The Worst Wrestling Show of All-Time

[pochorenella 0]

Thanks for the details, cabbageboy. Although I feel a bit dumber myself after reading that.

[GreatWhiteNope 0]

I'd nominate Hardcore Homecoming: November Reign based on the DVD

 

Why didn't you buy the Highspots version - it has the full show.

 

I thought the card was decent.

 

Now if you want to see a bad Hardcore Homecoming show, check out the Cleveland 2-disc set that's available.

 

Crowd is dead for everything, and some of the wrestlers after the show said they felt like they were raping ECW by performing that night.

[Darth Vader 0]

No mention of Wrestlemania IX yet? It's starts of strong with Shawn vs. Tatanka and a decent Steiners vs. Head Shrinkers match but then dies a painful death. No contests and DQ's all afternoon and then then end of the show was the frosting on the shitcake.

[MillenniumMan831 0]

"So if the jack knife was part of the design what are Nash and Steiner going to do now? Improvise???"

 

They should have had Drew Carey as the special ref after that line. 20,000,000 points to the tall guy w/ the well-conditioned hair.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

Bad Blood 2004. I was at both of these shows live. The best part of KOTR 2002 was the Rock/Booker/Goldust skit. RVD/Jericho was OK, not good enough to offend Jericho. Flair/Eddie was crap, and UT v. HHH was a slow death, but not as slow of a death as...... Bad Blood 2004, with 50 minutes of slow death in the HBK/HHH Hell in The Cell match. It was better than '02, but I just wanted to vent about the HIAC match, and that the Columbus crowd was unfairly shit on by people on the Internet. HBK & HHH must have spent at least 15 of the 50 minutes laying on the mat.

 

You know I didn't think Bad Blood 04 was that bad. I mean it fucking sucked the HIAC went so ridiculously long along with HHH winning to put icing on the shit cake, but I thought Orton / Benjamin was a pretty solid match along with Benoit giving Kane the best match (if not best, its definitely up there IMO) of The Red Machine's career so it wasn't a total letdown for a show. Certainly miles better than the show from the previous year.

[haws bah gawd 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.

 

Yea I remember this. I'll give Shavonne some credit. He was able to hype some SHIT storylines without ever cracking a smile, and stayed serious about the whole thing. He still went on to put over how that particular night was the biggest in the history of the sport. Oh, and how Booker T vs Big T for the rights to the "T" was the biggest match in the history of the sport as well.

[cabbageboy 0]

There's a difference between shows that are misfires, shows that are forgettable affairs, and shows that just flat out SUCK. The reason there are so few WWE shows that I'd consider the worst PPVs ever is that there's usually something worth noting on the show that is decent. Maybe a match or two or an angle.

 

Stuff like Bad Blood 2004 is just a misfire, it's not one of the worst PPVs ever. KOTR 2002 was a hideous show but at least I did enjoy the RVD/Jericho semi final (before the finals, which I still deem the single worst booking decision of the post Invasion era). I also enjoyed Eddie's hilarious interview on that PPV. So it's not a total loss.

 

Even Armageddon 2003, while insanely bad booking wise, had some decent work here and there. The only WWF show I can think of that is this truly awful is KOTR 95. That is the only WWF PPV where they did some truly WCW type booking and the matches were for the most part embarrassing.

[Aero 0]

I wouldn't call it the worst of all-time, but I've always hated Rock Bottom: IYH with a passion. Save for Blackman-Owen, which still had a lame countout finish, there wasn't anything decent. The Tag Title match between the Outlaws & Boss Man/Shamrock was insanely boring, and the Taker/Austin buried alive match has to be one of the worst WWF PPV main events ever.

[cabbageboy 0]

Eh, Rock Bottom wasn't a great PPV by any means but the Mankind/Rock match was at least somewhat amusing. It's more of a forgettable PPV than actively bad.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

The only match I enjoyed at Rock Bottom was the Brood Vs. the JOB Squad.

[Danville_Wrestling 0]

I have an interesting question for this board: how would you have booked the 1995 KOTR tournament with the same bracket the WWF set up at the time? If I remember correctly the bracket was:

 

Mabel-Undertaker

Shawn Michaels-Kama

Bob Holly-Roadie

Savio Vega/IRS-Yokozuna

 

I included the Vega-IRS match b/c that match took place before the show to determine who would take the spot of the injured Razor Ramon.

 

The more I think about that bracket it's clear the WWF was setting us up for a screwjob finish because face-face matches just didn't happen in the WWF at that time period and the same goes for heel-heel.

 

If it were up to me and Mabel didn't win the tournament I would've had Mabel advance over the Undertaker via Kama interference, Michaels advance over Kama with the Undertaker repaying the favor, have Holly-Roadie go to a time limit draw, and then have Yokozuna crush Vega. Then advance Michaels over Mabel and then finally Michaels over Yokozuna in the final.

