The Saddest Day In Wrestling History

[20thCenturyBoy]

For me it comes down to the three instances. One was the screwjob. I will always be a Hart mark. In fact I'm a poli sci major and his anti American and pro Canadian schtick sparked my interest in Canadian politics and my unrelenting pride in my country at such an early age, so I took what happened as a slight against my country. Another being the finger poke of doom. I couldn't undrstand the logic and this compelled me to watch WWE programming with steadfast dedication. Another incident that irked me and almost made me give up on wrestling at the time (although it did dampen my interest in the sport to a condidrable extent) was Jeticho cleanly beating HHH on Raw only for him to screw Jeticho out of the title. I was 13 or 14 at the time and I thought it was a case of HHH holding the new star back. I held up hope that Jericho would capture what was rightfully his, but it never happened and my enthusiasm for the product wained to such an ectenet that I never truly regained my love for the sport. However, what then completly eroded my interest in wrestling was the purchase of WCW and the infamous WWE name change.

 

[ipewrestling.com]

The saddest day for me was when Owen kicked Michaels in the head. I was just starting to become "smart" to the business, but I couldn't tell if it was a work or if it was real. Very well done, very believable, and made me sad.

 

[wrestling fan 666]

Awesome thread guys. Here's my list:

All the young deaths in wrestling; WTF? One occasionally, but so many? By the way, I'm still VERY pissed that WWE devoted time to Dr. Death Steve Williams when he only wrestled for them for a brief time (his gimmick didn't make it); yet not one mention about a man who headlined several of their fairly recent PPV's...Eddie Fatu (Umaga). I have no disrespect for Steve Williams, just how could they not even mention Fatu's death when his whole family works for WWE?

When ECW and WCW were bought out by Vince McMahon; It was the end of wrestling as a whole. Now just "sport's entertainment" was the only option.

The day when Georgia Championship Wresting was replaced by WWF; I was so sick of the entertainment of WWF's crap they called wrestling, I was a big fan of the NWA. To me, who was in denial that wrestling is fake, truly believed that the NWA was real, and the WWF was shit.

Triumphs and Tragedies;the Rise and Fall of WCCW;The DVD is awesome. It's just that I LOVED WCCW and remembered all the things going on with it. If wrestling could've looked like it was real fighting, it was in the WCCW. By watching this DVD, it brings up all the deaths that occurred and how young they all were. Bill Mercer quoted, "I was in an airport and they were playing the WCCW reruns in the terminal. I stopped to realize that I'm the only one on that show alive!" It rips your heart out at seeing all of the superstar talent dead in their prime.

 

[Bud78]

I have to post this because it is the one moment in my wrestling life I remember just being overly distraught to the point of sobbing. I was probably 8 or 9 and I went to turn my Prime Time Wrestling, in the studio with the ring ropes, with The Brain and Monsoon and what do I find, DOGS. Wait where is my wrestling, mom why isn't wrestling on, what are these fucking dogs doing on my tv, mom call the cable company and make them change it to Prime Time. Why, God, why, that is the day I knew there really was no God. The first time I ever experienced a pre-emption to the Westminster Dog Show. Why, mom, why?

 

[WWEFANbOy]

The saddest day for me, would probably be the Montreal Screwjob, just that was horrible what Vince did to Bret i n his send off of WWE, or WWF at the time

 

[WRESTLING_GENIUS]

Saddest day 4 the Wrestling_Genius has to be when i was live at TLC and Sheamus winning the WWE Championship, I was like huh Why would Vince do such a thing, and then i found out hes homies with Triple H, I was like aint this a bitch, I hope Cena wins the Title back and then somone deserving of the belt(Shawn Michaels) beats him caus e I also hate Cena, but hes a better Champion than Sheamus for damn sure... And Yes I KNOW I AM A GENIUS!!!!!

 

[T Dub EPT]

Let me start by saying this is a great thread that allows the nostalgia to flow... I love it! So many great answers so far.

