The Most Useless PPV Ever

[hb2k]

For this week's podcast (and partly inspired by Slammiversary last week), we're going to debate the Most Useless Major Wrestling PPV show in history, and are looking for your suggestions for this esteemed honour.

So what is your ONE pick for the most completely irredeemable, meritless show you've ever seen, devoid of any quality, the one that sticks in your craw, and your explanation on why this takes the wooden spoon. As always the best nominations/explanations will be read on the show (which will be posted this weekend) and you'll be credited accordingly.

So which one is it for you?

EDIT - The podcast debating The Most Useless PPV Ever and discussing your nominations is now available to listen to here: http://squaredcirclegazette.podbean.com/mf/web/4285da/SCGRadio46-TheMostUselessPPVEver.mp3 (http://squaredcirclegazette.podbean.com/mf/web/4285da/SCGRadio46-TheMostUs elessPPVEver.mp3)

[johnsmagic]

December to dismember is right up there

[#1-norm-fan]

The Heroes of Wrestling PPV was the worst thing ever but the legendary horrible, drunken Jake Roberts promo made it somewhat notable. I'm guessing you mean PPVs for major companies though and not one-off PPVs that never stood a chance though so with those guidelines...

December to Dismember is the first one that comes to mind. Even with a good tag match between the Hardys and MNM, the brand was nowhere NEAR ready for a PPV. Add that to the horrible booking of the chamber match and it was just a disaster in every way. WWE has run some pretty bad PPVs over the past 10 years or so but I don't think any have been as unremarkable.

[Maluco]

GAB 2005 had Luther Reigns vs Charlie Haas, Kenzo Suzuki vs Billy Gunn, Mordecai vs Bobcore and Sable vs Torrie Wilson, followed by a main event of Undertaker vs the Dudleys.

The show goes off the air with Paul Bearer seemingly dead, with Undertaker murdering him by covering him in concrete.

The only memorable (albeit funny/terrible) moment on the show and it went nowhere anyway. Instantly forgettable and extremely poor star power/match quality

[Big Vic]

WWE BattleGround 2013; This is due inpart to Hell in a Cell 2013 being right after the bookers were unsure over any other way to keep the Orton/Bryan feud going without going to a non-finish of Big Show attacking them both. No other titles changed hands, very forgettable PPV overall. Most unnecessary PPV in WWE History IMO.

At least with December to Dismember you had a good tag matches and the debut title reign of Bobby Lashley.

[Big Vic]

GAB 2005 had Luther Reigns vs Charlie Haas, Kenzo Suzuki vs Billy Gunn, Mordecai vs Bobcore and Sable vs Torrie Wilson, followed by a main event of Undertaker vs the Dudleys.

The show goes off the air with Paul Bearer seemingly dead, with Undertaker murdering him by covering him in concrete.

The only memorable (albeit funny/terrible) moment on the show and it went nowhere anyway. Instantly forgettable and extremely poor star power/match quality
I think you mean 2004? I remember Taker fighting Hassan in 2005. Also didn't JBL and Eddie Guerrero have that match where eddie nearly bled to death?

[Maluco]

I think you mean 2004? I remember Taker fighting Hassan in 2005. Also didn't JBL and Eddie Guerrero have that match where eddie nearly bled to death?


:y: yeah, my mistake, 2004!

[hb2k]

The bled to death match was Judgment Day. Bash 2004 (a great candidate btw) was when JBL won the belt.

[Maluco]

Yeah, judgement day was the bled to death. At GAB, we got the always underwhelming Texas bullrope match with a terrible finish to boot this time.

But to have Undertaker and Dudleys go on last and present it as the main event was awful and those undercard matches, even before they went on, looked awful on paper. The fact that Mordecai, Reigns and Suzuki flopped so badly after when they were the 3 guys supposed to be getting the firm pushes in this shows midcard, makes it even more forgettable.

The match that had Cena, RVD and Booker T was a throwaway opener.

[Jazzy Foot]

All of WCW's PPV post-fingerpoke except for Souled Out 2000 when Benoit won the title.

[Simple Fan]

Which was pretty much useless after he left for WWF.

[Jazzy Foot]

Which was pretty much useless after he left for WWF.

Well yeah but for that evening is was great to see him finally win the belt he long deserved.

[The Condor]

King of the Ring '95 without question. It's not even "train wreck good."

