The Worst Wrestling Show of All-Time

[Team Angle Pusher 0]

KOTR 95

KOTR 99

Bad Blood 2003

Unforgiven 2003

Armageddon 2003

GAB 2004

NWO 2005

GAB 2005

 

NWO 2005 was good, I enjoyed it. Big Show/JBL was suprisingly fun to watch and JBL going through the ring and then appearing outside the ring before Big Show was awesome.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

Fall Brawl 1998 is easily one of the worst Pay-Per-Views ever. It's being included in the top 10.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Fall Brawl '98 was the one and only WCW PPV that I've ever ordered, sadly. Seemed like it would be an exciting card on paper and was really idiotically booked the whole way through. No Goldberg or Flair on the card either? WTF?

[haws bah gawd 0]

New Blood Rising was a hilariously bad and really bizarre show, what with the Nash/Steiner/Goldberg "shoot" angle with them going against the booking.

"Nash and Steiner are going to have to improvise a new finish!"

 

I remember this. Goldberg gets killed with the Jack Knife, then stands up, looks at Nash funny, and walks out of the ring. All the while, Shiavonne was trying to put over what class-acts Scott Steiner and Kevin Nash were because they were going to 'stay with the script' but improv a new finish. Thats gold.

 

I'll put my vote for Worst of all time towards Great American Bash 2004. I'll be honest, me and a friend were HUGE Mordecai fans, and bought the ppv just to see him. Could've cared less about Paul Bearer being killed-off, but it was strange seeing the Dudleys work the main event of a ppv. Not only that, but their handicap match with Undertaker was put on AFTER the JBL vs Eddie World Title match.

[bob_barron 0]

KOTR 95

KOTR 99

Bad Blood 2003

Unforgiven 2003

Armageddon 2003

GAB 2004

NWO 2005

GAB 2005

 

NWO 2005 was good, I enjoyed it. Big Show/JBL was suprisingly fun to watch and JBL going through the ring and then appearing outside the ring before Big Show was awesome.

 

Outside of Angle v. Cena, there was nothing good about the show. The ending to JBL-Show was ridicilous.

[Guest jm29195]

World War 3 1998 was pretty shite: -

 

Wrath v. Glacier

Stevie Ray v. Konnan

Sonny Onoo & The Cat v. Perry Saturn & Kaz Hayashi (Onoo pins Saturn!!)

Juventud Guerrera v. Billy Kidman (Nitro match was better)

Rick Steiner v. Scott Steiner (no match)

Chris Jericho v. Bobby Duncam Jr

World War 3 Battle Royal (Nash wins!)

DDP vs Bret Hart (US Title)

[cabbageboy 0]

Has anyone noted that these shitty WCW 98 shows tend to all have a Rick vs. Scott match with the Steiners? All of them end in a lame no contest and all insult the intelligence of those watching.

 

WW3 98 wasn't one I mentioned simply because it looked too bad to even get at the time. Haven't seen it.

 

To follow up on Fall Brawl 98, that was near the height of the wrestling boom so I invited my friends Chris and Ian over (this being the first WCW PPV I ever ordered). Chris fell asleep. Ian fell asleep. My brother fell asleep. My dad fell asleep. My mom left the room (and maybe went to sleep, I dunno).

 

What did I do? I watched every bit of that PPV like a man.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

To follow up on Fall Brawl 98, that was near the height of the wrestling boom so I invited my friends Chris and Ian over (this being the first WCW PPV I ever ordered). Chris fell asleep. Ian fell asleep. My brother fell asleep. My dad fell asleep. My mom left the room (and maybe went to sleep, I dunno).

 

What did I do? I watched every bit of that PPV like a man.

 

I slept through about 90% of that show, and I actually wish I would have slept through it all. A lot of the stuff mentioned in this thread is bad because of poor booking or execution. Fall Brawl is just boring, with nothing redeemable at all. Raven-Saturn seems like Steamboat-Flair circa 1989 in comparison to the rest of the crap on that show. The whole thing felt like the bookers showed up on Sunday afternoon and realized that no one had booked a card yet, so they just kept sending guys out there to fill time until they came up with a main event.

