Strangest PPV's

Reganio 2

Ok couldn't think of a catchy title but you get the idea basically I'm just thinking of ppvs you've watched that have a weird vibe or just strange atmosphere to them or are just plain crazy ideas.

My example would be NWO: Souled out. I kind of like the idea in theory, showing NWO as a separate identity from WCW but it's just a horrible show, the music goes through your head as soon as the 2nd wrestler comes down. NWO arrived on Garbage trucks, their was a Ms. NWO competition involving girls who didn't seem to know what was going on. It all just equates to a very strange show.

Another would be the atmosphere at Over the edge where Owen dies, obviously not a good one but just that feeling of knowing something is wrong and all the wrestlers being a million miles away.

Omackeral

The first ECW One Night Stand was actually surreal. That rabid crowd with people like Sandman and Masato Tanaka on them, who never wrestled for WWE before that. Couple that with the venue of the Hammerstein Ballroom and the printed 'ECW' logo on the ring canvas. Was a crazy time. The second one also with Cena essentially playing heel is noteworthy too.

J. Marston

Over The Limit 2012. The main event was Cena vs John Laurinaitis.

Who thought that was a good idea?

Rjd2

J. Marston wrote: »

Over The Limit 2012. The main event was Cena vs John Laurinaitis.

Who thought that was a good idea?

And then to compound the awfulness an always welcome Big Show heel turn to send the punters home happy.

Reganio 2

Omackeral wrote: »

The first ECW One Night Stand was actually surreal. That rabid crowd with people like Sandman and Masato Tanaka on them, who never wrestled for WWE before that. Couple that with the venue of the Hammerstein Ballroom and the printed 'ECW' logo on the ring canvas. Was a crazy time. The second one also with Cena essentially playing heel is noteworthy too.

Didn't even think of that, case in point of a strange thing being incredible. Man them 2 crowds were rabid, amazing stuff. Good call.

J. Marston wrote: »

Over The Limit 2012. The main event was Cena vs John Laurinaitis.

Who thought that was a good idea?

I seem to have blocked this out of my memory altogether and from the sounds of it for the better.

Omackeral

I always remember Rumble 97 being a bit odd. They had this quasi AAA cross promtion thing going on in San Antonio with a kinda lame lucha 6 man tag and then had the Mexican guys including Mil Mascaras, who wouldnt allow anyone to eliminate him, in the rumble match so he did it himself. Always felt odd. Then ya had fake Diesel in the final 4 which was mind boggling since he was a nobody and wouldnt even be in the Final 4 PPV the month after.

briany

Omackeral wrote: »

The first ECW One Night Stand was actually surreal. That rabid crowd with people like Sandman and Masato Tanaka on them, who never wrestled for WWE before that. Couple that with the venue of the Hammerstein Ballroom and the printed 'ECW' logo on the ring canvas. Was a crazy time. The second one also with Cena essentially playing heel is noteworthy too.

Loved that crowd (second ONS). That's how you wish wrestling crowds could be the whole time. I really liked the pop they gave when Tazz put Lawler in the Tazz-mission. It sounded like the pop you hear when a goal is scored rather than a wrestling pop. Just pure joy.

I'll never forget that bald black guy flipping off Cena. Holy f*ck did he hate Cena.

Ageyev

World Bodybuilding Federation was on PPV. Never saw it mind.

WCW did some themed PPVs with like round robin tournaments, USA vs Japan and stuff. Not weird but somewhat unusual if you are only used to WWE stuff. They also had a show called Uncensored where wrestlers were disciplined for blading.

ECW Hardcore Heaven 1997 was very undrewhelming following the super hot Barely Legal a few months earlier.

WWF's In Your House PPVs were kinda strange in that they were cheaper, shorter and storyline wise weren't always that important. Their Degeneration X PPV was kinda their version of NWO Souled Out branded show but it was abysmal and featured mostly DQ finishes.

Plenty of terrible WWF and WCW pay-per-view shows where it is difficult to understand how anyone thought what they went with would be a good idea.

