Chuck Taylor's Grenade
Guest
Chuck Taylor's Grenade Presents: My top 11 mark out moments in wrestling
These are the moments we live for. Those moments that cause us to jump out of our seats and scream like school girls. These are the mark-out moments. Those moments where we forget wrestling is staged and become fans again. So with that in mind these are my top eleven markout moments. Why top 11? Cause I like to go one step beyond. I tried to limit these to things that I actually saw happen live and not things I saw after some time had past.
Number Eleven: Steve Austin flips off Mike Tyson on Monday Night Raw
This is really one of the first memories I have of wrestling after my renewed interest around 1997-1998. Watching this happen on Monday Night Raw live had me glued to the screen. I had heard a lot about Mike Tyson, mainly about his criminal record, but also knew he was a bad-ass who knocked people the fuck out. I also knew that Steve Austin was a take no prisoners bad-ass who did things his own way. So when they're in the ring together and the ring is filled with officials and entourage members as Austin is cutting his promo on Tyson challenging him to fight I was like holy crap this is gonna be awesome. This whole segment had me marking out but the best part was when Austin flipped Tyson off and everything went completely chaotic because even though it was planned they played it off so well and made you then it was a shoot.
Number Ten: Kurt Angle busted open by a ladder (TNA Impact August 7, 2008)
The match itself was a clusterfuck weapons battle royal or some such bullshit. Might not have been that memorable a match had it not been for this moment. Kurt Angle and AJ Styles are in the ring fighting with a ladder set up. AJ reverses an Irish whip by Kurt Angle who ducks under the ladder but gets caught big time on the rebound by AJ pushing the ladder into his head. When I saw Kurt Angle get busted open by the ladder I screamed so loud my wife heard me in the other room and ran in to see what happened. Some might not remember this but this one stands out to me so it's included in the list.
Number Nine: Shane McMahon walks out on Nitro
This is one of those surreal moments that wrestling fans salivate over but never think possible. Everybody remembers where they were when this happened. It was like time stood still. It was completely surreal. After a whole night of Vince McMahon bragging about holding WCW in his hands and beating Ted Turner. The night culminated in Vince talking about WCW wrestlers and before he can say WCW is dead Shane's music hits in the Raw arena. But instead of walking out in the Raw arena Shane casually strolls out in the middle of Nitro. Everybody flips their shit. What made this moment so great was the fact that every single person immediately started salivating at the different matchups we would be able to see finally. Unfortunately we all know where that went.
Number Eight: The Sandman's Entrance (ECW One Night Stand 2005)
You could probably say this whole night was a markout moment. Seeing ECW back in full force was awesome. The matches might have seemed decent to ok at best but the atmosphere made everything better. Both RVD and Paul Heyman's shoot promos were emotional and great. But probably my favorite moment from the show was the entire Sandman entrance. The crowd singing his entrance was truly electric and this entrance will never be topped. Hell this whole show was one where I didn't get pissed off or bored with it so good job to WWE for not ruining something I used to love (or at least waiting a year to do it).
Number Seven: Mankind vs. Undertaker Hell in a Cell (King of the Ring 1998)
This whole match was a mark out moment for me. I had just gotten back hardcore into wrestling at the time and this match seriously raped me. Everything about this match kicked ass. The match starts on top of the cell and I'm thinking ok they're just gonna brawl for a little and then one of them is gonna climb down followed by the other and they're gonna enter the cage and start the match for real. And then it happened. Undertaker tosses Mankind off the cage. In the words of Joey Styles-OH MY GOD! I seriously don't think anybody expected something that spectacular to happen. Nor did they expect what happened after which was Mankind getting off the stretcher and climbing back up. I didn't know that much about Mankind at the time. I knew he was a tough bathturd. Watching him climb up again I was like holy fuck this guy is either too tough for his own good or legitimately cuckoo for coco puffs. They brawl some more and Undertaker goozles him for the chokeslam. Now the cage had been showing signs of weakness earlier but when Undertaker choke slammed him and the roof broke it was like “Holy shit, I don't think that was supposed to happen†and it really wasn't. You could tell by everybody's reaction. Even Undertaker nearly broke character. But the fact that the match continued after all that happened was beyond incredible. It's one of the few matches I can still watch over and over and still get chills and excited when I watch it.
