Skip to main content

Worst in the World: The Great American Trash

NOTE: Hey everyone, I just wanted to remind everyone to come back to the site on Saturday for the regularly scheduled post. Now onto this entry in the Worst in the World. Hope you enjoy!
WWE has always gone out of its way to show its love for the United States of America. Whether it be their work on Tribute to the Troops, their frequent booking of heroic American patriots taking on the anti-American foreign heel (or, sometimes...just a foreign heel), and even building the main event of a WrestleMania around the Gulf War, with the WWF Championship being held by an American-turned Iraqi sympathizer in Sgt. Slaughter. The company has always worn its patriotism on its sleeve. That being said, the fact that one of the company's worst-ever pay-per-view cards happened to take place on their most American-themed pay-per-view is, quite frankly, hilarious. That show, of course, was the Great American Bash 2004.
The Great American Bash '04 came a little over two years after the first WWE brand split, and just over a year after the single-brand pay-per-view experiment started. Anyone who's ever watched WWE during either of the single-brand events eras (late 2003 to early 2007, and late 2016 to early 2018) knows that the reason these experiments never last too long is obvious; WWE is unable to fill out pay-per-views when the brands are split. Splitting the brands also requires splitting the rosters, effectively knee-capping the writing team when it comes to how many top-of-the-card wrestlers they have to work with. Because of that, single-brand pay-per-views almost always had at least one match on the card that, quite frankly, had no business being on a show that cost $45 or more to watch. Sure, sometimes a single-brand show was able to fill out a card with interesting matches. And sure, dual-branded shows have also had some lackluster matches end up on the card, but you can't sit there and tell me that a random Hardcore Holly & Rhyno match would ever make a pay-per-view if both Raw and SmackDown were running a show together.
The Great American Bash '04 might just be the biggest offender in terms of matches that would've been a random midcard match TV if not for single-brand pay-per-views. There are eight matches on the main card of this show, and only three of them are any good. That leaves five mediocre matches. The only other single-branded pay-per-view that could even come close to this show in terms of how slapdashery is December to Dismember. But even then, December to Dismember was a product of the ECW revival that, in itself, was a half-assed, borderline developmental brand that WWE only created to cash in on the success of the ECW One Night Stand shows. The Great American Bash was a SmackDown show, so it has no excuse for being this poorly booked, and while it might not have the same reputation that December to Dismember has, probably because it didn't completely bomb in terms of buyrate (238,000 buys compared to December to Dismember's 90,000) and it didn't basically kill SmackDown like December to Dismember did to ECW, but in terms of quality, it's not much better. Let's see why.

Match #1: Luther Reigns vs Charlie Haas

Unlike the last two times I've covered multiple matches from one pay-per-view, the first match I'm looking at is not the show's opener, which was a fine, if not unremarkable Fatal Four-Way Elimination match between John Cena, Booker T, Rob Van Dam, and Rene Dupree for the United States Championship. However, the immediate aftermath of that match does lead into the first match I'll be looking at. After (spoilers) Cena retains the title, he walks backstage where Charlie Haas & Jackie Gayda congratulate him. Cena immediately cucks Haas, openly hitting on Gayda before telling her to hit him up. That draws the attention of Kurt Angle, the wheelchair-bound SmackDown General Manager (Angle had neck surgery following WrestleMania XX and had been written into the wheelchair via chokeslam from the Big Show off a ledge), who says Haas has fallen off since Team Angle split up and that he's not focused enough on wrestling. Angle then decides to book Haas in a match against his new protege; Luther Reigns. If you're not familiar with Luther Reigns, I don't blame you. Reigns first popped up in WCW as Horshu, whose one defining attribute was that his hair was shaved to look like a horseshoe:
Wow, that's money. Reigns left WCW in 1998 and spent a few years wrestling on the indies and in Japan before signing with WWE in 2003. He'd debut on the main roster in 2004, but left the company just over a year later, citing creative differences. This stint as Kurt Angle's protege is probably his most notable run in the company. As for the match, it earned just one star from Dave Meltzer and a 2.91 rating on Cagematch.net.
Haas is out first to the highly underappreciated World's Greatest Tag Team theme with Gayda by his side. Reigns comes down to the ring, wheeling Angle down with him. Angle slaps Reigns, which seems to fire him up. The match starts with Haas picking the ankle, but Reigns gets to the ropes to break the hold. Haas avoids Reigns' punches and tries to take Reigns down to the mat, but Reigns won't go down. Reigns takes control with a knee to the gut before striking Haas into the corner. Haas nearly scores the win after reversing an Irish whip into a roll-up, but Reigns kicks out and floors him with a big boot. Reigns stomps away at Haas before driving him into the corner. Reigns follows up by whipping Haas across the ring and hitting a backbreaker for a near fall. Reigns chokes Haas against the ropes, but Haas fires up and hits two dropkicks. Reigns shuts down the comeback, however, by throwing Haas to the outside.
Reigns rams Haas into the ring apron before putting on a chinlock back in the ring. Haas tries to fight back, but Reigns keeps control with a gorilla press slam for a near fall. Reigns puts on a single-leg Boston Crab while kneeling on Haas' back. Haas fights out and nearly scores the win when he slips out of a powerslam and rolls up Reigns, but Reigns kicks out and clotheslines him for a near fall of his own. Reigns beats down Haas in the corner, but Haas takes control after dodging a charging Reigns and hitting an overhead suplex for another near fall. Haas follows up with a German suplex for a near fall, but Reigns dodges a charging Haas in the corner and hits the Reign of Terror (a twisting DDT) for the three and the win.

The Verdict

Not very exciting, but far from the worst match I've ever seen. Reigns is obviously pretty limited in the ring, but I think he & Haas work around those limitations pretty well. Maybe it's because he had someone like Haas who's talented enough to get a fine match out of most people, but I didn't find this match all that awful.

The Rankings (Best to Worst)