Wrestle Kingdom with Jim Ross commentary was weird but in a good way.


Edit: Special mention for Heroes of Wrestling

ricero

I'll always remember rock bottom in your house which was actually a decent ppv with rock the WWF champ at the time vs mankind and a screwy finish. Then of course the main event was Austin vs taker in a buried alive match.

I always found it strange as a child that the rock has his own ppv and also on my vhs there was a introduction by the rock from titan towers

Sirsok

December to dismember was all kinds of strange....no real structure to the ppv and only two matches announced for it...I remember being so disappointed with Sabu being excluded from the Chamber.

Felt so sorry for Paul E, I'd say it broke his heart to see what was unfolding. I could never understand Vinces reasoning for completely changing ECW from the draw it was (ONS) to the absolute bore it became.

briany

Sirsok wrote: »

December to dismember was all kinds of strange....no real structure to the ppv and only two matches announced for it...I remember being so disappointed with Sabu being excluded from the Chamber.

It was a great PPV with a great finish.

Reganio 2

Summerslam 2005 popped into my head to although mainly just for 1 match Micheals vs Hogan being a quite strange surreal match with HBK jumping around like a fish out of water.

kronsington

Reganio 2 wrote: »

Summerslam 2005 popped into my head to although mainly just for 1 match Micheals vs Hogan being a quite strange surreal match with HBK jumping around like a fish out of water.

That was such a strange match. Can you remember how the commentary went and how they talked about HBK's ridiculous over the top selling?

Reganio 2

kronsington wrote: »

That was such a strange match. Can you remember how the commentary went and how they talked about HBK's ridiculous over the top selling?

Basically ignored it from what I remember just called it as if everything was happening as it always does, I remember one call when Shawn went absolutely flying over the top rope/turnbuckle and down onto the floor outside and was basically closer to the other turnbuckle than the one he hit and they say oh Hogan has such power and threw him with such velocity.

Something along them lines anyway, really should watch it again now.

Me_Grapes

Looking back on it, Night of Champions 2007 was surreal. When Benoits absence was still just a 'family emergency'. Little did anyone know what was actually taking place at his home when Punk took on Morrison.

The whole Vince whodunit was a prominant angle at the event, quickly dropped.

And if I'm not mistaken, Mick Foley competed in the main event for the WWE title. In 2007!

Omackeral

Ageyev wrote: »

WWF's In Your House PPVs were kinda strange in that they were cheaper, shorter and storyline wise weren't always that important. Their Degeneration X PPV was kinda their version of NWO Souled Out branded show but it was abysmal and featured mostly DQ finishes.

Good shout. Actually had this on VHS! I wasn't watching at the time but my brother bought it in HMV a year after it was on. Never made the NWO Souled Out connection, that's a actually a bit brazen. But yeah, this one certainly had a bit of oddness to it. It was the first ever PPV match of Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock but it was a million miles from what we came to know. It only went 5 mins and was for the IC title.

In the first of the DX matches (there were only two) you had a still-finding-himself HHH against an already ancient looking Sgt. Slaughter in what was billed as a Boot Camp Match. Basically a no holds barred match with street clothes. Seemed weird.

Another odd match was the appearance of Butterbean a year and a half before his infamous WrestleMania bout with Bart Gunn. He took on Marc Mero in a gimmicked boxing match which nobody cared about. Butterbean was a fat novelty boxer and I've no idea why they ever brought him in. This was so out of place. I know Mero was doing his "Marvellous" golden gloves thing but it plain sucked.

Here's yet another match that seemed out of place. NWA inspired Jeff Jarrett against a between gimmicks Undertaker. Weird mesh of styles. This Jarrett was like a southern territories throwback except they didn't know what they were doing really. Awesome theme music though. Taker seemed in transition here.

You also had Taka Michinoku beating Brian Christopher to become the first ever Light Heavyweight Champion. Was weird in the sense that it wasn't up to the standards of the WCW cruisers, especially Christopher.

