TNA's grandest failures tend to get the most attention when talking about the company's worst moments. Things like the Blindfold Steel Cage match, the Reverse Battle Royal, and Jenna Morasca vs Sharmell are all infamous matches that, even as the company has gone on to redeem its image in a big way in the last few years, still remain a part of the conversation around the company. Hell, there are still notorious matches from the company that haven't made their way into the series. But with that said, there are still plenty of bad matches in the company's 20-year history that don't get quite as much attention as the ones I listed before. Today, I'd like to talk about one of those matches. It's time to tell you the story of Trytan.
TNA began airing vignettes in early 2005 for Trytan, a Terminator-type character. Trytan was the latest gimmick for Ryan Wilson, a 6'10 wrestler who had previously worked as part of Redshirt Security, the heel security team (that was a real thing) under his real name, and as former Survivor-contestant Jonny Fairplay's bodyguard Titus. Man, between Fairplay, Jenna Morasca, and Johnny Impact (John Morrison), TNA loved their Survivor alumni. Surprised Ashley Massaro didn't have a run there. Trytan quickly turned his attention to Monty Brown, a staple of early TNA who would later briefly wrestle in WWE as Marquis Cor Von, where he had one of the greatest entrance themes in the history of wrestling. The two would face off at that year's Destination X, in what would be Trytan's debut...and the first of only seven matches Trytan would have before the company didn't renew his contract that same year. Anything resembling a push for Trytan was snuffed out after this match, which earned a DUD rating from Dave Meltzer, and holds just one single 0/10 review on Cagematch.net. And you might be thinking "wow, this match was so bad the company gave up on him after it." Well, they might've given up on him even earlier than that. You'll see what I mean.
The match starts with Brown striking away at Trytan, who isn't phased. Trytan sends Brown into the corner after reversing an Irish whip before going for a chokeslam, which Brown blocks. Brown strikes away at Trytan again, but Trytan keeps control with a gorilla press slam that he has a lot of trouble keeping Brown up for.Trytan tries to follow up with a chokeslam, but Brown fights out, leading to an incredibly awkward big boot attempt that sees the match come to a complete halt.Don West on commentary says that Brown made a "great move" but in reality, the timing was just completely off. Brown ends up sending a charging Trytan out of the ring, but Trytan catches him with a shot to the gut when Brown dives off the apron with a double axe handle. Trytan throws Brown around ringside before throwing Brown back into the ring. Trytan continues beating down Brown until Brown catches a charging Trytan with a boot. Brown manages to strike Trytan down to one knee, but Trytan pops back up and hits a chokeslam for a two-count. Trytan tries to follow up with a powerslam, but Brown slips out and dropkicks Trytan. Brown fires up, chopping away at Trytan, but Trytan again kills his momentum when he scoops him up for the T-3 (a fireman's carry facebuster/an F-5.) Brown, however, counters the move and lands on his feet before hitting a fallaway slam. Brown tries to follow up with the Pounce (a running shoulder block) when suddenly, the lights go out. When they come back on, Trytan is gone. And in his place?...Some guy in a mask. This is actually Dennis Knight, better known as Phineas Godwinn and Mideon in the WWF. The reason I'm telling you this now instead of waiting for the big reveal is because there is no big reveal. We never find out who this masked man is on TV, and he is never seen again. There was no storyline reason this happened...it just happened. The man in the mask attacks Brown...only for Brown to quickly hit him with the Pounce...and then cover him...and then the referee counts the three and rings the bell...even though that guy isn't in the match...and that's how the match ends. Brown then looks out onto the stage, where Trytan is slowly backing up through the entrance. Mike Tenay describes whatever this was as Trytan "staying one step ahead of Monty Brown." These two would never wrestle each other again. This was the blow-off to the feud.
