Gut-punch moments
By Scott Keith on 3 December 2024
The New Day angle taking the emotional turn that it did Monday got me to thinking about the booked moments in or out of the ring in wrestling that were absolute gut punches. What’s at the top of your list?
Tops is always Barry Windham turning on Lex Luger in 1988. The Luger face run was the first storyline I got really seriously emotionally invested in, and after Luger & Windham finally got the tag team titles away from the Horsemen, Barry stabbing Lex in the back and joining the enemy was heartbreaking. And then Luger’s 1988 sucked from there on as well.
Runner up for different reasons was Hulk Hogan beating Randy Savage at Wrestlemania 5. Savage had been “my” champion, the first guy where I got to see the come up and the victory that turned him into the champion and top guy. And after Hulk won the title back it took me a while to process mentally that Savage’s title reign was over and someone else was champion again.
Also Daniel Bryan winning the WWE title from John Cena and then Orton immediately cashing in on him really SUCKED. But we should let that one play out and see where it goes.