Terrible main events that ruin otherwise solid cards

[spman]

I was talking to a friend tonight, and we were talking about how frequently both ECW and WCW would run really good PPVs, and then would have main events that were so overwhelmingly terrible that you would forget how good the rest of the show was. Great example, Halloween Havoc 1998, 3 matches over ***, but that cage match between Piper and Hogan was so god awful that no one even remembers which matches were good, just how bad the cage match was. Or any number of ECW shows where Sabu would main event and stink up the place. Even WWE has done this with shows like Summerslam 1994. The cage match is great, so is the IC Title match, but Undertaker vs Undertaker is like a black hole of suck, sucking the memories of all the good stuff out of your mind. What other good examples are there of good shows that are forgotten because of awful main events?

[Gert T]

I thought that Starrcade 1996 fell into that category too.

 

The first two hours were pretty good and then the rest just stunk up the joint.

 

What a shock, the main event was Hogan-Piper.

[CanadianChris]

Just about anything from WCW during the nWo angle would qualify, as they generally had great cruiser matches and Chris Benoit/Raven/X-Pac in the undercard with Hogan almost always in the main event.

 

The best example I can think of for WWE would have been Summerslam 95. Mostly not bad, with the kickass HBK/Razor ladder rematch and a surprisingly decent Bret/Glen Jacobs match, but Diesel/Mabel was utter crap.

[Hunter's Torn Quad]

Brock Lesnar vs. Undertaker from Unforgiven in 2002. The match wasn't bad, but the booking was beyond terrible and it killed what had been a pretty solid card.

[CanadianChick]

Brock Lesnar vs. Undertaker from Unforgiven in 2002. The match wasn't bad, but the booking was beyond terrible and it killed what had been a pretty solid card.

 

The ending of the RVD/HHH match didn't exactly help either.

[Just John]

I don't know if Havoc 97 is such a good example. The thing most people remember about that show is the Rey/Eddie match.

 

For WCW shows, I'll go with Bash at the Beach 97. The first 5 matches were excellent.

 

- Glacier/Miller vs. Mortis/Wrath

- Jericho vs. Ultimo

- Steiners vs. Muta/Chono

- Lizmark Jr/Juvi/Hector Garza vs. La Parka/Psychosis/Villano 4

- Benoit vs. Sullivan

 

The next 3 took a drop...

 

- Jarrett vs. Mongo

- Page/Hennig vs. Hall/Savage

- Flair vs. Piper

 

And then of course, Hogan/Rodman vs. Luger/Giant stunk up the joint and that's what gets all the attention.

[DrVenkman PhD]

Unforgiven 2002 was the example I was going to use, but since it's been taken, No Mercy 2004 was a largely passable show that headed to thumbs down territory once people saw JBL/Taker main event, ending with Heidenreich killing Taker.

[Aero]

I've only seen it once, and it was a few years ago, but didn't Judgment Day 98 have a decent undercard? The last two matches feature the random jobbing of The Rock to Mark Henry followed by the horrible Taker-Kane main event, which not only sucked, but still left us without a World Champion.

[fisticuffs]

It's already been pointed out, but Hogan/Piper was Halloween Havoc '97.

 

Goldberg/DDP mainevented Havoc '98, and 1/2 of the ppv audience got cut off and WCW had to show the match the next night on Nitro.

[Guest]

I've only seen it once, and it was a few years ago, but didn't Judgment Day 98 have a decent undercard? The last two matches feature the random jobbing of The Rock to Mark Henry followed by the horrible Taker-Kane main event, which not only sucked, but still left us without a World Champion.

That show was the reason that I stopped ordering PPV's on a regular basis. Summerslam 98 was really good, and it went WAY downhill from there.

[Guest JMA]

Goldberg/DDP mainevented Havoc '98, and 1/2 of the ppv audience got cut off and WCW had to show the match the next night on Nitro.

I recall being quite pissed off about that.

[Si82]

Goldberg/DDP mainevented Havoc '98, and 1/2 of the ppv audience got cut off and WCW had to show the match the next night on Nitro.

I recall being quite pissed off about that.

I don't blame you.

 

However, it was good for fans in the UK because we got to see the main event of a PPV on TV for free which we wouldn't have gotten to see otherwise.

[cabbageboy]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Great American Bash 1996. It was not quite the NWO era, but that show marked the WCW PPV debuts of Hall and Nash, as they attacked Bischoff. The card itself is one of WCW's best ever, but after that Nash powerbomb on Bischoff no one would care about the main event. Thus they had a heatless title match of Giant/Luger, which the entire crowd could have cared less about.