Close second is D-Generation X: In Your House

This show was a piece of shit with the only moderately entertaining things being a 5 minute Rock/Austin cluster fuck and TAFKA Goldust reading Green Eggs and Ham. Absolute worst of Shawn Michaels in my opinion.

[Big Vic]

We aren't including the UK PPVs right? All of them were useless.

[Nicky Fives]

December To Dismember is the first to come to mind for me.....

[The Condor]

King of the Ring '95 without question. It's not even "train wreck good," and nothing of any real consequence took place.

Close second is D-Generation X: In Your House

This show was a piece of shit with the only moderately entertaining things being a 5 minute Rock/Austin cluster fuck and TAFKA Goldust reading Green Eggs and Ham. Absolute worst of Shawn Michaels in my opinion.

[The Condor]

Nailed it, Crazy Edgar.

[DAMN iNATOR]

It's got to be December to Dismember. I'd call it a horrible joke of a PPV, but that would be an insult to horrible jokes worth being remembered.

[Droford]

WCW Uncensored 95

Main event was Hogan vs Vader in a strap match but it wasn't even a title match cause it was all un sanctioned despite there being a tag title match earlier.
plus the shitty ending of Hogan winning by dragging Flair to all 4 posts after flair took the strap off Vader is the most retarded finish to a match I've ever seen.

[Bad News Gertner]

WCW Great American Bash 1999. That was the moment that I knew the company was done.

Rick Steiner beat Sting in a Falls Count Anywhere match when Sting was attacked by friggen dogs.

Flair beat Piper via dq with the winner becoming President. Flair and Piper had already been trading that title back and forth

Nash beat Savage by dq when Sid interfered in the main event

But we were treated to Mikey Whipwreck vs Van Hammer in a "Bonus Match" aka "someone at the booking meeting forgot the ppv's usually run longer than an hour and a half so we are just going to throw this match on"

[Savio]

If we are counting PPVs outside of the WWE than it has to be Slammiversery 2015

[DAMN iNATOR]

"Weekday"/"Weeknight" PPV's seem kinda "wack", too..."This Tuesday in Texas", "Taboo Tuesday" both right up there. Even with voting in "Taboo Tuesday", both 2004 and 2005, most if not all the votes were quite probably rigged.

[The Condor]

I quite enjoyed This Tuesday in Texas.

[Savio]

I honestly don't think WWE riggs their votes

[slik]

I quite enjoyed This Tuesday in Texas.

You are soooo crazy!!

[Savio]

I am not sticking up for December to dismember because it was AWFUL. But the thread is about "uselessness", not "awfulness"

[DAMN iNATOR]

I honestly don't think WWE riggs their votes

If everything wasn't so heavily scripted, I'd be inclined to agree, but even the ones which weren't rigged on those shows directly, I'm almost positive they did indirectly through having a pre-rehearsed plan for each possible outcome.

[Dark One]

I honestly don't think WWE riggs their votes

If everything wasn't so heavily scripted, I'd be inclined to agree, but even the ones which weren't rigged on those shows directly, I'm almost positive they did indirectly through having a pre-rehearsed plan for each possible outcome.

I can't speak to Raw/PPVs, but...

A live show I went to earlier in the year was showing the usual filler bullshit tweets and whatever before it started. Then they put up a picture for a Twitter vote for the Divas match, which was like a singles match between two main roster divas or a tag match with a couple of NXT divas mixed in.

Literally five seconds after that, they flashed up a results screen with it like 18% to 82% in favor of the tag match for a few seconds.

Guess what the result was two hours later?

[DAMN iNATOR]

Literally five seconds after that, they flashed up a results screen with it like 18% to 82% in favor of the tag match for a few seconds.

Guess what the result was two hours later?

Hmm, gee whiz, I haven't a clue...:shifty::roll: LOL

[Big Vic]

I'm almost positive they did indirectly through having a pre-rehearsed plan for each possible outcome.
No debating that.

But usually when you get the votes its like:
"What Match stip will Dean Ambrose and Bray Wyatt have?"



