By Sean Radican, Torch columnist

RADICAN’S KAYFABE COMMENTARIES REVIEW SERIES
“WRESTLING’S MOST… BOTCHED”
BY SEAN RADICAN, TORCH COLUMNIST

The “Wrestling’s Most…” series from Kayfabe Commentaries has returned for a second season with “Wrestling’s Most…Botched,” which is a look at the top five most botched moments in wrestling history. Kayfabe Commentaries put up a list of 20 memorable botched moments that were provided to them by Botchamania.com and let the fans whittle down to a top five list.

A new season brings a new cast of talking heads for this series. This is the most diverse panel you’re ever going to see discussing wrestling with names like New Jack, Sandman, Sean Waltman, Kevin Nash, Vince Russo, Sunny, and several others commenting on the top five most botched moments as selected by fans on KayfabeCommentaries.com.

What jumps out right away about this series is the hybrid style production values that mimic comic book graphics with ‘80s style videogame videos for each botched moment discussed on this list. I’ve always loved this feature for the “Wrestling’s Most…” series, but it realty worked well hear for the botched moments. The highlight had to be the animation of Jeff Hardy stumbling to the ring at TNA’s Victory Road 2011 to take Sting’s finish when he was clearly in no condition to perform.

The panel on this release provides some diverse opinions on the different botched moments being discussed, but nobody is more grinding at times than Bill Apter, who qualifies as the biggest worker of anyone on the panel. When discussing Vince McMahon blowing out both quads at the 2005 Royal Rumble, Apter adds the insight that you have to ad-lib when something like that happens. Thanks, Bill.

Apter is at his best later on when he he’s asked if Jeff Hardy had a drug problem when he appeared at Victory Road 2011 in no condition to perform. Apter appears on screen and says that’s too broad of a question because everyone has some sort of a problem in the industry. My eyes almost rolled out of my head and down the street after hearing that statement.

The list is enjoyable to watch and many members on the panel are genuinely funny to listen to whether it’s New Jack saying he would beat the crap out of Hardy for showing up in no condition to perform at Victory Road 2011 or Kevin Nash saying he’d grab someone and jump over the top rope together after Vince McMahon blew both his quads sliding into the ring at Royal Rumble 2005.

Sandman is also a highlight on this release. At certain points, his responses are incomprehensible, so a comic book style “WTF?” graphic appears on the screen during his commentary. The highlight of his commentary comes when he talks about the Jeff Hardy incident at Victory Road 2011 and says he was high on acid when he was wrestling in ECW, but he still knew what he was doing.

There’s some serious commentary as well during the discussion of the Hardy incident and Waltman and others talk about the lack of respect Hardy showed by performing in that condition. Waltman says it best when he talks about how there are more important things than people paying to see a match when the wrestler advertised is in no condition to perform.

The #1 botched moment, of course, was the debut of the Shockmaster. I really enjoyed how the members of the panel were shown watching the footage off-screen of Shockmaster’s debut. The best part is that Kayfabe Commentaries got Fred Ottman to talk about the moment on camera.

The reactions of the members on the panel to Shockmaster crashing through the wall and falling to the ground were priceless. The animation for the moment was hilarious as well. The panel was split on what should have been done when Shockmaster came crashing through the wall. Dave Finlay says the wrestlers that were around should have jumped him. Others say you just have to laugh at yourself if you botch something in order to distance yourself from it. Of course, Apter comes up with another eye-rolling comment when he says the Shockmaster tripping might have been a planned botch.


This edition of “Wrestling’s Most…” was a blast to watch. I really like the new panel that Kayfabe Commentaries is using this time around, although some like Russo and Apter didn’t add a lot to the discussion. Sean Oliver did a good job of setting up each segment and this time around they even included clips of him botching the different introductions he did to go along with the theme of this release. Thumbs up.

You can purchase “Wrestling’s Most…Botched” on DVD or VOD by clicking HERE

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