[Guest KCC]

Wow, I read through this whole thread and not one person has said Bash at the Beach 1999. I mean, look at the card:

 

Cat vs. Disco Inferno- Awful, awful comedy match

Rick Steiner vs. Hammer- Awful, Awful brawl

Dean Malenko vs. David Flair- Joke match that sees a greener than Kermit David Flair beat Malenko thanks to interference from around 7 or 8 people

West Texas Rednecks vs. No Limit Soldiers- Another bad match, only towards the end does it begin to move at a good pace thanks to Hennig and Mysterio

Junkyard battle royal- Awful, pointless, dangerous brawl

Triad vs. Chris Benoit/Saturn- The only good match on this card, probably around ***1/4; not nearly enough to save this show

Roddy Piper vs. Buff Bagwell- Boxing match highlighted by Judy Bagwell chasing Ric Flair around

Randy Savage/Sid Vicious vs. Sting/Kevin Nash- Bad main event, poor effort from everyone here, even Savage, although by this point Savage was so gassed up that it wasn't a suprise.

 

Maybe none of you have ever bothered to see this show or something, but it has to be the worst big 3 PPV I've ever seen.

[Art Sandusky 0]

The 2004 Great American Bash was really really really shitty. I don't know how I forgot about it.

 

I haven't seen anyone mention Backlash 2001 yet. Only Raven/Rhyno was worth watching.

[Masked Man of Mystery 0]

I'd nominate Hardcore Homecoming: November Reign based on the DVD, but there's clearly at least one match completely cut off of it, the Team 3D match. The opening match isa dumb, nothing match involving Blue Meanie against....someone...I watched it 3 days ago and I can't remember. Spike came in playing heel and wrestling CW Anderson who looks to have lost about 100 pounds because he nearly died, I think it was of liver failure they said. Then they had the triple main event, a rematch of the Taipei Death Match, which wasn't great in the first place and this time they use a fork and chairs more than the glass on their fists. They then had a dog collar match between Gary Wolfe and Shane Douglas, which was far better than it had any right to be, and hence was the best match on the card. Then they have the cage match with Lynn vs Credible, and they just didn't click, and the whole point was supposed to be a Impact Players reunion, which just made no sense for what are basically one shot shows with no real continuity. Where's Raven? Where's Rhino? Where is the frickin' Team 3D tag match that was advertised on their own website? The DVD version comes in at under 2 hours, it's embarassing and I hope I can encourage others to avoid it

[Aero 0]

GAB 2004 is definitely a bad show, but I usually give it some leeway for having two great matches in Rey-Chavo and Eddie-JBL (I can't be the only one who loves it).

[cabbageboy 0]

KCC, good call but BATB 99 becomes a blur in with other bad WCW shows from that period. Tell me the difference in that and GAB 99 or Road Wild 99, or Fall Brawl 99. All that stuff is just "drive me to drink" level bad.

 

BATB 99 might be the worst of the lot however. My friend Ian, who slept through Fall Brawl 98, actually just got up and left after the junkyard match.

 

BATB 99 also was during the period in WCW that had what I deem the Worst Angle in History: The Hummer Angle. There is nothing worse than the Hummer Angle. Not ever. I can't believe in the Death of WCW book they didn't discuss this more in terms of how it wrecked the promotion.

[Guest jm29195]

What about the post Souled Out 2000 Kevin Sullivan WCW booking reign- 2 godawful shows....

 

Superbrawl 2000

 

The Artist formerly known as Prince Iaukea v. Lash Leroux (the finals of a cruiser tournament that included 3 Count, Psicosis, and Kz Hayashi, why were these 2 booked to win?)

Bam Bam Bigelow v. Brian Knobbs

Three Count v. Norman Smiley

Special Main Event Match: The Demon v. The Wall (as stipulated by the KISS contract!)

Leather Jacket on a Pole: Tank Abbott v. Big Al (one of the worst matches ever- totally botched finish in every way)

Booker v. Big T (fat Ahmed Johnson goes over)

Kidman v. Vampiro

The Mamalukes v. David Flair & Crowbar

A long boring segment with Maestro, Jame Brown, and the Cat

Terry Funk v. Ric Flair (makes a mockery of their previous 11 year old series)

Hulk Hogan v. Lex Luger (why put these two in the co-main-event in 2000?)