Falls Count Anywhere
Extreme Rulez
No DQ

[Evil Vito]

<font color=goldenrod>I have my doubts that WWE have plans for every possible outcome. They normally set the poll in such a way that it's beyond obvious what's going to win. And if there is any doubt at all as to what the winning option will be, they used to have Lawler urge the fans a certain way and be like "well, I know which way I'm voting but think we should all SEE (C) which option wins. Let's SEE if the WWE Universe SEES this the same way I do."</font>

[Evil Vito]

<font color=goldenrod>Although it was admittedly hilarious when there was a voting screw up which led to the obvious Evan Bourne vs. Sin Cara match that everybody wanted to see being changed to Evan Bourne vs. Mason Ryan. It was clear they had no idea what to do in that match.</font>

[Droford]

I honestly don't think WWE riggs their votes

I think a former worker or something said they basically don't rig votes but they make the choices what they are to influence the outcome with a certain degree of certainty.

[DAMN iNATOR]

No debating that.

But usually when you get the votes its like:
"What Match stip will Dean Ambrose and Bray Wyatt have?"



Falls Count Anywhere
Extreme Rulez
No DQ


Yrah, but on RAW, it seems like more than anywhere else they do this stupid "let's subliminally have them vote for the obvious one, lulz!" "vote-bait" that really fucking pisses me of. Who the fuck are these people to insult my and everyone else's intelligence?

I mean, a lot of them haven't even been necessary. Let's say this is the late '90s, Attitude Era, just for a second.

"WHAT TYPE OF MATCH SHOULD MICK FOLEY HAVE TONIGHT?"

A.) Normal match
B.) Tag Team match
C.) Hardcore match

And then they make it worse by having Lawler or one of the other commentators in the ring to reveal the vote, and they stall for time when they know we all just want them to get it the fuck over with and have the damned match. And the over-the-top feigned "surprise" @ the vote outcome, yeah, that's a real winner. "WOW, THE HARDCORE MATCH GOT 99%?! HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?!"

Give me a fucking break.

[#1-norm-fan]

I am not sticking up for December to dismember because it was AWFUL. But the thread is about "uselessness", not "awfulness"

It was pretty useless too. Unless you count Bobby Lashley's title win as a major moment. The rest of the PPV meant nothing.

[Savio]

Hardys reunited on that PPV right? I see BattleGround 2013 as more useless

[#1-norm-fan]

They had already been teaming together again for a month or two. Since after Survivor Series I think.

[DAMN iNATOR]

It was pretty useless too. Unless you count Bobby Lashley's title win as a major moment. The rest of the PPV meant nothing.

Lashley was a joke by that point in hix career. I think they proved that 4 months later at Backlash 2007 by having Mr. McMahon beat him in a 1-on-3 Handicap ECW World Title match with him v. Mr. McMahon, Shane McMahon, and Umaga.

https://uselesswarrior.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/vince-mcmahon-wwe-superstar-2.jpg

I'm sorry, but Vince in a sweater, doorag, sweatpants and wearing the ECW title, and not even the later redesigned platinum one, just makes him look like SUCH a douchebag. I love Vinny Mac to death, but come on...he didn't need that belt.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Anything not involving #HABM. Hero is a half man. Midget Power. Get well soon J Styles!

[Big Vic]

Lashley was a joke by that point in hix career.No way. He was being pushed hard in the "Battle of the Billionaires" thing.

[Rhinestonecowboy]

:y: yeah, my mistake, 2004!


04 to 07 was a bad time,imo

[Big Vic]

04 to 07 was a bad time,imoI'd say 04 to 2010

[Bad News Gertner]

Hell In A Cell 2012 doesn't get nearly enough hate.

Rhodes Scholars vs Team Hell No ended in a horrible dq after The Rhodes Scholars won a tournament to get to this point. What the hell was the point of the tournament then?

Kofi Kingston vs The Miz in a "who is the blander face" match for the IC Title

Cesaro vs Justin Gabriel for the U.S belt in a random match with no build

Sheamus vs Big Show for the World Title went over 20 minutes with Big Show winning.

And worst of all: CM Punk.vs Ryback.

So Cena gets hurt and the company panics and decides to shoe horn Rybavk who hadn't had a feud outside of Jinder Mahal, into a feud for the WWE Title. Now we know Punk isn't going to lose, so let's just totally destroy Ryback's momentum for one buyrate. Fuck sakes.

