5 Best Parking Lot Brawls In Pro Wrestling History

At Sunday's NXT TakeOver: In Your House, champion Adam Cole and challenger Velveteen Dream will throw caution to the wind in a "Parking Lot Brawl" that is all but the blowoff to their rivalry. Compared to cage matches, ladder matches, and other popular gimmick matches, the idea of duking it out in the car park doesn't traditionally inspire the same sort of awe. And yet, it's the logical progression to a feud that cannot be bound by conventional rules.

In most scripted circumstances, one fighter asking their foe to step outside for some old fashioned fisticuffs can only be a good thing - except for Rocky V, which I prefer to pretend never existed. But in wrestling, such an environmental brawl is generally an exciting proposition. Creative uses of weapons and surroundings, plus the opportunity to more accurately demonstrate hostility, generates a fitting blowoff to a long-simmering grudge.

There have been many parking lot brawls in wrestling history, some better than others. Here are a few of the better ones we've seen.

At Sunday's NXT TakeOver: In Your House, champion Adam Cole and challenger Velveteen Dream will throw caution to the wind in a "Parking Lot Brawl" that is all but the blowoff to their rivalry. Compared to cage matches, ladder matches, and other popular gimmick matches, the idea of duking it out in the car park doesn't traditionally inspire the same sort of awe. And yet, it's the logical progression to a feud that cannot be bound by conventional rules.

In most scripted circumstances, one fighter asking their foe to step outside for some old fashioned fisticuffs can only be a good thing - except for Rocky V, which I prefer to pretend never existed. But in wrestling, such an environmental brawl is generally an exciting proposition. Creative uses of weapons and surroundings, plus the opportunity to more accurately demonstrate hostility, generates a fitting blowoff to a long-simmering grudge.

There have been many parking lot brawls in wrestling history, some better than others. Here are a few of the better ones we've seen.

5. Ken Shamrock Vs. Steve Blackman (1999)

This "Iron Circle" match from the 1999 Fully Loaded was too short to be a classic or anything, but it had the right idea. Martial artists Shamrock and Blackman had been rivals for roughly a month, and matched up together in this match where they were surrounded by cars.

Various wrestlers honked the horns as Blackman and Shamrock put on what may be best described as an action movie fight sequence, mixing occasional weapon shots with various strikes, while making use of the relatively compressed environment they were in.

4. Jerry Lawler Vs. Eddie Gilbert (1988)

Down in Memphis in the spring of 1988, Gilbert crowed about all the legends he'd run off from the area, including "The King". A battered Lawler even calls into the show (long distance) to offer threats to "Hot Stuff", who dismisses his enemy's distant remarks.

Gilbert then makes a move on legendary announcer Lance Russell, who reveals that Lawler isn't actually laid up - the irate King had made the call from inside the building. The ensuing parking lot brawl isn't an actual match, but it's Memphis chaos done right.

4. Jerry Lawler Vs. Eddie Gilbert (1988)

Down in Memphis in the spring of 1988, Gilbert crowed about all the legends he'd run off from the area, including "The King". A battered Lawler even calls into the show (long distance) to offer threats to "Hot Stuff", who dismisses his enemy's distant remarks.

Gilbert then makes a move on legendary announcer Lance Russell, who reveals that Lawler isn't actually laid up - the irate King had made the call from inside the building. The ensuing parking lot brawl isn't an actual match, but it's Memphis chaos done right.

3. Roddy Piper Vs. Goldust (WrestleMania 12)

The latter portions of the brawl veered into hokey comedy, from spoofing the OJ Simpson car chase from two years earlier, to Piper stripping Goldust down to his skivvies once inside the ring. The actual "Hollywood Backlot Brawl" portion made up for it, though.

A baseball bat, a little bit of blood, and Piper getting smashed into by Goldust's personalized Cadillac were necessary elements for adding zest to something meant to resemble a street fight. Piper had the experience advantage, of course, based on his fight with Keith David in They Live.

2. Eddie Guerrero Vs. John Cena (SmackDown, 2003)

Like the Iron Circle match, but better lit, and with more exciting personalities. Guerrero had recently turned face on the strength of his enormous crowd reactions, and the increasingly-cool (yes, really) John Cena wasn't too far behind him in popularity.

The two were enemies, though, and mixed a little bit of absurdity with brutality in this eight-minute skirmish that saw shovels, lawnmowers(!), and seat belts come into play as weapons. A returning Chavo ultimately aids his uncle in scoring the decisive victory.

1. Lord Steven Regal Vs. Fit Finlay (Nitro, 1996)

Any match between Finlay and Regal is bound to see bloodshed, bruising, and possibly mangling of some kind - their match at the 1996 Uncensored was more potato-riffic than the state of Idaho. So yeah, let's stick the two hooligans out in the car park and see what happens.

Sure enough, Regal and Finlay went to town on each other, with windows and other car parts ending up as collateral damage in the fray. Not that the two needed weaponry to get the hate out, but the dangerous environment only enhanced what would've been a crazy brawl anyway.

1. Lord Steven Regal Vs. Fit Finlay (Nitro, 1996)

Any match between Finlay and Regal is bound to see bloodshed, bruising, and possibly mangling of some kind - their match at the 1996 Uncensored was more potato-riffic than the state of Idaho. So yeah, let's stick the two hooligans out in the car park and see what happens.

Sure enough, Regal and Finlay went to town on each other, with windows and other car parts ending up as collateral damage in the fray. Not that the two needed weaponry to get the hate out, but the dangerous environment only enhanced what would've been a crazy brawl anyway.