
07:45switched to him and Brock Lesnar, with Jericho's match being moved to second on the card.
07:51As Chris himself has talked about, this was the biggest slap in the face, because that's
07:55an awful spot to be in.
07:56At the very least you want to start the show with a hot crowd, coming after that just made
08:00you feel like an afterthought.
08:02McMahon also didn't like the match and told both guys this, so when it came to return
08:05to WWE, Jericho decided against it.
08:09It was clear how the company saw him, so he went to New Japan and became an even bigger
08:12star and then helped launch AEW.
08:16I will wager all the money that if Vince could do this over, he would tell Chris Jericho
08:21he was the greatest person ever and make him all the champions.
08:24The stress this has caused.
08:261. Jake Roberts' 1996 Comeback
08:29If you listened to either Jim Ross or Bruce Prichard, they admit this didn't exactly
08:32go to plan.
08:34Jake Roberts had star power, which the WWF needed in the mid-90s, but the Snake wasn't
08:38in a good headspace and it showed.
08:40Life is hard, man.
08:41Tying into how he was trying to sort this, Roberts soon took on a religious gimmick of
08:45sorts.
08:46And while this was short-lived, do you remember what happened in the middle of it?
08:50He took on one Steve Austin at the King of the Ring, and after being told Jake had cut
08:54somewhat of a biblical promo on him after the semifinals, the rattlesnake dropped in
08:58the Austin 316 line and he changed the world.
09:02This means if we hadn't have gotten Roberts back, Stone Cold would have had no reason
09:05to say this, and it may never have been a thing.
09:08And given how much money it made all involved, I bet internally they flippin' love the
09:121996 Jake Roberts return.
09:14Who knew?
09:15Now for any other wrestling moments more important than you've realised, make sure you let
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09:34My name is Simon Wotculture, thank you very much for joining me as always, I want you
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09:46Goodbye.