Top 8 greatest “Defying the Odds” moments in the WWE for the past two decades

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As a WWE fan who grew up watching the Ruthless Aggression Era and also witnessed some of the greatest matches of wrestling history from the Hulkamania and Attitude Era, I can say that the WWE surely knows how to create a one-of-a-kind show.

People might say that wrestling is scripted (yes its' storylines and match flow is) and that its glory days are long over but for me, it is light years of ways more than that.

Wrestling will surely change through time but it is surely here to stay. A sports entertainment spectacle that showcases different stories.

From stories of aspiring champions up to stories of underdogs that defy the odds. WWE and wrestling in general, has never failed to inspire us to be in our own way, be a slobberknocker of a true Champion.

Here are eight (8) of the WWE storylines that prove that like our favorite wrestling heroes, we too can defy the odds.

8. Rey Mysterio captures the World Heavyweight Championship

Rey Mysterio has made a career out of proving that size doesn’t matter by stepping into the ring against some of the biggest and the best superstars the wrestling world has ever seen.

Throughout his career, The Master of the 619 has defeated the likes of former WWE Champion John “Bradshaw” Layfield, Mark Jindrak, Luther Reigns, and Bam Bam Bigelow. All of them have something in common and that is all of them are no shorter than 6 feet, 4 inches.

On the night of the “Showcase of the Immortals”, Wrestlemania 22, Mysterio went on to defeat Kurt Angle and the then-rising star, Randy Orton to win his first-ever World Heavyweight Championship.

On that night, The Ultimate Underdog proved that “It’s not the size that matters but it is the heart of the competitor”.

7. Goldberg defies the theory of Evolution

The storied rivalry between Goldberg and Evolution’s leader Triple H began when the latter brutally attacked the man who is known for the most historic win-loss record in the history of professional wrestling, the famous 173-0.

Goldberg would then begin to put each member of the Evolution on notice as he exacts his revenge.

Out of fear, Triple H then had put up a $100,000 bounty on the head of Goldberg and swore to reward anyone who will take out his rival.

A number of superstars such as “The Silverback” Mark Henry, La Resistance (Rene Dupree, Sylvan Grenier, and Rob Con Way), and even “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels (to some extent) all tried their hands on getting the bounty but it was none other than Evolution’s own, Batista who took out the former undefeated WCW star by shattering his ankle courtesy of a diving stomp to the savagely positioned steel chair.

6. RK-Bro: Reunited Friendship, stronger than ever

What are the odds that Randy Orton will finally accept the friendship that Matt Riddle long offers to him?

The unlikely “best-friendship” and tag team of Randy Orton and Matt Riddle began as somewhat a random partnership where Riddle persistently asks Orton to form a team with him. Until Orton has to be out of television for a few weeks for some “undisclosed reasons”.

Then as soon as Orton went back, it seems that the stars aligned for Riddle and “The Viper” to team up once again. This time, Riddle becomes more persistent than ever and Orton on the other hand is more dismissive than ever to the offer.

The Original Bro just stayed on the course and never gave up until the August 9th edition of Raw where Orton gave out an RKO to Riddle then put up a “brotherly” laugh afterward.

It can be noticed on the uncut version of the match that Riddle laughed together with the Apex Predator and it is apparent that the team is not over, yet is set to become stronger than ever.

5. Cenation against the world (of ECW) in One Night Stand

The ECW One Night Stand is one of the most memorable events in the history of WWE, especially in the Ruthless Aggression Era. Extreme Championship Wrestling, a defunct promotion founded by the genius himself, Paul Heyman has become one of the staple wrestling brands in the ’90s and Vince McMahon hoped to reincarnate it with his version of ECW.

Months before the launching of the ECW brand, One Night Stand had joined WWE’s line-up of pay-per-view offerings for the calendar year of 2006.

In the historic one-night-only event, WWE Champion John Cena defended his title against ECW’s own, Rob Van Dam on what was a “riot” of a match. Paper towels and cups are all being thrown on the WWE Champion’s way and there seems to be no way that the fans of “the Land of Extreme” will peacefully leave their sits if their hero RVD will lose to Cena.

Rob Van Dam won the chaos-filled match and went on to become the WWE Champion for about a month until losing it to Cena’s biggest rival, Edge.

John Cena would then go on to rise and capture once again the gold that Van Dam has taken from him but this time from the Rated-R Superstar Edge.

4. Sasha Banks went through hell and proves that the Women’s Revolution is not just about hype

On the 8th annual Hell In a Cell Pay-per-view, Sasha Banks proved why she is one of the best women’s wrestlers of the modern era despite a heart-breaking loss to “The Queen” Charlotte Flair.