  1. Tommy Dreamer vs Bully Ray-Victory Road 2011
  2. Triple H vs Kevin Nash-TLC: Tables, Ladders, and Chairs 2011
  3. Rick Rude vs Jake Roberts-WrestleMania IV
  4. Too Much vs Al Snow & Head-King of the Ring 1998
  5. Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns-Greatest Royal Rumble
  6. Ernest Miller vs Norman Smiley-Fall Brawl 1998
  7. Shane McMahon vs Eric Bischoff-SummerSlam 2003
  8. Luther Reigns vs Charlie Haas-The Great American Bash 2004
  9. The Tag Team Gauntlet-Extreme Rules 2010
  10. The Gimmick Battle Royal-WrestleMania X-Seven
  11. Hernandez vs Matt Morgan-Victory Road 2011
  12. Randy Orton vs Bray Wyatt-WrestleMania 33
  13. Vampiro vs Sting-Great American Bash 2000
  14. T&A vs Head Cheese-WrestleMania 2000
  15. David Arquette & Diamond Dallas Page vs Jeff Jarrett & Eric Bischoff
  16. The Women's Tag Team Turmoil-WrestleMania 37 (Night 1)
  17. Triple H vs Sgt. Slaughter-D-Generation X: In Your House
  18. Konnan vs One Man Gang-SuperBrawl VI
  19. Ultimate Warrior vs Hercules-WrestleMania IV
  20. Rick Rude vs Hawk-Clash of the Champions XXV
  21. Shelton Benjamin vs Viscera-New Year's Revolution 2006
  22. Steve McMichael vs Reggie White-Slamboree 1997
  23. Lars Sullivan vs Lucha House Party-Super Showdown 2019
  24. Alexa Bliss vs Bayley-Extreme Rules 2017
  25. The Tag Team Fatal 4-Way Match-WrestleMania 13
  26. The Barbed Wire Christmas Tree Match-TNA iMPACT (12/20/2007)
  27. Tag Team Battle Royal-WrestleMania XIV
  28. EVIL vs Tomohiro Ishii-Wrestle Kingdom 16 (Day 1)
  29. The Chamber of Horrors-Halloween Havoc 1991
  30. The Natural Disasters vs Money Inc.-WrestleMania VIII
  31. Ivan Koloff vs Paul Jones-Clash of the Champions IV
  32. ODB, Taylor Wilde, and Roxxi vs The Kongtourage-Genesis 2009
  33. Kazushi Sakuraba & Yuji Nagata vs Daniel & Rolles Gracie-Wrestle Kingdom 8
  34. Ivory vs Tori-SummerSlam 1999
  35. Giant Baba vs Bulldog Bob Brown-WrestleRock
  36. The Reverse Battle Royal-Impact! (10/26/2006)
  37. Savio Vega vs Rocky Maivia-In Your House 14: Revenge of the Taker
  38. Jerry Blackwell vs Boris Zhukov-SuperClash II
  39. Nikita Koloff vs Bobby Eaton-Bunkhouse Stampede
  40. Alex Wright vs Steve McMichael-Halloween Havoc 1997
  41. The Great Khali vs Kane-WrestleMania 23
  42. Savio Vega vs Crush vs Faarooq-Ground Zero: In Your House
  43. The Shockmaster vs Awesome/King Kong-Starrcade 1993
  44. Total Divas vs Other Divas-Survivor Series 2013
  45. The Intercontinental Championship Elimination Chamber-Elimination Chamber 2015
  46. The Oddities vs Kaientai-SummerSlam 1998
  47. Team RAW vs Team SmackDown Men's Elimination Match-Survivor Series 2017
  48. Hulk Hogan vs Sid Justice-WrestleMania VIII
  49. Paul Ellering vs Teddy Long-Capital Combat
  50. Dusty Rhodes vs Big Boss Man-Saturday Night's Main Event (10/31/1989)
  51. Konnan vs Scott Hall-Fall Brawl 1998
  52. Damian Priest vs The Miz-WrestleMania Backlash
  53. Tyson Tomko vs Stevie Richards-Unforgiven 2004
  54. Kane vs The Great Khali-SummerSlam 2009
  55. The 2022 Women's Royal Rumble
  56. Rick Steiner vs Scott Steiner-Fall Brawl 1998
  57. The Extreme Elimination Chamber-December to Dismember 2006
  58. Hollywood Hogan vs The Giant-Hog Wild
  59. Hollywood Hogan vs The Giant-Souled Out 1997
  60. Dustin Rhodes & King Kong vs Awesome Kong & The Equalizer-Battlebowl
  61. Finlay & Little Bastard vs The Boogeyman & Little Boogeyman-No Way Out 2007
  62. Mr. Anderson vs Rob Van Dam-Victory Road 2011
  63. Jake Roberts vs Andre the Giant-WrestleMania V
  64. El Gigante vs Nailz-G1 Climax 1994 (Day 1)
  65. Yokozuna vs King Mabel-In Your House 4
  66. Dusty Rhodes vs The Honky Tonk Man-SummerSlam 1989
  67. Sting & Hawk vs Meng & Kurasawa-Clash of the Champions XXXI
  68. The Hurt Business vs RETRIBUTION-WWE Monday Night RAW (10/26/2020)
  69. Hulk Hogan vs Randy Savage-Uncensored 1998
  70. Santino Marella vs Heath Slater-WWE Friday Night SmackDown (9/27/2013)
  71. Al Snow vs Big Boss Man-Unforgiven 1999
  72. Vince Russo vs Ric Flair-WCW Monday Nitro (6/5/2000)
  73. Allie vs Leva Bates-Fyter Fest 2019
  74. Mickie James vs Ashley-Royal Rumble 2006
  75. Antonio Inoki vs The Great Antonio-NJPW Sumo Hall Show (12/8/1977)
  76. Christy Hemme vs Big Fat Oily Guy-Against All Odds 2007
  77. The Big Show vs Erick Rowan-TLC: Tables, Ladders, Chairs 2014
  78. British Bulldog & Jim Neidhart vs The Dancing Fools-Fall Brawl 1998
  79. Stevie Ray vs Konnan-World War 3 1998
  80. Vampiro vs The KISS Demon-Bash at the Beach 2000
  81. Team WCW vs nWo Wolfpac vs nWo Hollywood-Fall Brawl 1998
  82. Vampiro vs Oklahoma-Starrcade 1999
  83. Big Swole vs Penelope Ford, Rebel, and Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D.-AEW Dynamite (8/27/2020)
  84. Hulk Hogan vs Andre the Giant-WrestleMania III
  85. Jinder Mahal vs Randy Orton-Battleground 2017
  86. Van Hammer vs Terrance Taylor-Clash of the Champions XVI
  87. Junkyard Dog vs Moondog Spot-Wrestling Classic
  88. The New Blood Gauntlet-WCW Monday Nitro (6/5/2000)
  89. Chris Jericho vs "Goldberg"-Fall Brawl 1998
  90. Hulk Hogan vs Kevin Nash-WCW Monday Nitro (1/4/1999)
  91. Sting vs Hulk Hogan-Halloween Havoc 1999
  92. Hulk Hogan vs Jeff Jarrett-Bash at the Beach 2000
  93. Michael Nakazawa vs Alex Jebailey-Fyter Fest 2019
  94. The 2022 Men's Royal Rumble
  95. Roman Reigns vs The Undertaker-WrestleMania 33
  96. Konnan vs Stevie Ray-Slamboree 1999
  97. The Undertaker vs Goldberg-Super ShowDown 2019
  98. Hiroshi Wajima vs Tom Magee-All Japan Pro Wrestling 1988
  99. Jim Duggan vs Big Boss Man-Royal Rumble 1990
  100. Meng vs Jim Duggan-Uncensored 1995
  101. Jim Steele vs The Equalizer-SuperBrawl IV
  102. The Golden Truth vs Breezango-Money in the Bank 2016
  103. The Undertaker vs Giant González-WrestleMania IX
  104. Sting vs Tony Palmore-Battle 7
  105. D-Generation X vs Brothers of Destruction-Crown Jewel
  106. Wendi Richter vs Leilani Kai-WrestleMania
  107. Goldberg vs Brock Lesnar-WrestleMania XX
  108. Hornswoggle vs Chavo Guerrero-WWE Monday Night Raw (7/20/2009)
  109. Edge vs Triple H vs Vladimir Kozlov-Survivor Series 2008
  110. Rosita & Sarita vs Angelina Love & Winter-Victory Road 2011
  111. Kevin Sullivan vs Dave Sullivan-SuperBrawl V
  112. Steve McMichael vs Brian Adams-Road Wild 1998
  113. Scott Hall vs Roddy Piper-SuperBrawl IX
  114. Boris Zhukov vs Paul Samson-Beach Brawl
  115. Roddy Piper vs Hollywood Hogan-Halloween Havoc 1997
  116. Kane vs The Great Khali-Breaking Point
  117. Hollywood Hogan & Dennis Rodman vs Diamond Dallas Page & Karl Malone-Bash at the Beach 1998
  118. PN News & Bobby Eaton vs Steve Austin & Terrance Taylor-Great American Bash 1991
  119. Scott Steiner vs Sid Vicious vs Jeff Jarrett vs Road Warrior Animal-Sin
  120. Hollywood Hogan vs Roddy Piper-SuperBrawl 1997
  121. The 2015 Royal Rumble Match
  122. Kazuchika Okada vs Gedo-New Japan Cup 2020 (Day 2)
  123. Batista vs The Great Khali-SummerSlam 2007
  124. Sting vs Hollywood Hogan-Starrcade 1997
  125.  Sable vs Tori-WrestleMania XV
  126. Super Invader vs Todd Champion-WrestleWar 1992
  127. Brock Lesnar vs Cain Velasquez-Crown Jewel 2019
  128. King Kong Bundy & Jim Neidhart vs Yokozuna & Jake Roberts-Heroes of Wrestling
  129. Sid Vicious vs The Nightstalker-Clash of the Champions XIII
  130. The 8-Divas Tag Match-Survivor Series 1999
  131. The Fabulous Freebirds vs The Renegade Warriors-Halloween Havoc 1990
  132. The Knockouts Gauntlet-One Night Only: Live! 2016
  133. AJ Styles vs Frank Trigg-No Surrender 2008
  134. Rick Rude vs Masahiro Chono-Halloween Havoc 1992
  135. Mike Awesome vs Vampiro-Halloween Havoc 2000
  136. Bray Wyatt vs John Cena-Extreme Rules 2014
  137. Brothers of Destruction vs KroniK-Unforgiven 2001
  138. The Miss WrestleMania Battle Royal-WrestleMania 25
  139. Mabel vs The Undertaker-King of the Ring 1995
  140. Wendi Richter vs The Fabulous Moolah-The Brawl to End it All
  141. David Flair vs Kimberly Page-Mayhem 1999
  142. The Truth Commission vs The Disciples of Apocolypse-Survivor Series 1997
  143. Daffney vs Miss Hancock-Bash at the Beach 2000
  144. The Bushwhacker vs The Fabulous Rougeaus-WrestleMania V
  145. Randy Orton vs "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt-WrestleMania 37 (Night 2)
  146. The Beverly Brothers vs The Bushwhackers-Royal Rumble 1992
  147. Savio Vega vs Rocky Maivia-WWF Monday Night Raw (4/14/1997)
  148. Teddy Long vs Eric Bischoff-Survivor Series 2005
  149. Savio Vega vs Rocky Maivia-WWF Shotgun Saturday Night (1/25/1997)
  150. Greg Valentine vs George Steele-Heroes of Wrestling
  151. Abdullah the Butcher vs One Man Gang-Heroes of Wrestling
  152. Major Gunns vs Miss Hancock-New Blood Rising
  153. Vince Russo vs Booker T-WCW Monday Nitro (9/25/2000)
  154. Bradshaw & Trish Stratus vs Christopher Nowinski & Jackie Gayda-WWE Monday Night RAW (7/8/2002)
  155. Triple H vs Scott Steiner-Royal Rumble 2003
  156. Goldberg vs "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt-Super ShowDown 2020
  157. Santina Marella vs Vickie & Chavo Guerrero-Extreme Rules 2009
  158. Kevin Nash vs Scott Steiner vs Goldberg-New Blood Rising
  159. Hollywood Hogan vs The Warrior-Halloween Havoc 1998
  160. Mr. T vs Roddy Piper-WrestleMania 2
  161. The Royal Family vs Clowns R' Us-Survivor Series 1994
  162. The House of Horrors Match-Payback 2017
  163. The Blacktop Bully vs Dustin Rhodes-Uncensored 1995
  164. Team Dos Caras vs Team El Canek-Leyendas Mexicanas 2017
  165. Pat Patterson vs Gerald Brisco-King of the Ring 2000
  166. The Wyatt Swamp Fight-The Horror Show at Extreme Rules
  167. The Four Doinks vs Team Bigelow-Survivor Series 1993
  168. Sting vs Jeff Hardy-Victory Road 2011 
  169. Bret Hart vs Mr. McMahon-WrestleMania XVI
  170. WarGames 2000: Russo's Revenge-WCW Monday Nitro (9/4/2000)
  171. Oz vs Tim Parker-SuperBrawl
  172. Brock Lesnar vs Braun Strowman-Crown Jewel 2018
  173. Brock Lesnar vs Ricochet-Super ShowDown 2020
  174. The Mighty Maccabee vs The Iron Sheik-Maccabiah Mania II: Shekel Slam
  175. Van Hammer vs Doug Somers-Halloween Havoc 1991
  176. Ultimate Warrior vs Andre the Giant-Saturday Night's Main Event (11/25/1989)
  177. Jeff Jarrett vs Sting-Halloween Havoc 2000
  178. The Doomsday Cage Match-Uncensored 1996
  179. "Donald Trump" vs "Rosie O'Donnell"-WWE Monday Night RAW (1/8/2007)
  180. Kane vs The Undertaker-Judgement Day 1998
  181. Toru Yano vs Jado-New Japan Cup 2020 (Day 1)
  182. Rebel vs Shelly Martinez-One Night Only: Knockouts Knockdown
  183. Kaitlyn vs Maxine-NXT (10/19/2010)
  184. Sabu vs The Sandman-November to Remember 1997
  185. Seth Rollins vs "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt-Hell in a Cell 2019
  186. Michael Cole vs Jerry Lawler-WrestleMania XXVII
  187. The Bushwhackers vs Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff-Heroes of Wrestling
  188. James Storm vs Chris Harris-Lockdown 2007
  189. John Laurinaitis vs John Cena-Over the Limit 2012
  190. Hulk Hogan vs The Giant-Halloween Havoc 1995
  191. Ultimate Warrior vs Goldust-In Your House 7
  192. Los Villanos vs Los Psycho Circus-Triplemania XXIII
  193. Jenna Morasca vs Sharmell-Victory Road 2009
  194. Akira Maeda vs Andre the Giant-NJPW Big Fighter Series 1986 (Day 15)

Match #2: Kenzo Suzuki vs Billy Gunn

Following Reigns vs Haas, we got a break from crap as Rey Mysterio defended the Cruiserweight Championship in a really good match that could easily be considered the Match of the Night. However, that match would also mark the turning point for this show, as the next three matches on this card are utter stinkers. The second match I'll be taking a look at is the third match on the card in Kenzo Suzuki vs Billy Gunn. Suzuki is another Ruthless Aggression era wrestler who had a blink and you'd miss it run in WWE. Beginning his career with New Japan Pro-Wrestling in 2000, Suzuki looked set for big things in NJPW, having won that year's Young Lions Cup over names like Togi Makabe, Katsuyori Shibata, and even Hiroshi Tanahashi. However, Suzuki left in 2003 to join Riki Choshu's ill-fated Fighting of World Japan Pro-Wrestling, a tenure that ended with Suzuki resigning following a tragic accident where MMA fighter-turned wrestler Giant Ochiai fell into a coma and died while training with him. Suzuki would go over to the United States following the incident before being signed by the WWE in 2004.
Suzuki was initially going to debut as Hirohito, a gimmick you've probably heard described as a Japanese patriot who harbored anti-American sentiment from World War II. That barely scratches the surface of how fucking wild this idea was. Hirohito was not just going to be a Japanese patriot, but according to both former SmackDown writer Dan Madigan and the actual vignette that aired, Hirohito was going to be a direct descendant of Emperor Hirohito, the emperor of Japan during World War II. This was a real thing WWE put on television. Obviously, that got dropped, and Suzuki debuted on SmackDown under his real name with his valet & translator Hiroko (also, his real-life wife) by his side. However, like his original gimmick, his WWE career would be short-lived, as he'd be released just over a year after this pay-per-view. This match, which came about after Hiroko interfered in another match between Suzuki & Gunn by throwing powder in Gunn's eyes to cause a DQ, would be his only singles match on pay-per-view. It was not a good showing, earning a negative one-star rating from Dave Meltzer and a 1.25 rating on Cagematch.net. Let's get into this.
Say what you will about him in the ring, but Kenzo Suzuki's entrance is great, being carried to the ring on a throne.
It's always funny going back and seeing wrestlers who had very little impact on the company having cool stuff like this. The two lock up to start the match, with Suzuki getting the better of the exchange when he forces Gunn into the corner. Suzuki goes for a chop, but Gunn dodges. Gunn slaps on a headlock, and keeps control when he floors Suzuki with a shoulder block after Suzuki pushes out of the hold. Suzuki cuts off Gunn with a double palm thrust, but Gunn dodges a knee drop and hits a fisherman suplex for a two count. Gunn stomps away at Suzuki in the corner and dodges a chop before hitting a swinging neckbreaker for a nearfall. Gunn goes back to stomping Suzuki in the corner, but Suzuki takes control with a palm thrust to the throat.
Suzuki follows up with an STO and a knee drop before putting on a nerve hold, clutching his wrist with his other hand because that makes it a stronger hold for some reason. Suzuki breaks the magna claw to apply a double nerve hold before Gunn starts to fight to his feet, only to quickly get slammed down. Suzuki follows that up with a falling chop and a pin, but Gunn kicks out before Nick Patrick can even start counting. Suzuki goes back to the nerve hold, giving me Vietnam flashbacks to Savio Vega. That's two so far (three if you count the double hold as two), and if he keeps going at this pace, I'm too going to scream. Gunn fights back to his feet, but a knee to the gut from Suzuki cuts off his momentum. A second knee attempt gets countered by Gunn into a roll-up, but Suzuki kicks out and chops Gunn to the ground. Suzuki drops the knee on Gunn, holding it there to choke Gunn, before hitting a suplex for a near fall. Suzuki puts on an arm hold, but Gunn fights to his feet. The two trade strikes, with Gunn getting the better of the exchange. Gunn runs wild, hitting a back elbow, two clotheslines, and a corner splash, but Suzuki avoids the Fameasser and hits a Shining Wizard for a near fall. I cannot believe this match that got announced on the go-home episode of SmackDown had a false hope comeback spot. For Billy Gunn, of all people.
Suzuki kicks Gunn in the back, only for Gunn to pop up and a nice tilt-a-whirl slam for a near fall. Gunn calls for the Fameasser before he very blatantly & very loudly yells at Suzuki to "GO TO THE CORNER!" John Cena takes notes in the back. Suzuki does as he's told, where he catches Gunn with a punch to the dick before hitting an inverted headlock backbreaker for the three and the win to pretty much no crowd reaction.

The Verdict

Really dull match with one nice spot. That's really all I've got to say about this match.