The Verdict
Might as well get it out of the way, the ending of this match is a confusing mess. I, for the life of me, cannot figure out what TNA was trying to do with this. It obviously wasn't to protect Trytan, his push all but died after this show. I don't think they booked it because they'd changed their mind on Trytan because, as far as I can tell, there aren't any recorded dark matches he had before this show. And it couldn't be from his matches in TNA before the Trytan gimmick, because they wouldn't have bothered pushing him. It's completely mind-boggling
But even without the strange ending, this match is pretty bad. Trytan botches pretty much every spot he has, and while Brown is pretty fine throughout the match, Trytan being on the offensive for the majority really drags it down. It's not the worst match, but the botches and the messy ending are gonna put it low on the rankings.
The Rankings (Best to Worst)
- Tommy Dreamer vs Bully Ray-Victory Road 2011
- Triple H vs Kevin Nash-TLC: Tables, Ladders, and Chairs 2011
- Rick Rude vs Jake Roberts-WrestleMania IV
- Too Much vs Al Snow & Head-King of the Ring 1998
- Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns-Greatest Royal Rumble
- Ernest Miller vs Norman Smiley-Fall Brawl 1998
- The Concrete Crypt Match-The Great American Bash 2004
- Shane McMahon vs Eric Bischoff-SummerSlam 2003
- Mordecai vs Hardcore Holly-The Great American Bash 2004
- Luther Reigns vs Charlie Haas-The Great American Bash 2004
- The Tag Team Gauntlet-Extreme Rules 2010
- The Gimmick Battle Royal-WrestleMania X-Seven
- Hernandez vs Matt Morgan-Victory Road 2011
- Randy Orton vs Bray Wyatt-WrestleMania 33
- Vampiro vs Sting-Great American Bash 2000
- T&A vs Head Cheese-WrestleMania 2000
- David Arquette & Diamond Dallas Page vs Jeff Jarrett & Eric Bischoff
- The Women's Tag Team Turmoil-WrestleMania 37 (Night 1)
- Triple H vs Sgt. Slaughter-D-Generation X: In Your House
- Konnan vs One Man Gang-SuperBrawl VI
- Ultimate Warrior vs Hercules-WrestleMania IV
- Rick Rude vs Hawk-Clash of the Champions XXV
- Shelton Benjamin vs Viscera-New Year's Revolution 2006
- Steve McMichael vs Reggie White-Slamboree 1997
- Chyna vs Ivory-WrestleMania X-Seven
- Lars Sullivan vs Lucha House Party-Super Showdown 2019
- Alexa Bliss vs Bayley-Extreme Rules 2017
- The Tag Team Fatal 4-Way Match-WrestleMania 13
- The Barbed Wire Christmas Tree Match-TNA iMPACT (12/20/2007)
- Tag Team Battle Royal-WrestleMania XIV
- EVIL vs Tomohiro Ishii-Wrestle Kingdom 16 (Day 1)
- The Chamber of Horrors-Halloween Havoc 1991
- Toru Yano vs Great O-Khan-New Japan Cup 2021 (Day 6)
- The Natural Disasters vs Money Inc.-WrestleMania VIII
- Ivan Koloff vs Paul Jones-Clash of the Champions IV
- ODB, Taylor Wilde, and Roxxi vs The Kongtourage-Genesis 2009
- Kazushi Sakuraba & Yuji Nagata vs Daniel & Rolles Gracie-Wrestle Kingdom 8
- Ivory vs Tori-SummerSlam 1999
- Giant Baba vs Bulldog Bob Brown-WrestleRock
- The Reverse Battle Royal-Impact! (10/26/2006)
- Savio Vega vs Rocky Maivia-In Your House 14: Revenge of the Taker
