The Saddest Day In Wrestling History

[Maikeru_1979]

for me it would have to be the day that WCW died. i know it's not a story and was real life that don't matter. hell i was 22 when wcw sold and during the final match between Ric and Sting I was actually crying because I was able to remember back to the early days when Ric and Sting wrestled for the Championship that was the day i was hooked on wrestling and WCW in general. so to see the company that I grew up with fold was very sad.

 

[themic59]

Can I first just say great thread topic bro.. I love it.

Now for me I'm gonna have to go with two things that have already been said. I'm gonna have to say while sitting at home and watching TV, it would be the Tell Me A Lie video tribute to HBK. I was a youngster back then and for whatever reason, since watching him kick Jannety through the barbershop window, I thought Michaels was the shit. Secondly, being in attendance at WM14 in Boston was also pretty sad for obvious reasons as I witnessed the era of Austin ushered in and not only that but watched as Mr. Wrestlemania ate a right hook by Tyson. I wasn't too pumped up about these developments but it was certainly epic and a memory I won't soon forget.

 

[GodCompleX]

I'd have to go with the Piper's Pit where Andre ripped Hogans cross chain off his neck. That was heartbreaking back then as a kid. I went to WMIII that year and lost my voice cheering for Hogan!

 

[DarkAngel]

For me, Wrestling angle wise, was when Sting joined the nWo Wolfpac. I was pro WCW and the nWo/Sting angle was possibly the greatest storied angle of all time in pro wrestling. The way Sting handled himself in the silent crow era was everything synonymous to genius. Not only was he the most popular wrestler, but he looked like a MAJOR badass. After ALL that went on during the Sting/nWo, Good VS Evil story, it was VERY tough for me, and probably any other Sting fan to see him dawn an nWo shirt, and it didn't matter to me that it was the good guys, Wolfpac.

I remember sitting there anxiously anticipating whether or not he'd join, which we all knew but I was young and held out hope. I remember switching to RAW on a commercial break and seeing Austin VS Kane. As soon as I flipped back Sting was coming down from the Rafters. When he hit Hogan I was ecstatic then he ripped the nWo Hollywood and revealed nWo Wolfpac. I sat there in dis belief and it was weird to see Sting smile and apart of ANYTHING nWo so I guess for me it was that.

March 27th, 2000 was a TOUGH pill to swallow for any WCW fan. The Death of WCW. I was only 12 at the time and to top it off, my favorite wrestling company was bought out by the hated WWF and yes, it was my birthday. Watching Sting and Flair hug in the ring was phenomenal and a reality check that it was gone, no matter HOW bad it was. I had an empty feelings. Seeing Shane McMahon and his punk mug in a WCW ring was the start of a drought in wrestling for me and it sucked.

As far as tragedy.. no doubt, hands down, is Owen Hart. I remember watching that PPV and watching his interview before hand only to be announced he has died from the descend was heart-aching. Seeing Jeff Jarrett crying during his interview was tough and everyone around was teary eyed and reeked of sorrow.

 

[AutumnHeartBreak]

The day WWE turned PG..

But all jokes aside, I'd probably choose Royal Rumble 04 where Brock Lesnar screwed Goldberg out of the Royal Rumble. I was so psyched and was a big goldberg fan back then when he entered 30 and beat the living hell out of everyone who was in the ring. I thought that he would win the match then out of nowhere came brock and screwed him out and led to the retirement of the two of my favorite superstars.

 

[Oscarmouli]

Mine would be on an episode of Raw, just after Rock and 'Hollywood' hogan agreed there match at Mania and the NWo beat the hell out of The Rock, then locked him in an ambulance and crashed an 18 wheeler cab into the ambulance! At the time I thought it was mental!

 

[The Mark of Zur-En-Arrh]

I'd go with Foley's original retirement in '00. Being not only a huge Foley mark but also a adamant HHH hater, i was shocked and saddened to see Mick Foley, the 15 year veteran, beaten down and forced to leave the WWF by the jackoff who'd been shoved more and more down our throats than ever before since he won the World title the night after Summerslam (FROM Foley, who only won it the night before).

But i was a total mark back then anyway............ still hate HHH though

 

[Utimate-seX]

the saddest day for me was when benoit lost the title to randy orton at summerslam of i think 2004 or 2005. benoit worked so hard to get the big one and it was stripped from him basically because of triple h. i was young and naive and it was the first pay per view i had watched, i was so excited that day to see benoit wrestle live, i live in australia so times are different. the ppv was on monday at 10am, id never forget that because i took the day off school for it. when i saw randy RKO chris benoit i knew it was over, and when randy pinned him i was in tears punching at the tv saying this isnt right.