The Rankings (Best to Worst)

  1. Tommy Dreamer vs Bully Ray-Victory Road 2011
  2. Triple H vs Kevin Nash-TLC: Tables, Ladders, and Chairs 2011
  3. Rick Rude vs Jake Roberts-WrestleMania IV
  4. Too Much vs Al Snow & Head-King of the Ring 1998
  5. Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns-Greatest Royal Rumble
  6. Ernest Miller vs Norman Smiley-Fall Brawl 1998
  7. Shane McMahon vs Eric Bischoff-SummerSlam 2003
  8. Luther Reigns vs Charlie Haas-The Great American Bash 2004
  9. The Tag Team Gauntlet-Extreme Rules 2010
  10. The Gimmick Battle Royal-WrestleMania X-Seven
  11. Hernandez vs Matt Morgan-Victory Road 2011
  12. Randy Orton vs Bray Wyatt-WrestleMania 33
  13. Vampiro vs Sting-Great American Bash 2000
  14. T&A vs Head Cheese-WrestleMania 2000
  15. David Arquette & Diamond Dallas Page vs Jeff Jarrett & Eric Bischoff
  16. The Women's Tag Team Turmoil-WrestleMania 37 (Night 1)
  17. Triple H vs Sgt. Slaughter-D-Generation X: In Your House
  18. Konnan vs One Man Gang-SuperBrawl VI
  19. Ultimate Warrior vs Hercules-WrestleMania IV
  20. Rick Rude vs Hawk-Clash of the Champions XXV
  21. Shelton Benjamin vs Viscera-New Year's Revolution 2006
  22. Steve McMichael vs Reggie White-Slamboree 1997
  23. Lars Sullivan vs Lucha House Party-Super Showdown 2019
  24. Alexa Bliss vs Bayley-Extreme Rules 2017
  25. The Tag Team Fatal 4-Way Match-WrestleMania 13
  26. The Barbed Wire Christmas Tree Match-TNA iMPACT (12/20/2007)
  27. Tag Team Battle Royal-WrestleMania XIV
  28. EVIL vs Tomohiro Ishii-Wrestle Kingdom 16 (Day 1)
  29. The Chamber of Horrors-Halloween Havoc 1991
  30. The Natural Disasters vs Money Inc.-WrestleMania VIII
  31. Ivan Koloff vs Paul Jones-Clash of the Champions IV
  32. ODB, Taylor Wilde, and Roxxi vs The Kongtourage-Genesis 2009
  33. Kazushi Sakuraba & Yuji Nagata vs Daniel & Rolles Gracie-Wrestle Kingdom 8
  34. Ivory vs Tori-SummerSlam 1999
  35. Giant Baba vs Bulldog Bob Brown-WrestleRock
  36. The Reverse Battle Royal-Impact! (10/26/2006)
  37. Savio Vega vs Rocky Maivia-In Your House 14: Revenge of the Taker
  38. Jerry Blackwell vs Boris Zhukov-SuperClash II
  39. Nikita Koloff vs Bobby Eaton-Bunkhouse Stampede
  40. Alex Wright vs Steve McMichael-Halloween Havoc 1997
  41. The Great Khali vs Kane-WrestleMania 23
  42. Savio Vega vs Crush vs Faarooq-Ground Zero: In Your House
  43. The Shockmaster vs Awesome/King Kong-Starrcade 1993
  44. Total Divas vs Other Divas-Survivor Series 2013
  45. The Intercontinental Championship Elimination Chamber-Elimination Chamber 2015
  46. The Oddities vs Kaientai-SummerSlam 1998
  47. Team RAW vs Team SmackDown Men's Elimination Match-Survivor Series 2017
  48. Hulk Hogan vs Sid Justice-WrestleMania VIII
  49. Paul Ellering vs Teddy Long-Capital Combat
  50. Dusty Rhodes vs Big Boss Man-Saturday Night's Main Event (10/31/1989)
  51. Konnan vs Scott Hall-Fall Brawl 1998
  52. Damian Priest vs The Miz-WrestleMania Backlash
  53. Tyson Tomko vs Stevie Richards-Unforgiven 2004
  54. Kane vs The Great Khali-SummerSlam 2009
  55. The 2022 Women's Royal Rumble
  56. Rick Steiner vs Scott Steiner-Fall Brawl 1998
  57. The Extreme Elimination Chamber-December to Dismember 2006
  58. Hollywood Hogan vs The Giant-Hog Wild
  59. Hollywood Hogan vs The Giant-Souled Out 1997
  60. Dustin Rhodes & King Kong vs Awesome Kong & The Equalizer-Battlebowl
  61. Finlay & Little Bastard vs The Boogeyman & Little Boogeyman-No Way Out 2007
  62. Mr. Anderson vs Rob Van Dam-Victory Road 2011
  63. Jake Roberts vs Andre the Giant-WrestleMania V
  64. El Gigante vs Nailz-G1 Climax 1994 (Day 1)
  65. Yokozuna vs King Mabel-In Your House 4
  66. Dusty Rhodes vs The Honky Tonk Man-SummerSlam 1989
  67. Sting & Hawk vs Meng & Kurasawa-Clash of the Champions XXXI
  68. The Hurt Business vs RETRIBUTION-WWE Monday Night RAW (10/26/2020)
  69. Hulk Hogan vs Randy Savage-Uncensored 1998
  70. Santino Marella vs Heath Slater-WWE Friday Night SmackDown (9/27/2013)
  71. Al Snow vs Big Boss Man-Unforgiven 1999
  72. Vince Russo vs Ric Flair-WCW Monday Nitro (6/5/2000)
  73. Allie vs Leva Bates-Fyter Fest 2019
  74. Mickie James vs Ashley-Royal Rumble 2006
  75. Antonio Inoki vs The Great Antonio-NJPW Sumo Hall Show (12/8/1977)
  76. Christy Hemme vs Big Fat Oily Guy-Against All Odds 2007
  77. Kenzo Suzuki vs Billy Gunn-The Great American Bash 2004
  78. The Big Show vs Erick Rowan-TLC: Tables, Ladders, Chairs 2014
  79. British Bulldog & Jim Neidhart vs The Dancing Fools-Fall Brawl 1998
  80. Stevie Ray vs Konnan-World War 3 1998
  81. Vampiro vs The KISS Demon-Bash at the Beach 2000
  82. Team WCW vs nWo Wolfpac vs nWo Hollywood-Fall Brawl 1998
  83. Vampiro vs Oklahoma-Starrcade 1999
  84. Big Swole vs Penelope Ford, Rebel, and Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D.-AEW Dynamite (8/27/2020)
  85. Hulk Hogan vs Andre the Giant-WrestleMania III
  86. Jinder Mahal vs Randy Orton-Battleground 2017
  87. Van Hammer vs Terrance Taylor-Clash of the Champions XVI
  88. Junkyard Dog vs Moondog Spot-Wrestling Classic
  89. The New Blood Gauntlet-WCW Monday Nitro (6/5/2000)
  90. Chris Jericho vs "Goldberg"-Fall Brawl 1998
  91. Hulk Hogan vs Kevin Nash-WCW Monday Nitro (1/4/1999)
  92. Sting vs Hulk Hogan-Halloween Havoc 1999
  93. Hulk Hogan vs Jeff Jarrett-Bash at the Beach 2000
  94. Michael Nakazawa vs Alex Jebailey-Fyter Fest 2019
  95. The 2022 Men's Royal Rumble
  96. Roman Reigns vs The Undertaker-WrestleMania 33
  97. Konnan vs Stevie Ray-Slamboree 1999
  98. The Undertaker vs Goldberg-Super ShowDown 2019
  99. Hiroshi Wajima vs Tom Magee-All Japan Pro Wrestling 1988
  100. Jim Duggan vs Big Boss Man-Royal Rumble 1990
  101. Meng vs Jim Duggan-Uncensored 1995
  102. Jim Steele vs The Equalizer-SuperBrawl IV
  103. The Golden Truth vs Breezango-Money in the Bank 2016
  104. The Undertaker vs Giant González-WrestleMania IX
  105. Sting vs Tony Palmore-Battle 7
  106. D-Generation X vs Brothers of Destruction-Crown Jewel
  107. Wendi Richter vs Leilani Kai-WrestleMania
  108. Goldberg vs Brock Lesnar-WrestleMania XX
  109. Hornswoggle vs Chavo Guerrero-WWE Monday Night Raw (7/20/2009)
  110. Edge vs Triple H vs Vladimir Kozlov-Survivor Series 2008
  111. Rosita & Sarita vs Angelina Love & Winter-Victory Road 2011
  112. Kevin Sullivan vs Dave Sullivan-SuperBrawl V
  113. Steve McMichael vs Brian Adams-Road Wild 1998
  114. Scott Hall vs Roddy Piper-SuperBrawl IX
  115. Boris Zhukov vs Paul Samson-Beach Brawl
  116. Roddy Piper vs Hollywood Hogan-Halloween Havoc 1997
  117. Kane vs The Great Khali-Breaking Point
  118. Hollywood Hogan & Dennis Rodman vs Diamond Dallas Page & Karl Malone-Bash at the Beach 1998
  119. PN News & Bobby Eaton vs Steve Austin & Terrance Taylor-Great American Bash 1991
  120. Scott Steiner vs Sid Vicious vs Jeff Jarrett vs Road Warrior Animal-Sin
  121. Hollywood Hogan vs Roddy Piper-SuperBrawl 1997
  122. The 2015 Royal Rumble Match
  123. Kazuchika Okada vs Gedo-New Japan Cup 2020 (Day 2)
  124. Batista vs The Great Khali-SummerSlam 2007
  125. Sting vs Hollywood Hogan-Starrcade 1997
  126.  Sable vs Tori-WrestleMania XV
  127. Super Invader vs Todd Champion-WrestleWar 1992
  128. Brock Lesnar vs Cain Velasquez-Crown Jewel 2019
  129. King Kong Bundy & Jim Neidhart vs Yokozuna & Jake Roberts-Heroes of Wrestling
  130. Sid Vicious vs The Nightstalker-Clash of the Champions XIII
  131. The 8-Divas Tag Match-Survivor Series 1999
  132. The Fabulous Freebirds vs The Renegade Warriors-Halloween Havoc 1990
  133. The Knockouts Gauntlet-One Night Only: Live! 2016
  134. AJ Styles vs Frank Trigg-No Surrender 2008
  135. Rick Rude vs Masahiro Chono-Halloween Havoc 1992
  136. Mike Awesome vs Vampiro-Halloween Havoc 2000
  137. Bray Wyatt vs John Cena-Extreme Rules 2014
  138. Brothers of Destruction vs KroniK-Unforgiven 2001
  139. The Miss WrestleMania Battle Royal-WrestleMania 25
  140. Mabel vs The Undertaker-King of the Ring 1995
  141. Wendi Richter vs The Fabulous Moolah-The Brawl to End it All
  142. David Flair vs Kimberly Page-Mayhem 1999
  143. The Truth Commission vs The Disciples of Apocolypse-Survivor Series 1997
  144. Daffney vs Miss Hancock-Bash at the Beach 2000
  145. The Bushwhacker vs The Fabulous Rougeaus-WrestleMania V
  146. Randy Orton vs "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt-WrestleMania 37 (Night 2)
  147. The Beverly Brothers vs The Bushwhackers-Royal Rumble 1992
  148. Savio Vega vs Rocky Maivia-WWF Monday Night Raw (4/14/1997)
  149. Teddy Long vs Eric Bischoff-Survivor Series 2005
  150. Savio Vega vs Rocky Maivia-WWF Shotgun Saturday Night (1/25/1997)
  151. Greg Valentine vs George Steele-Heroes of Wrestling
  152. Abdullah the Butcher vs One Man Gang-Heroes of Wrestling
  153. Major Gunns vs Miss Hancock-New Blood Rising
  154. Vince Russo vs Booker T-WCW Monday Nitro (9/25/2000)
  155. Bradshaw & Trish Stratus vs Christopher Nowinski & Jackie Gayda-WWE Monday Night RAW (7/8/2002)
  156. Triple H vs Scott Steiner-Royal Rumble 2003
  157. Goldberg vs "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt-Super ShowDown 2020
  158. Santina Marella vs Vickie & Chavo Guerrero-Extreme Rules 2009
  159. Kevin Nash vs Scott Steiner vs Goldberg-New Blood Rising
  160. Hollywood Hogan vs The Warrior-Halloween Havoc 1998
  161. Mr. T vs Roddy Piper-WrestleMania 2
  162. The Royal Family vs Clowns R' Us-Survivor Series 1994
  163. The House of Horrors Match-Payback 2017
  164. The Blacktop Bully vs Dustin Rhodes-Uncensored 1995
  165. Team Dos Caras vs Team El Canek-Leyendas Mexicanas 2017
  166. Pat Patterson vs Gerald Brisco-King of the Ring 2000
  167. The Wyatt Swamp Fight-The Horror Show at Extreme Rules
  168. The Four Doinks vs Team Bigelow-Survivor Series 1993
  169. Sting vs Jeff Hardy-Victory Road 2011 
  170. Bret Hart vs Mr. McMahon-WrestleMania XVI
  171. WarGames 2000: Russo's Revenge-WCW Monday Nitro (9/4/2000)
  172. Oz vs Tim Parker-SuperBrawl
  173. Brock Lesnar vs Braun Strowman-Crown Jewel 2018
  174. Brock Lesnar vs Ricochet-Super ShowDown 2020
  175. The Mighty Maccabee vs The Iron Sheik-Maccabiah Mania II: Shekel Slam
  176. Van Hammer vs Doug Somers-Halloween Havoc 1991
  177. Ultimate Warrior vs Andre the Giant-Saturday Night's Main Event (11/25/1989)
  178. Jeff Jarrett vs Sting-Halloween Havoc 2000
  179. The Doomsday Cage Match-Uncensored 1996
  180. "Donald Trump" vs "Rosie O'Donnell"-WWE Monday Night RAW (1/8/2007)
  181. Kane vs The Undertaker-Judgement Day 1998
  182. Toru Yano vs Jado-New Japan Cup 2020 (Day 1)
  183. Rebel vs Shelly Martinez-One Night Only: Knockouts Knockdown
  184. Kaitlyn vs Maxine-NXT (10/19/2010)
  185. Sabu vs The Sandman-November to Remember 1997
  186. Seth Rollins vs "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt-Hell in a Cell 2019
  187. Michael Cole vs Jerry Lawler-WrestleMania XXVII
  188. The Bushwhackers vs Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff-Heroes of Wrestling
  189. James Storm vs Chris Harris-Lockdown 2007
  190. John Laurinaitis vs John Cena-Over the Limit 2012
  191. Hulk Hogan vs The Giant-Halloween Havoc 1995
  192. Ultimate Warrior vs Goldust-In Your House 7
  193. Los Villanos vs Los Psycho Circus-Triplemania XXIII
  194. Jenna Morasca vs Sharmell-Victory Road 2009
  195. Akira Maeda vs Andre the Giant-NJPW Big Fighter Series 1986 (Day 15)