Before the match even started, Flair assaulted “The Legit Boss” and sent her to the announce table on which was a potentially match-ending move.

After minutes of being stretchered and gathering whatever that is left, The then-champion Sasha Banks rose from the ashes and delivered a flurry of assaults to “the Queen”.

The historic match went on to be a hellacious, grudge-filled one as the two put out the best offensive tools in their arsenal.

However, the back injury of Sasha became too much to handle and she has fallen to Charlotte’s Natural Selection.

Despite the heartbreaking loss, Sasha proved to the WWE Universe that women can also deliver a one-of-kind and historic match.

3. John Cena destroys Nexus “from the inside”

The year was 2010 and on the June 7th episode of Monday Night Raw which is dubbed as “Viewer’s Choice”, a group of eight young men hungry for success called Nexus came out of nowhere and wreaked havoc throughout the American Airlines Arena.

The invading faction attacked everyone from The Straight Edge leader CM Punk up to the referees and even the ring announcer, Justin Roberts, their main target however is none other than WWE’s biggest star, John Cena.

The rebellious faction is composed of NXT Winner Wade Barrett, David Otunga, Heath Slater, Justin Gabriel, Skip Sheffield (later known as Ryback), Darren Young, and Daniel Bryan (who was immediately exiled by the group) and it became clear that their mission is to make a statement at the expense of the now 16-time world champion.

The Nexus succeeded on that mission as they made headlines and put the WWE roster on notice for months that followed.

On the inaugural Survivor Series of the year 2010, a group of select members of the WWE roster looks to put on a stop to the faction’s path of destruction as the team led by John Cena together with WWE Hall of Famer Bret “The Hitman” Hart, Edge, Chris Jericho, John Morrison, R-Truth, and Daniel Bryan (who replaced the Miz as the fifth member of Team WWE) went on to defeat the young group.

A few weeks before the TLC pay-per-view, Cena will then take out each member of the Nexus which then leads to Barrett agreeing to him being reinstated as a member of the faction.

This enabled Cena to complete his mission of “destroying Nexus from within” and ultimately defeat Barrett at the TLC pay-per-view.

2. Then. Now. Forever: A revolution called Women’s Wrestling

The day of March 7, 2019, marked one of the most historic events in the history of women’s wrestling as for the first time, women became the main event for the grandest wrestling spectacle of the year.

Three of the most dominant women in all of Sports Entertainment squared off in the first-ever Women’s Winner Takes All Triple Threat match wherein both the RAW and Smackdown titles are on the line.

“The Man” Becky Lynch outlasted the “Baddest Woman on the Planet” Ronda Rousey and “The Queen" Charlotte Flair in a night which surely helped mark Lynch’s name as one of the greatest champions, regardless of gender in the Wrestlemania record books.

This marked not only the greatest win of Lynch’s career to date but also one of the greatest moments in the history of Women’s wrestling regardless of promotion.

Women’s wrestling indeed has gone far from the days of the Attitude Era and Ruthless Aggression Era wherein the likes of Torrie Wilson, Sable, Stacey Keibler, and even Hall of Famers, Lita and Trish Stratus compete in testosterone-driven Bra and Panties matches.

1. Daniel Bryan conquers the Authority and wins the World Heavyweight Championship

The leader of the “Yes! Movement” has never been the corporate favorite and has been the subject of endless rejections and insults from The Authority which is headed by “Cerebral Assassin” Triple H together with the “Million Dollar Princess”, Stephanie McMahon.

After months of trying to prove himself not only to the McMahons but to the WWE Universe itself, Bryan would then go ahead and become part of the main event of the 30th Anniversary edition of “The Showcase of the Immortals”, Wrestlemania.

Daniel Bryan entered the Triple Threat match with a rib injury and has been the prime target of the then-champion Randy Orton and the Royal Rumble Winner, Batista.

Despite the overwhelming odds and a series of 2-on-1 assaults, The B+ Player survived the grueling affair and went on to capture his biggest World Heavyweight title win.

The Bottomline (Because U-Niche said so)

From the titan vs cunning elite storyline of Goldberg vs the entire Evolution up to more modern storylines such as the rise of Women's wrestling in the main event scene, WWE is surely known for its consistency in doing one thing that no other sports entertainment promotion can and that is delivering spectacular moments that leads to core memories of any generation (Whether you are an Attitude Era lifer, Ruthless Agression Era millenial, or a New Era Gen-Z.