Then the main event had Ken Shamrock going for the World Title. That, in itself, was weird. It was against Shawn Michaels, who won by DQ...in a main event! Notable here was the return of Owen Hart, as the Black Hart and Sole Survivor who attacked Shawn after coming from the crowd in a hoodie. This was weird in that it blurred
reality and kayfabe with the whole Montreal thing. Even weirder is that we never got a PPV pay off between HBK and a rebel Owen, which could have been decent.

So yeah, a weird one to me, and somewhat of a review for all you

Ageyev

I recently read the Observer from that time so it's somewhat fresh in my memory. I also remember Powerslam excoriated the show at the time.

Ken Shamrock was something of a Bret Hart project hence why he was in the match. Before Survivor Series when Vince was trying to get Bret to put Shawn over he pitched Bret vs Undertaker vs Shamrock vs Michaels at the DX PPV. That changed obviously when Montreal went down.

Owen was promised a programme with Michaels which was nixed as Shawn didn't want to work with Owen.

One of Slaughter's best know matches wws against Pat Patterson in a boot camp match in 1981 (I think?). The match with H was garbage and iirc the PPV feed died during the match.

Taker was in the middle of the slow build fued with Kane so that match was just an angle.

The Butterbean match was weird because they couldn't call it a boxing match because that's a regulated sport.

The Austin v Rock match was the way it was because Austin wasn't taking bumps or working much at the time due to his neck.

Another utterly weird and baffling thing wqs Goldust in bondage gear reading out a Dr. Seuss poem.

Omackeral

Ageyev wrote: »

The Butterbean match was weird because they couldn't call it a boxing match because that's a regulated sport.

That's right, they called it a 'Toughman' Match or something.

Ageyev wrote: »

Another utterly weird and baffling thing was Goldust in bondage gear reading out a Dr. Seuss poem.

Oh sweet Jesus, I managed to blank that from my my mind, thanks for reminding me. *shudder*

ERG89

Canadian Stampede was probably the closest thing to One Night Stand in the 90's for WWF.
Then again most of the In Your House events were 2 hours early on weren't they?

Unearthly

The survivor series 96 main event when a heel Sid beat HBK in new York. The crowd were up for Sid and as a 10 year old kid I had no idea what was going on

Moneymaker

Hogg Wild was always a weird show.

Palo Alto

Good thread this, well done all involved.

Reganio 2

Another one I think is Starrcade 97, I'm sure it made a tonne of sense at the time but watching the shownow it just seems having the wrestlers in the crowd. I know it was meant to be either the end of WCW or the end of the nwo so the wrestler would have an interest in It, but having the luchadores sitting in the crowd with the masks still on is just all sorts of wrong.

Also Eric Bischoff vs Larry Zbyszko is just weird, I know Eric cheated then Bret steps in but for large parts of the match Eric is beating him, which should never happen.

I dont need to go into the ending with Bret coming out after the Sting match as well which just looks weird. Much like Wcw this Ppv just seemed like an absolute mess.

rossie1977

tna victory road 2011 for that mainevent where jeff hardy is completely wasted

wcw uncensored 96 for that mainevent where everyone including the commentators have no clue as to what is going on.

Ruu

Reganio 2 wrote: »

Basically ignored it from what I remember just called it as if everything was happening as it always does, I remember one call when Shawn went absolutely flying over the top rope/turnbuckle and down onto the floor outside and was basically closer to the other turnbuckle than the one he hit and they say oh Hogan has such power and threw him with such velocity.

Something along them lines anyway, really should watch it again now.

Super-Rush

Omackeral wrote: »

That's right, they called it a 'Toughman' Match or something.

He beat Marc Mero in an In Your House PPV and then Beat Bart Gunn who was the Brawl For All champ.

Both were terrible matches.