Match #3: Sable vs Torrie Wilson

The next match on the card, and the third match I'll be taking a look at, is Sable vs Torrie Wilson. Unlike the past two matches I've looked at, this one had an actual build to it. Sable & Torrie had been chosen as co-Playboy cover models in 2004 and had teamed up at WrestleMania XX to face Stacy Keibler & Miss Jackie. However, the pair became rivals after Sable expressed her jealousy over Torrie being put on the cover of SmackDown! Magazine and on the poster for The Great American Bash. This led to Sable saying Torrie looked fat in her Uncle Sam outfit while Torrie said Sable was a slut because it's 2004 and that's the only kind of storyline WWE knows how to book women in. Like the match before it, this bout did not impress anyone, earning a negative one-star rating from Dave Meltzer and a 1.00 rating on Cagematch.net. Let's get into this.
Sable taunts Torrie to start the match but quickly dips out of the ring when Torrie charges at her. Sable gets back in the ring, but quickly gets taken down by Torrie, who beats her down. Sable throws Torrie off of her and hits her with forearms before kicking her in the corner. Sable follows up with a snapmare and a kick to the back before hitting a rolling neck snap that doesn't look terrible. That's pretty high praise when talking about Sable. What does look terrible is the miscommunication the two have when trying to execute an Irish whip, which the two stand in place for a noticeable amount of time. They eventually perform the whip, which sees Torrie perform a sunset flip that looks fine, but Sable rolling back for the pin is pretty clunky. Sable kicks out of the pin and then is supposed to drop toe-hold Torrie into the bottom rope, but Torrie just kind of dives towards the ropes while Sable never leaves the mat, kind of getting it at the last second.
This got rough fast.
Sable chokes Torrie against the ropes before hitting her with a forearm for a near fall. Sable then puts on a cross-armed sleeper hold that very clearly is not applying any pressure on Torrie's neck.
You could drive a bus between Torrie's neck and arms. This hold goes on for almost a MINUTE AND A HALF with little happening to switch it up whatsoever until Torrie fights out and hits a suplex for a near fall. Torrie follows up with a basement dropkick and two chops before hitting a clothesline in the corner. Another chop from Torrie before she whips Sable into the opposite corner, which ends with the two just kind of just bumping into each other and crumpling to the mat.
Referee Charles Robinson starts to count both women out until Torrie gets to her feet. Sable, however, remains down. I don't really know why what happens next happens the way it does, but thankfully WWE uploaded this entire match to YouTube 10 years ago, so I can show you what happens. Torrie continuously looks off towards the stage, as if she's waiting for someone to run down...and then Sable just pops and rolls her up with a hand full of tights. She rolls her so far that Torrie's shoulder is up pretty much the whole time, but Robinson just counts the pin and ends the match.
Honestly, I don't blame him, I wouldn't want this match to go on any longer either.

The Verdict

Man, do I not miss this era of women's wrestling in the WWE. This was awful. It started off not all that bad, but eventually, it just devolved into two wrestlers who aren't very good in the ring showing just how bad they can be. Multiple botched and clunky spots, there is literally not a positive thing I can say about this.

The Rankings (Best to Worst)

  1. Tommy Dreamer vs Bully Ray-Victory Road 2011
  2. Triple H vs Kevin Nash-TLC: Tables, Ladders, and Chairs 2011
  3. Rick Rude vs Jake Roberts-WrestleMania IV
  4. Too Much vs Al Snow & Head-King of the Ring 1998
  5. Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns-Greatest Royal Rumble
  6. Ernest Miller vs Norman Smiley-Fall Brawl 1998
  7. Shane McMahon vs Eric Bischoff-SummerSlam 2003
  8. Luther Reigns vs Charlie Haas-The Great American Bash 2004
  9. The Tag Team Gauntlet-Extreme Rules 2010
  10. The Gimmick Battle Royal-WrestleMania X-Seven
  11. Hernandez vs Matt Morgan-Victory Road 2011
  12. Randy Orton vs Bray Wyatt-WrestleMania 33
  13. Vampiro vs Sting-Great American Bash 2000
  14. T&A vs Head Cheese-WrestleMania 2000
  15. David Arquette & Diamond Dallas Page vs Jeff Jarrett & Eric Bischoff
  16. The Women's Tag Team Turmoil-WrestleMania 37 (Night 1)
  17. Triple H vs Sgt. Slaughter-D-Generation X: In Your House
  18. Konnan vs One Man Gang-SuperBrawl VI
  19. Ultimate Warrior vs Hercules-WrestleMania IV
  20. Rick Rude vs Hawk-Clash of the Champions XXV
  21. Shelton Benjamin vs Viscera-New Year's Revolution 2006
  22. Steve McMichael vs Reggie White-Slamboree 1997
  23. Lars Sullivan vs Lucha House Party-Super Showdown 2019
  24. Alexa Bliss vs Bayley-Extreme Rules 2017
  25. The Tag Team Fatal 4-Way Match-WrestleMania 13
  26. The Barbed Wire Christmas Tree Match-TNA iMPACT (12/20/2007)
  27. Tag Team Battle Royal-WrestleMania XIV
  28. EVIL vs Tomohiro Ishii-Wrestle Kingdom 16 (Day 1)
  29. The Chamber of Horrors-Halloween Havoc 1991
  30. The Natural Disasters vs Money Inc.-WrestleMania VIII
  31. Ivan Koloff vs Paul Jones-Clash of the Champions IV
  32. ODB, Taylor Wilde, and Roxxi vs The Kongtourage-Genesis 2009
  33. Kazushi Sakuraba & Yuji Nagata vs Daniel & Rolles Gracie-Wrestle Kingdom 8
  34. Ivory vs Tori-SummerSlam 1999
  35. Giant Baba vs Bulldog Bob Brown-WrestleRock
  36. The Reverse Battle Royal-Impact! (10/26/2006)
  37. Savio Vega vs Rocky Maivia-In Your House 14: Revenge of the Taker
  38. Jerry Blackwell vs Boris Zhukov-SuperClash II
  39. Nikita Koloff vs Bobby Eaton-Bunkhouse Stampede
  40. Alex Wright vs Steve McMichael-Halloween Havoc 1997
  41. The Great Khali vs Kane-WrestleMania 23
  42. Savio Vega vs Crush vs Faarooq-Ground Zero: In Your House
  43. The Shockmaster vs Awesome/King Kong-Starrcade 1993
  44. Total Divas vs Other Divas-Survivor Series 2013
  45. The Intercontinental Championship Elimination Chamber-Elimination Chamber 2015
  46. The Oddities vs Kaientai-SummerSlam 1998
  47. Team RAW vs Team SmackDown Men's Elimination Match-Survivor Series 2017
  48. Hulk Hogan vs Sid Justice-WrestleMania VIII
  49. Paul Ellering vs Teddy Long-Capital Combat
  50. Dusty Rhodes vs Big Boss Man-Saturday Night's Main Event (10/31/1989)
  51. Konnan vs Scott Hall-Fall Brawl 1998
  52. Damian Priest vs The Miz-WrestleMania Backlash
  53. Tyson Tomko vs Stevie Richards-Unforgiven 2004
  54. Kane vs The Great Khali-SummerSlam 2009
  55. The 2022 Women's Royal Rumble
  56. Rick Steiner vs Scott Steiner-Fall Brawl 1998
  57. The Extreme Elimination Chamber-December to Dismember 2006
  58. Hollywood Hogan vs The Giant-Hog Wild
  59. Hollywood Hogan vs The Giant-Souled Out 1997
  60. Dustin Rhodes & King Kong vs Awesome Kong & The Equalizer-Battlebowl
  61. Finlay & Little Bastard vs The Boogeyman & Little Boogeyman-No Way Out 2007
  62. Mr. Anderson vs Rob Van Dam-Victory Road 2011
  63. Jake Roberts vs Andre the Giant-WrestleMania V
  64. El Gigante vs Nailz-G1 Climax 1994 (Day 1)
  65. Yokozuna vs King Mabel-In Your House 4
  66. Dusty Rhodes vs The Honky Tonk Man-SummerSlam 1989
  67. Sting & Hawk vs Meng & Kurasawa-Clash of the Champions XXXI
  68. The Hurt Business vs RETRIBUTION-WWE Monday Night RAW (10/26/2020)
  69. Hulk Hogan vs Randy Savage-Uncensored 1998
  70. Santino Marella vs Heath Slater-WWE Friday Night SmackDown (9/27/2013)
  71. Al Snow vs Big Boss Man-Unforgiven 1999
  72. Vince Russo vs Ric Flair-WCW Monday Nitro (6/5/2000)
  73. Allie vs Leva Bates-Fyter Fest 2019
  74. Mickie James vs Ashley-Royal Rumble 2006
  75. Antonio Inoki vs The Great Antonio-NJPW Sumo Hall Show (12/8/1977)
  76. Christy Hemme vs Big Fat Oily Guy-Against All Odds 2007
  77. Kenzo Suzuki vs Billy Gunn-The Great American Bash 2004
  78. The Big Show vs Erick Rowan-TLC: Tables, Ladders, Chairs 2014
  79. British Bulldog & Jim Neidhart vs The Dancing Fools-Fall Brawl 1998
  80. Stevie Ray vs Konnan-World War 3 1998
  81. Vampiro vs The KISS Demon-Bash at the Beach 2000
  82. Team WCW vs nWo Wolfpac vs nWo Hollywood-Fall Brawl 1998
  83. Vampiro vs Oklahoma-Starrcade 1999
  84. Big Swole vs Penelope Ford, Rebel, and Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D.-AEW Dynamite (8/27/2020)
  85. Hulk Hogan vs Andre the Giant-WrestleMania III
  86. Jinder Mahal vs Randy Orton-Battleground 2017
  87. Van Hammer vs Terrance Taylor-Clash of the Champions XVI
  88. Junkyard Dog vs Moondog Spot-Wrestling Classic
  89. The New Blood Gauntlet-WCW Monday Nitro (6/5/2000)
  90. Chris Jericho vs "Goldberg"-Fall Brawl 1998
  91. Hulk Hogan vs Kevin Nash-WCW Monday Nitro (1/4/1999)
  92. Sting vs Hulk Hogan-Halloween Havoc 1999
  93. Hulk Hogan vs Jeff Jarrett-Bash at the Beach 2000
  94. Michael Nakazawa vs Alex Jebailey-Fyter Fest 2019
  95. The 2022 Men's Royal Rumble
  96. Roman Reigns vs The Undertaker-WrestleMania 33
  97. Konnan vs Stevie Ray-Slamboree 1999
  98. The Undertaker vs Goldberg-Super ShowDown 2019
  99. Hiroshi Wajima vs Tom Magee-All Japan Pro Wrestling 1988
  100. Jim Duggan vs Big Boss Man-Royal Rumble 1990
  101. Meng vs Jim Duggan-Uncensored 1995
  102. Jim Steele vs The Equalizer-SuperBrawl IV
  103. The Golden Truth vs Breezango-Money in the Bank 2016
  104. The Undertaker vs Giant González-WrestleMania IX
  105. Sting vs Tony Palmore-Battle 7
  106. D-Generation X vs Brothers of Destruction-Crown Jewel
  107. Wendi Richter vs Leilani Kai-WrestleMania
  108. Goldberg vs Brock Lesnar-WrestleMania XX
  109. Hornswoggle vs Chavo Guerrero-WWE Monday Night Raw (7/20/2009)
  110. Edge vs Triple H vs Vladimir Kozlov-Survivor Series 2008
  111. Rosita & Sarita vs Angelina Love & Winter-Victory Road 2011
  112. Kevin Sullivan vs Dave Sullivan-SuperBrawl V
  113. Steve McMichael vs Brian Adams-Road Wild 1998
  114. Scott Hall vs Roddy Piper-SuperBrawl IX
  115. Boris Zhukov vs Paul Samson-Beach Brawl
  116. Roddy Piper vs Hollywood Hogan-Halloween Havoc 1997
  117. Kane vs The Great Khali-Breaking Point
  118. Hollywood Hogan & Dennis Rodman vs Diamond Dallas Page & Karl Malone-Bash at the Beach 1998
  119. PN News & Bobby Eaton vs Steve Austin & Terrance Taylor-Great American Bash 1991
  120. Scott Steiner vs Sid Vicious vs Jeff Jarrett vs Road Warrior Animal-Sin
  121. Hollywood Hogan vs Roddy Piper-SuperBrawl 1997
  122. The 2015 Royal Rumble Match
  123. Kazuchika Okada vs Gedo-New Japan Cup 2020 (Day 2)
  124. Batista vs The Great Khali-SummerSlam 2007
  125. Sting vs Hollywood Hogan-Starrcade 1997
  126.  Sable vs Tori-WrestleMania XV
  127. Super Invader vs Todd Champion-WrestleWar 1992
  128. Brock Lesnar vs Cain Velasquez-Crown Jewel 2019
  129. King Kong Bundy & Jim Neidhart vs Yokozuna & Jake Roberts-Heroes of Wrestling
  130. Sid Vicious vs The Nightstalker-Clash of the Champions XIII
  131. The 8-Divas Tag Match-Survivor Series 1999
  132. The Fabulous Freebirds vs The Renegade Warriors-Halloween Havoc 1990
  133. The Knockouts Gauntlet-One Night Only: Live! 2016
  134. AJ Styles vs Frank Trigg-No Surrender 2008
  135. Rick Rude vs Masahiro Chono-Halloween Havoc 1992
  136. Mike Awesome vs Vampiro-Halloween Havoc 2000
  137. Bray Wyatt vs John Cena-Extreme Rules 2014
  138. Brothers of Destruction vs KroniK-Unforgiven 2001
  139. The Miss WrestleMania Battle Royal-WrestleMania 25
  140. Mabel vs The Undertaker-King of the Ring 1995
  141. Wendi Richter vs The Fabulous Moolah-The Brawl to End it All
  142. David Flair vs Kimberly Page-Mayhem 1999
  143. The Truth Commission vs The Disciples of Apocolypse-Survivor Series 1997
  144. Daffney vs Miss Hancock-Bash at the Beach 2000
  145. The Bushwhacker vs The Fabulous Rougeaus-WrestleMania V
  146. Randy Orton vs "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt-WrestleMania 37 (Night 2)
  147. The Beverly Brothers vs The Bushwhackers-Royal Rumble 1992
  148. Savio Vega vs Rocky Maivia-WWF Monday Night Raw (4/14/1997)
  149. Teddy Long vs Eric Bischoff-Survivor Series 2005
  150. Savio Vega vs Rocky Maivia-WWF Shotgun Saturday Night (1/25/1997)
  151. Greg Valentine vs George Steele-Heroes of Wrestling
  152. Abdullah the Butcher vs One Man Gang-Heroes of Wrestling
  153. Major Gunns vs Miss Hancock-New Blood Rising
  154. Vince Russo vs Booker T-WCW Monday Nitro (9/25/2000)
  155. Bradshaw & Trish Stratus vs Christopher Nowinski & Jackie Gayda-WWE Monday Night RAW (7/8/2002)
  156. Triple H vs Scott Steiner-Royal Rumble 2003
  157. Goldberg vs "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt-Super ShowDown 2020
  158. Santina Marella vs Vickie & Chavo Guerrero-Extreme Rules 2009
  159. Kevin Nash vs Scott Steiner vs Goldberg-New Blood Rising
  160. Hollywood Hogan vs The Warrior-Halloween Havoc 1998
  161. Mr. T vs Roddy Piper-WrestleMania 2
  162. The Royal Family vs Clowns R' Us-Survivor Series 1994
  163. The House of Horrors Match-Payback 2017
  164. The Blacktop Bully vs Dustin Rhodes-Uncensored 1995
  165. Team Dos Caras vs Team El Canek-Leyendas Mexicanas 2017
  166. Pat Patterson vs Gerald Brisco-King of the Ring 2000
  167. The Wyatt Swamp Fight-The Horror Show at Extreme Rules
  168. The Four Doinks vs Team Bigelow-Survivor Series 1993
  169. Sting vs Jeff Hardy-Victory Road 2011 
  170. Bret Hart vs Mr. McMahon-WrestleMania XVI
  171. WarGames 2000: Russo's Revenge-WCW Monday Nitro (9/4/2000)
  172. Oz vs Tim Parker-SuperBrawl
  173. Brock Lesnar vs Braun Strowman-Crown Jewel 2018
  174. Brock Lesnar vs Ricochet-Super ShowDown 2020
  175. The Mighty Maccabee vs The Iron Sheik-Maccabiah Mania II: Shekel Slam
  176. Van Hammer vs Doug Somers-Halloween Havoc 1991
  177. Ultimate Warrior vs Andre the Giant-Saturday Night's Main Event (11/25/1989)
  178. Jeff Jarrett vs Sting-Halloween Havoc 2000
  179. The Doomsday Cage Match-Uncensored 1996
  180. "Donald Trump" vs "Rosie O'Donnell"-WWE Monday Night RAW (1/8/2007)
  181. Kane vs The Undertaker-Judgement Day 1998
  182. Toru Yano vs Jado-New Japan Cup 2020 (Day 1)
  183. Rebel vs Shelly Martinez-One Night Only: Knockouts Knockdown
  184. Sable vs Torrie Wilson-The Great American Bash 2004
  185. Kaitlyn vs Maxine-NXT (10/19/2010)
  186. Sabu vs The Sandman-November to Remember 1997
  187. Seth Rollins vs "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt-Hell in a Cell 2019
  188. Michael Cole vs Jerry Lawler-WrestleMania XXVII
  189. The Bushwhackers vs Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff-Heroes of Wrestling
  190. James Storm vs Chris Harris-Lockdown 2007
  191. John Laurinaitis vs John Cena-Over the Limit 2012
  192. Hulk Hogan vs The Giant-Halloween Havoc 1995
  193. Ultimate Warrior vs Goldust-In Your House 7
  194. Los Villanos vs Los Psycho Circus-Triplemania XXIII
  195. Jenna Morasca vs Sharmell-Victory Road 2009
  196. Akira Maeda vs Andre the Giant-NJPW Big Fighter Series 1986 (Day 15)