[#1-norm-fan]

I don't think that was what destroyed Ryback's momentum. They got the undefeated streak stigma out of the way by keeping him looking just as strong. Even if Punk just cheated to pin him with interference or a foreign object or a pull of the tights, it would have made Ryback beatable and fucked things up. The fast count and Ryback getting up immediately looking to murder Punk and Maddox was perfect though. Still made it seem like he couldn't legitimately be stopped.

The booking of Ryback AFTER that match is some of the most retarded shit WWE has ever done.

[Sepholio]

Only ever really watched WWE PPVs. Theres been a few that were really awful to me. WM9 was pretty terrible though. Was when I started realizing that Hogan was a total douche.

The In Your House where Nash and Shawn were supposed to fight Owen and Yokazuna with all the titles on the line, only to have Owen pulled at the last minute and replaced with Bulldog if I remember. Owen then interfered for some dumb reason and ended up getting pwned by Nash. Then the decision is overturned because Owen never was officially in the match or some garbage.

Speaking of In Your House shows, Great White North. Vince literally spazzed at Nash on commentary at the finish of the main event. Nash is my favorite ever, but this is honestly prob the worst match I ever saw him in and one of the worst matches ever, period.

Forget what it was called, but like 5 years ago there was a PPV where Ricardo Rodriguez ran over Big Show with Del Rios ride. That was a pretty bad card, but there were at least a couple decent matches there to save some face.

WM13, where the unlucky number 13 clearly cursed Sid causing him to lose to Taker while simultaneously shitting his pants.

Everyone already said December to Dismember, but it was def the worst ever.

[James Steele]

WrestleMania XV was useless in the sense that the only thing that really mattered in the long haul was Triple H's heel turn.

[DAMN iNATOR]

Forget what it was called, but like 5 years ago there was a PPV where Ricardo Rodriguez ran over Big Show with Del Rios ride. That was a pretty bad card, but there were at least a couple decent matches there to save some face.

Over the Limit 2011?

[Bad News Gertner]

I don't think that was what destroyed Ryback's momentum. They got the undefeated streak stigma out of the way by keeping him looking just as strong. Even if Punk just cheated to pin him with interference or a foreign object or a pull of the tights, it would have made Ryback beatable and fucked things up. The fast count and Ryback getting up immediately looking to murder Punk and Maddox was perfect though. Still made it seem like he couldn't legitimately be stopped.

The booking of Ryback AFTER that match is some of the most retarded shit WWE has ever done.

It ruined Ryback because it booked themselves into a corner. You rarely get a one and done main event run with the champ and they weren't about to take the title off Punk, so even interference it means you're going to have a rematch and since it was pretty much set up for the Rock to win at the Rumble, they shot themselves in the foot.

[Savio]

What ruined Ryback was the countless losses to punk after.

[XL]

Losing to Henry was the final nail in the coffin. He was salvageable going into that match.

[Jazzy Foot]

Losing to Henry was the final nail in the coffin. He was salvageable going into that match.

And you think he's totally ruined atm? I still think he can be revived as a big character and having him as IC champion is a step in the right direction though at this point in time I'd already have had him as WWE/WH Champion and/or RR winner.

[loopydate]

The In Your House where Nash and Shawn were supposed to fight Owen and Yokazuna with all the titles on the line, only to have Owen pulled at the last minute and replaced with Bulldog if I remember. Owen then interfered for some dumb reason and ended up getting pwned by Nash. Then the decision is overturned because Owen never was officially in the match or some garbage.

The Tripleheader Match. I was at that show.

Going off the original premise of the question, I would definitely go for this one. Nothing of note happened, since the main event result was immediately overturned the next night. Other than that, the only things even remotely worth mentioning were Ted DiBiase getting slopped and Bret getting his jacket back from Jean-Pierre Lafitte. Nothing of any importance was accomplished that night in Saginaw.

And my 13-year-old self loved every minute of it.

[The Condor]

A lot of the In Your House shows were entertaining but utterly inconsequential.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Losing to Henry was the final nail in the coffin. He was salvageable going into that match.

I agree with this. I've got no clue why they put Henry over him. I guess it was because Henry had never won at WrestleMania before, but putting people over is kind of what he's at WrestleMania to do.

[Savio]

I agree with this. I've got no clue why they put Henry over him. I guess it was because Henry had never won at WrestleMania before, but putting people over is kind of what he's at WrestleMania to do.
They were going to do the "Henry fakes retires only to attack Cena" the next night on raw but decided to hold off on that so Ryback could turn on Cena and start their feud on the raw after WM.