 

That's some messy booking but that's the best I could do with that final 8 field. Any other ideas?

[King Kamala 0]

I really hate Great American Bash 99. The best match is Chris Benoit and Saturn Vs Kanyon and DDP and that match is like **1/4. It also included Sting getting "mauled" by a bunch of dogs and the return of Sid.

[cabbageboy 0]

Hating stuff like GAB 99 is as natural as the sun rising every morning. It is at least slightly better than the travesty known as BATB 99.

 

Danville, as far as that bracket goes I don't think there could possibly be a good tourney out of it. Since they likely wouldn't go for Shawn/UT in the semis I'd have to go with UT vs. Kama. Not sure how Shawn would be eliminated, maybe the Corporation tries to run in and he gets caught with Kama's chain, DQ. UT and Kama had a bit of an issue in 1995, so at least there's some backstory there. Obviously UT fends off Kama in the semis and takes out various Corporation jobbers.

 

There is of course no way in my bracket that fucking Mabel even wins ONE match.

 

And as sad as this sounds, I would have to go with UT vs. Yoko in the finals. There's simply no one in that other half I can see beating Yokozuna, it's all a bunch of jobbers. Then I'd go with UT over Yoko in the finals, which would set up a very interesting UT vs. Diesel matchup.

 

My rationale here is that I figure it was a bit too soon to do Shawn/Diesel again, especially since they were allies. UT vs. Diesel would be a fresh matchup and I assure you that if Nash had beaten someone like UT he would have been a lot more over as champ.

[King Kamala 0]

Another pay per view I really hated, not sure if it's been mentioned or not in this thread, is Survivor Series 99. Not necessarily the worst pay per view, but man WWF was in a slump for a brief point after Russo left (Truth be told, they weren't doing that well at any point in 99). Honestly, I can't remember anything about that show except for The Big Show winning the WWF World title and Austin getting run over. I've blocked it out cause I disliked it so much. Luckily, things got better pretty quickly thereafter for WWF.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Yeah, that all tied into Booker T reverting to his GI Bro gimmick (something maybe a handful of WCW fans at the time actually knew about).

[Copper Feel 0]

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

 

Wait........ did ECW actually include numbers to represent letters in there show titles?

[Jericholic82 0]

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.

I not only saw it, I watched it live from the Nitro Grill in Vegas (you only had to pay 5 bucks to get it so I figured what the heck)

[Dobbs 3K 0]

How was the Nitro Grill anyway? WCW never really hyped it up as much as WWF did with their "WWF New York" restaurant/club.

[Jericholic82 0]

How was the Nitro Grill anyway? WCW never really hyped it up as much as WWF did with their "WWF New York" restaurant/club.

It was pretty cool, actually just today I was watching my old home movies and saw when I went there.

 

 

They had a bunch of wrestlers autographed attirres framed on the wall (including a sweet Ric Flair Red Nature Boy Robe-which if you read his book, know was never returned to him after the grill closed) and a merchandise shop (I got a official grill tshirt which I still have). They had big screens and tvs that showed wcw videos and nitro and thunder/ppvs when they were on.

 

 

The food wasnt too bad either if I recall.

 

 

the ppv party was pretty cool and a lot of fans were there Though I noticed it was mostly younger kids who werent allowed to watch WWF at the time. (though I did walk into the place wearing my wwf attitude cap and dx shirt)

 

They had their own nitro girls for the party and smoke machines went off.

 

the middle of the dining room was roped off with ring ropes and turnbuckles too.

 

 

The most memorable part was before the rednecks vs soldiers match, when the whole crowd was singing along to "Rap Is Crap"

 

damn wish I could screen cap that video for ya

 

 

anyhow agreed on rock bottom whih I own on vhs, sucks big time. The crowd was pretty interesting in canada and owen hart got the biggest face reaction of the night outside of austin.

 

The Goldust-JJ match got ridixoulous heat due to the debra stripping stipulation. and HBK was hilarious as he started pulling out cash as debra stripped

[Lil' Bitch 0]

I have to throw in Royal Rumble 1989, there is absolutely nothing good on the show IMO except for Rick Rude jumping the Warrior from behind during the posedown.

[ChrisMWaters 0]

I have to throw in Royal Rumble 1989, there is absolutely nothing good on the show IMO except for Rick Rude jumping the Warrior from behind during the posedown.

I liked in that rumble how they had Ax and Smash start the thing off.

 

Proving that, unlike last year's rumble, this WOULD be every man for himself.

[FroGG_NeaL 0]

This is my favorite thread right now, fucking awesome shit being brought up.

 

That Booker lost his T, ya think it was Russo poking fun at when HBK Lost his smile?