Match #4: Mordecai vs Hardcore Holly

We round out the low point of the show with the fourth match I'll be taking a look at; Mordecai vs Hardcore Holly. And once again, we've got a match featuring a short-lived character that was gone before you knew it. This show is full of them, for some reason. Kevin Fertig had been in developmental since 2002 when he was called up in April of 2004 as Mordecai, a religious zealot that, yes, was pretty much a palette swap of the Undertaker.
The Super Smash Bros. method, if you would. After a month of vignettes, Mordecai would debut at Judgement Day 2004, with early plans for him to feud with Undertaker at WrestleMania 21, only for him to disappear from TV in July with zero kayfabe explanation. In reality, Fertig was sent back to developmental after getting into a bar fight. He'd be released in 2005, but later returned to the company in 2006 and re-debuted in the ECE revival as Kevin Thorn. As for Mordecai, the character would only have three televised matches, with this match-up with Hardcore Holly being the second of them. It earned just half a star from Dave Meltzer and holds a 2.44 on Cagematch.net. It came about after the two had a random brawl on the go-home SmackDown...that's it.
Instant brawl to start the match, with Holly beating down Mordecai in the corner before tying him up in the ropes. Holly beats on Mordecai some more before Irish whipping him across the ring, but Mordecai slips out of the ring. Why is your new monster heel retreating from Bob Holly? Zero logic behind that. Holly follows Mordecai out of the ring, only to get thrown into Mordecai's crucifix staff that Mordecai set up at ringside.
Mordecai follows up with a clothesline before throwing Holly back into the ring. Mordecai beats down Holly with double axe handle drops before throwing forearms into Holly's back. Holly fights back with kicks, but Mordecai shuts down the comeback and beats down Holly in the corner. Holly tries to fight back again, but Mordecai keeps control with a big boot for a near fall. Mordecai locks in a chinlock, which he holds for long enough for the crowd to start booing.
Holly fights to his feet, but Mordecai shuts down the comeback again and puts him in a headlock. Holly fights back to his feet and mounts some offense when he flapjacks Mordecai onto the ropes. Holly fires up, hitting two clotheslines before going to the top rope for a diving clothesline for a near fall. The crowd is very quiet for Holly's comeback, by the way. Holly follows up with an inverted DDT for a near fall, but Mordecai responds with a sit-out Uranage for a near fall of his own. Holly comes back with a dropkick for another near fall and goes for the Alabama Slam, but Mordecai fights out and hits the crucifix powerbomb (i.e. the Razor's Edge) for the three and the win.

The Verdict

Honestly, it's one of the better matches I've seen in this series. Yeah, it's obviously not very good, but it's a pretty standard brawl, and outside of a chinlock that's a bit too long, it's a passable match. Not the best either, but it's going towards the top.

The Rankings (Best to Worst)