 

[BrucePettit]

I would have to definitely say, watching WM on PPV when Michaels retired Flair. I was watching the PPV with my girlfriend at the time, who loved WWE, and her parents came into the room. Now, everyone else didn't truly understand the history and contributions Flair has put in to the wrestling business, but I did. So when I saw Michaels say he loved him and he was sorry, executing the 2nd super kick, and then realizing it was it for Flair, was tough! lol I felt like such a girl but I had the biggest knot in my throat and I wanted to cry! but, of course, due to the circumstances I was facing, I obviously could not do that. Had I been in a room by myself, it would have been a different story!

I just remember how utter sad it was, knowing Flair had given his life to the business, looking so beat up and just physically fatigued, barely able to stand on his fragile knees, already crying a bit, motioning for Shawn to kick him one more time, was heart wrenching to say the least!

Flair is back though now, which puts a damper on the moment a tad, but it's still the saddest I remember being in wrestling, story-line wise!

 

[dagoldstandard]

the saddest day in wrestling for me was when i found out that kane and x-pac broke up (i was 5 at the time). i was a huge fan of x-pac; i had games, poster, action figures etc of his. when i found out that he was teaming with the big red machine i was thrilled. then, they split i was like wow

 

[Wolfdemon]

When Benoit died hands down. The death alone was hurtful but it also affected half the storylines that were going on. I was so happy to see Benoit on ECW and him getting crowned as champ. Not only that story but it effected the death of Vinny Mac,some really criticized that story line but i was really into it.

A runner up would have to be the day Flair "Retired" it's truly a sad moment in wrestling.This moment would probably get my number 1 if he had stayed retired but since not it gets number 2.The man still gets my respect it's just kinda a slap to the face when half of the wrestling community cried at WM 24 then he wrestles again.

 

[Showstopper530]

For me, it was definitley when Andre turned on Hogan on Piper's Pit. I was 10 or 11 years old at that point, and Andre had been the personification of a good guy, and it was just devastating to me that he would turn on his friend. When he tore off Hogans shirt and demanded a shot at the title, my world was coming to an end.

It's ironic because looking back now, that was maybe thee storyline and match that put professional wrestling into a whole other level and caused the explosion of the 80's.. So in reality it was all a very good thing, but at the time it made me so upset..

 

[ErictheEnt]

The day Bret Hart agreed to give up to Lex Luger's Torture Rack on Monday Nitro. Hart had never given up in his entire career and WCW made him do it for the first time on a random Monday Nitro match to Luger's stupid Torture Rack. Kind of like Highlander 2, I try to pretend that match never happened.

 

[trkoeller]

For me, it would have to be the Raven/Sandman's son/Sandman angle in the original ECW. When His son basically told Sandman to go F**K himself and that he loved Raven. That was a sad/sick storyline

 

[stussyman311]

AWESOME topic. The saddest day in wrestling for me was that damn "Tell Me A Lie" video they first played for HBK. I believe the events that led up to this video depressed me as well, Owen Hart giving the enzuigiri to HBK that they played out to be a possibly career ending blow to HBK. I was like 11 at the time and I thought HBK was done wrestling or going to WCW, which had me all bummed out.

His speech was especially sad, especially with the "I lost my smile" bit. Heck, I'd probably still tear up if they did that whole angle over again with HBK now hahhaa. It was a great storyline.

If you have never seen the video, here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elBGHdvlYgk&NR=1

 

[gbaby_steve25]

I think the saddest day in pro wrestling for me, was the Finger Poke of Doom. This really was the downfall of an entire company. It was the one thing that put a hundred or so wrestlers out of work. It made you wonder what the hell was exactly going on in the business. I was just a mid teen then and had just started reading spoilers and such online and I remember reading that Hogan had demanded the belt back. To me this is sad because the way it was going was working for WCW. I was a big fan of the Wolfpack and everyone who was in it, including Sting (who happens to be my favorite wrestler, and the best to never work for the E, possibly best ever). After this you saw the decline and bad use of Sting, Goldberg, DDP, hell eve Flair as the president of wcw was sad. And the whole New Blood era with Russo leading the way, dispicable. If WWE wouldnt have purchased WCW I would hope that they would have fired Russo, but they still prolly would have went bankrupt because of loss of fans. And what started it... the Fingerpoke! Eric Bischoff and Vince Russo didnt kill WCW, Hogan did!

