Strange Matches

[Chico Torres]

And on Worldwide in 1993 they had Rock n Rolls teaming with Shane Douglas and Ricky Steamboat vs Heavnely Bodies and Hollywood Blondes with Jim Cornette and Bobby Eaton in their corner.

Edited July 9, 2025 by Chico Torres

[Hugh Thesz]

The (returning (after years off TV), Kendo Nagasaki against Clive Meyers in a ladder disco record bout does it for me.

An iconic wrestler in his TV return against the always amazing Clive Myers.

Why did it need any form of stipulation?

Then again, it temains a good bout.

Edited July 9, 2025 by Hugh Thesz
Forgot to add it was a ladder bout.

[Merzbow]

Any of those bloody NWA bore-fests in 1998, right as the Attitude Era is kicking off post-Bret and you've got the Rock & Roll Express as heels "invading" the company to piss about in the lower card making segments of RAW unwatchable.

The strangest being RnR vs LOD for the first and only time... on a Shotgun Saturday.

[Matthew]

Haven’t seen the event since I attended but completely forgot the pre-Thugonomics John Cena/Dawn Marie v Billy Kidman/Torrie Wilson match. Sounds a very weird combination reading back, but pretty sure it was around this time the much fabled “rap in the tour bus that Stephanie overheard” happened and saved Cena’s career

[SaitoRyo]

1 hour ago, Matthew said:

Haven’t seen the event since I attended but completely forgot the pre-Thugonomics John Cena/Dawn Marie v Billy Kidman/Torrie Wilson match. Sounds a very weird combination reading back, but pretty sure it was around this time the much fabled “rap in the tour bus that Stephanie overheard” happened and saved Cena’s career

It was indeed! This took place at Rebellion 2002, which was part of a wider tour of the UK and Europe (unless you saw one of the few rematches on house shows in the States). The next episode of SmackDown was the Halloween one where Cena did his first rap during a backstage segment. 

Also, it's a weird combo on paper, but Dawn and Torrie were in the midst of their Al Wilson feud at the time, while Cena had turned heel on and was feuding with Kidman after they lost to Benoit and Angle in the SmackDown Tag Title tournament. 

[Dai]

Cactus Jack vs Jumbo Tsuruta was on my Youtube feed a while back. Just seems insane when thinking about Cactus being in the classic Red/Blue canvas AJPW golden era ring. Same with a pre ECW RVD too.

That also led me to remember a retired/fresh off the Orton match Foley wrestling a past it Kawada in a giant arena on maybe a weeks notice. Strange indeed.

[air_raid]

On 7/10/2025 at 10:31 AM, Dai said:

That also led me to remember a retired/fresh off the Orton match Foley wrestling a past it Kawada in a giant arena on maybe a weeks notice. Strange indeed.

Ah, Hustle of May 2004. Foley was a last minute replacement for an injured Bill Goldberg. Foley wasn’t feeling great but they were (a) desperate and (b) silly money marks so they threw a Goldberg-level cheque at him. An utterly daft card featuring as diverse random matches as Kaz Hayashi & Spanky vs Low Ki & Taka Michinoku, Steve Corino vs Dusty Rhodes, and an utter mess of a main with Scott Hall & Kevin Nash vs Shinya Hashimoto & Naoya Ogawa.

But fear not, Goldberg did wrestle some daft matches in Japan.

 

[Snitsky's back acne]

Okay, this was not what I was expecting when I read the thread title.

I was thinking more of this kind of thing - a load of wrestlers from the 1930's wrestling in a ring full of dead fish.
 

 

[Chili]

I always forget about the TNA ECW revival run, meaning you get a Lethal Lockdown match with AJ Styles, Beer Money, Matt Morgan & Kazarian w/Ric Flair against Rhino, Raven, Tommy Dreamer, Sabu & Stevie Richards w/Mick Foley.

 

[BomberPat]

IIRC, they really heavily teased that Paul Heyman was the secret mastermind behind EV2.0, but in classic TNA style never actually got him to agree to any of it, so they had to retcon all of these hints they had dropped implying Heyman to make it about Foley being their leader instead. 

It also led to there being a Fake Blue Meanie, when they couldn't get the real guy. That has to be a low point for any promotion.

[Chili]

12 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

IIRC, they really heavily teased that Paul Heyman was the secret mastermind behind EV2.0, but in classic TNA style never actually got him to agree to any of it, so they had to retcon all of these hints they had dropped implying Heyman to make it about Foley being their leader instead. 

It also led to there being a Fake Blue Meanie, when they couldn't get the real guy. That has to be a low point for any promotion.

Fake Blue Meanie AND a fake Lupus (an even more obscure Flock member), possibly even played by Dexter Lumis. State of fucking TNA. Really was the true successor of WCW.

[The King of Old School]

Danielson vs Kamala in ROH is always in my thinking when on about strange matches

 

[Snitsky's back acne]

5 minutes ago, The King of Old School said:

Danielson vs Kamala in ROH is always in my thinking when on about strange matches

 

It wasn't ROH but, yes, a very bizarre match. 

[Merzbow]

The actual match is towards the end of the video but here's a show recorded from Japanese TV all about the Leon Spinks vs Atsushi Onita cage deathmatch!

He'd already been "wrestling" before this against Inoki and Jerry Lawler but actually spent quite a bit of time having matches for FMW through 1991 and 1992 becoming champion. Even tagging with Toni Storm's butler, Luther.

 

[Chico Torres]

From around that same time, Onita vs Tony Atlas in a Catskills country club in upstate New York (think dirty dancing)