Sid Vicious v. Jeff Jarrett v. Scott Hall (Runs 7 minutes with 6 ref bumps!!! Hall's last WCW appearance)

 

Uncensored 2000

 

The Artist formerly known as Prince Iaukea v. Psicosis (why were they pushing this man, he was shite!!!!!!)

Lane & Rave v. Norman Smiley & The Demon

The Wall v. Bam Bam Bigelow

(Crowbar takes a stupid bump for no real reason)

Three Count v. Brian Knobbs

Booker & Kidman v. Harlem Heat 2000 (not bad actually but Ahmed's beergut knocks the railing over when he tries a tope!)

Fit Finlay v. Vampiro (Finlay can't have recovered from his leg injury here as he didn't really do anything apart from a standard brawl through the crowd)

The Mamalukes v. The Harris Brothers (Why did the Harrisae go over??)

Lex Luger v. Sting (the worst of their series of matches that were never really that good to begin with)

Sid Vicious v. Jeff Jarrett (World title wasn't main event because it was 'uncensored')

Hulk Hogan v. Ric Flair (why in 2000????)

[cabbageboy 0]

I didn't list those lame duck Kevin Sullivan shows because, well, that's just kicking a dog while it's down. WCW at least had a logical reason to suck at that point, namely that Bret was hurt, Goldberg was a moron and put his arm through a window, Russo was benched, the Radicals were released. They were going through a bunch of shit.

 

Besides, I actually went back and rewatched Uncensored 2000 for whatever deranged reason....and strangely enough I found it watchable. There wasn't a good match or anything but at least the show seemed to go by quickly. How can you not like the "I'd rather be at WrestleMania" sign?

 

SuperBrawl 2000 I saw at a sportsbar, since by that point I refused to buy WCW PPVs (by Uncensored 2000 however even the sportsbar refused to buy WCW shows, thus I had to actually get that PPV). I don't remember much about it now, but out of respect for James Brown I won't list it as one of the worst PPVs ever. The Tank/Big Al debacle was at least hysterically bad.

[Danville_Wrestling 0]

Has anyone noted that these shitty WCW 98 shows tend to all have a Rick vs. Scott match with the Steiners? All of them end in a lame no contest and all insult the intelligence of those watching.

 

WW3 98 wasn't one I mentioned simply because it looked too bad to even get at the time. Haven't seen it.

 

To follow up on Fall Brawl 98, that was near the height of the wrestling boom so I invited my friends Chris and Ian over (this being the first WCW PPV I ever ordered). Chris fell asleep. Ian fell asleep. My brother fell asleep. My dad fell asleep. My mom left the room (and maybe went to sleep, I dunno).

 

What did I do? I watched every bit of that PPV like a man.

 

That's almost word for word of what happened at my house as well with me staying awake and my friends/family either leaving the room or falling asleep. That show also ruined War Games for me because now whenever I think about it I don't remember the brawls of the 80s with the Horsemen or the WrestleWar '92 match between Sting's Squadron and the Dangerous Alliance. Instead, I just remember a bunch of guys acting unconsious for what seems like FOREVER so that Warrior-Hogan can go through their ridiculous program that no one cared about.

[Placebo Effect 0]

I remember this. Goldberg gets killed with the Jack Knife, then stands up, looks at Nash funny, and walks out of the ring. All the while, Shiavonne was trying to put over what class-acts Scott Steiner and Kevin Nash were because they were going to 'stay with the script' but improv a new finish. Thats gold.

 

I'll put my vote for Worst of all time towards Great American Bash 2004. I'll be honest, me and a friend were HUGE Mordecai fans, and bought the ppv just to see him. Could've cared less about Paul Bearer being killed-off, but it was strange seeing the Dudleys work the main event of a ppv. Not only that, but their handicap match with Undertaker was put on AFTER the JBL vs Eddie World Title match.

 

How could they have expected the fans to react positively to JBL vs. Eddie after witnessing the brutal and heinous .... ummm .... concreting of Paul Bearer?

