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5 WWE Superstars who were thrown into dumpsters (and what happened next)

Sami Zayn's dumpster repercussions were not as bad as Shane McMahon's
Sami Zayn's dumpster repercussions were not as bad as Shane McMahon's

If you were to ask any WWE fan about their favorite gimmick match, it would probably involve a cell or a ladder. But before those special match types became regular occurrences with pay-per-view titles attached to them, another unique match would often be contested on WWE programming: a dumpster match.

In a far cry from the in-ring excellence that many fans crave with today’s WWE product, the aim of the match would be for one competitor to throw the other inside a dumpster before closing the lid. Much like a casket match, the referee would then call for the bell and the person locked inside the dumpster would lose the match.

There have been occasions when the rules have been altered (e.g. the lid did not need to be closed in the Braun Strowman vs. Kalisto match in 2017), while dumpsters have also been used during No Holds Barred and Hardcore Championship encounters when brawls have continued into the backstage area.

With the use of dumpsters making a comeback in WWE over the last couple of years, let’s take a look at five Superstars/teams who were thrown into the trash.


#5 Sami Zayn

The inspiration for this article comes from the May 6 episode of Raw, which saw Sami Zayn perform his usual shtick of insulting the audience and claiming that they complain too much.

On this occasion, Braun Strowman decided that he had heard enough from the former NXT champion, so he began to chase him through the crowd and into the backstage area.

Zayn retaliated by throwing anything he could find at “The Monster Among Men”, but he soon found himself in a tricky position when a garage door would not open and he was forced to stand face-to-face with his much larger rival.

Strowman proceeded to launch Zayn into a dumpster with his trademark powerslam technique, while a garbage truck happened to arrive at just the right moment to empty the contents of the dumpster into the vehicle.

One night later, it appeared as though Zayn escaped without injury as he competed for the WWE Championship in a Triple Threat match against Kofi Kingston and AJ Styles on SmackDown Live.

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