Weird choices to main event a PPV

[Jindrak Mark]

For instance Lex Luger v Randy Savage main eventing Souled Out 1998 in a 7 minute non-title match. Like most WCW PPVs that year it was stacked with big matches/names but this definitely didn't feel like a main event.

Michael Buffer was paid to only do the big ring introductions for the main event so you have him doing his usual big dramatic deal for what is essentially an upper-midcard level match with no title or real stakes on the line. Just a match earlier you had Bret's WCW debut match v Flair which you'd think would have made more sense to get that big level of production and hype. Nash v Giant also was a bigger match and had been building for months.

[Spider2024]

Dudley Boyz vs The Undertaker in a handicap match with no titles involved is one of the most famous ones (but maybe it was last because of the cement stunt after the match.)

WCW World War 3 (the yearly PPV with a big 3-ring, 60-man battle royal on it) ended the '98 event with a 1-on-1 United States Championship match.

[The Thread Barbi]

LT vs Bam Bam Bigelow.

Should have been a special attraction match, not the last match at Wrestlemania 11.

[Jindrak Mark]

Mar 23, 2024 14:12:14 GMT -5 Spider2024 said:

Dudley Boyz vs The Undertaker in a handicap match with no titles involved is one of the most famous ones (but maybe it was last because of the cement stunt after the match.)

WCW World War 3 (the yearly PPV with a big 3-ring, 60-man battle royal on it) ended the '98 event with a 1-on-1 United States Championship match.

Some kind of Undertaker stunt necessitating having to go on last definitely happened a few times. Like Angle v Mark Henry main eventing over Cena/Edge and the RR makes no sense on paper until you realize he was returning at the end of the show and would be destroying the ring.

[chrom]

WrestleWar 89 had Rick Steiner and Eddie Gilbert defending The US Tag against The Varsity Club in the main event

The same show that had Steamboat/Flair III

[MiLB Fan]

Goldberg vs. Kronik at Halloween Havoc.

[Aceorton]

The Piper-Lawler main event at KOTR '94. It's the New Generation era, but for some reason we're ending the show with two part-time wrestlers in their 40s in a weird storyline involving a children's hospital and a Piper impersonator.

[DragonMasterP]

I mentioned it elsewhere, but Brutus Beef... Er, the Butcher, challenging Hogan for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Starrcade 1994.

[ianriccaboni]

Mar 23, 2024 14:17:04 GMT -5 chrom said:

WrestleWar 89 had Rick Steiner and Eddie Gilbert defending The US Tag against The Varsity Club in the main event

The same show that had Steamboat/Flair III

What I've always heard is that the NWA wasn't confident in the timing of their early pay per views and they'd much rather make sure they got the entirety of their grudge and marquee matches in and risk not airing or airing their standby matches than having satellite time run out. Going over on satellite time now is still expensive; back then it probably would have been disastrous.

[Chiral]

I get that they wanted the world title match first to avoid it being against a presidential debate, but a heatless Wyatt/Orton match main eventing No Mercy 2016 when they could have closed on that Ziggler/Miz ladder match that people were actually excited for was a weird choice.

[agent817]

Another 1998 WCW example - Sting vs. The Giant at The Great American Bash.

I feel like Hollywood Hogan and Bret Hart vs. Randy Savage and Roddy Piper had more of a story to have the match go on last than Sting/Giant. But it was the second-to-last match on the card (or third-to-last if you count that impromptu match with Savage and Piper, which lasted only a minute or less).

I might as well bring up 1999 ECW while I am at it. Hardcore Heaven had very screwy booking. First, Taz was supposed to defend the world title against Chris Candido, but it was moved to the beginning of the show (during the cold open), and it was a squash. Then Taz defends it against Bubba Ray Dudley (of all people) at the top of the show.

Then you have Anarchy Rulz that same year. By that point, the world heavyweight title had played second fiddle to the TV title (during RVD's title reign). Rob Van Dam was originally supposed to defend the TV title against Johnny Smith, a British wrestler who was in All Japan Pro Wrestling and had a brief stint in ECW and was put with The Impact Players (Justin Credible and Lance Storm) sometime before this show. However, Johnny Smith was attacked in a segment, and the main event became RVD vs. Balls Mahoney.

I wonder what Paul Heyman was thinking during this time.

[nickcave]

John Cena vs. John Laurinitus made worse by the fact that CM Punk and Daniel Bryan had a great WWE title match mid-show that could have main evented instead

[Celexa Bliss 54]

Mar 23, 2024 15:34:47 GMT -5 agent817 said:

Another 1998 WCW - Sting vs. The Giant at The Great American Bash.

I feel like Hollywood Hogan and Bret Hart vs. Randy Savage and Roddy Piper had more of a story to have the match go on last than Sting/Giant. But it was the second-to-last match on the card (or third-to-last if you count that impromptu match with Savage and Piper, which lasted only a minute or less).

I might as well bring up 1999 ECW while I am at it. Hardcore Heaven had very screwy booking. First, Taz was supposed to defend the world title against Chris Candido, but it was moved to the beginning of the show (during the cold open), and it was a squash. Then Taz defends it against Bubba Ray Dudley (of all people) at the top of the show.