Reganio 2

Yeah I think that's the one, also who can forget the excellent selling of the big boot where he gets up runs around then falls in the same place. Has Hogan ever said anything about it? I know HBK said it was because Hogan pulled a fast one on him in terms of rematch but has Hogan said anything. Still seems to be some animosity between them, they didn't seem totally comfortable with each other before the Rumble with Flair in there with them on Raw.

Palo Alto

I loved that selling, I thought it made the match!

Reganio 2

kronsington wrote: »

That was such a strange match. Can you remember how the commentary went and how they talked about HBK's ridiculous over the top selling?

Rewatched it now, no mention of it at all, bar at one stage coach says "I think Micheals has almost too much energy tonight" right after HBK has done is flip flop out of the ring.

Also Hogan does a crazy blade job in this blood pissing everywhere.

rossie1977 wrote: »

wcw uncensored 96 for that mainevent where everyone including commentators have no clue as to what is going on.

Watched this having never heard of it. Wow what a mess, nice idea I guess but nobody seemed to know what was going on looked like they were saying they have to get to the bottom of the cage to win, then it was pinfall then it was escape the other cage, then it was pin again.

Everybody seemed to forget what was happening Hogan was just escaping the cage only for Macho remembered to pin someone and jumped back in. Really poorly done.

Ageyev

That Uncensored 96 cage match was a clusterf**k. New Generation Era podcast covered it recently and Kevin Sullivan spoke about it on MLW.

Omackeral

Reganio 2 wrote: »

Rewatched it now, no mention of it at all, bar at one stage coach says "I think Micheals has almost too much energy tonight" right after HBK has done is flip flop out of the ring.

That's a missed t-shirt opportunity if ever there was one.

the groutch

paulie21

Wrestlemania 27 was a funny one. Seemed like it was just built for the following years Mania.Miz in the main event and actually leaving as champion. Triple H kicking the crap out of Undertaker for half an hour, I know Taker is suppose to be a mystical power and all but it wasn't believable that he could withstand all that and still win. Orton/Punk match I was looking forward to not given enough time. Don't even get me started on Lawler v Cole

Mr.Shabby

WM 9 was strange given the location and Roman themed setting. Cyber Tuesday was also a strange one.

Deadlie

Halloween Havoc 95 seemed mental altogether. Or at least the main event did. I only watched it a while back after OSW reviewed it.

Some mad spirits force Hogan into a Dungeon where the water - much to Hogans astonishment - was "not hot".
They set up a monster truck match between Hogan and Show too, coz yknow the whole relationship between mystical spirits and rooftop, automotive sumo matches.
Then they have a proper match at the end and the title changes hands through a disqualification.
Then some Yeti turns up and start ridey-hugging Hogan.
It all amounted to nothing too, because they stripped the Giant of the belt the next week or so.

Doesn't get much more mental than that, in my eyes.

Reganio 2

Deadlie wrote: »

Some mad spirits force Hogan into a Dungeon where the water - much to Hogans astonishment - was "not hot".

I heard that on the review (haven't watched the ppv) and laughed when he said it then assumed I missed heard it cause it was so stupid. What made it worse is he goes "ahh" as if he was burned by the water then says "it's not hot"

Ken Shamrock

Mr.Shabby wrote: »

WM 9 was strange given the location and Roman themed setting. Cyber Tuesday was also a strange one.

Cyber Sunday? Or Taboo Tuesday? I have TT 2005? On DVD I just remember Christy Hemme being a babe and Flair in a steel cage.

Special mention for GAB 2004

Taking place during the Brand Extension, the 2004 Great American Bash was both an insult to the tradition of that event and to the fans who actually paid to see it. As an example of this, here are the midcard matches for this supposed “huge” pay-per-view:

Luther Reigns defeats Charlie Haas
Rey Mysterio defeats Chavo Guerrero
Kenzo Suzuki defeats Billy Gunn
Sable defeats Torrie Wilson
Mordecai defeats Hardcore Holly

Do any of those matches sound like ones you want to pay your money to see? Luther Reigns was a giant musclehead with the wrestling talent of a water bottle and Kenzo Suzuki was one of the biggest flops in the 2000s. Torrie Wilson and Sable are sexy ladies for sure but who wants to see them actually wrestle? Those girls couldn’t tell the difference between a wristlock and a wristwatch. Finally, the less said about Mordecai, the better.

