"Why top 3", you may ask? Because one, I'm different and two, well, I'm different, so be gone to the mofos that think it's shorter than Brock Lesnar's bout with Kofi Kingston.
(WARNING: This piece is mostly sarcasm).
Daniel Bryan vs Sheamus. Wrestlemania 28.
I know this made your eyebrows raise as high as Rocky Maivia but think about this. The kiss from AJ Lee that led to a brogue kick from Sheamus, has in some way, led to the general audience seeing how Daniel Bryan should be WAY higher in the overall arc than where he was at that time.
Also, this was also the year where Bryan showed off his comedic chops with his "NO" catchphrase and his tag team run with the big red conservative, Kane.
If anything, this distraction finish was a great character development for Bryan even if WWE didn't see it because like a CW show, everybody knows the company has an eye for long-term storytelling.
Kevin Owens vs Goldberg. Fastlane 2017.
Let me take out the sarcasm for a bit, okay? Fastlane 2017 was a bad PPV and like the match at Wrestlemania 28 for the world title, the universal title encounter was as short as a darn TIKTAK video.
BUTTTTT! This match did two things. One, it elevated the Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho saga and two, it followed up with the only great match in Goldberg's career with Brocky Brock (I sound like his mother after saying that) at Wrestlemania.
Another good thing about this is that it's the last time I'm ever putting Goldberg on a positive countdown piece so that's cool.
Harlem Heat vs The Steiner Bros vs Sting And Lex Luger For The WCW World Tag Team Championship. WCW Nitro June 24th 1996.
WCW and the shenanigans of it all is their secret sauce that makes the consumption of the product either edible or downright disgusting depending on your taste despite what the "I observe art through objectivity" crowd would tell you (I, for one, love the chaos which explains this section of the article).
And what better way to talk about said consumption than by mentioning this piece of booking.
After The Super Crackers had already made their presence on WCW television as a duo, they decided to involve themselves into a match that was pretty decent.
HOWEVER! Nothing and I mean, NOTHING defeats the power of creative interference from the top dawgs, I guess.
It was so crazy, this was probably the inspiration behind AEW's "ending a Dynamite episode with brawls and babyfaces making the save" trope.
And Yes, people. This was Booker T before he decided to speak in a British accent because he won an opportunity to put on a crown, you know, britphobia as I like to call it.
Let me know some of the best distraction finishes. Follow ya boy on the tweets @omartheplayaguy and stay safe smarks.