  1. Tommy Dreamer vs Bully Ray-Victory Road 2011
  2. Triple H vs Kevin Nash-TLC: Tables, Ladders, and Chairs 2011
  3. Rick Rude vs Jake Roberts-WrestleMania IV
  4. Too Much vs Al Snow & Head-King of the Ring 1998
  5. Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns-Greatest Royal Rumble
  6. Ernest Miller vs Norman Smiley-Fall Brawl 1998
  7. Shane McMahon vs Eric Bischoff-SummerSlam 2003
  8. Mordecai vs Hardcore Holly-The Great American Bash 2004
  9. Luther Reigns vs Charlie Haas-The Great American Bash 2004
  10. The Tag Team Gauntlet-Extreme Rules 2010
  11. The Gimmick Battle Royal-WrestleMania X-Seven
  12. Hernandez vs Matt Morgan-Victory Road 2011
  13. Randy Orton vs Bray Wyatt-WrestleMania 33
  14. Vampiro vs Sting-Great American Bash 2000
  15. T&A vs Head Cheese-WrestleMania 2000
  16. David Arquette & Diamond Dallas Page vs Jeff Jarrett & Eric Bischoff
  17. The Women's Tag Team Turmoil-WrestleMania 37 (Night 1)
  18. Triple H vs Sgt. Slaughter-D-Generation X: In Your House
  19. Konnan vs One Man Gang-SuperBrawl VI
  20. Ultimate Warrior vs Hercules-WrestleMania IV
  21. Rick Rude vs Hawk-Clash of the Champions XXV
  22. Shelton Benjamin vs Viscera-New Year's Revolution 2006
  23. Steve McMichael vs Reggie White-Slamboree 1997
  24. Lars Sullivan vs Lucha House Party-Super Showdown 2019
  25. Alexa Bliss vs Bayley-Extreme Rules 2017
  26. The Tag Team Fatal 4-Way Match-WrestleMania 13
  27. The Barbed Wire Christmas Tree Match-TNA iMPACT (12/20/2007)
  28. Tag Team Battle Royal-WrestleMania XIV
  29. EVIL vs Tomohiro Ishii-Wrestle Kingdom 16 (Day 1)
  30. The Chamber of Horrors-Halloween Havoc 1991
  31. The Natural Disasters vs Money Inc.-WrestleMania VIII
  32. Ivan Koloff vs Paul Jones-Clash of the Champions IV
  33. ODB, Taylor Wilde, and Roxxi vs The Kongtourage-Genesis 2009
  34. Kazushi Sakuraba & Yuji Nagata vs Daniel & Rolles Gracie-Wrestle Kingdom 8
  35. Ivory vs Tori-SummerSlam 1999
  36. Giant Baba vs Bulldog Bob Brown-WrestleRock
  37. The Reverse Battle Royal-Impact! (10/26/2006)
  38. Savio Vega vs Rocky Maivia-In Your House 14: Revenge of the Taker
  39. Jerry Blackwell vs Boris Zhukov-SuperClash II
  40. Nikita Koloff vs Bobby Eaton-Bunkhouse Stampede
  41. Alex Wright vs Steve McMichael-Halloween Havoc 1997
  42. The Great Khali vs Kane-WrestleMania 23
  43. Savio Vega vs Crush vs Faarooq-Ground Zero: In Your House
  44. The Shockmaster vs Awesome/King Kong-Starrcade 1993
  45. Total Divas vs Other Divas-Survivor Series 2013
  46. The Intercontinental Championship Elimination Chamber-Elimination Chamber 2015
  47. The Oddities vs Kaientai-SummerSlam 1998
  48. Team RAW vs Team SmackDown Men's Elimination Match-Survivor Series 2017
  49. Hulk Hogan vs Sid Justice-WrestleMania VIII
  50. Paul Ellering vs Teddy Long-Capital Combat
  51. Dusty Rhodes vs Big Boss Man-Saturday Night's Main Event (10/31/1989)
  52. Konnan vs Scott Hall-Fall Brawl 1998
  53. Damian Priest vs The Miz-WrestleMania Backlash
  54. Tyson Tomko vs Stevie Richards-Unforgiven 2004
  55. Kane vs The Great Khali-SummerSlam 2009
  56. The 2022 Women's Royal Rumble
  57. Rick Steiner vs Scott Steiner-Fall Brawl 1998
  58. The Extreme Elimination Chamber-December to Dismember 2006
  59. Hollywood Hogan vs The Giant-Hog Wild
  60. Hollywood Hogan vs The Giant-Souled Out 1997
  61. Dustin Rhodes & King Kong vs Awesome Kong & The Equalizer-Battlebowl
  62. Finlay & Little Bastard vs The Boogeyman & Little Boogeyman-No Way Out 2007
  63. Mr. Anderson vs Rob Van Dam-Victory Road 2011
  64. Jake Roberts vs Andre the Giant-WrestleMania V
  65. El Gigante vs Nailz-G1 Climax 1994 (Day 1)
  66. Yokozuna vs King Mabel-In Your House 4
  67. Dusty Rhodes vs The Honky Tonk Man-SummerSlam 1989
  68. Sting & Hawk vs Meng & Kurasawa-Clash of the Champions XXXI
  69. The Hurt Business vs RETRIBUTION-WWE Monday Night RAW (10/26/2020)
  70. Hulk Hogan vs Randy Savage-Uncensored 1998
  71. Santino Marella vs Heath Slater-WWE Friday Night SmackDown (9/27/2013)
  72. Al Snow vs Big Boss Man-Unforgiven 1999
  73. Vince Russo vs Ric Flair-WCW Monday Nitro (6/5/2000)
  74. Allie vs Leva Bates-Fyter Fest 2019
  75. Mickie James vs Ashley-Royal Rumble 2006
  76. Antonio Inoki vs The Great Antonio-NJPW Sumo Hall Show (12/8/1977)
  77. Christy Hemme vs Big Fat Oily Guy-Against All Odds 2007
  78. Kenzo Suzuki vs Billy Gunn-The Great American Bash 2004
  79. The Big Show vs Erick Rowan-TLC: Tables, Ladders, Chairs 2014
  80. British Bulldog & Jim Neidhart vs The Dancing Fools-Fall Brawl 1998
  81. Stevie Ray vs Konnan-World War 3 1998
  82. Vampiro vs The KISS Demon-Bash at the Beach 2000
  83. Team WCW vs nWo Wolfpac vs nWo Hollywood-Fall Brawl 1998
  84. Vampiro vs Oklahoma-Starrcade 1999
  85. Big Swole vs Penelope Ford, Rebel, and Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D.-AEW Dynamite (8/27/2020)
  86. Hulk Hogan vs Andre the Giant-WrestleMania III
  87. Jinder Mahal vs Randy Orton-Battleground 2017
  88. Van Hammer vs Terrance Taylor-Clash of the Champions XVI
  89. Junkyard Dog vs Moondog Spot-Wrestling Classic
  90. The New Blood Gauntlet-WCW Monday Nitro (6/5/2000)
  91. Chris Jericho vs "Goldberg"-Fall Brawl 1998
  92. Hulk Hogan vs Kevin Nash-WCW Monday Nitro (1/4/1999)
  93. Sting vs Hulk Hogan-Halloween Havoc 1999
  94. Hulk Hogan vs Jeff Jarrett-Bash at the Beach 2000
  95. Michael Nakazawa vs Alex Jebailey-Fyter Fest 2019
  96. The 2022 Men's Royal Rumble
  97. Roman Reigns vs The Undertaker-WrestleMania 33
  98. Konnan vs Stevie Ray-Slamboree 1999
  99. The Undertaker vs Goldberg-Super ShowDown 2019
  100. Hiroshi Wajima vs Tom Magee-All Japan Pro Wrestling 1988
  101. Jim Duggan vs Big Boss Man-Royal Rumble 1990
  102. Meng vs Jim Duggan-Uncensored 1995
  103. Jim Steele vs The Equalizer-SuperBrawl IV
  104. The Golden Truth vs Breezango-Money in the Bank 2016
  105. The Undertaker vs Giant González-WrestleMania IX
  106. Sting vs Tony Palmore-Battle 7
  107. D-Generation X vs Brothers of Destruction-Crown Jewel
  108. Wendi Richter vs Leilani Kai-WrestleMania
  109. Goldberg vs Brock Lesnar-WrestleMania XX
  110. Hornswoggle vs Chavo Guerrero-WWE Monday Night Raw (7/20/2009)
  111. Edge vs Triple H vs Vladimir Kozlov-Survivor Series 2008
  112. Rosita & Sarita vs Angelina Love & Winter-Victory Road 2011
  113. Kevin Sullivan vs Dave Sullivan-SuperBrawl V
  114. Steve McMichael vs Brian Adams-Road Wild 1998
  115. Scott Hall vs Roddy Piper-SuperBrawl IX
  116. Boris Zhukov vs Paul Samson-Beach Brawl
  117. Roddy Piper vs Hollywood Hogan-Halloween Havoc 1997
  118. Kane vs The Great Khali-Breaking Point
  119. Hollywood Hogan & Dennis Rodman vs Diamond Dallas Page & Karl Malone-Bash at the Beach 1998
  120. PN News & Bobby Eaton vs Steve Austin & Terrance Taylor-Great American Bash 1991
  121. Scott Steiner vs Sid Vicious vs Jeff Jarrett vs Road Warrior Animal-Sin
  122. Hollywood Hogan vs Roddy Piper-SuperBrawl 1997
  123. The 2015 Royal Rumble Match
  124. Kazuchika Okada vs Gedo-New Japan Cup 2020 (Day 2)
  125. Batista vs The Great Khali-SummerSlam 2007
  126. Sting vs Hollywood Hogan-Starrcade 1997
  127.  Sable vs Tori-WrestleMania XV
  128. Super Invader vs Todd Champion-WrestleWar 1992
  129. Brock Lesnar vs Cain Velasquez-Crown Jewel 2019
  130. King Kong Bundy & Jim Neidhart vs Yokozuna & Jake Roberts-Heroes of Wrestling
  131. Sid Vicious vs The Nightstalker-Clash of the Champions XIII
  132. The 8-Divas Tag Match-Survivor Series 1999
  133. The Fabulous Freebirds vs The Renegade Warriors-Halloween Havoc 1990
  134. The Knockouts Gauntlet-One Night Only: Live! 2016
  135. AJ Styles vs Frank Trigg-No Surrender 2008
  136. Rick Rude vs Masahiro Chono-Halloween Havoc 1992
  137. Mike Awesome vs Vampiro-Halloween Havoc 2000
  138. Bray Wyatt vs John Cena-Extreme Rules 2014
  139. Brothers of Destruction vs KroniK-Unforgiven 2001
  140. The Miss WrestleMania Battle Royal-WrestleMania 25
  141. Mabel vs The Undertaker-King of the Ring 1995
  142. Wendi Richter vs The Fabulous Moolah-The Brawl to End it All
  143. David Flair vs Kimberly Page-Mayhem 1999
  144. The Truth Commission vs The Disciples of Apocolypse-Survivor Series 1997
  145. Daffney vs Miss Hancock-Bash at the Beach 2000
  146. The Bushwhacker vs The Fabulous Rougeaus-WrestleMania V
  147. Randy Orton vs "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt-WrestleMania 37 (Night 2)
  148. The Beverly Brothers vs The Bushwhackers-Royal Rumble 1992
  149. Savio Vega vs Rocky Maivia-WWF Monday Night Raw (4/14/1997)
  150. Teddy Long vs Eric Bischoff-Survivor Series 2005
  151. Savio Vega vs Rocky Maivia-WWF Shotgun Saturday Night (1/25/1997)
  152. Greg Valentine vs George Steele-Heroes of Wrestling
  153. Abdullah the Butcher vs One Man Gang-Heroes of Wrestling
  154. Major Gunns vs Miss Hancock-New Blood Rising
  155. Vince Russo vs Booker T-WCW Monday Nitro (9/25/2000)
  156. Bradshaw & Trish Stratus vs Christopher Nowinski & Jackie Gayda-WWE Monday Night RAW (7/8/2002)
  157. Triple H vs Scott Steiner-Royal Rumble 2003
  158. Goldberg vs "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt-Super ShowDown 2020
  159. Santina Marella vs Vickie & Chavo Guerrero-Extreme Rules 2009
  160. Kevin Nash vs Scott Steiner vs Goldberg-New Blood Rising
  161. Hollywood Hogan vs The Warrior-Halloween Havoc 1998
  162. Mr. T vs Roddy Piper-WrestleMania 2
  163. The Royal Family vs Clowns R' Us-Survivor Series 1994
  164. The House of Horrors Match-Payback 2017
  165. The Blacktop Bully vs Dustin Rhodes-Uncensored 1995
  166. Team Dos Caras vs Team El Canek-Leyendas Mexicanas 2017
  167. Pat Patterson vs Gerald Brisco-King of the Ring 2000
  168. The Wyatt Swamp Fight-The Horror Show at Extreme Rules
  169. The Four Doinks vs Team Bigelow-Survivor Series 1993
  170. Sting vs Jeff Hardy-Victory Road 2011 
  171. Bret Hart vs Mr. McMahon-WrestleMania XVI
  172. WarGames 2000: Russo's Revenge-WCW Monday Nitro (9/4/2000)
  173. Oz vs Tim Parker-SuperBrawl
  174. Brock Lesnar vs Braun Strowman-Crown Jewel 2018
  175. Brock Lesnar vs Ricochet-Super ShowDown 2020
  176. The Mighty Maccabee vs The Iron Sheik-Maccabiah Mania II: Shekel Slam
  177. Van Hammer vs Doug Somers-Halloween Havoc 1991
  178. Ultimate Warrior vs Andre the Giant-Saturday Night's Main Event (11/25/1989)
  179. Jeff Jarrett vs Sting-Halloween Havoc 2000
  180. The Doomsday Cage Match-Uncensored 1996
  181. "Donald Trump" vs "Rosie O'Donnell"-WWE Monday Night RAW (1/8/2007)
  182. Kane vs The Undertaker-Judgement Day 1998
  183. Toru Yano vs Jado-New Japan Cup 2020 (Day 1)
  184. Rebel vs Shelly Martinez-One Night Only: Knockouts Knockdown
  185. Sable vs Torrie Wilson-The Great American Bash 2004
  186. Kaitlyn vs Maxine-NXT (10/19/2010)
  187. Sabu vs The Sandman-November to Remember 1997
  188. Seth Rollins vs "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt-Hell in a Cell 2019
  189. Michael Cole vs Jerry Lawler-WrestleMania XXVII
  190. The Bushwhackers vs Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff-Heroes of Wrestling
  191. James Storm vs Chris Harris-Lockdown 2007
  192. John Laurinaitis vs John Cena-Over the Limit 2012
  193. Hulk Hogan vs The Giant-Halloween Havoc 1995
  194. Ultimate Warrior vs Goldust-In Your House 7
  195. Los Villanos vs Los Psycho Circus-Triplemania XXIII
  196. Jenna Morasca vs Sharmell-Victory Road 2009
  197. Akira Maeda vs Andre the Giant-NJPW Big Fighter Series 1986 (Day 15)