In the main event, the Undertaker defeated the Dudley Boyz (yes, both of them) in a handicap match where Taker’s manager Paul Bearer was threatened to be covered in concrete. After the Undertaker beat the Dudleys, Taker decided that Bearer was dragging him down and covered his manager in concrete, presumably murdering him.
Of course, later Paul Bearer was shown to be not dead but still…why end a pay-per-view that way?

Edit: It is Taboo Tuesday 2004 I was thinking of, not 2005

Mr.Shabby

Bob.Carcass wrote: »

Cyber Sunday? Or Taboo Tuesday?

Sorry I meant both, that format of ppv in general. I suppose Taboo Tuesday was stranger given that it wasn't on a Sunday.

Deadlie

Reganio 2 wrote: »

I heard that on the review (haven't watched the ppv) and laughed when he said it then assumed I missed heard it cause it was so stupid. What made it worse is he goes "ahh" as if he was burned by the water then says "it's not hot"

It makes so little sense. But its magnificent.

Sin Eater

Bob.Carcass wrote: »

Luther Reigns defeats Charlie Haas
Rey Mysterio defeats Chavo Guerrero
Kenzo Suzuki defeats Billy Gunn
Sable defeats Torrie Wilson
Mordecai defeats Hardcore Holly

Do any of those matches sound like ones you want to pay your money to see? Luther Reigns was a giant musclehead with the wrestling talent of a water bottle and Kenzo Suzuki was one of the biggest flops in the 2000s. Torrie Wilson and Sable are sexy ladies for sure but who wants to see them actually wrestle? Those girls couldn’t tell the difference between a wristlock and a wristwatch. Finally, the less said about Mordecai, the better.

In the main event, the Undertaker defeated the Dudley Boyz (yes, both of them) in a handicap match where Taker’s manager Paul Bearer was threatened to be covered in concrete. After the Undertaker beat the Dudleys, Taker decided that Bearer was dragging him down and covered his manager in concrete, presumably murdering him.
Of course, later Paul Bearer was shown to be not dead but still…why end a pay-per-view that way?

In fairness, the second last match (co-main event?) was Eddie Guerrero vs JBL for the WWE Title.

And the second match of the night was John Cena vs RVD, REne Dupree, and Booker T. But the brand split left smackdown in a pretty shambolic state at times in terms of talent.

ricero

Deadlie wrote: »

Halloween Havoc 95 seemed mental altogether. Or at least the main event did. I only watched it a while back after OSW reviewed it.

Some mad spirits force Hogan into a Dungeon where the water - much to Hogans astonishment - was "not hot".
They set up a monster truck match between Hogan and Show too, coz yknow the whole relationship between mystical spirits and rooftop, automotive sumo matches.
Then they have a proper match at the end and the title changes hands through a disqualification.
Then some Yeti turns up and start ridey-hugging Hogan.
It all amounted to nothing too, because they stripped the Giant of the belt the next week or so.

Doesn't get much more mental than that, in my eyes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruLQDpdQi4A

:pac:

gerrybbadd

Deadlie wrote: »

Halloween Havoc 95 seemed mental altogether. Or at least the main event did. I only watched it a while back after OSW reviewed it.

Some mad spirits force Hogan into a Dungeon where the water - much to Hogans astonishment - was "not hot".
They set up a monster truck match between Hogan and Show too, coz yknow the whole relationship between mystical spirits and rooftop, automotive sumo matches.
Then they have a proper match at the end and the title changes hands through a disqualification.
Then some Yeti turns up and start ridey-hugging Hogan.
It all amounted to nothing too, because they stripped the Giant of the belt the next week or so.

Doesn't get much more mental than that, in my eyes.

