Worst in the World: The Mighty Maccabee vs The Iron Sheik-Maccabiah Mania II: Shekel Slam

Special thanks to Otter Empire for suggesting this match. If you'd like to see a match covered on the Worst in the World, leave a comment down below.

So...this needs some explaining. First off, what the hell is this show? Maccabiah Mania were two shows held four years apart put together by Jeff Bukantz, a Jewish-American fencer looking to raise money to send his team to the Maccabiah Games, essentially the Jewish Olympics. A pro-wrestling fan and friend of Ken Patera and Iron Mike Sharper, Bukantz held the first Maccabiah Mania under a tent in his front yard, headlined by several legends of professional wrestling. If you're getting flashbacks to Heroes of Wrestling, there's a good reason for that. Taking place in 1993, Maccabiah Mania has become infamous for many of the same reasons that the aforementioned Heroes of Wrestling did, mainly due to seeing the majority of the wrestlers, some of which were in their mid-50s, working well past their primes. However, one thing that Heroes didn't have was one fourth of their main event...The Mighty Maccabee.

The Maccabee was none other than Jeff Bukantz himself, donning a mask, a Jewish-themed singlet, no wrestling boots, and a fencing gimmick. Teaming up with his buddy Ken Patera to take on the Iron Sheik and Iron Mike Sharpe despite not wanting to take bumps, Maccabee main evented his own show in a match that, according to the sole review of this show on Cagematch.net, was "mildly entertaining for its absurdity." 

Four years later, Maccabiah Mania was back with Shekel Slam. Despite upgrading the production values and the venue to a high school gym, the second and final edition of the event wasn't much better from a wrestling standpoint, as many of the same past their prime wrestlers return, despite being four years older and even less mobile. The main event of Maccabiah Mania II saw the return of the Mighty Maccabee as he took on Iron Sheik for the Maccabiah Heavyweight Championship, a made up title for this show. In the end, the shows did what they set out to do, reportedly earning $50,000 total for their cause. As for the Maccabiah Mania shows, they're now more well known as the "Grand Masters of Wrestling", a DVD-set repackaged by Digiview Entertainment and covered with highly misleading photos.

I'd give them more grief for that but...have you ever seen an indy promotion's poster when they have a legend of the business on the show?

I'll keep it real with you, Brutus Beefcake and Mean Gene Okerlund didn't look like that in 2018

It's not uncommon. Let's get into this.

Now, I'd be doing everyone a disservice if I didn't talk about the Iron Sheik's pre-match promo. It's...it's something. Here's a rundown

1. He calls New Jersey the "greatest American country." What
2. He gives a shoutout to all his "intelligent Jew businessmen"
3. He runs down Bob Backlund and Hulk Hogan, neither of whom are on the card, and Ken Patera, who he's not wrestling.
4. He says he'll show all his "intelligent Jew" in New Jersey who the real champion is.
5. He doesn't even mention the Mighty Maccabee until halfway through his promo.
6. Freddie Blassie comes in breifly to yell about Hogan and Backlund and calls the WWF and WCW a bunch of pencil neck geeks
7. He routinely refers to "Mr. Jeffery" in this promo
8. He takes off his shirt to unveil his "abs" and OH MY GOD WHAT IS WRONG WITH HIS BELLY BUTTON?

I'm not a doctor...but I don't think it's supposed to look like that. Now, as insane as this promo is, there might be one even more insane according to Steve Corino who appeared on this show in a dark match. Now, I can't find video of this anywhere, so either Steve Corino is lying, he's embellishing, or that promo was so insane and offensive that Digiview felt it wasn't appropriate to put it on a DVD, and maybe even that the promo I linked was done after the fact, based on the fact that Sheik is wearing a different ring attire. Based on Corino's retelling of the story, that last option doesn't sound too implausible.