Match #5: The Undertaker vs The Dudley Boyz

You knew this was coming. Even If I hadn't said how matches I was covering at the start of this post, you knew there was no way I wasn't going to cover this match. Following Mordecai vs Holly, we got the Texas Bull Rope match between Eddie Guerrero and John Bradshaw Layfield for the WWE Championship, and it was great (albeit, the worst of Guerrero & JBL's trilogy.) However, the main event was still yet to come. That would be The Undertaker facing The Dudley Boyz in a handicap match. On paper, the idea that a world championship match, let alone the company's top championship, would ever take a backseat to a random handicap match sounds odd. There would have to be a pretty big stipulation for this to be considered more important than JBL vs Guerrero However, this wasn't any old handicap match...
That's right, it's time to talk about the Concrete Crypt match. At the behest of Paul Heyman, the Dudley Boyz kidnapped Paul Bearer and gave Bearer's urn to Heyman. Using Bearer's safety as leverage, Heyman goaded Taker to join up with him & the Dudleyz. This now leads to the main event, the Concrete Crypt match. If Taker chooses to "do the right thing" and lay down for the Dudleyz, then Bearer will be set free, but if he doesn't and wins the match, then Bearer will be BURIED ALIVE IN CEMENT! This is an actual thing WWE booked. This company is crazy. But hey, maybe a strong match can help people get past the ridiculous gimmick. Unfortunately, The Undertaker vs The Dudley Boys was not that, earning just a single star from Dave Meltzer and a brutal 0.65 rating on Cagematch.net, putting it at #22 on the Flop 50, the 50 worst-rated matches on the site.
Immediately, we see Paul Bearer strapped to a chair in the glass crypt.
Yeah...there really doing it. The Dudleyz are out first with Paul Heyman by their side. Heyman stays by the cement mixer as the Dudleyz walk down to the ring. Also, the Dudley Boyz are the current WWE Tag Team Champions. This should really show you the state of the Ruthless Aggression era tag divisions. Taker makes his way down to the ring next, with Heyman holding the urn up as he walks down the aisle. Heyman grabs the mic to remind Taker what will happen if he doesn't lay down, briefly pulling the lever on the cement mixer and pouring cement into the crypt, filling it up to Bearer's ankles. Bubba Ray Dudley tells Taker lay down and take the pin. The bell rings and, after a long bit of pondering by Taker, he steps towards Bubba Ray. However, Bubba Ray reminds him what will happen if he doesn't "do the right thing", prompting Taker to lay down on the mat. Bubba stands over Taker triumphantly, only for Taker to reach up and grab Bubba by the throat. D-Von runs into the ring, only to get grabbed as well. Heyman lambasts Taker on the mic, distracting him and allowing the Dudleyz to break free.
The Dudleyz beat down Taker two-on-one until Taker tosses both of them out of the ring. Taker slams Bubba into the announce table multiple times before a clunky exchange sees him throw D-Von into the ring post. Taker punches Bubba onto the announce table before throwing D-Von back into the ring. Taker goes for Old School, but Heyman loudly yells "BAD DOG!" into the mic before pulling the lever, filling the crypt up to Bearer's waist. Heyman warns Taker not to try him again. Taker responds to this by giving D-Von a big boot. Bubba, however, pulls Taker to the ground and into the ring post crotch first, giving the Dudleyz control. The Dudleyz take turns giving Taker leg drops before D-Von beats down on Taker, stomping, punching, and choking him in the corner. Bubba tags in, which is odd given how little the rules seem to matter here, and beats down on Taker, but Taker recovers and hits a DDT. D-Von runs in (no tag), but quickly eats a back body drop and a sidewalk slam for his troubles. Taker exits the ring and starts to walk up the ramp, prompting Heyman to go into full-on weasel mode, saying he respects Taker for making the Dudleyz "earn it" but threatens to pull the lever if he gets any closer. That was great, I loved that bit. Taker doesn't get to make a choice, however, as Bubba Ray hits him from behind, knocking him forward. Heyman, now in slimeball mode, pulls the lever because Taker moved forward off the hit. More cement pours into the crypt, but Bubba puts the lever back up when the cement reaches Bearer's neck, saying they can finish it.
Meanwhile, D-Von beats down on Taker at ringside, throwing Taker's head into the ringside steps before tossing him back into the ring. D-Von puts on a chinlock, but Taker fights to his feet, only to be floored with a shoulder block. Bubba tags back (he never tagged out) for a double suplex and follows up with an elbow drop. Bubba drops three more elbows for a near fall before tagging D-Von back in. D-Von chokes Taker against the ropes before distracting the referee Brian Hebner, allowing Bubba to get multiple cheap shots in. D-Von tosses Taker out of the ring before again distracting Hebner so Bubba can hit Taker with the announce table's cover. Bubba throws Taker back into the ring so D-Von can cover him, but Taker kicks out. Bubba tags back in and punches away at Taker, but Taker fires back with punches of his own. D-Von runs in and immediately gets decked by Taker, but that allows Bubba to lock in a sleeper hold. Taker breaks the hold with a side suplex, leaving both men down. Bubba crawls over and tags out to D-Von, but Taker takes control with a leaping clothesline. Taker follows up with Snake Eyes into the corner and a big boot before punching away at D-Von and hitting a leg drop. Bubba runs in, but Taker easily fends him off. Bubba is able to reverse an Irish whip, but Taker dodges his attempt at a corner splash. Taker splashes both men in the opposite corners before hitting Old School on Bubba.
Taker tries to follow up with a Tombstone on D-Von, but D-Von slips out and low blows Taker while the referee focuses on Bubba. The Dudleyz hit their back suplex/neckbreaker combo as Heyman walks down to ringside, only for Taker to sit up. Taker fires up and hits a chokeslam on Bubba before hitting the Tombstone Piledriver on D-Von for the three and the win. Heyman immediately grabs the mic and says that since Taker didn't want to do the right thing, then he'll do the right thing. Heyman walks toward the cement mixer, but a bolt of lightning hits the lever, causing Heyman to retreat to the back. Bearer laughs as he says Taker is going to save him, only for Taker to walk over to the lever. He takes the mic and says he has no other choice. He pulls the lever, burying Paul Bearer alive in cement, killing off the Paul Bearer character...for four whole days because WWE retconned this on the very next SmackDown and said Bearer only suffered serious injuries because...you know...obviously.

The Verdict

I get the feeling the abysmal ratings from Meltzer and Cagematch have more to do with gimmick and less with the match itself. Is this a good match? Probably not. Is it worthy of a pay-per-view main event spot? Absolutely not. Does the Concrete Crypt gimmick take away from the match at times? Absolutely. But overall, I can't say this is anywhere close to the worst match I've ever seen. It really is just a regular, basic match. If there wasn't all the soap opera-level melodrama with Heyman and Taker that the gimmick brought out, this would probably be the highest-rated match in the series. While all the melodrama drags it down a bit, I'm still going to put it a lot higher than I was expecting before I started this post.

The Rankings (Best to Worst)

  1. Tommy Dreamer vs Bully Ray-Victory Road 2011
  2. Triple H vs Kevin Nash-TLC: Tables, Ladders, and Chairs 2011
  3. Rick Rude vs Jake Roberts-WrestleMania IV
  4. Too Much vs Al Snow & Head-King of the Ring 1998
  5. Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns-Greatest Royal Rumble
  6. Ernest Miller vs Norman Smiley-Fall Brawl 1998
  7. The Concrete Crypt Match-The Great American Bash 2004
  8. Shane McMahon vs Eric Bischoff-SummerSlam 2003
  9. Mordecai vs Hardcore Holly-The Great American Bash 2004
  10. Luther Reigns vs Charlie Haas-The Great American Bash 2004
  11. The Tag Team Gauntlet-Extreme Rules 2010
  12. The Gimmick Battle Royal-WrestleMania X-Seven
  13. Hernandez vs Matt Morgan-Victory Road 2011
  14. Randy Orton vs Bray Wyatt-WrestleMania 33
  15. Vampiro vs Sting-Great American Bash 2000
  16. T&A vs Head Cheese-WrestleMania 2000
  17. David Arquette & Diamond Dallas Page vs Jeff Jarrett & Eric Bischoff
  18. The Women's Tag Team Turmoil-WrestleMania 37 (Night 1)
  19. Triple H vs Sgt. Slaughter-D-Generation X: In Your House
  20. Konnan vs One Man Gang-SuperBrawl VI
  21. Ultimate Warrior vs Hercules-WrestleMania IV
  22. Rick Rude vs Hawk-Clash of the Champions XXV
  23. Shelton Benjamin vs Viscera-New Year's Revolution 2006
  24. Steve McMichael vs Reggie White-Slamboree 1997
  25. Lars Sullivan vs Lucha House Party-Super Showdown 2019
  26. Alexa Bliss vs Bayley-Extreme Rules 2017
  27. The Tag Team Fatal 4-Way Match-WrestleMania 13
  28. The Barbed Wire Christmas Tree Match-TNA iMPACT (12/20/2007)
  29. Tag Team Battle Royal-WrestleMania XIV
  30. EVIL vs Tomohiro Ishii-Wrestle Kingdom 16 (Day 1)
  31. The Chamber of Horrors-Halloween Havoc 1991
  32. The Natural Disasters vs Money Inc.-WrestleMania VIII
  33. Ivan Koloff vs Paul Jones-Clash of the Champions IV
  34. ODB, Taylor Wilde, and Roxxi vs The Kongtourage-Genesis 2009
  35. Kazushi Sakuraba & Yuji Nagata vs Daniel & Rolles Gracie-Wrestle Kingdom 8
  36. Ivory vs Tori-SummerSlam 1999
  37. Giant Baba vs Bulldog Bob Brown-WrestleRock
  38. The Reverse Battle Royal-Impact! (10/26/2006)
  39. Savio Vega vs Rocky Maivia-In Your House 14: Revenge of the Taker
  40. Jerry Blackwell vs Boris Zhukov-SuperClash II
  41. Nikita Koloff vs Bobby Eaton-Bunkhouse Stampede
  42. Alex Wright vs Steve McMichael-Halloween Havoc 1997
  43. The Great Khali vs Kane-WrestleMania 23
  44. Savio Vega vs Crush vs Faarooq-Ground Zero: In Your House
  45. The Shockmaster vs Awesome/King Kong-Starrcade 1993
  46. Total Divas vs Other Divas-Survivor Series 2013
  47. The Intercontinental Championship Elimination Chamber-Elimination Chamber 2015
  48. The Oddities vs Kaientai-SummerSlam 1998
  49. Team RAW vs Team SmackDown Men's Elimination Match-Survivor Series 2017
  50. Hulk Hogan vs Sid Justice-WrestleMania VIII
  51. Paul Ellering vs Teddy Long-Capital Combat
  52. Dusty Rhodes vs Big Boss Man-Saturday Night's Main Event (10/31/1989)
  53. Konnan vs Scott Hall-Fall Brawl 1998
  54. Damian Priest vs The Miz-WrestleMania Backlash
  55. Tyson Tomko vs Stevie Richards-Unforgiven 2004
  56. Kane vs The Great Khali-SummerSlam 2009
  57. The 2022 Women's Royal Rumble
  58. Rick Steiner vs Scott Steiner-Fall Brawl 1998
  59. The Extreme Elimination Chamber-December to Dismember 2006
  60. Hollywood Hogan vs The Giant-Hog Wild
  61. Hollywood Hogan vs The Giant-Souled Out 1997
  62. Dustin Rhodes & King Kong vs Awesome Kong & The Equalizer-Battlebowl
  63. Finlay & Little Bastard vs The Boogeyman & Little Boogeyman-No Way Out 2007
  64. Mr. Anderson vs Rob Van Dam-Victory Road 2011
  65. Jake Roberts vs Andre the Giant-WrestleMania V
  66. El Gigante vs Nailz-G1 Climax 1994 (Day 1)
  67. Yokozuna vs King Mabel-In Your House 4
  68. Dusty Rhodes vs The Honky Tonk Man-SummerSlam 1989
  69. Sting & Hawk vs Meng & Kurasawa-Clash of the Champions XXXI
  70. The Hurt Business vs RETRIBUTION-WWE Monday Night RAW (10/26/2020)
  71. Hulk Hogan vs Randy Savage-Uncensored 1998
  72. Santino Marella vs Heath Slater-WWE Friday Night SmackDown (9/27/2013)
  73. Al Snow vs Big Boss Man-Unforgiven 1999
  74. Vince Russo vs Ric Flair-WCW Monday Nitro (6/5/2000)
  75. Allie vs Leva Bates-Fyter Fest 2019
  76. Mickie James vs Ashley-Royal Rumble 2006
  77. Antonio Inoki vs The Great Antonio-NJPW Sumo Hall Show (12/8/1977)
  78. Christy Hemme vs Big Fat Oily Guy-Against All Odds 2007
  79. Kenzo Suzuki vs Billy Gunn-The Great American Bash 2004
  80. The Big Show vs Erick Rowan-TLC: Tables, Ladders, Chairs 2014
  81. British Bulldog & Jim Neidhart vs The Dancing Fools-Fall Brawl 1998
  82. Stevie Ray vs Konnan-World War 3 1998
  83. Vampiro vs The KISS Demon-Bash at the Beach 2000
  84. Team WCW vs nWo Wolfpac vs nWo Hollywood-Fall Brawl 1998
  85. Vampiro vs Oklahoma-Starrcade 1999
  86. Big Swole vs Penelope Ford, Rebel, and Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D.-AEW Dynamite (8/27/2020)
  87. Hulk Hogan vs Andre the Giant-WrestleMania III
  88. Jinder Mahal vs Randy Orton-Battleground 2017
  89. Van Hammer vs Terrance Taylor-Clash of the Champions XVI
  90. Junkyard Dog vs Moondog Spot-Wrestling Classic
  91. The New Blood Gauntlet-WCW Monday Nitro (6/5/2000)
  92. Chris Jericho vs "Goldberg"-Fall Brawl 1998
  93. Hulk Hogan vs Kevin Nash-WCW Monday Nitro (1/4/1999)
  94. Sting vs Hulk Hogan-Halloween Havoc 1999
  95. Hulk Hogan vs Jeff Jarrett-Bash at the Beach 2000
  96. Michael Nakazawa vs Alex Jebailey-Fyter Fest 2019
  97. The 2022 Men's Royal Rumble
  98. Roman Reigns vs The Undertaker-WrestleMania 33
  99. Konnan vs Stevie Ray-Slamboree 1999
  100. The Undertaker vs Goldberg-Super ShowDown 2019
  101. Hiroshi Wajima vs Tom Magee-All Japan Pro Wrestling 1988
  102. Jim Duggan vs Big Boss Man-Royal Rumble 1990
  103. Meng vs Jim Duggan-Uncensored 1995
  104. Jim Steele vs The Equalizer-SuperBrawl IV
  105. The Golden Truth vs Breezango-Money in the Bank 2016
  106. The Undertaker vs Giant González-WrestleMania IX
  107. Sting vs Tony Palmore-Battle 7
  108. D-Generation X vs Brothers of Destruction-Crown Jewel
  109. Wendi Richter vs Leilani Kai-WrestleMania
  110. Goldberg vs Brock Lesnar-WrestleMania XX
  111. Hornswoggle vs Chavo Guerrero-WWE Monday Night Raw (7/20/2009)
  112. Edge vs Triple H vs Vladimir Kozlov-Survivor Series 2008
  113. Rosita & Sarita vs Angelina Love & Winter-Victory Road 2011
  114. Kevin Sullivan vs Dave Sullivan-SuperBrawl V
  115. Steve McMichael vs Brian Adams-Road Wild 1998
  116. Scott Hall vs Roddy Piper-SuperBrawl IX
  117. Boris Zhukov vs Paul Samson-Beach Brawl
  118. Roddy Piper vs Hollywood Hogan-Halloween Havoc 1997
  119. Kane vs The Great Khali-Breaking Point
  120. Hollywood Hogan & Dennis Rodman vs Diamond Dallas Page & Karl Malone-Bash at the Beach 1998
  121. PN News & Bobby Eaton vs Steve Austin & Terrance Taylor-Great American Bash 1991
  122. Scott Steiner vs Sid Vicious vs Jeff Jarrett vs Road Warrior Animal-Sin
  123. Hollywood Hogan vs Roddy Piper-SuperBrawl 1997
  124. The 2015 Royal Rumble Match
  125. Kazuchika Okada vs Gedo-New Japan Cup 2020 (Day 2)
  126. Batista vs The Great Khali-SummerSlam 2007
  127. Sting vs Hollywood Hogan-Starrcade 1997
  128.  Sable vs Tori-WrestleMania XV
  129. Super Invader vs Todd Champion-WrestleWar 1992
  130. Brock Lesnar vs Cain Velasquez-Crown Jewel 2019
  131. King Kong Bundy & Jim Neidhart vs Yokozuna & Jake Roberts-Heroes of Wrestling
  132. Sid Vicious vs The Nightstalker-Clash of the Champions XIII
  133. The 8-Divas Tag Match-Survivor Series 1999
  134. The Fabulous Freebirds vs The Renegade Warriors-Halloween Havoc 1990
  135. The Knockouts Gauntlet-One Night Only: Live! 2016
  136. AJ Styles vs Frank Trigg-No Surrender 2008
  137. Rick Rude vs Masahiro Chono-Halloween Havoc 1992
  138. Mike Awesome vs Vampiro-Halloween Havoc 2000
  139. Bray Wyatt vs John Cena-Extreme Rules 2014
  140. Brothers of Destruction vs KroniK-Unforgiven 2001
  141. The Miss WrestleMania Battle Royal-WrestleMania 25
  142. Mabel vs The Undertaker-King of the Ring 1995
  143. Wendi Richter vs The Fabulous Moolah-The Brawl to End it All
  144. David Flair vs Kimberly Page-Mayhem 1999
  145. The Truth Commission vs The Disciples of Apocolypse-Survivor Series 1997
  146. Daffney vs Miss Hancock-Bash at the Beach 2000
  147. The Bushwhacker vs The Fabulous Rougeaus-WrestleMania V
  148. Randy Orton vs "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt-WrestleMania 37 (Night 2)
  149. The Beverly Brothers vs The Bushwhackers-Royal Rumble 1992
  150. Savio Vega vs Rocky Maivia-WWF Monday Night Raw (4/14/1997)
  151. Teddy Long vs Eric Bischoff-Survivor Series 2005
  152. Savio Vega vs Rocky Maivia-WWF Shotgun Saturday Night (1/25/1997)
  153. Greg Valentine vs George Steele-Heroes of Wrestling
  154. Abdullah the Butcher vs One Man Gang-Heroes of Wrestling
  155. Major Gunns vs Miss Hancock-New Blood Rising
  156. Vince Russo vs Booker T-WCW Monday Nitro (9/25/2000)
  157. Bradshaw & Trish Stratus vs Christopher Nowinski & Jackie Gayda-WWE Monday Night RAW (7/8/2002)
  158. Triple H vs Scott Steiner-Royal Rumble 2003
  159. Goldberg vs "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt-Super ShowDown 2020
  160. Santina Marella vs Vickie & Chavo Guerrero-Extreme Rules 2009
  161. Kevin Nash vs Scott Steiner vs Goldberg-New Blood Rising
  162. Hollywood Hogan vs The Warrior-Halloween Havoc 1998
  163. Mr. T vs Roddy Piper-WrestleMania 2
  164. The Royal Family vs Clowns R' Us-Survivor Series 1994
  165. The House of Horrors Match-Payback 2017
  166. The Blacktop Bully vs Dustin Rhodes-Uncensored 1995
  167. Team Dos Caras vs Team El Canek-Leyendas Mexicanas 2017
  168. Pat Patterson vs Gerald Brisco-King of the Ring 2000
  169. The Wyatt Swamp Fight-The Horror Show at Extreme Rules
  170. The Four Doinks vs Team Bigelow-Survivor Series 1993
  171. Sting vs Jeff Hardy-Victory Road 2011 
  172. Bret Hart vs Mr. McMahon-WrestleMania XVI
  173. WarGames 2000: Russo's Revenge-WCW Monday Nitro (9/4/2000)
  174. Oz vs Tim Parker-SuperBrawl
  175. Brock Lesnar vs Braun Strowman-Crown Jewel 2018
  176. Brock Lesnar vs Ricochet-Super ShowDown 2020
  177. The Mighty Maccabee vs The Iron Sheik-Maccabiah Mania II: Shekel Slam
  178. Van Hammer vs Doug Somers-Halloween Havoc 1991
  179. Ultimate Warrior vs Andre the Giant-Saturday Night's Main Event (11/25/1989)
  180. Jeff Jarrett vs Sting-Halloween Havoc 2000
  181. The Doomsday Cage Match-Uncensored 1996
  182. "Donald Trump" vs "Rosie O'Donnell"-WWE Monday Night RAW (1/8/2007)
  183. Kane vs The Undertaker-Judgement Day 1998
  184. Toru Yano vs Jado-New Japan Cup 2020 (Day 1)
  185. Rebel vs Shelly Martinez-One Night Only: Knockouts Knockdown
  186. Sable vs Torrie Wilson-The Great American Bash 2004
  187. Kaitlyn vs Maxine-NXT (10/19/2010)
  188. Sabu vs The Sandman-November to Remember 1997
  189. Seth Rollins vs "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt-Hell in a Cell 2019
  190. Michael Cole vs Jerry Lawler-WrestleMania XXVII
  191. The Bushwhackers vs Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff-Heroes of Wrestling
  192. James Storm vs Chris Harris-Lockdown 2007
  193. John Laurinaitis vs John Cena-Over the Limit 2012
  194. Hulk Hogan vs The Giant-Halloween Havoc 1995
  195. Ultimate Warrior vs Goldust-In Your House 7
  196. Los Villanos vs Los Psycho Circus-Triplemania XXIII
  197. Jenna Morasca vs Sharmell-Victory Road 2009
  198. Akira Maeda vs Andre the Giant-NJPW Big Fighter Series 1986 (Day 15)
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. As I mentioned earlier, on Saturday I'll have another entry in the series where I'll be taking a look at a match from a short-lived Australian promotion that popped up following the closings of WCW and ECW. Until then...

