What Was the Worst Year For PPVs?

[Deleted]

I'm probably not alone in thinking that 2013 has honestly been a pretty awful year for pay-per-views, right? About the only ones I'd say were any good were Money in the Bank and SummerSlam, and Royal Rumble until about halfway through the Rumble match where it suddenly nose-dived and never recovered. Granted, I haven't seen Elimination Chamber, Payback, or Survivor Series.

Still, at 2 1/2 good ones in my opinion, I'm sure it's not the worst. PPV is pretty dependent on the quality of the storytelling and of the roster at a given time and, while things have been pretty negatively viewed lately, there've been times things have been much worse. So, what year gives you the least good or most bad to say about it from a quality perspective?

[Sparkybob]

2004 was real shitty after WM.

Good God JBL tried but those smackdown PPV's were awful.

[Deleted]

I think this one is the worst. Seriously.

I don't even remember the last good PPV at this point. Usually they are hit or miss, not just miss miss miss miss.

[Hawk Hart]

Dec 11, 2013 16:45:51 GMT -5 Sparkybob said:

2004 was real shitty after WM.

Good God JBL tried but those smackdown PPV's were awful.

I was thinking 2004 as well but more overall. I remember several really great matches but most what they did that year was awful. You had the very strong Rumble, No Way Out, and Mania shows to start out the year and then not a whole lot interesting happened. Actually, just for fun, I'm gonna see what I remember from each PPV that year right off the top of head.

Royal Rumble: Hardcore Holly got a title shot (shitty), Triple H vs HBK in Last Man Standing (7/10), Eddie vs Chavo (Chavo Classic was there!), and the Rumble with Benoit winning. Fun Fact: Kane was eliminated that year after he was distracted by the Undertaker's gong, he proceeded to attack Spike Dudley before Spike made it to the ring so he and Scotty 2 Hotty are both in the same boat of "Guys that never made it to the ring because a Brother of Destruction hit them in the face."

No Way Out: Nidia vs Jamie Knoble, Rey hung out with a boxer I think, and Eddie won the title. Really just a one moment show but that moment was so powerful that 95% of people forget Goldberg helped Eddie win.

Wrestlemania XX: We all remember the big moment from this show, Ultimo Dragon fell down.

Backlash: Triple H vs Shawn Michaels vs Chris Benoit II, in Canada this time. Forgotten classic. Another classic? Orton vs Foley, that match kicked all the ass. All of it.

Judgment Day: Mordecai! Also, Eddie bleeding profusely.

Bad Blood: It took me a minute but I'm fairly certain Kane vs Benoit happened on this show. I think Triple H was probably booked somewhere. He likely went over.

Great American Bash: JBL wins the title, Paul Bearer is buried in cement by the Undertaker.

Vengeance: Edge vs Orton for the IC title happened on this show and it was f***ing awesome. This match has lost a lot of the love it had initially but I can still sit down and be captivated by that match. I think Matt Hardy vs Kane in a hardcore match happened too but it wasn't very good. Triple H vs Benoit finally had a singles match and it was also disappointing. I'm 90% sure Coachman had a match on that show and Eugene was in Evolution.

Summerslam: Actually, not the worst show overall. Eddie/Angle, Jericho/Edge/Batista, Bubba/Spike/D'Von vs Kidman/London/Rey, Triple H/Eugene, Benoit/Orton, and even Cena/Booker were all good-great matches with Hardy/Kane and Taker/JBL being the only real stinkers. JBL took a powerbomb through the roof of his limo though so that was a cool spot. Another fun fact: A guy from the stands jumped the barrier and climbed atop JBL's limo to start dancing before security got him. They had to work quickly though because he was inches away from the gimmicked roof which would've sent him through the roof instead of JBL.

Unforgiven: Jericho and Christian had a pretty good ladder match, HBK beat Kane for some reason, I think La Resistance vs Tajiri and Rhyno went on second to last while Benoit opened the show, despite being champion a month before. Oh, and Triple H got his belt back.