Sheiky baby comes out first accompanied by his manager Ali Ben Schor and Iron Mike Sharpe. Oddly enough, Freddie Blassie, who was both on the show and, as I mentioned, appeared in Sheik's pre-match promo with Sheik calling him his manager, doesn't show up. The ring announcer describes Sheik as "275 pounds of Middle Eastern anger" as Sheik has a rough time getting in the ring. Sheik asks everyone to stand as he sings the Iranian National Anthem. The crowd heavily boos this despite not a single person appearing to move. Sheik runs through his greatest hits, forgetting the Mighty Maccabee's name (calling him the "Macadoubee") before performing his Persian Club demonstration, challenging that he can double anybody's best for $1,000.

The ring announcer then brings in The Mighty Maccabee's son (presumably) to introduce the Maccabee, accompanied by Ken Patera. He's gotten boots...so that's something. The match begins after nearly 10 minutes of introductions and pre-match segments. This is followed by a minute of playing up to the crowd, with Maccabee (and the ring announcer) trying to get a "USA" chant going. Again, nobody is making any kind of movement on screen, but the crowd is going nuts. You know...I'm starting to think that this isn't really the crowd and was added in post. The two finally lock up, with Sheik shoving Maccabee into the ropes, after which he flexes. Have I mentioned how much I love the Iron Sheik? Because I love the Iron Sheik.

We get another lock up with the same result, the Maccabee selling his back even though he softly. hitting the ropes. Maccabee consults with Patera before we get a third lock, this time Maccabee throws Sheik into the ropes and flexes. Lock-up #4 ends with Sheik forcing Maccabee into the corner. After the referee breaks it up, Ali Ben Schor hops up on the apron and chokes Maccabee. In a totally kayfabe breaking moment, the referee is unaware of this despite the fact that the ring announcer is commentating this match over the speakers and makes note of this, meaning there is absolutely no reason the ref should have not known about this. Just like with the lock-ups, the two repeat the spot exactly, with Ben Schor choking Macabee again behind the ref's back. This time, however, the referee catches him and has security eject Ben Schor.

The Sheik leaves the ring and grabs the mic, complaining about losing his manager and saying people need to not chant "USA" at him or else he'll leave. The ring announcer starts another totally real, not added in post "USA" chant, which prompts Sheik to say America is "sick." Back in the ring, Maccabee locks in a headlock, but Sheik throws him to the ropes, allowing Mike Sharpe to trip Maccabee up. Maccabee goes after Sharpe outside the ring, only for Sheik to hit him from behind. Sheik throws Maccabee into a chair at ringside before trying to use that chair. Obviously, if the guy won't take a bump then there's no chance in hell he takes a chair shot.

Maccabee avoids the chair shot and punches Sheik, causing him to drop the chair. Maccabee grabs the chair and gives Sheik a super-safe chair shot. Normally, I'd complain about how that should be a DQ in a wrestling match, but to even call this a wrestling match is a big stretch. Maccabee & Patera take turns punching Sharpe before Maccabee clotheslines him to the ground. Back in the ring, Sheik quickly dips out again and says the exact same thing he said a few minutes ago about leaving if the crowd chants "USA." Sheik then just...stays.

We get a test of strength spot, which Sheik gets the better of. Maccabee starts to fight back, but Sheik floors him with a kick to the gut before hitting a chop. More heel cheating as Sharpe chokes Maccabee across the middle rope as Sheik distracts the referee, only for Patera to break it up. Sheik and Maccabee slowly walk to the corner together before Sheik tries to ram Maccabee into his boot in the corner. Maccabee blocks it twice before ramming Sheik's head into the turnbuckle. Maccabee walks Sheik over to another corner where he gives him ten punches. The referee pulls Maccabee off of Sheik, allowing him to pull a foreign object out of his boot. Ref's fault, should of checked him. Sheik clocks Maccabee with the weapon, hiding it in his trunks and avoiding getting caught. Sheiky Baby has maxed out his deception skill, I see.

Sheik chokes Maccabee against the ropes before the ref pulls him off, where Mike Sharpe pulls him out of the ring and beats him down. Sheik goes for another chair shot, but he's got a better chance of hitting a standing 450 splash than making Maccabee take a chair shot. Maccabee avoids one chair shot and blocks another, taking the chair and hitting both Sharpe & Sheik. The Maccabee takes a literal victory lap and poses, which even causes to the ring announcer to give out about it. Back in the ring, we get the same "distract the referee so the manager can choke him" spot we've seen earlier, just replace Ali Ben Schor with Iron Mike Sharpe. Sheik prepares to break Maccabee's back and make him and locks in the camel clutch. Much like when he did it at Heroes of Wrestling, it's more of Steiner Recliner but I digress.