Then you have Anarchy Rulz that same year. By that point, the world heavyweight title had played second fiddle to the TV title (during RVD's title reign). Rob Van Dam was originally supposed to defend the TV title against Johnny Smith, a British wrestler who was in All Japan Pro Wrestling and had a brief stint in ECW and was put with The Impact Players (Justin Credible and Lance Storm) sometime before this show. However, Johnny Smith was attacked in a segment, and the main event became RVD vs. Balls Mahoney.

I wonder what Paul Heyman was thinking during this time.

As far as Anarchy Rulz goes, my theory has always been that Heyman didn't want to end the show on Taz losing the title, so he put the TV Title match on last instead. I couldn't tell you what he was doing at Hardcore Heaven, though. Unless Candido was hurt??

Living Dangerously 2000 had weird booking, too. The Texas Bullrope match between Dusty Rhodes and Steve Corino opened the show, despite having been built since the previous December. The World Title went on third, with Mike Awesome beating Kid Kash in under five minutes. Then you had the TV Title Tournament semifinals, with Rhino vs. Sandman not actually happening, and Super Crazy vs. Little Guido. The three-way dance for the Tag Titles, which was the most star-studded match of the night, went on second to last, with Super Crazy vs. Rhino for the TV Title being the main event.

[jason1980s]

Not so much the entire main event, and I get it was a random type of teams but it was odd to see Tito, Roma and Hercules in a main event (Survivor Series 90). Tito was probably main event on secondary house shows in the 80s but not 1990s.

[JoDaNa1281]

Mar 23, 2024 15:37:03 GMT -5 nickcave said:

John Cena vs. John Laurinitus made worse by the fact that CM Punk and Daniel Bryan had a great WWE title match mid-show that could have main evented instead

Well of course...they wanted to end the show by shocking everyone, with Big Show turning for the 32nd...sorry, 34th time.

[fg]

Mar 23, 2024 16:30:34 GMT -5 JoDaNa1281 said:

Mar 23, 2024 15:37:03 GMT -5 nickcave said:

John Cena vs. John Laurinitus made worse by the fact that CM Punk and Daniel Bryan had a great WWE title match mid-show that could have main evented instead

Well of course...they wanted to end the show by shocking everyone, with Big Show turning for the 32nd...sorry, 34th time.

It wasn’t the 32nd or 34th time.

It was the 50TH.

[Ronny Rayguns Is All Elite]

Mar 23, 2024 14:16:27 GMT -5 The Thread Barbi said:

LT vs Bam Bam Bigelow.

Should have been a special attraction match, not the last match at Wrestlemania 11.

I get it.

It was a big spectacle match with a celebrity. It got a lot of mainstream attention

(And also had The Gorgeous ladies of Salt N' Pepa involved)

It was a pretty big deal at the time

Looking at this card now it seems pretty underhwelming overall

[JoDaNa1281]

Mar 23, 2024 16:49:16 GMT -5 fg said:

Mar 23, 2024 16:30:34 GMT -5 JoDaNa1281 said:

Well of course...they wanted to end the show by shocking everyone, with Big Show turning for the 32nd...sorry, 34th time.

It wasn’t the 32nd or 34th time.

It was the 50TH.

I thought the 50th came later. At most, I figured this turn was 40-something.

[Citizen Snips Has Left]

Mar 23, 2024 16:28:04 GMT -5 jason1980s said:

Not so much the entire main event, and I get it was a random type of teams but it was odd to see Tito, Roma and Hercules in a main event (Survivor Series 90). Tito was probably main event on secondary house shows in the 80s but not 1990s.

Early Survivor Series are sort of an outlier. You had main events with Butch Reed, Ken Patera, Hillbilly Jim and the Red Rooster.

[Celexa Bliss 54]

Mar 24, 2024 12:07:23 GMT -5 Citizen Snips Has Left said:

Mar 23, 2024 16:28:04 GMT -5 jason1980s said:

Not so much the entire main event, and I get it was a random type of teams but it was odd to see Tito, Roma and Hercules in a main event (Survivor Series 90). Tito was probably main event on secondary house shows in the 80s but not 1990s.

Early Survivor Series are sort of an outlier. You had main events with Butch Reed, Ken Patera, Hillbilly Jim and the Red Rooster.

When you main event with a Survivor Series match, you're always running the risk of a "why is HE in the main event?!" situation. Some more modern occurences:

2004: Maven and Snitsky

2005: Lashley, Masters and Carlito (Lashley wasn't the star he is these days back in 2005, and Masters and Carlito looked very out of place imo)

2014: No offense to any of the men in that match, but Rowan, Harper and Henry didn't belong in the main event at that time. Ziggler, Show, Kane, Ryback and Rusev were questionable at best.

2017: Actually, nothing TOO bad with that match. Roode was the most questionable pick out of the ten, my issues with that are more with Triple H, Angle and Shane being there, because they were part-timers.