- Jerry Blackwell vs Boris Zhukov-SuperClash II
- Nikita Koloff vs Bobby Eaton-Bunkhouse Stampede
- Alex Wright vs Steve McMichael-Halloween Havoc 1997
- The Great Khali vs Kane-WrestleMania 23
- Savio Vega vs Crush vs Faarooq-Ground Zero: In Your House
- The Shockmaster vs Awesome/King Kong-Starrcade 1993
- Total Divas vs Other Divas-Survivor Series 2013
- The Intercontinental Championship Elimination Chamber-Elimination Chamber 2015
- The Oddities vs Kaientai-SummerSlam 1998
- Team RAW vs Team SmackDown Men's Elimination Match-Survivor Series 2017
- Hulk Hogan vs Sid Justice-WrestleMania VIII
- Paul Ellering vs Teddy Long-Capital Combat
- Dusty Rhodes vs Big Boss Man-Saturday Night's Main Event (10/31/1989)
- Konnan vs Scott Hall-Fall Brawl 1998
- Damian Priest vs The Miz-WrestleMania Backlash
- Tyson Tomko vs Stevie Richards-Unforgiven 2004
- Kane vs The Great Khali-SummerSlam 2009
- The 2022 Women's Royal Rumble
- Rick Steiner vs Scott Steiner-Fall Brawl 1998
- The Extreme Elimination Chamber-December to Dismember 2006
- Hollywood Hogan vs The Giant-Hog Wild
- Hollywood Hogan vs The Giant-Souled Out 1997
- Dustin Rhodes & King Kong vs Awesome Kong & The Equalizer-Battlebowl
- Finlay & Little Bastard vs The Boogeyman & Little Boogeyman-No Way Out 2007
- Mr. Anderson vs Rob Van Dam-Victory Road 2011
- Jake Roberts vs Andre the Giant-WrestleMania V
- El Gigante vs Nailz-G1 Climax 1994 (Day 1)
- Yokozuna vs King Mabel-In Your House 4
- Dusty Rhodes vs The Honky Tonk Man-SummerSlam 1989
- Sting & Hawk vs Meng & Kurasawa-Clash of the Champions XXXI
- The Hurt Business vs RETRIBUTION-WWE Monday Night RAW (10/26/2020)
- Hulk Hogan vs Randy Savage-Uncensored 1998
- Santino Marella vs Heath Slater-WWE Friday Night SmackDown (9/27/2013)
- Al Snow vs Big Boss Man-Unforgiven 1999
- Vince Russo vs Ric Flair-WCW Monday Nitro (6/5/2000)
- Allie vs Leva Bates-Fyter Fest 2019
- Mickie James vs Ashley-Royal Rumble 2006
- Antonio Inoki vs The Great Antonio-NJPW Sumo Hall Show (12/8/1977)
- Christy Hemme vs Big Fat Oily Guy-Against All Odds 2007
- Kenzo Suzuki vs Billy Gunn-The Great American Bash 2004
- The Big Show vs Erick Rowan-TLC: Tables, Ladders, Chairs 2014
- British Bulldog & Jim Neidhart vs The Dancing Fools-Fall Brawl 1998
- Stevie Ray vs Konnan-World War 3 1998
- Vampiro vs The KISS Demon-Bash at the Beach 2000
- Team WCW vs nWo Wolfpac vs nWo Hollywood-Fall Brawl 1998
- Vampiro vs Oklahoma-Starrcade 1999
- Big Swole vs Penelope Ford, Rebel, and Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D.-AEW Dynamite (8/27/2020)
- Hulk Hogan vs Andre the Giant-WrestleMania III
- Jinder Mahal vs Randy Orton-Battleground 2017
- Van Hammer vs Terrance Taylor-Clash of the Champions XVI
- Junkyard Dog vs Moondog Spot-Wrestling Classic
- The New Blood Gauntlet-WCW Monday Nitro (6/5/2000)
- Chris Jericho vs "Goldberg"-Fall Brawl 1998
- Hulk Hogan vs Kevin Nash-WCW Monday Nitro (1/4/1999)
- Sting vs Hulk Hogan-Halloween Havoc 1999
- Hulk Hogan vs Jeff Jarrett-Bash at the Beach 2000