Sheik ends up breaking the camel clutch...just so he can go for it again...only for the Maccabee to avoid it and lock in a sleeper hold. The announcer calls this "the dawning of a new era for Israel." However, Mike Sharpe breaks up the hold with a chair. The fact that Maccabee took a chair shot is the most surprising thing in this entire match. Despite the Maccabee frequently using the chair in the match, the referee calls for the DQ win for Maccabee, allowing the Sheik to keep his made up title. Maccabee takes the mic and refuses to take the DQ win, demanding that Sheik be a "mensch" ("a good person" in Yiddish) and give him five more. no DQ-minutes. Sheik refuses, but Maccabee offers to unmask and reveal his identity if he does. Sheik agrees and the Maccabee unmasks revealing...ANOTHER MASK! Yeah...also, he didn't reveal his identity. Sheik should've just left

The match restarts with Sheik attacking Maccabee from behind. The Sheik follows up with two clotheslines. Sheik goes for a third, but Maccabee ducks it and locks in the sleeper hold again. Mike Sharper quickly breaks it up before knocking out the referee. Ken Patera gets in the ring and takes the fight to the heels, but the numbers catch up to him. The heels go for a double clothesline on Maccabee, but Maccabee ducks it and hits a double clothesline of his own, which Sheik sells way to late. The heels quickly take control again and beat down Maccabee before Sharpe loads his arm brace with a weapon. Sheik tries to throw Maccabee into a forearm from Sharpe, but Maccabee reverses it, sending Sheik into Sharpe's cheap shot. Despite Sharpe clearly seeing being sent towards him, Sharpe still hits his partner.

Boo.

Maccabee floors Sharpe with a clothesline before throwing him out of the ring. Patera give the Maccabees fencing helmet to him, allowing the Maccabee to hit the Sheik with it. Patera revives the referee as the Maccabee makes the cover, gets the three, the win, and the Maccabiah Heavyweight Championship. Maccabee celebrates with the crowd who is going nuts, despite no one on camera appearing to even open their mouths. We would never get Maccabiah Mania III. Tragic.

The Verdict

I mean...it's not like I was expecting anything good. It's obvious to anyone with eyes that this match should never have happened. The Mighty Maccabee couldn't wrestle...at all. His offense was literally clotheslines and sleeper holds. He wouldn't even take actual bumps. Sheik, as much as I love him, wasn't much better, as he was WAY too far past his prime to work a good match. However, I don't think I can put this match as low as some of the others on this list. As I mentioned, the Mighty Maccabee was barely trained, but even then he's still puts on a better performance than some of the people on this list. His selling and offense are horrible, but he's still better than Jenna Morasca. Hell, there are wrestlers with years of experience who have had worse matches than this. The match is painfully long and painfully boring, but I'd still say it's easier to watch than something like than John Cena vs John Laurinaitis or the Blindfold Steel Cage match from TNA. This match is borderline unwatchable. Is it an easy target? Yeah, probably, but it's still really bad. However, I'd still put it higher than some of the matches I've seen for this series.

Rankings (Best to Worst)

