Top WWE Moments That Could Be Horror Movies

The arrival of October brings about the Halloween season, a time of year when horror movie fans can embrace all things frightening, haunting, macabre and terrifying. It also allows wrestling fans to look back at the long history of WWE's attempts to integrate horror into its programming, to varying degrees of success.

In celebration of all of the things that go bump in the night, cause the hairs stand up on your arms, and send tingling down your spine, relive these moments that could be horror movies in their own right, each of which played out on WWE TV over the last four decades.

Macho Man Is Snake Bitten

Imagine if the Amazonian giant in Anaconda feasted on Jennifer Lopez, or the titular serpent got the best of Jessica Rothe in Beware Bouina.

That was the situation in 1991, when Jake "The Snake" Roberts produced a living freakin' cobra and taunted "Macho Man" Randy Savage as the fanged reptile feasted on the Hall of Famer's bicep.

Miss Elizabeth looked on in horror, as did the fans in attendance and watching home, concerned for the former WWE champion's health.

Savage would recover and get revenge on his spine-tingling opponent, but not before horrifying the WWE Universe in a way that still holds up today, thanks to a fairly widespread ophidiophobia, or the fear of snakes.

The Original Doink the Clown

He did not carry red balloons, and he didn't ask young fans in the front row if they would float too, but the original incarnation of Doink the Clown was evil nonetheless.

Taking great glee in tormenting fans and wrestlers alike, the evil jester would chuckle one moment before stopping and looking into the camera with deadly intent, a sudden seriousness falling over his face in a way that fans could not help but notice.

There is not one moment in particular that is terrifying, but rather the entire OG Doink experience. He was a menace, yucked it up, and had the look of an innocent circus clown, but the intent of a vile, deceitful horror villain.

Much of that could be chalked up to his portrayer, Matt Borne, and his understanding of how to portray the character that Vince McMahon had dreamed up in a 1990s creative meeting. His brilliance gave that character life that it may not have otherwise had and a legacy that holds up today.

As long as you don't bother watching after the ill-fated babyface turn.

Still, Pennywise from the 1990 It made-for-TV movie series inspired Doink. Like the late Tim Curry, the wrestler had a sinister edge to him that reminded fans not to trust every seemingly harmless entertainer that came around.

The Fiend Arrives

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The introduction of The Fiend to the WWE Universe came in what was already essentially a film of sorts.

In the summer of 2019, Bray Wyatt was badly in need of a reboot, and he delivered, introducing the wrestling world to the Firefly Funhouse. In his best Mr. Rogers impression, he greeted the audience with enthusiasm and a desire to teach them a lesson, but with a dark, sinister edge that was impossible to ignore.

Each week, fans crawled deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole, gleefully going on a ride through the dark and delightfully macabe, until Wyatt introduced the most dangerous and terrifying entity known to WWE: The Fiend.

He was the stuff of nightmares, Wyatt's alter ego. Designed by Jason Baker, an acclaimed horror movie effects artist, in conjunction with the man behind the mask, it was both the most unsettling thing wrestling fans had seen on WWE programming and the coolest.

When the monstrosity made its debut in front of a live audience at the 2019 SummerSlam, the fans became even further engrossed by what they were seeing.

An extraordinarily frightening presentation, with a great idea fueling it, The Fiend should have been an even bigger success than it was. Unfortunately, like most frustrating horror sequels, muddied creative and interference from producers and the front office meant The Fiend lost sight of what made it one of the most revolutionary horror-themed characters in pro wrestling history.

Still, that first incarnation of the character was pure cinema. Enough that Universal Studios included Wyatt, The Fiend, and the eventual Wyatt Six spin-off as part of the 2025 Halloween Horror Nights haunted house exhibit.

That's Gotta Be Kane!

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Imagine losing your sibling to a house fire that also killed your parents. Then, two decades later, being told by your former friend that your brother is still alive and coming back to avenge his death after being wrongly told that you set said fire.

That was the scenario The Undertaker found himself in as In Your House: Badd Blood rolled around in October of 1997. With the threat of Kane's impending rivalry hanging overhead like a pregnant cloud, Undertaker watched as the Big Red Monster stalked toward the squared circle, bringing his Hell in a Cell match with Shawn Michaels to an abrupt halt.

Kane came face to face with the Phenom and for the first time in WWE history, fans saw something they had never seen from the Deadman in his seven years with the company: fear.

Undertaker looked genuinely scared and stunned as his brother stood across from him, his burnt face hidden behind a Jason Voorhees-inspired red and black mask.

Kane would drop Undertaker with a Tombstone piledriver that October night in 1997, costing him his match against Michaels and writing the latest chapter in one of the most epic story arcs in WWE history.

One that absolutely is worthy of a big screen treatment and gave fans pure cinema every week through their iconic WrestleMania 14 showdown the following March.

Undertaker Traps Ultimate Warrior

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There are few more horrific ends one can meet than being buried alive, suffocated and left without air in one's final moments. Horror fans have seen that particular scenario play out countless times, with one of the most effective portrayals of the desperation that sets in being Ryan Reynold's turn in 2010's Buried.

In 1991, fans watched in horror as the Ultimate Warrior experienced a similar scenario.

The face-painted former WWE Champion found himself on the receiving end of a sneak attack from The Undertaker, who emerged from a coffin and jumped him from behind.

From there, he slammed him into a casket and locked it shut. For several minutes, the merry band of idiots fought to get him out, chiseling, crowbarring, pulling, and pushing. They eventually got him out, but not before damage had been done.

Undertaker and Warrior never really got that big blowoff match on pay-per-view, rendering the angle essentially useless, but it is one that terrified an era of young fans and gave them a preview of the danger Undertaker could bring to WWE television if he went as dark as he could.

Big Boss Man would find as much out eight years later, but the less said about that one, the better.