- Kazuchika Okada & Toru Yano vs EVIL & Dick Togo-The New Beginning in Hiroshima 2021 (Day 2)
- Michael Nakazawa vs Alex Jebailey-Fyter Fest 2019
- The 2022 Men's Royal Rumble
- Roman Reigns vs The Undertaker-WrestleMania 33
- Konnan vs Stevie Ray-Slamboree 1999
- The Undertaker vs Goldberg-Super ShowDown 2019
- Hiroshi Wajima vs Tom Magee-All Japan Pro Wrestling 1988
- Jim Duggan vs Big Boss Man-Royal Rumble 1990
- Meng vs Jim Duggan-Uncensored 1995
- Jim Steele vs The Equalizer-SuperBrawl IV
- The Golden Truth vs Breezango-Money in the Bank 2016
- The Undertaker vs Giant González-WrestleMania IX
- Sting vs Tony Palmore-Battle 7
- D-Generation X vs Brothers of Destruction-Crown Jewel
- Wendi Richter vs Leilani Kai-WrestleMania
- Goldberg vs Brock Lesnar-WrestleMania XX
- Hornswoggle vs Chavo Guerrero-WWE Monday Night Raw (7/20/2009)
- Edge vs Triple H vs Vladimir Kozlov-Survivor Series 2008
- Rosita & Sarita vs Angelina Love & Winter-Victory Road 2011
- Kevin Sullivan vs Dave Sullivan-SuperBrawl V
- Steve McMichael vs Brian Adams-Road Wild 1998
- Scott Hall vs Roddy Piper-SuperBrawl IX
- Boris Zhukov vs Paul Samson-Beach Brawl
- Roddy Piper vs Hollywood Hogan-Halloween Havoc 1997
- Kane vs The Great Khali-Breaking Point
- Hollywood Hogan & Dennis Rodman vs Diamond Dallas Page & Karl Malone-Bash at the Beach 1998
- PN News & Bobby Eaton vs Steve Austin & Terrance Taylor-Great American Bash 1991
- Scott Steiner vs Sid Vicious vs Jeff Jarrett vs Road Warrior Animal-Sin
- Hollywood Hogan vs Roddy Piper-SuperBrawl 1997
- The 2015 Royal Rumble Match
- Kazuchika Okada vs Gedo-New Japan Cup 2020 (Day 2)
- Batista vs The Great Khali-SummerSlam 2007
- Sting vs Hollywood Hogan-Starrcade 1997
- Sable vs Tori-WrestleMania XV
- Super Invader vs Todd Champion-WrestleWar 1992
- Brock Lesnar vs Cain Velasquez-Crown Jewel 2019
- King Kong Bundy & Jim Neidhart vs Yokozuna & Jake Roberts-Heroes of Wrestling
- Sid Vicious vs The Nightstalker-Clash of the Champions XIII
- Monty Brown vs Trytan-Destination X 2005
- The 8-Divas Tag Match-Survivor Series 1999
- The Fabulous Freebirds vs The Renegade Warriors-Halloween Havoc 1990
- The Knockouts Gauntlet-One Night Only: Live! 2016
- AJ Styles vs Frank Trigg-No Surrender 2008
- Rick Rude vs Masahiro Chono-Halloween Havoc 1992
- Mike Awesome vs Vampiro-Halloween Havoc 2000
- Bray Wyatt vs John Cena-Extreme Rules 2014
- Brothers of Destruction vs KroniK-Unforgiven 2001
- The Miss WrestleMania Battle Royal-WrestleMania 25
- Mabel vs The Undertaker-King of the Ring 1995
- Wendi Richter vs The Fabulous Moolah-The Brawl to End it All
- David Flair vs Kimberly Page-Mayhem 1999
- The Truth Commission vs The Disciples of Apocolypse-Survivor Series 1997
- Daffney vs Miss Hancock-Bash at the Beach 2000
- The Bushwhacker vs The Fabulous Rougeaus-WrestleMania V
- Randy Orton vs "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt-WrestleMania 37 (Night 2)
- Lex Luger vs Sting-WWA The Retribution
- The Beverly Brothers vs The Bushwhackers-Royal Rumble 1992
- Savio Vega vs Rocky Maivia-WWF Monday Night Raw (4/14/1997)