Best description ever

Moneymaker

Don't forget Giant falling off the roof, Hogan's Academy Award winning acting, and then Giant showing up later without a mark on him.

Hilarious stuff. Hilarious in a Troll 2 or the Room kind of way, but hilarious nonetheless.

Sin Eater

There was a ppv held in Vegas back in 1999 called the Heroes of Wrestling, it was an independant ppv, using talent unattached to the big promotions of the time. If it had been broken even, the idea was to hold at least 3 more ppvs (which were already in planning stages).

Anyway, the matches were mostly made up of once popular wrestlers who no longer worked for the big companies. The best showing was from 2 Cold Scorpio and Julio Fantastico (Julio Deniro from ECW and TNA). You would also have gotten to see the Samoan Swat Team take on Marty Jannety and Tommy Rogers, Greg Valentine v George Steele, The Bushwackers v The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff, and Tully Blanchard Vs Stan Lane.

The last two matches were to be Jake The Snake Roberts vs Jim Neidhart, and the main event of Yokozuna vs King Kong Bundy.

Unfortunately Jake was at his self destructive worst, and was ... clearly ... off colour (or whatever is the nice way of saying intoxicated). His match went badly ... at one stage he was laying in the ring kissing his snake ... so badly that the mid way through the match it was changed to a tag team with Jake and Yoko vs Niedhardt and Bundy.

It's on youtube, but not great quality from what I've seen.

Palo Alto

Attitude era lads reviewed it too.

https://soundcloud.com/the-attitude-era-podcast/heroes-of-wrestling

A Primal Nut

Deadlie wrote: »

Halloween Havoc 95 seemed mental altogether. Or at least the main event did. I only watched it a while back after OSW reviewed it.

Some mad spirits force Hogan into a Dungeon where the water - much to Hogans astonishment - was "not hot".
They set up a monster truck match between Hogan and Show too, coz yknow the whole relationship between mystical spirits and rooftop, automotive sumo matches.
Then they have a proper match at the end and the title changes hands through a disqualification.
Then some Yeti turns up and start ridey-hugging Hogan.
It all amounted to nothing too, because they stripped the Giant of the belt the next week or so.

Doesn't get much more mental than that, in my eyes.

Haven't seen it but didn't the Giant no-sell a five-story fall as well?

Who was booking WCW at this time?

Reganio 2

Got another. Capital Punishment. Only half way through the show (no recollection of watching it at the time) 1st match Kofi vs Ziggler and it's won by a sleeper and Kofi passing out, then an Obama look alike talks to Sergeant Slaughter and Vicki Guerrero sings and gets carried away. Then it's Riley vs the Miz, Riley wins thanks to the ref stopping a brief case shot and Riley his the ddt to win. Then it's show vs del rio, which ends with the ref calling an end because show can't stand properly.

Stupid booking so far, and the main event is cena vs r-truth for the WWE Championship in what must be the most predictable finish since Lesnar vs hardcore holly.

Loughc

Reganio 2 wrote: »

Stupid booking so far, and the main event is cena vs r-truth for the WWE Championship in what must be the most predictable finish since Lesnar vs hardcore holly.

Dead right, I called outside interference from Little Jimmy well before that PPV. :pac:

gerrybbadd

The In Your House in Texas where Shawn Michaels, possibly the most over guy in the company, was replaced by......

Omackeral

Wouldn't have been so bad if they hadn't hyped the life out of a mystery partner. Talking about outside stars and the likes. People thinking Goldberg was coming in. The groans are so audible when he's announced! Having said that, I love this PPV and the match itself was chaotic and very fun. 3 mania feuds in one match. Better than Fast Lane.

gerrybbadd

Omackeral wrote: »

Wouldn't have been so bad if they hadn't hyped the life out of a mystery partner. Talking about outside stars and the likes. People thinking Goldberg was coming in. The groans are so audible when he's announced! Having said that, I love this PPV and the match itself was chaotic and very fun. 3 mania feuds in one match. Better than Fast Lane.

Wouldn't be too hard to top Fast Lane!