[XL]

Well that worked out well for them.

[XL]

And you think he's totally ruined atm? I still think he can be revived as a big character and having him as IC champion is a step in the right direction though at this point in time I'd already have had him as WWE/WH Champion and/or RR winner.

I was talking more in the context of the timeframe. They're doing well with him now, but they completely torpedoed his momentum for the best part of 2 years. They're doing with him now what they should have done then (strong push/Midcard title reign)

[#1-norm-fan]

It ruined Ryback because it booked themselves into a corner. You rarely get a one and done main event run with the champ and they weren't about to take the title off Punk, so even interference it means you're going to have a rematch and since it was pretty much set up for the Rock to win at the Rumble, they shot themselves in the foot.

I think they could have eased him away from the title picture after that match. Have him hunting Brad Maddox for a couple weeks before finally getting his hands on him and destroying him. Then he turns his attention to Heyman who was the mastermind behind it and in comes Lesnar to protect him. If you've got a Lesnar-Ryback showdown on the horizon, people are gonna quickly forget about the issue of Ryback not getting another shot at the title.

[Mr. Nerfect]

They were going to do the "Henry fakes retires only to attack Cena" the next night on raw but decided to hold off on that so Ryback could turn on Cena and start their feud on the raw after WM.

OK. But wouldn't the "I'm retiring" thing have worked better if Henry had lost to Ryback? "I don't have it anymore, I'm stepping out of the spotlight..." Bam. As it were, Ryback lost to Henry then consequently became the #1 Contender.

The Last Man Standing ending didn't make sense either. That match should have been ruled a draw. And in retrospect, it really wouldn't have hurt to have Ryback win the WWE Title for a few weeks. Whatever.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I still think (even though people think I am insane for it) that Ryback should have turned heel instead of feud with Punk. By getting him on their side, it would highlight that Heyman sees something to fear in Ryback, which may have made people want to see Ryback turn on Punk more and more over the coming months.

[Savio]

OK. But wouldn't the "I'm retiring" thing have worked better if Henry had lost to Ryback? "I don't have it anymore, I'm stepping out of the spotlight..." Bam. As it were, Ryback lost to Henry then consequently became the #1 Contender.

The Last Man Standing ending didn't make sense either. That match should have been ruled a draw. And in retrospect, it really wouldn't have hurt to have Ryback win the WWE Title for a few weeks. Whatever.
Logic in WWE doesn't exist.

[Savio]

The new podcast is up:
http://squaredcirclegazette.podbean.com/

No mention of BattleGround 2013 yet but with the first entry (KOTR 95) I think we have our winner.

[Savio]

Cool they mentioned it :)

[MoFo]

Didn't the whole card get changed for Unforgiven 2007 because the steroid scandal suspensions, so they had to mock up a new PPV card on a weeks build.

I think Trips was in a feud with Umaga (b&) but faced Carlito instead, John Morrison (b&) was meant to face CM Punk but Punk/Burke got thrown on, Kennedy (b&) was due to be revealed as Vince's son at the event, Rey was feuding with Chavo (b&) so got put in with Khali & Batista.

[hb2k]

As Savio was nice enough to mention, the show is now up, and I want to thank everybody for the suggestions in this thread, we got to a lot of them on the show, which is now available to listen to at the following direct link:

http://squaredcirclegazette.podbean.com/mf/web/4285da/SCGRadio46-TheMostUselessPPVEver.mp3

Join us as we debate the Most Useless PPV in wrestling history! Taking your suggestions, we discuss shows such as King Of The Ring 95, WrestleManias 9 and 11, BattleBowl 93, ECW December To Dismember, many In Your House events, many Great American Bashes, nWo Souled Out, Battleground 2013, Heroes of Wrestling and many more, as we get to the bottom of what makes a big event truly worthless. A very fun show this week, check it out~!

[Bad News Gertner]

Great show!. Lol you could have just made the show about every WCW PPV between 1999-2001.

[DAMN iNATOR]

I know Vince went against what Heyman wanted for the Extreme Elimination Chamber and had Sabu get taken out because he thought Sabu has a bad attitude, always showed up late and couldn't win matches unless they involved hardcore gimmicks and extremely high-risk spots. Couldn't be further from the truth.