As for me i remember when i was really young i was always a big fan of Jake Roberts (hell who wasn't). I remember watching when Earthquake squashed Damien as Jake was tied in the ropes, fighting frantically to get lose to save his his friend. I was so devastated at Earthquakes actions, and the way that Jake sold the entire ordeal was just so fantastic! Very realistic, tragic, storyline especially for its time and as a child not fully understanding kayfabe, it was just so incredibly heartbreaking.

 

[PrinZe]

Awesome thread!

Saddest day for me would be at WM7. When The Ultimate Warrior defeated my hero Macho Man Randy Savage (although he was a heel at that time) at the special moment with Miss Elizabeth there after was priceless for me. Oh and when Earthquake crushed Damian the snake... I really believed it was real

And I've to agree with Wrestling_Genius... seriously Shaemus as WWE champion. My problem with it is simple. 1 he has shown nothing yet. 2 the way he won the WWE belt, I mean, Cena slipped 3 there are so many others who would have deserved the title before the so-called celtic warrior

 

[Disarm]

Mine has to be the end of Wrestlemania 17. I remember watching as a kid, I was shocked and I almost cried when I saw Austin join forces with Mcmahon.

 

[Lt 0reo]

Real life I would say Raw is Owen. I still can't watch that on YouTube without getting water eyed. I was watching Over the Edge on PPV and when JR announced that Owen had died I cryed like crazy. He was one of my favorite wrestlers at the time. The Eddie tribute takes a close 2nd.
Storyline wise was the HBK vs. Flair match at WM24. Seeing HBK tuning up the band saying Im sorry then connecting for the 3 count was pretty emotional. I wasn't the biggest Flair fan but I didn't care that night. 2nd would be when Hogan joined the Outsiders to form the nWo.

 

[ColdPlay3r]

even this thread is making me sad lol
but every one has good answers

i noticed some people posted things such as the "barber shop incident". "pipers pit segments" and other shocking moments.
i guess everyone has an opinion on their picks, for me i enjoy watching shocking moments i don't find them sad i find them entertaining.
i guess i blame the people around me for telling me the truth about wrestling when i was a little kid, i guess it was sadder that saying Santa wasn't real (burst anyone's bubble?lol).
what i am trying to say is the sad moments didn't really hit me as hard.


the sad moments that get to me are the story lines/matches that revolve around real events. for example
- HBK's retirement/s, the man has dedicated his life to wrestling and was forced to put it behind him due to.....concussion? and later his back injury.
his last matches only made me respect him more, a sad day indeed. then to top it off someone here posted the" tell me a lie" video, lol damn you

- the events leading and including Ric's retirement, both Ric and Shawn put a wonderful show, both their match and promos were just great and every minute were full of emotion and passion. and the farewell was good aswell.

-the edition of raw dedicated to Eddie, i was sad when the news arrived about Eddie so i was sure to catch the next raw. not only did the wrestlers gave tribute and nice words but the matches were good, every wrestler gave it all that night in remembrance to Eddie, a very good tribute



ok the next paragraph/points are me being a jerk, some other sad moments that make me cry are.
-john cena winning the belt(the first time i was like "meh" then a year later i was pretty much done with it).....and also pretty much anything that revolves around him,......and his fans/

- the day hornswoggle came in, he can be funny during segments at times but my god i feel sorry for the people have to wrestle him. im sorry chavo.
i remember when he had that match with jbl inside the cage and jbl crushed him, i thought it was slack(jbl is a god), then like over month ago HHH pedigree'd him.....i was cheering. funny how things can change in a short amount of time, see i can make stupid short jokes that get old.

 

[CynicSteve]

Being a Four Horseman fan from the time I was little I think I have a tie for my saddest moments.

1. Paul Roma ... does anything else need to be said?
2. Watching Arn Anderson lose the TV title to the Renegade. Watching a ring general job to a cheap knockoff of the Ultimate Warrior was almost too much to stand.

 

[lordslix0129]

Definitely the saddest day for me was when Stone Cold walked out on the WWE and his fans on June 8th 2002. I'd been a die hard Austin fan since he first debuted his Stone Cold gimmick back in 96. Back then, I was naive enough to believe that I'd never see Stone Cold in the WWE again, and if it wasn't for Jim Ross, he would've never come back. I had been watching wrestling since the first quarter of 92, and this was the only time I actually shed a tear.

