In pro wrestling, the finish of a match is pretty important. Determining who wins a match and how tends to depend on whether a feud is continuing or ending, and what the next steps are. Maybe a feud needs to end, but they can’t let either guy look weak, so interference allows the hero to move on to a new villain in defeat.
Then there are the outliers. In the decades-long history of WWE there have been some seriously weird match endings. This includes baffling endings due to something going wrong in the ring as well as intentional finishes that were bizarre on purpose.
10 Dueling Snake Charmers
On the 9/27/2013 edition of SmackDown, Santino Marella took on Heath Slater in a short singles match, with Great Khali and Jinder Mahal at ringside, among others. Santino prepared to execute his Cobra finisher -- complete with snake/sock on his arm -- but was thwarted when Jinder Mahal started playing a flute, forcing the Cobra to stop in its tracks.
Great Khali interfered on Santino’s behalf with his own flute, and the two were engaged in a musical power struggle for control of Santino’s arm, which was pretending to be a snake.
9 Ricochet Kicks Out
Sometimes unforeseen circumstances happen in the middle of matches, requiring an improvised finish -- and even that doesn’t always work. On the 9/7/2020 edition of Raw, The Hurt Business took on The Viking Raiders, Apollo Crews, and Ricochet in a four-on-four tag team match.
Unfortunately, during a dive to ringside, Viking Raider Ivar ended up getting injured, forcing Cedric Alexander, Ricochet, and the referee to rush to a finish in the ring. But there was apparently a miscommunication, and the ref counted a pinfall despite Ricochet kicking out at two, confusing fans as well as the commentary team.
8 John Cena Loses The Firefly Funhouse Match
In 2020, John Cena entered a feud with “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt going into WrestleMania 36, with the big PPV encounter dubbed a “Firefly Funhouse Match. Rather than a run-of-the-mill No DQ gimmick match, the actual bout turned out to be an avant-garde cinematic match that deconstructed the entire John Cena character.
If that weren’t enough, there’s the finish to the “match,” where John Cena not only gets pinned by The Fiend, but blinks out of existence like something out of Twin Peaks: The Return. The only thing that would make it more amazing would be if it was Cena’s last match ever.
7 WrestleMania VIII Ends In A DQ
The idea of a Hulk Hogan vs. Sid Justice WrestleMania main event already sounds like it would be deeply disappointing even if the actual finish wasn’t so weird. Apparently the idea was that Hogan was supposed to hit his Leg Drop finisher, and Papa Shango was supposed to interfere and break up the pin.
But the timing was off, so Shango didn’t arrive in time, and Sid kicked out of the Leg Drop -- unheard of at the time and Sid’s manager Harvey Whippleman hopped up on the ring apron to cause a DQ somehow.
6 Ryback Asks To End The Match
The year 2012 saw Ryback debuting strong with a Goldberg-esque winning streak, but by mid-2013, the character had pretty much lost direction amid a heel turn where he grew increasingly whiny.
This strange turn hit its apex during a Raw match singles match where “The Big Guy” prematurely demanded the referee stop the match after The Miz began working Ryback’s legs. It seemed like it might have been unscripted, but Ryback then ate a Codebreaker from rival Chris Jericho, making the whole finish even more weird and confusing.
5 Shane McMahon: Best In The World
At the controversial 2018 Saudi Arabia show Crown Jewel, WWE ran a tournament for the WWE World Cup. The finals were meant to be The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler, but The Miz got hurt (in kayfabe). But rather than replace Miz with the last guy he beat, for some reason Shane McMahon decided to insert himself into the finals of a tournament he never entered.
As a result, McMahon beat Ziggler to crown himself the best wrestler in the world. It started Shane on his way to a heel turn, but throwing a whole tournament out the window to do so seemed like a bizarre decision.
4 The Montreal Screwjob
This one is pro wrestling 101, but it’s always worth talking about. In 1997, Canadian Bret Hart was quitting WWE and was still WWE Champion, but didn’t want to drop the belt in his home country. At Survivor Series in Montreal, Shawn Michaels had Bret locked in a Sharpshooter, and WWE boss Vince McMahon called for the bell despite Hart not submitting.
Even if you ignore the various conspiracy theories surrounding the Montreal Screwjob, it was a pretty weird finish at the time. McMahon wasn’t the WWE boss in kayfabe, and this kind of ending seemed like something that was going to extend a feud, but it was actually Bret Hart’s last match in WWE.
3 Unwarranted Ref Stoppage
On the 9/14/2020 edition of Raw, Mickie James challenged Asuka for the Raw Women’s Championship, with the basic story of the veteran James wanting to prove she can still pull out a win.
The resulting match was pretty good but marred by an odd finish where James attempted to reverse an Asuka Lock into a pin, only for the referee to suddenly call the match in Asuka’s favor. Reportedly, this wasn’t the scripted finish, as the ref felt like Mickie James was legitimately hurt.
2 Winning A Tournament By Count-Out
Months after the success of the first WrestleMania, WWE ran its second-ever PPV: a one-night tournament called The Wrestling Classic, featuring stars like Dynamite Kid, Paul Orndorff, and Ricky Steamboat.
WWE’s first major televised tournament came down to Junkyard Dog vs. Macho Man Randy Savage in the finals, leading to a curious finish, as Savage -- who debuted for the company months earlier -- lost the tournament via count-out. This was obviously done to keep Savage looking strong, but feels like a strange choice to end a tournament on pay-per-view.
1 How Do You Pin An Opponent With No Shoulders?
In 1998, Al Snow had a gimmick where he carried around a mannequin head named Head, and at King of the Ring, Snow and Head took on Too Cool in a tag team match with an infamous ending.
While Al Snow was preoccupied, Brian Christopher attached a bottle of Head & Shoulders shampoo to Head’s neck in order to give the disembodied mannequin a pair of shoulders to hold to the mat. It’s the perfect mix of clever and goofy, not to mention legitimately funny.