Number Six: The Rock challenges Hulk Hogan to a match at Wrestlemania
When people talk about moments where time stands still they talk about this. Hulk Hogan's on raw cutting a promo about how he's the biggest star ever. And then the rock comes out and puts over Hulk Hogan saying the people believed in him and the Rock believed in him. The Rock mentions Hogan headlining wrestlemania after wrestlemania and asks him how he feels about headlining one more wrestlemania with the Rock. And it's like *transform into giddy school girl time* because this was probably the one dream match that nobody thought possible and that a lot of people wanted to see. Icon vs. Icon. Two of the biggest stars in the history of WWE in the ring in a match at Wrestlemania. What more could you ask for?
Number Five: Shawn Michaels kicks out of the tombstone (Wrestlemania 25)
You all know about this match. Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels. Streak on the line. After a good twenty minutes of incredible wrestling and false finishes. Then came the moment when Michaels skinned the cat and Undertaker caught him in the tombstone. If the match would have ended there I would have been happy and cool with it. Instead we get one...two...shoulder up. I was watching this on the computer and it was all I could do to keep from screaming. Undertaker's glassy eyed shocked expression was like one of those “freeze time†moments that you want to screen cap. Part of what made it so good was because for a long time the tombstone was established as “the end†and was treated like a legitimate finisher that nobody kicked out of.
Number Four: Edge cashes in money in the bank (the first time)
This was during Cena's first reign when people were slowly starting to hate Cena for holding on to the title for so long and doing the whole superman deal. At least for me it was because it was like good god is he ever gonna drop the strap. After New Years Revolution in the elimination chamber when he basically was one of the first two people in the match and still won it it was like “goddamnit. Does Cena have a clause in his contract prohibiting him from looking weak?†And then...it happens. Vince says Edge is cashing in money in the bank. Crowd goes nut (Mick Foley Pat Patterson reference ftw!) when Edge's music hits he enters the ring and spears Cena twice and wins the title.
Number Three: Elix Skipper walks the cage
If you haven't seen this moment what the fuck is wrong with you? It was Turning Point 2004 and the main event was a six sides of steel match between America's Most Wanted and Triple X. This match is still one of my all-time favorites. You talk about a match that has it all-great tag team psychology, big spots, blood, just all around awesomeness. But then you have THE SPOT. The spot that this match (and Elix Skipper) is primarily known for. Chris Harris and Christopher Daniels are fighting at the top of the cage and meanwhile Skipper is positioning himself on the cage. Only thing is he's a little ways away from the other two men so people have no idea what the hell he has planned. Tenay's says something about him doing the tight-rope but dismiss it because it's suicidal. And then he does it. When I saw this my jaw hit the floor. I showed a video of this a few days later to my best friend Chris and he was the same way he marked the fuck out.
Number Two: Ric Flair returns to Nitro
For those that know their history you know that Ric Flair and Eric Bischoff were embroiled in a bitter behind the scenes dispute. Ric Flair was taken off the road and sitting at home because of a dispute over Ric Flair going to his son's amateur wrestling tournament instead of to a TV taping or something. Also during this time WCW's ratings were declining and execs were desperate. So they decided to put on their nostalgia caps and bring back the horsemen. This was done through a series of promos between JJ Dillon and Arn Anderson and culminated on a September 1998 episode of Nitro. In one of my favorite promos of all time Arn Anderson brings out Steve McMichael, Dean Malenko and Chris Benoit cutting a promo putting those three over as the new horsemen. Then he stops and says “Oh I almost forgot the fourth horsemen RIC FLAIR GET ON DOWN HERE†which brings out Ric Flair to an amazing pop. This was one of those moments where I wished I was there live just to feel the atmosphere in the arena.
And my number one mark out moment is...
Number One: Chris Jericho debuts on RAW
There will never be a debut that will top this. Period. Everything about his debut segment was perfect. The anticipation built to a massive climax (no sexual pun intended) and just the way the titan-tron flipped his name onto the screen coinciding with the music starting was incredible. Simply awesome and caused me as a 14 year old at the time to mark out hardcore because I was very much a Jericholic at the time because of how entertaining and how good he was in the ring. I still get goosebumps watching it to this day.
Well there you have it my top eleven mark out moments. I hope you enjoyed this trip down nostalgia lane and I hope to get some responses with some of your mark out moments.