- Teddy Long vs Eric Bischoff-Survivor Series 2005
- Savio Vega vs Rocky Maivia-WWF Shotgun Saturday Night (1/25/1997)
- Greg Valentine vs George Steele-Heroes of Wrestling
- Abdullah the Butcher vs One Man Gang-Heroes of Wrestling
- Major Gunns vs Miss Hancock-New Blood Rising
- Vince Russo vs Booker T-WCW Monday Nitro (9/25/2000)
- Bradshaw & Trish Stratus vs Christopher Nowinski & Jackie Gayda-WWE Monday Night RAW (7/8/2002)
- Triple H vs Scott Steiner-Royal Rumble 2003
- Goldberg vs "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt-Super ShowDown 2020
- Santina Marella vs Vickie & Chavo Guerrero-Extreme Rules 2009
- Kevin Nash vs Scott Steiner vs Goldberg-New Blood Rising
- Brock Lesnar vs The Undertaker-WrestleMania XXX
- Hollywood Hogan vs The Warrior-Halloween Havoc 1998
- Mr. T vs Roddy Piper-WrestleMania 2
- The Royal Family vs Clowns R' Us-Survivor Series 1994
- The House of Horrors Match-Payback 2017
- The Blacktop Bully vs Dustin Rhodes-Uncensored 1995
- Team Dos Caras vs Team El Canek-Leyendas Mexicanas 2017
- Pat Patterson vs Gerald Brisco-King of the Ring 2000
- The Wyatt Swamp Fight-The Horror Show at Extreme Rules
- The Four Doinks vs Team Bigelow-Survivor Series 1993
- Sting vs Jeff Hardy-Victory Road 2011
- Bret Hart vs Mr. McMahon-WrestleMania XVI
- WarGames 2000: Russo's Revenge-WCW Monday Nitro (9/4/2000)
- Oz vs Tim Parker-SuperBrawl
- Brock Lesnar vs Braun Strowman-Crown Jewel 2018
- Brock Lesnar vs Ricochet-Super ShowDown 2020
- Toru Yano vs KENTA-G1 Climax 2021 (Day 1)
- The Fabulous Moolah vs Ivory-No Mercy 1999
- The Mighty Maccabee vs The Iron Sheik-Maccabiah Mania II: Shekel Slam
- Van Hammer vs Doug Somers-Halloween Havoc 1991
- Ultimate Warrior vs Andre the Giant-Saturday Night's Main Event (11/25/1989)
- Jeff Jarrett vs Sting-Halloween Havoc 2000
- The Doomsday Cage Match-Uncensored 1996
- "Donald Trump" vs "Rosie O'Donnell"-WWE Monday Night RAW (1/8/2007)
- Kane vs The Undertaker-Judgement Day 1998
- Toru Yano vs Jado-New Japan Cup 2020 (Day 1)
- Rebel vs Shelly Martinez-One Night Only: Knockouts Knockdown
- Sable vs Torrie Wilson-The Great American Bash 2004
- The Evening Gown Pool Match-Armageddon 1999
- Kaitlyn vs Maxine-NXT (10/19/2010)
- Sabu vs The Sandman-November to Remember 1997
- Seth Rollins vs "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt-Hell in a Cell 2019
- Michael Cole vs Jerry Lawler-WrestleMania XXVII
- The Bushwhackers vs Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff-Heroes of Wrestling
- James Storm vs Chris Harris-Lockdown 2007
- John Laurinaitis vs John Cena-Over the Limit 2012
- Hulk Hogan vs The Giant-Halloween Havoc 1995
- Ultimate Warrior vs Goldust-In Your House 7
- Los Villanos vs Los Psycho Circus-Triplemania XXIII
- Jenna Morasca vs Sharmell-Victory Road 2009
- 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. In two weeks, I'll be doing a triple feature where I'll be taking a look at the rise, the peak, and the downfall of who many consider the worst King of the Ring of all time. Stay tuned.