 

[ajosey]

The saddest day for me was when I found out wrestling was fake. Big Boss Man was fighting the One Man Gang. Boss Man gave OMG his leg so Boss Man can jump and kick him with the other leg but Boss Man gave him the wrong leg. They switched legs without explanation in the middle of the match. I was shocked! That was the second time I lost my innocence.

 

[Jordan-Dixon]

The sadest day was the Katie Vick storyline. No sense what so ever and was a weird story to have. It was like a crappy soap opera storyline and it made no sense in how HHH made it seem he knew all this and Kane could go to a college party and drink ?????

It was just pure sick !!!

 

[Poop Master Flex]

For me it was when the fingerpoke of doom happened and the nWo reformed. This wasn't like kid sad either, I was generally upset when this happened for many reasons:
1) Hogan became champ again
2) Hogan returned from "retirement" and I was happy not to see him at the time
3) The nWo was so repetitive that it became unbearable to watch them.
4) Knowing that despite the 3 reasons named above, I was gonna have to go through at least 6 months of watching this shit.
This one storyline/incident was enough for me to stop watching WCW completely (and I was watching it back in '91) because even though I was relegated to stupid storylines and outcomes before this match (sting/hogan finish from starrcade '97, warrior coming back, goldberg losing) but the fingerpoke of doom was the breaking point for me. When this happened, I was finished, in alot of ways it made me lose my faith as a wrestling fan in general.

 

[gully side adidja]

When triple h turned heel on x-pac and left dx at wrestlemania 15 ,hhh was my fav wrestler in 99(along with austin) and had just made chyna turn face and join back dx a hour ago,dx were back at full strength and behind x-pac to take back the euro title against shane, just when it looked like test, and the mean street posse had help shane steal the victory,chyna and hhh hit the ring,i jumped up,meanwhile pac hit the x-factor on shane and had shane beat,however chyna was arguing with the ref,i thought nothing of it,but then out of nowhere,BAM!,TRIPLE H, PEDIGREE ON X-PAC,puts shane on top of pac,1-2-3,that was an extremley sad day for me and i have not really liked triple h a lot since.

 

[neildittmar]

Saddest day for me was the last Nitro broadcast, both during and after the actual event itself. Sad for the obvious reasons of course: company being bought out by the competition, end of an era in pro-wrestling, wondering if the guys I liked would find work elsewhere, etc. The ray of hope was obviously Shane appearing on the show and proclaiming that WCW would rise from the ashes and beat the WWF senseless all over again. I truly wanted to believe.

The sadness kicked in again a few months later when that awful Invasion storyline played out. When ECW was introduced into the fold I was genuinely excited and figured Vince would literally have years worth of story arcs to pursue. A short time and a Survivor Series later, it was all over. I honestly believed that Vince would let WCW/ECW (by now, so generically labeled the "Alliance") win one to shake things up. Apparently I forgot about Vinces personal ego long enough to make that stupid assumption.

The death of both ECW and particularly WCW is what directly lead to the stale, predicatable, mundane product that WWE has put out for the last several years. If that's not something to genuinely be sad about, I don't know what is.

 

[whitefox]

When Bret lost to Yokozuna at Wrestlemania 9. He was my hero and he lost the title to the biggest (literally) baddie in the business, I was 8 and cried... I'm over it now...

I now look back on it with sadness as it was Bret's time but Hogan's ego got in the way.

 

[lamo78]

Great topic here. For me hands down, it was when WCW let David Arquette with the belt. I mean seriously? To me, they spit on every champion that ever wore that belt when they gave the strap to him.

My close second on this is when Goldberg's streak of 173 victories ended at the hands of Scott Hall with a cattle prod. I know he couldn't win forever, but they were so close to 200, why not let him hit that mark at that point?

 

[dmacizdman]

I was absolutely distraught when the British Bulldogs lost the titles to the Hart foundation with the help of Danny Davis.

Little did I know that the BBs had to lose because Dynamite Kid could barely walk because of a back injury. He couldn't even wrestle, hence getting knocked out by Jimmy Hart's megaphone at the beginning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVBTKsGlKKk

 

[MoxViolence]

i cant think of a day i was sad about wrestling....but i know an incident that pissed me the hell off....it was a 4 way match....cena, hbk, hhh?, and......i wanna say jbl......i'm probably wrong about that but anywayz it was the time hbk superkicked cena and he fell on another opponent for the 3 count. cena gets kicked in the face and falls on an opponent for the win. since i hate cena with all my heart this was an ultimate (sad) pissed off moment. he had the title for a LONGGG time by then and i was hoping that was the night he'd lose it. and for the finish to go down like that......i had to get a new remote the next day cuz i broke my old one....