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Given its predetermined nature, WWE is typically quite clearly in charge of dictating who wins and loses matches. Another, more complicated dynamic is that WWE can choose to introduce a sensory of controversy and chaos with an indecisive or outright screw-job finish. When executed well, a controversial finish can add intrigue and a sense of mystery, imploring fans to tune in to see what happens next.
It can also be a vehicle to protect the wrestler who is losing, or at least failing to capture a championship, on account of having an unusual set of circumstances conspire against him or her and justify that wrestler demanding a rematch, or otherwise maintaining credibility in the WWE Universe. There are those times when the controversy has its roots in real life issues, or the contrived situations come across poorly to fans.
This article takes a look back at five particularly memorable controversial finishes in WWE.
#5 Hulk Hogan vs. The Rock
WrestleMania 18 saw Hulk Hogan and The Rock stage an all-time classic. Take away the crowd, and this may have felt like a relatively pedestrian match between two big names. The live audience into Toronto was positively electric for these two top-shelf stars, though, and particularly for seeing Hulk Hogan back in the ring for WrestleMania for the first time in nine years.
The crowd was so thoroughly behind Hogan that it felt only natural he would win—particularly given that The Brahma Bull was edging toward part-timer status as his movie career began to take shape. Word is that management didn’t expect the crowd to be so in favor of Hogan at The Rock’s expense and went with the original plan—Rock picking up the clean pinfall victory that didn’t leave much of anyone happy. Despite losing here, Hogan would go on to win his last WWE Championship shortly thereafter, to capitalize on his momentum with the fans.
#4 Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Vince and Shane McMahon
At King of the Ring 1999, WWE promoted an oddball main event of Stone Cold Steve Austin in a handicap situation against both Vince and Shane McMahon, in a Ladder Match for (kayfabe) control of the company. There was a way in which the stipulation would appear to paint Austin into a corner, outnumbered against two enemies.
However, there was also a more practical sense in which Austin could declare open season on the McMahons, beating up both of them in the confines of a sanctioned match with ostensibly hardcore rules. There was an added wrinkle that with two team members, one McMahon could theoretically occupy Austin while other won the Ladder Match.
Instead of that more obvious outcome, the match instead culminated in an unseen presence jerking the briefcase out of Austin’s reach when he was about to win. The finish felt pretty hokey, as well as unresolved. It was heavily hinted that The Big Boss Man was the one pulling the briefcase, but he was never clearly revealed, generally leaving fans less interested in the swerve finish and more confused.
#3 Mankind vs. The Rock
The Royal Rumble 1999 PPV included an 'I Quit' match between The Rock and Mankind. The "I Quit" stipulation added gravitas to the match. The writing was on the wall that Rock would carry the WWE Championship into WrestleMania, and yet it seemed all but impossible that Mankind, as his character was portrayed at the time, would submit.
WWE would dance around the stipulation by having Mankind not actually submit, but rather have a recording of him screaming “I quit” piped in was, in and of itself, controversial. To make matters even more memorable and rich in controversy, there were the closing movements of the match with Rock smashing his opponent with a chair over and over. This part of the match sold Rock’s ruthlessness and Mankind’s toughness, but was also uncomfortable to watch, as rendered in the Beyond the Mat documentary with real-life reactions to the violence.
#2 John Cena vs. Triple H
By WrestleMania 22, WWE was at a crossroad. John Cena had won the WWE Championship a year earlier, then moved from SmackDown to Raw in a move that seemed to solidify him, over other front runner Batista, as the new face of WWE.
Fans were starting to reject Cena in a vocal way around this time, though, in a way they hadn’t really done historically. There was a contingent on the Internet in particular deeming Cena a failed experiment. His WrestleMania 22 title defense against Triple H looked like an opportunity to reverse course, or conceivably really shuffle the deck with the second ever Money in the Bank briefcase in play as the night closed.
The unlikely happened when Cena not only defeated Triple H, but did so cleanly and via submission. Just as a large group of fans seemed ready to dismiss Cena and move on, he scored one of the biggest victories of his career and shored up his spot as a franchise player, for a run on top that would last most of the decade to follow. In hindsight, it’s hard to imagine this match ending any other way, though it remains up for historical debate whether WWE made the right call.
#1 The Montreal Screwjob
While most of the matches discussed in this article were a result of careful planning—for better or worse—that everyone involved understood in their way to the ring, the Montreal Screwjob represents a different dynamic.
Bret Hart was leaving WWE and had refused to drop the WWE Championship to real life rival Shawn Michaels on his way out the door. So, we got a conspiratorial finish of The Hitman legitimately thinking he was working toward a draw in the Survivor Series main event, whereas Vince McMahon had planned to ring the bell to suggest Hart had submitted in front of his Canadian fans, just as soon as Michaels applied a familiar submission hold.
The chaotic scene to follow, including Hart spitting on McMahon at ringside and decking him backstage, before leaving for WCW, made this one of the most widely talked about, historically interesting controversial finishes wrestling had ever seen. Even to this day, questions linger as to who was “in on” the scheme, or if it’s possible it wasn’t a screwjob at all and Hart himself was part of the plan so as to maximize his hear on his way to his next job.