And then less than a couple of months later, his domestic assault charges were on Fox News and CNN, and they even showed a video of him in his yellow corvette driving around San Antonio. It was really hard for me as a fan to see Steve Austin in this type of trouble with the law. This was probably one of the hardest times I had to go through as a wrestling fan, watching my hero's life seemingly crumble down like that.

 

[claymation]

The saddest days for me mostly happened in WCW.

First was when Juventud Guerrera lost his mask to Chris Jericho. I really hated Chris Jericho until he switched from WCW to WWE. Then I thought he was awsome.

Next was when Goldberg lost to his belt and winning streak to Nash. That was totally unfair.

The last one was when Rey lost in a tag match with Konnan to nWo and had to take off his mask. It wasn't necessary and I thought nWo has gone way too far with their BS and it would ruin Rey's career.

 

[pyrusane]

There are a few that stand out to me for various reasons. So, in no particular order:

1) When Arn Anderson offered his spot in the Horsemen to Curt Hennig. Not that I didn't think that Curt could fill the role, but rather because I realized at the time that the emotion between Arn and Flair was real, and that this was Anderson truly hanging up the boots. Very emotional moment.

2) I was at work one day and flashed to the WWE website, just to see what was scheduled for RAW that night. I was shocked to see a cover screen saying that Eddie Guerrero had died. I was watery eyed through most of that tribute episode that night, but when Chavo won his match after doing Eddie's shoulder roll then the frog splash I lost it.

3) On a slightly different note, there was a promo for Bash at the Beach, I believe it was the one from 94, with Hogan, Sting, Beefcake, Jimmy Hart, and someone else I can't remember. They were on a boat, and someone blew it up. The faces managed to escape just in the nick of time. This little skit was soooo cheesy, so very Thunder In Paradise, that at that very moment I was forced to finally give in and admit that wrestling was fake, as people had been telling me for years. This was a really sad moment for me, because up until that moment I had staunchly defended that wrestling was real, damnit! I can't describe how crushed I was as I watched this skit unfold, as I felt the veil of belief ripped away and saw that the wizard was, indeed, just a kindly old man.

 

[StevenQBosell]

Fantastic topic...

For me its basically:
1. Hogan gets flattened by Quake
2. Hogan gets rocked by Taker, in retrospect, you can hear pockets of the crowd CHEERING
3. HBK shoves Marty through the glass.
4. Macho gets his arm chewed by Damien IV or whatever version of Damien we were at, at that time.

Good times, I can remember being a kid and marking out aswell... I remember I actually sent him a get well letter, and got a Hulkster postcard bck in the mail... God I wish I still had that...

Someone mentioned when the Mega-powers exploded... even when i was a kid, I knew that nobody could ahng with Hogan more than 6 months without finding out how much of a douche he is... LOL... anybody teaming with Hogan back in those days HAD to turn lol


Great times, and great post

 

[ncwriter2908]

My saddest day storyline-wise was when Curt Hennig, one of my all-time favorite bad guys, betrayed the Four Horsemen to the nWo. Seeing the Horsemen one-upped on dirty tricks by the "outside group" was a heck of a blow. I wanted to see our bad guys beat and run off their bad guys, and was really hoping Hennig had found a new home as a loyal WCW heel.

I agree this was bad. I loved the NWO but had a soft spot for the horsemen. I though the reformed group would go into war games a match that was owned by them and beat the NWO. On a side note the NWO paraody of "My Spot" segment was the funniest promo i have ever seen!!

 

[Dan E. Inferno]

This is a really interesting topic and it made me think hard because its not too often in wrestling that something other than real life events, like eddie's death, have made me sad. I was able to remember one though and the saddest day in wrestling history to me was at Summerslam 2002.