Comments

  1. Great work as always.

    I have a suggestion from the infamous XPW promotion that i'm surprised that hasn't appeared yet.

    New Jack vs Vic Grimes (XPW Freefall 2002)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! As for New Jack vs Grimes, I've got that one scheduled as part of double entry with their Living Dangerously match/brawl. I felt that if I was going to cover the Freefall match, I should probably cover the incident that caused it to happen

      Delete
  2. You're welcome man, anytime! I can't wait to see it when it comes out and for the next article because I don't know any Australlian promotion that opened after WCW and ECW closed shop

    ReplyDelete
  3. Here's a show you'll "enjoy" doing for this one. AWA SuperClash III. There were some awful matches. Examples that would fit on this list: Ron Garvin/Greg Gagne, the POWW Lingerie Battle Royal, Slaughter/DeBeers, and McDaniel/Fernandez in a strap match

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'll definitely take a look at those. I might throw Jimmy Valiant vs Wayne Bloom in there just based on the rating from Dave Meltzer (even if it was only 24 seconds.) Plus, it shoud be interesting to take a look at the show that set in motion the death of the AWA.
      Thanks for the suggestions!

      Delete
    2. Also might add the 6-Person Mixed Tag while I'm at it

      Delete

Post a Comment

More from The Wrestling Section

Worst in the World: The Gimmick Battle Royal-WrestleMania X-Seven

(Special thanks to Frost for suggesting this match. If you'd like to see a match covered on the Worst in the World, leave a comment down below.) WrestleMania X-Seven. Heavily considered the not just the best WrestleMania, but the greatest wrestling show of all time, WrestleMania X-Seven took place during the hottest period in the WWF's history, and features just about every one of the hottest acts in wrestling at the time. An undercard featuring the likes of Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, William Regal, Kane, and the Big Show. One of the biggest female stars in the history of wrestling in Chyna. A killer TLC match between the Dudley Boyz, the Hardy Boyz, and Edge & Christian. A wild brawl between The Undertaker and Triple H. A massive main event between Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock. Hell, even the father vs son Street Fight between Vince & Shane McMahon. It's a star-studded affair. However, there's one match that sticks out like

Worst in the World: The Last Rites Match-TNA Destination X 2007

(Special thanks to an anonymous user for suggesting this match. If you'd like to see a match covered on the Worst in the World, leave a comment down below.) An often discussed aspect of professional wrestling is the backstage politicking of Hulk Hogan. Throughout his career as a major attraction in wrestling, Hogan's philosophy has always been to protect Hulk Hogan...OK, sometimes he'd help Ed Leslie, but most of the time it was to protect Hulk Hogan. Because of that philosophy and Hogan's influence as a top guy, there have been multiple instances where a company's booking and other wrestlers have suffered as a result. Would having Mr. Perfect win the 1990 Royal Rumble made sense and could have elevated a rising star and potentially created a new main event player? Yes, but that would require Hogan to not win, and that doesn't work for Hogan, so he wins the Rumble even though he doesn't need elevating. Would booking Randy Orton to beat Hogan at SummerSlam 20

Worst in the World: D-Generation X vs Brothers of Destruction-Crown Jewel

This match didn't need to happen. After Triple H and the Undertaker had one of the most brutally bad matches of 2018 at Super Show-Down not even a month earlier, nobody wanted to see them try to wrestle again. Also, nobody wanted to see Shawn Michaels come out of retirement after his fantastic sendoff in 2010, especially for a match like this. But here we are, Triple H & Shawn Michaels facing The Undertaker & Kane in 2018. The combined ages of these four at the time is 206. That's a number you'd expect to see from a match at Heroes of Wrestling. And anyone can come up with their own reason as to why this match is happening, but that would just be ignoring the actual reason. For those of you who don't know, Crown Jewel was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. That might not seem like important information, but you can't really discuss this match without mentioning it. Despite the numerous reasons that running shows in Saudi Arabia is morally wrong (their abuse

Worst in the World: What is the Worst Wrestling Match of All Time?

  Note: This series is based off a YouTube series " The Search for the Worst " by I Hate Everything, where he reviews every movie on IMDB's Bottom 100. It's a great, funny series and I'd recommend checking it out. Have you ever just thought to yourself "What is the worst match of all time?"? I don't mean something like a boring John Cena-Randy Orton match, I mean a match where the wrestlers have zero chemistry, little wrestling ability, or literally no idea what they are actually doing. I've thought about this for a while, and I've decided to finally figure it out. So I'm going to watch any match that is: a) A winner of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Award for the Worst Worked Match of the Year. or:  b) Listed on the 100 worst rated wrestling matches of all time on the Internet Wrestling Database .   (Note: Some matches appear on awards that aren't on the list.) There are 115 (EDIT: Now 99)  matches on here. I pu

Worst in the World: The Reina de Reinas Championship Four-Way-AAA Triplemanía XXV

  Rest in peace to both Terry Funk and Bray Wyatt. Two incredible performers who will be missed dearly. Click the link here to vote in the poll and help decide the next edition of the Worst in the World. In 2014, Lucha Underground would premiere on the El Rey Network. Combining high-flying, death-defying wrestling with heavily stylized, cinematic segments that more closely resembled an AMC show than what you'd see on Monday Night Raw, Lucha Underground was a hit. Along with just being a unique, enjoyable wrestling experience, the show also provided a launching pad for several of the wrestlers, whether they be American wrestlers getting their biggest exposure to date in Ricochet (Prince Puma) and Jeff Cobb (Matanza Cueto), ex-WWE superstar John Morrison finding new life as Johnny Mundo, or luchadors like Pentagon Jr. and Fenix branching out into the United States. The latter is the case for Sexy Star. Debuting in 2006, Sexy Star would spend the first eight years of her career wrestl