What could be more surprising than a botched move inside the WWE squared circle? Well, no points for guess there as the answer is pretty much clear from the list title itself! Now for the ones who are not familiar with the term Ring general, it could be defined the superstar who takes control of the match and calls the moves.
It is usually the most experienced superstars from the lot and it would be a really embarrassing moment if these Ring generals came up with a botch. There have been a lot of such situations in the WWE where experienced veterans like Undertaker, Triple H and famous ring generals like CM Punk and John Cena botching moves, and here is a look at them:
Triple H messes his pedigree
Triple H is not known to have a lot of botches in his career but this was one of the most dangerous ones from that small lot. As we all know, Triple H’s pedigree is supposed to land his opponent face first into the mat but this time when he pulled it off, instead of the face, it was the head that landed first.
The good old Jim Ross gave some great calling for the move as well, when he came up with his ‘broken in half’ trademark comment. Thankfully for Hunter, there weren’t any major injuries as a move like that had enough potential in it to paralyze or even kill anyone who took it.
Undertaker gives out one of the worst chokeslam
Undertaker is respected all across the wrestling business and rightfully so. The Phenom has been around the business for a long time now and is known for delivering some of the best matches throughout his career. The chances of seeing Undertaker pulling off a botch is equal to the chances of seeing a shooting star in the morning which is why this one is special.
Undertaker was supposed to deliver his routine Chokeslam on Hulk Hogan but thanks to the missed timing between the superstars, Hogan looked like he was just falling back instead of getting forced to fall back by Taker. It clearly belongs to the list of moves that Taker would love to forget.
Kane won’t go to sleep
Now, not to get the bad idea here, CM Punk is a great in ring technician and that is why he makes it into the list. He might not be anywhere near some of his opponents when it comes to experience but Punk was indeed a rare breed of wrestlers who was technically sound. A botch from someone like him was thus clearly surprising.
And to make matters worse, it happened during Punk’s finisher. Kane was the opponent here and thanks to the Big red monster being over 300 pounds, Punk had a lot of trouble picking him up and completing the move. This resulted in a funny botch that Punk wouldn’t be proud of.
Randy Orton misses RKO on the giant
Randy Orton’s finisher is a phenomenon. The move has a reputation of being an awesome one as Randy has come up with a lot of variations throughout his career. However, the variation he pulled off against Big Show at one episode of Monday Night Raw however could have only one name: Botch.
Known for being a great in ring general, Orton simply made a mess out of his RKO against Big Show and it seemed like Show just fell to the ground. Randy was clearly embarrassed from what happened and he did take his frustration out on Big Show after the move by shouting some words that the parents wouldn’t want their children to hear.
Springboard what
Just mentioned earlier, Punk is known to be a good technician in the ring. He earned the tag from his days in the WWE’s version of ECW itself. This happened during his stay there and unlike the previous one, this was not his finisher. Punk was facing Elijah Burke in the match and when he jumped on top of the ropes to deliver a Springboard clothesline, Punk simply slipped and fell into the mat.
Although there have been instances of WWE pulling off such botches for the sake of kayfabe, this one clearly did not look like one and was indeed a botch from the great CM Punk.
Undertaker again
The chokeslam that Undertaker pulled off along with Hulk Hogan was indeed a forgettable outing and this was another similar instance. The incident happened during Taker’s American Badass run and he was supposed to knock the air out of Jeff Hardy with a chokeslam on the outside.
However, Undertaker failed to get the proper grip on the charismatic enigma and slipped while delivering the big blow. Both of these culminated in an awkward looking chokeslam that, if pulled off right, would have been an awesome move considering the fact that it was going to happen outside and also due to the involvement of Jeff Hardy.
Benoit and Sabu’s broken Neck
The original version of ECW has seen a lot of extreme things and Benoit breaking Sabu’s neck was one of them. Just like most of the other wrestlers in the list, Benoit was considered to be a great in ring technician and it was a clear miracle when he managed to botch his move. This however happened back in ECW when Benoit accidently head dropped Sabu.
Sabu’s neck was broken then and there but for some reason or the other, the injured Sabu went on to wrestle the next two weeks in Japan. The broken neck and potential paralysis of Sabu earned Benoit the nickname ‘Crippler’ even though technically he did not cripple Sabu.
Shawn Michaels botch lands big time
Have you ever seen Shawn Michaels botch a move? Well, the answer will probably be no because he rarely does. There is however a striking example of Michaels miscalculating his move. It happened during the legendary match that he had with Ric Flair at WrestleMania.
The farewell match of the Nature boy saw Michaels trying to pull off a high flying move only to crash and burn in the announce table. If the move had gone right, it was supposed to let him land on Ric Flair but thanks to the botch, Michaels earned himself some bruises and marks in places he would not want to show anyone in particular.
Undertaker and Shawn Michaels Botch
So, you have seen Undertaker botch and you have seen Shawn Michaels botch but what happens when both these superstars botch. Well, it nearly ended the career of Shawn Michaels to cut the chase. Both men were having an epic casket match at the 1998 Royal Rumble and Taker was supposed to perform a simple running back drop on Michaels.
Unfortunately for the superstars, Taker mistimed his picking up of Michaels while Michaels failed to get enough spin on his move. And most importantly, both the veterans probably forget that the casket was placed right below. All these resulted in a nasty bump from Michaels and he almost got paralyzed as the base of his spine hit the casket pretty bad.
Owen Hart changes course of history
Owen Hart was known as one of the greatest technicians of his time. A lot of superstars looked up to him as inspiration because the guy knew how to carry a match and how to make both the superstars involved look good. Owen was so good at what he did that no one expected him to make the biggest botch in the wrestling history.
Owen faced off against Steve Austin in the 1997 SummerSlam pay-per-view and at one point of the match; he went on to give Austin a piledriver. By the standards of Owen, this was supposed to be a simple walk in the park but as he could not properly tuck Austin’s head in between his legs, Austin landed on his head. His neck snapped immediately and it was this injury that shortened Austin’s in ring career.
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