I wasn't an internet fan at this time so when shawn michaels returned I didn't know if it was for the long term or just for a one off match. I was obviously hoping and begging that he was coming back for good and when he beat hunter in the non-sanctioned match, I felt that was a sign of his return to full time wrestling. Then, within seconds of his win, he was brutally attacked by hunter and his trusty sledgehammer and michaels was taken out on a stretcher. I was so upset watching Michaels getting attacked and wheeled out by medics. Of course that was just the beginning of HBK's comeback but I weren't to know that then.

 

[LamaNamaneumi]

T DUB was the first I saw mention the one I was thinking of. By far for me it would be Earthquake and Jake Roberts.
Jake Roberts was being his usual self and teasing Quake with the snake for a couple weeks on Superstars. Then if I'm not mistaken the two had a match with each other.
Jimmy Heart got the ref to make Jake put Damien under the ring. During the match Jake got twisted into the ropes. Then the most awful thing happened, Earthquake grabbed Damien and threw the bag into the ring. Then he proceeded to squish the bag over and over as Jake was forced to watch.

This really fucked me up as a kid. I remember crying and having nightmares over this. I knew wrestling was fake by this time, but I thought this was for real. The way Jake was crying and holding the bag I could not believe the cops were not rushing in to help.

Other than Wrestler deaths I think this is the only storyline that really got to me. Vince should pay for part of my therapy.

 

[Mr. TM]

The saddest KEyfabed day in professional wrestling was Wrestlemania 9. As a young Hart fan, I was stoked to see Hart gonig against Yokozuna for the title. When he failed to win, I was heartbroken, vowing to hate Yokozuna until the day that I died. Well I don't really hate him now, and a year later, Hart did get the win, so that made up for it I guess.

In real life, I was so young when OWen died, and I was quite sad. I was also really sad when Benoit died, but that turned quickly. I think when Eddie Guerrero died, I was the saddest, seeing a man I loved pass away was heartbreaking. I sat up all that night heartbroken, and most of the next night. Luckily for me, that night I met the love of my life.

 

[Maestro48239]

7/16/1988 - the day that Bruiser Brody was murdered in PR, i was so bummed, he was the coolest tweener ever!

may Jose Gonzalez rot in hell!!

RIP Frank Goodish!

 

[LascoX]

I've never been sad over story lines. The saddest things to me were the real life events like Owens accident that could have been prevented, Eddies death, the murder of Bruiser Brody and the Murder/Suicide Of Nancy,Daniel and Chris Benoit. I was glad WWE did the tribute show so you could hear the good things about Benoit before the inevitable crap storm hit that would stain and nearly erase his wrestling legacy

 

[DigitalNight]

The saddest moment for me had to be the murder/death of Owen Hart.

I had grown up to respect the technical abilities of the Hart family as a whole, and loved both Bret and Owen no matter what path they took as far as storyline went. My brother and I were watching the PPV when it happened. We sat through the rest of the event with mouths agape and in shock that one of our favorite wrestlers would no longer be with us. The reconfirmation on Monday Night Raw helped the feeling settle in.

I sat around and read the sporadic internet reports about the preview testing gone wrong, and I eventually abandoned WWF/E wrestling for many years in demonstration of my dislike for the decisions made on all parts.

 

[mena707]

i know this is so original haha but when stone cold turned heel after wrestlemania 17...i was about 11 at the time and stone cold and rock were both my favorite wrestlers and stone cold was a face as long as i can remember....after he had the beer with vince i nearly shit myself i couldnt picture stone cold as an actual heel...but it was genious how he turned face again to help the wwe win invasion

 

[martin]

All cool choices boys and girls, brings back a lot of things that you might have forgotten over the years and how much history WWE has. I'm going with a now light-hearted memory.

Not so much sad but more scary. At Backlash 1999 when Undertaker abducted Stephanie McMahon in her limo and the partition came up, I was 9 years old and thought it was the scariest thing I had ever seen, even thinking that Taker "could" be in my room in his black hooded robe when I turned the light on (he was doing a lot of promos in dark corridors and whatnot at the time). And Vince didn't know cause he was at the ring area (we found out that he was responsible). Man that was some scary shit Bought the Backlash 1999 Tagged Classic DVD few months ago and laughed my ass off thinking about it.