1. Rick Rude vs Jake Roberts-WrestleMania IV
2. Too Much vs Al Snow & Head-King of the Ring 1998
3. Randy Orton vs Bray Wyatt-WrestleMania 33
4. Vampiro vs Sting-Great American Bash 2000
5. T&A vs Head Cheese-WrestleMania 2000
6. Triple H vs Sgt. Slaughter-D-Generation X: In Your House
7. Konnan vs One Man Gang-SuperBrawl VI
8. Ultimate Warrior vs Hercules-WrestleMania IV
9. Rick Rude vs Hawk-Clash of the Champions XXV
10. Shelton Benjamin vs Viscera-New Year's Revolution 2006
11. Steve McMichael vs Reggie White-Slamboree 1997
12. The Tag Team Fatal 4-Way Match-WrestleMania 13
13. Tag Team Battle Royal-WrestleMania XIV
14. The Chamber of Horrors-Halloween Havoc 1991
15. The Natural Disasters vs Money Inc.-WrestleMania VIII
16. Ivan Koloff vs Paul Jones-Clash of the Champions IV
17. ODB, Taylor Wilde, and Roxxi vs The Kongtourage-Genesis 2009
18. Ivory vs Tori-SummerSlam 1999
19. The Reverse Battle Royal-Impact! (10/26/2006)
20. Jerry Blackwell vs Boris Zhukov-SuperClash II
21. Nikita Koloff vs Bobby Eaton-Bunkhouse Stampede
22. Alex Wright vs Steve McMichael-Halloween Havoc 1997
23. The Great Khali vs Kane-WrestleMania 23
24. Savio Vega vs Crush vs Faarooq-Ground Zero: In Your House
25. The Shockmaster vs Awesome/King Kong-Starrcade 1993
26. Total Divas vs Other Divas-Survivor Series 2013
27. The Oddities vs Kaientai-SummerSlam 1998
28. Hulk Hogan vs Sid Justice-WrestleMania VIII
29. Paul Ellering vs Teddy Long-Capital Combat
30. Dusty Rhodes vs Big Boss Man-Saturday Night's Main Event (10/31/1989)
31. Tyson Tomko vs Stevie Richards-Unforgiven 2004
32. Kane vs The Great Khali-SummerSlam 2009
33. Hollywood Hogan vs The Giant-Hog Wild
34. Hollywood Hogan vs The Giant-Souled Out 1997
35. Dustin Rhodes & King Kong vs Awesome Kong & The Equalizer-Battlebowl
36. Finlay & Little Bastard vs The Boogeyman & Little Boogeyman-No Way Out 2007
37. Jake Roberts vs Andre the Giant-WrestleMania V
38. Yokozuna vs King Mabel-In Your House 4
39. Dusty Rhodes vs The Honky Tonk Man-SummerSlam 1989
40. Sting & Hawk vs Meng & Kurasawa-Clash of the Champions XXXI
41. Hulk Hogan vs Randy Savage-Uncensored 1998
42. Al Snow vs Big Boss Man-Unforgiven 1999
43. Mickie James vs Ashley-Royal Rumble 2006
44. Christy Hemme vs Big Fat Oily Guy-Against All Odds 2007
45. Stevie Ray vs Konnan-World War 3 1998
46. Vampiro vs The KISS Demon-Bash at the Beach 2000
47. Team WCW vs nWo Wolfpac vs nWo Hollywood-Fall Brawl 1998
48. Vampiro vs Oklahoma-Starrcade 1999
49. Hulk Hogan vs Andre the Giant-WrestleMania III
50. Van Hammer vs Terrance Taylor-Clash of the Champions XVI
51. Junkyard Dog vs Moondog Spot-Wrestling Classic
52. The Undertaker vs Goldberg-Super ShowDown 2019
53. Hiroshi Wajima vs Tom Magee-All Japan Pro Wrestling 1988
54. Jim Duggan vs Big Boss Man-Royal Rumble 1990
55. Meng vs Jim Duggan-Uncensored 1995
56. Jim Steele vs The Equalizer-SuperBrawl IV
57. Sting vs Tony Palmore-Battle 7
58. D-Generation X vs Brothers of Destruction-Crown Jewel
59. Wendi Richter vs Leilani Kai-WrestleMania
60. Edge vs Triple H vs Vladimir Kozlov-Survivor Series 2008
61. Kevin Sullivan vs Dave Sullivan-SuperBrawl V
62. Steve McMichael vs Brian Adams-Road Wild 1998
63. Scott Hall vs Roddy Piper-SuperBrawl IX
64. Kane vs The Great Khali-Breaking Point