[The Amazing Rando 0]

I remember this. Goldberg gets killed with the Jack Knife, then stands up, looks at Nash funny, and walks out of the ring. All the while, Shiavonne was trying to put over what class-acts Scott Steiner and Kevin Nash were because they were going to 'stay with the script' but improv a new finish. Thats gold.

 

I'll put my vote for Worst of all time towards Great American Bash 2004. I'll be honest, me and a friend were HUGE Mordecai fans, and bought the ppv just to see him. Could've cared less about Paul Bearer being killed-off, but it was strange seeing the Dudleys work the main event of a ppv. Not only that, but their handicap match with Undertaker was put on AFTER the JBL vs Eddie World Title match.

 

How could they have expected the fans to react positively to JBL vs. Eddie after witnessing the brutal and heinous .... ummm .... concreting of Paul Bearer?

 

 

Let's just say Paul got stiffed.

[Cuban Linx 0]

GAB 2004 is definitely a bad show, but I usually give it some leeway for having two great matches in Rey-Chavo and Eddie-JBL (I can't be the only one who loves it).

 

I agree with that, the rest of the show SUCKED, but those two matches lift it out of 'worst ever' territory for me, there's numerous WWE and WCW PPV's that don't have one match as good as either Rey/Chavo or Eddie/JBL, let alone two. Of course i never plan on seeing the rest of that show ever again, so i may be underestimating how earth-shatteringly bad it was overall.

[BruiserKC 0]

NWO Souled Out '97...brutal show. The only match with any slightly redeeming qualities was Eddie Guerrero vs. Syxx/Sean Waltman/X-Pac/Who Cares in a ladder match for the US title.

[tigeraid 0]

Have to go with Uncensored 95 as well. Seeing Dustin Rhodes sell a haybail like it was made of steel is something I never want to go through again.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

Here's the list I've accumulated so far. I've done this based on complaints, checking out the DVDs/videos of some shows, remmebering crowd heat, "coolness" of ideas (i.e., Souled Out 97 blew, but was unique and had a unique atmosphere, so a DUD there would go over a DUD at say, BatB 99), as well as match quality.

 

Please, reccomend others and give your opinions on how the list should be altered. The lack of ECW is alarming. We can edit/boot stuff from the list, and keep it to a Top (Bottom) 20.

 

WORST WWE/WCW/ECW SHOWS EVER:

 

#1 - The Great American Bash 1991

#2 - King of the Ring 1995

#4 - Superbrawl 2000

#4 - Uncensored 2000

#5 - Fall Brawl 1998

#6 - World War 3 1998

#7 - Starrcade 1994

#8 - Road Wild 1998

#9 - nWo Souled Out 1997

#10 - Uncensored 1995

#11 - Bash at the Beach 1999

#12 - New Blood Rising 2000

#13 - Armageddon 2003

#14 - Uncensored 1996

#15 - King of the Ring 2002

#16 - King of the Ring 1999

#17 - Starrcade 1997

#18 - Bad Blood 2003

[Just John 0]

I would have Starrcade 97 higher on the list. The disappointment factor was off the charts on that one. It was everything a company's biggest show of the year SHOULDN'T be. Except for maybe the hype leading up to the event, there were no redeeming qualities for that show. I'd bump it up (down?) to #10 or 11.

 

Other than that, it looks like a solid list. The top 10 are shows are painful to watch. Not even much of a trainwreck factor going for a lot of them, just pure unadulterated suckiness.

[Guest jm29195]

No ECW-

 

 

November 2 Remember 98 was a right dog of a show!

 

 

Supernova & Blue Meanie v. Danny Doring & Roadkill (match is a sideshow to the 'Terry Funk is insane' angle that is a feature of the whole show and never led to a single Funk match as he left ECW soon afterwards...)