When do you have triple H vs randy orton at Wrestlemaina 25 worst in the world
ReplyDeleteRight now I'm planning on April. Since it's WrestleMania month I'm going to be posting once a week in April, and the first three are going to be WrestleMania themed-posts.
DeleteI'm predicting this will be Mabel considering he went over the likes of The Undertaker and was hot shoted into the main event for his size.
ReplyDeleteI got a match for you in which Super Cena was at his Worst! John Cena vs The Miz (Over The Limit 2011)
That match has to be up there with the worst "overcoming the odds" overkills in wrestling history. Thanks for the suggestion! It's on the list.
DeleteAnd yes, it is Mabel. I get that the New Generation Era was desperate for new stars, but it was very clear Mabel was being pushed way beyond his abilities
Oooh could you do that and also their Wrestlemania match
DeleteIt really does, although the John Cena character always had a bad habit of beatting tag teams and trios on his own when in reality it wouldn't make sense! (ex Miz/Riley, Nexus and the Wyatt Family) You're Welcome man, it's always a pleasure!
DeleteYeah Mabel is no doubt one of if not the worst big man that WWE had he was very slow in the ring, was more of a midcarder than a main eventer and was wreckless in the ring kinda like Nia Jax!
I can definitely add their WrestleMania match. Thanks for the suggestion!
DeleteIs this upcoming triple feature focusing only on the Mabel part of his career? Or will King Mabel, Viscera, Big Daddy V, and other gimmicks be included?
ReplyDeleteJust the King Mabel portion. There are definitely bad matches from the other parts of his career, but I wanted to go with a theme around his King of the Ring run for the next post.
DeleteHave you done the Sting/Rick Steiner match that ends with Sting being attacked by "wild" dogs in a badly acted pretape?
ReplyDeleteI have not, but that's one of the "Flop 50" worst rated matches on Cagematch.net I've had my eye on. Now that it's been brought up, I'll add it to the list. Thanks for the suggestion!
DeleteI got a match for your list, sadly it involves one of my favorite wrestlers of the modern era Bray Wyatt
ReplyDeleteThe match in question is his match with Kane at Summerslam 2013
I feel you. It might not come across because of how many matches he's had covered in the series, but I think Bray Wyatt is great too. It's such a shame WWE booked him as bad they did for most of his run. That match with Kane might be the first real misstep with Wyatt. I'll add it to the list. Thanks for the suggestion!
DeleteYeah it really is a shame that his last run was badly booked with some good stuff here and there. Hopefully if he comes back now that WWE is under new management he gets treated better and giving better material. It was not a good debut match for Wyatt, I think the match should of been a street fight or something because the fire limited both guys from doing other stuff that could of made the match better, no one is going to be set on fire anyway and both guys don't have extensive move-sets. While I'll always sing praises to Bray for how good he is he's not the wrestler that Bryan Danielson is and is a brawler wrestler like Mick Foley and Kane was definitely reaching the end of his career since he was slower. You're welcome man!
ReplyDeleteHey CJ, just want your thoughts on something. Now that Braun is back in WWE, do you think there could finally be some closure to that one rough Survivor Series match he was in?
ReplyDeletePossibly. An actual match between him & Triple H is probably out of the question given the latter's health, but I could definitely see someone fighting on behalf of Triple H against Strowman. Who that would be I'm not sure of, but I think it would change depending on how he's portrayed going forward (that return segment makes me think he's a tweener based on him putting a firmly babyface Angelo Dawkins through the announce table along with attacking the heels.)
Delete