65. PN News & Bobby Eaton vs Steve Austin & Terrance Taylor-Great American Bash 1991
66. Scott Steiner vs Sid Vicious vs Jeff Jarrett vs Road Warrior Animal-Sin
67. Hollywood Hogan vs Roddy Piper-SuperBrawl 1997
68. Batista vs The Great Khali-SummerSlam 2007
69.  Sable vs Tori-WrestleMania XV
70. Super Invader vs Todd Champion-WrestleWar 1992
71. King Kong Bundy & Jim Neidhart vs Yokozuna & Jake Roberts-Heroes of Wrestling
72. Sid Vicious vs The Nightstalker-Clash of the Champions XIII
73. The 8-Divas Tag Match-Survivor Series 1999
74. The Fabulous Freebirds vs The Renegade Warriors-Halloween Havoc 1990
75. The Knockouts Gauntlet-One Night Only: Live! 2016
76. AJ Styles vs Frank Trigg-No Surrender 2008
77. Rick Rude vs Masahiro Chono-Halloween Havoc 1992
78. Mike Awesome vs Vampiro-Halloween Havoc 2000
79. Bray Wyatt vs John Cena-Extreme Rules 2014
80. Brothers of Destruction vs KroniK-Unforgiven 2001
81. Mabel vs The Undertaker-King of the Ring 1995
82. Wendi Richter vs The Fabulous Moolah-The Brawl to End it All
83. David Flair vs Kimberly Page-Mayhem 1999
84. The Truth Commission vs The Disciples of Apocolypse-Survivor Series 1997
85. The Bushwhacker vs The Fabulous Rougeaus-WrestleMania V
86. The Beverly Brothers vs The Bushwhackers-Royal Rumble 1992
87. Teddy Long vs Eric Bischoff-Survivor Series 2005
88. Greg Valentine vs George Steele-Heroes of Wrestling
89. Abdullah the Butcher vs One Man Gang-Heroes of Wrestling
90. Major Gunns vs Miss Hancock-New Blood Rising
91. Bradshaw & Trish Stratus vs Christopher Nowinski & Jackie Gayda-RAW (7/8/2002)
92. Triple H vs Scott Steiner-Royal Rumble 2003
93. Hollywood Hogan vs The Warrior-Halloween Havoc 1998
94. Mr. T vs Roddy Piper-WrestleMania 2
95. The Royal Family vs Clowns R' Us-Survivor Series 1994
96. The Blacktop Bully vs Dustin Rhodes-Uncensored 1995
97. Team Dos Caras vs Team El Canek-Leyendas Mexicanas 2017
98. Pat Patterson vs Gerald Brisco-King of the Ring 2000
99. The Four Doinks vs Team Bigelow-Survivor Series 1993
100. Sting vs Jeff Hardy-Victory Road 2011
101. Oz vs Tim Parker-SuperBrawl
102. The Mighty Maccabee vs The Iron Sheik-Maccabiah Mania II: Shekel Slam
103. Van Hammer vs Doug Somers-Halloween Havoc 1991
104. Ultimate Warrior vs Andre the Giant-Saturday Night's Main Event (11/25/1989)
105. Jeff Jarrett vs Sting-Halloween Havoc 2000
106. The Doomsday Cage Match-Uncensored 1996
107. Kane vs The Undertaker-Judgement Day 1998
108. Rebel vs Shelly Martinez-One Night Only: Knockouts Knockdown
109. Kaitlyn vs Maxine-NXT (10/19/2010)
110. Sabu vs The Sandman-November to Remember 1997
111. Seth Rollins vs "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt-Hell in a Cell 2019
112. Michael Cole vs Jerry Lawler-WrestleMania XXVII
113. The Bushwhackers vs Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff-Heroes of Wrestling
114. James Storm vs Chris Harris-Lockdown 2007
115. John Laurinaitis vs John Cena-Over the Limit 2012
116. Ultimate Warrior vs Goldust-In Your House 7
117. Los Villanos vs Los Psycho Circus-Triplemania XXIII
118. Jenna Morasca vs Sharmell-Victory Road 2009

Thanks for reading. Be sure to share if you enjoyed and leave any suggestions for matches you'd like to see covered on the Worst in the World in the comments below. Until next time...