Tracy Smothers (w/ the FBI & Ulf Herman) v. Tommy Rogers (w/ Chris Chetti) (match turns into a vehicle to showcase Spike Dudley who ends up beating Herman and debutant Mabel in sub one minute matches)

Lance Storm (w/ Tammy Lynn Bytch) v. Jerry Lynn (no way near as good as their Anarchy Rulz 99 match and overshadowed by having Sunny and Whipwreck as feuding guest referees)

The Dudleys v. Masato Tanaka & Ballz Mahoney (Another nonsensical mess really)

Justin Credible & Jack Victory v. Tommy Dreamer/Jake Roberts (Roberts was a total waste of space here, more pissed than the Sandman, Victory broke his leg, and the match continued with Jason in it instead)

Shane Douglas, Chris Candido & Bam Bam Bigelow v. Sabu, Rob Van Dam & Taz. Douglas (all of the participants have gone on to rubbish this match in later shoot interviews, apparently none of the planned spots worked and the match fell apart as a result)

[cabbageboy 0]

I actually will defend N2R 98 on some levels. Mainly because Funk's antics made that show for me personally. It's one of those things that I'd only accept from ECW though, since him running in on various matches there is amusing (whereas on WCW it'd be really, really terrible).

 

ECW's PPVs were usually not sustained shows (even the best PPVs they did like Heatwave 98 can exhaust the viewer). They are so top to bottom violent that by the main event it's easy to feel burnt out.

 

But hell, the show isn't OFFENSIVE by any means. Certainly not like these hideous WCW shows from that same era.

[haws bah gawd 0]

You guys are gonna have to remind me why the Great American Bash 1991 was so bad. Was this the show just after Flair left for the WWF, and they used Lex Luger vs Barry Windham to crown a new champion?

[cabbageboy 0]

Yeah, GAB 91 was the show right after Jim Herd stripped Flair of the title. I have seen bits and pieces of the show but not all of it, just stuff like Oz vs. Ron Simmons and maybe part of the scaffold match.

 

I'm actually willing to give GAB 91 a slight break given the huge backstage problems involved (I'll give Souled Out 2000 a break as well due to the gigantic backstage turmoil).

 

I think the worst PPVs are those that have no business sucking as bad as they do. Which brings me back to Fall Brawl 98. It at least looked somewhat appealing on paper, but the show itself was hideous.

[pochorenella 0]

New Blood Rising was a hilariously bad and really bizarre show, what with the Nash/Steiner/Goldberg "shoot" angle with them going against the booking.

"Nash and Steiner are going to have to improvise a new finish!"

 

I remember this. Goldberg gets killed with the Jack Knife, then stands up, looks at Nash funny, and walks out of the ring. All the while, Shiavonne was trying to put over what class-acts Scott Steiner and Kevin Nash were because they were going to 'stay with the script' but improv a new finish. Thats gold.

 

I'm beggin' any of you guys to please explain this debacle in more detail.

[cabbageboy 0]

Okay, since I saw this show not too long ago I'll try to describe it the best I can. Russo signs a match for New Blood Rising, Nash vs. Goldberg vs. Steiner. Goldberg was coming off his idiotic heel turn that no one cared about, so he was the wild card. In the weeks leading to the PPV, these guys (Nash especially) did interviews on Nitro and Thunder saying stuff like "I won't be professional out there Sunday. I'm going over, it's the right thing for business."

 

At the PPV they have a crappy match and the announcers keep speculating if any of them will break from the booking of the match and go into business for himself. Finally, Goldberg is supposed to take the jack knife and Nash would win....but he simply pulls out of it and walks away. Russo comes out and GB yells "Fuck you!" to Russo and bolts. The announcers trash Goldberg for being unprofessional and refusing to do his scripted loss. Schiavonne actually says "So if the jack knife was part of the design what are Nash and Steiner going to do now? Improvise???" Did I mention Mark Madden predicted Nash to win "Because he has all the backstage stroke." Scott Hudson also referenced Nash booking himself to end Goldberg's win streak in 1998.

 

So Nash and Steiner continue this crappy match and finally Nash gets the powerbomb on Steiner for the pin. So what should the announcers do:

 

A. Congratulate Nash on his big #1 contender win.

B. Praise Steiner for being a professional and taking the loss like a man.

C. Badmouth Goldberg some more for refusing to job.

D. All of the above.

 

I love what the Death of WCW book said about this match: "Not even the dumbest mark fan could believe this match because no one could ever believe Steiner would be THIS much of a professional."

[Silence 0]

Booker v. Big T (fat Ahmed Johnson goes over)

 

Anyone remember the angle with Booker T losing the "T" from his name if he lost to Big T (I think)? To this day, I still find that silly.