[ChrisMWaters 0]

This is my favorite thread right now, fucking awesome shit being brought up.

 

That Booker lost his T, ya think it was Russo poking fun at when HBK Lost his smile?

Either that or he was trying to cross-promote with Sesame Street.

[Guest J0bber]

Hating stuff like GAB 99 is as natural as the sun rising every morning.

 

For some reason, that line just cracks me up. Do you mind if I use it in my sig?

[Just John 0]

After some review, I think Unforgiven 03 deserves more hate. That show had nothing redeemable. Michaels/Orton and 3-way were passable at best. The only thing I liked was that Kane hooking Shane's nads to a car battery made the video package for their match.

 

And I disocovered a positive for Fall Brawl 98: Scott Hall busted out the "Whiskey-sip Abdominal Stretch" during his otherwise awful match with Konnan. That spot was hilarious to me for some reason.

[King Kamala 0]

Has King of The Ring 99 been mentioned? If not, I think that deserves more hate. Billy Gunn winning the King of The Ring. A terrible Rock-Undertaker match. The match of the night being The McMahons Vs Steve Austin in a 2 on 1 ladder match with the ludicrous "higher power" angle.

[cabbageboy 0]

Jobber, go ahead and use the GAB line if you want.

 

Couple of points: I don't think Russo did the Booker angle where he lost his T. That would be during the early 2000 period when Russo was sent home and Kevin Sullivan was booking. The Sullivan period is the worst shit anyone has ever booked in the history of God's green earth.

 

Booker's 2000 title push wasn't well thought out. I'd heard people say for years that Booker T. was a guy they should push harder, but the thing is they didn't lay a foundation for his push. It was just "Okay, Booker is losing his T. one month, then joining MIA as GI Bro.....now let's give him the world title!"

 

I have to admit I had drawn a blank on Unforgiven 2003 until now. Like most WWE shows of the period it's not "Worst Ever" level bad, but more or less just kinda boring. With most WWE shows there's at least SOME kind of decent work on it. I recall the Jericho/Christian/RVD match being at least around the *** mark.

 

I think for a show to be worst ever level bad it has to be a hideously boring affair as well as not even having a match rising to the *** level. To me, Russo era WCW doesn't qualify because his PPVs certainly weren't boring. It was a 170 min. barrage of crazed angles, hectic run ins galore, jawdropping weirdness. Stuff like SuperBrawl 95 is much worse. It's just bad and boring, and the main event (Hogan/Vader) could have been decent but had a non finish.

 

There is a fine line between sublime badness like Uncensored 95 and tedious badness like SuperBrawl 95.

[Gary Floyd 0]

Royal Rumble 94-Really, when you get past Owen turning heel, this show was a disaster. The Rumble itself had a non-finish, and then there was the Yokozuna vs. Undertaker casket match, which brought idiotic booking to a (then) all-time low.

 

KOTR 95-What hasn't been said about this one already?

 

Some ECW late period shows come to mind, but I don't remember their names.

 

NWO Souled Out 96-I'm sure it seemed like a good idea at the time.

[King Kamala 0]

I liked Royal Rumble 94 mostly for nostalgiac reasons (It was one of the first tapes I remember renting as a young mark, right after it came out on VHS) but I wouldn't put it as one of the worst pay per views of all time. The Harts Vs The Quebecers was a fun match. Owen's heel turn was classic (With the exception of the messup in the post match interview) The Royal Rumble was pretty rockin' till the screwy finish, take away the screwy non finish and it'd be one of my three or four favorite Royal Rumble.

 

It's more forgettable than horrible (With the exception of the terrible

[cabbageboy 0]

I am about to say something that will draw heaps of scorn and ridicule:

 

The UT/Yokozuna match wasn't that bad of an idea.

 

There, I said it. Now I will explain myself. First off, the actual work in the match wasn't all that bad before the 10 jobbers run in. Second, how do you book it otherwise? Yoko wasn't losing the title till WM and yet they didn't want UT to simply lose his terrifying gimmick match. Thus everyone in my view ended up coming out of this looking good:

 

--Fuji and Yoko come out looking like heel masterminds for organizing the heel roster to unify for the good (or evil) of taking out UT. Did the Ortons have the stroke or evil genius to unify SD's jobber heels to take out the Taker? I think not.

 

--UT keeps all of his heat and fans heavily anticipate his return (now his return angle vs. the Fake Taker...that was a terrible idea).

 

--Most importantly, the eventual feud ended up drawing really solid money. After UT dispensed with the phony UT, fans were dying to see him get his hands on Yokozuna. I myself recall going to a house show shortly before S. Series 94 and it was a packed house.

 

--Dude, the rematch involved Chuck Norris being the special enforcer and kicking Jeff Jarrett's ass. What more do you need?