No Mercy: Cena and Booker had the fifth match and their okay best of five series. Taker vs JBL was in a Last Ride Match that ended when Hidenreich interfered. That's the most 2005 sentence of this whole write-up.

Survivor Series: Maven main evented. Guys, Maven main evented. Then he got to be GM of Raw for a week!

Armageddon: Cena beat Jesus!

I'd say that 1996 is a pretty close competitor for the title of worse though.

[Deleted]

Come to think of it, I'm going to nominate 2009. That year you had...

Royal Rumble - Outside of Orton botching pointing at the sign, does anyone remember a thing about this show? At all? I guess maybe Matt Hardy's stupid heel turn.

No Way Out - Raw Chamber match was pretty awesome, that's about it.

WrestleMania - It was 25. That's all.

Backlash - Eh.

Judgment Day - I really wasn't able to remember a single match off this card without looking it up outside of Edge / Hardy, and even then I thought that ended in a DQ.

Extreme Rules - Ladder match was good, about it.

Night of Champions - Hey, remember that time Orton tapped out in front of the referee and still won the match?

SummerSlam - About the only things worth remembering here are the Cena / Orton trainwreck, the surprisingly good DX / Legacy match, and Punk / Hardy being surprisingly lackluster.

Breaking Point - Main event was terrible, but this show was otherwise pretty decent.

Hell in a Cell - Pass.

Bragging Rights - Holy shit 2009 had a lot of PPVs. This one sure had a point outside of setting up the Jerishow / DX match that didn't come for another two months and Batista's heel turn, huh?

Survivor Series - Main event was great, outside of that I defy you to remember a thing about it.

TLC - This show probably happened. Well, if nothing else that stupid Dusty Finish in the Chairs match did.

Yeah, pretty much the whole year alternated between being completely forgettable and actively terrible.

[Bravo Echo November]

2007 was very hard to stomach. Royal Rumble was good, and everything after No Mercy was solid. Otherwise? Suspensions, injuries, and the Benoit incident really took their toll on the product.

[Oh Cry Me a Screwball]

Dec 11, 2013 17:18:48 GMT -5 Lizuka #BLM said:

Come to think of it, I'm going to nominate 2009. That year you had...
Cena vs. Orton

Cena vs. Orton

Cena vs. Orton

Cena vs. Orton

Did I forget to mention that Cean vs. Orton happened a few times?

That's a good of a description of 2009 PPV as you will get.

Thank god SD and ECW had some good free TV matches during this time.

[BorneAgain]

1999 is very iffy in PPV matches. Outside of some good stuff with Rock/Austin/Foley, gimmick stuff with Vince or the Tag Team ladder match at No Mercy, its nothing to write home about.

[Deleted]

Dec 11, 2013 17:49:34 GMT -5 Oh Cry Me a Screwball said:

Dec 11, 2013 17:18:48 GMT -5 Lizuka #BLM said:

Come to think of it, I'm going to nominate 2009. That year you had...
Cena vs. Orton

Cena vs. Orton

Cena vs. Orton

Cena vs. Orton

Did I forget to mention that Cean vs. Orton happened a few times?

That's a good of a description of 2009 PPV as you will get.

Thank god SD and ECW had some good free TV matches during this time.

Hey. Hey, be fair. There was also them having Batista win the WWE title in a seven minute match when he was a clear filler challenger when they knew he was injured, only for him to get stripped of it the next night and never get a rematch.

[Oh Cry Me a Screwball]

Dec 11, 2013 17:52:56 GMT -5 Lizuka #BLM said:

Dec 11, 2013 17:49:34 GMT -5 Oh Cry Me a Screwball said:

That's a good of a description of 2009 PPV as you will get.

Thank god SD and ECW had some good free TV matches during this time.

Hey. Hey, be fair. There was also them having Batista win the WWE title in a seven minute match when he was a clear filler challenger when they knew he was injured, only for him to get stripped of it the next night and never get a rematch.

And to think the prospect of Randy Orton as the Raw main eventer was actually interesting in the beginning of the year when he punted Vince.

Boy did that turn out well.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

Dec 11, 2013 17:51:47 GMT -5 BorneAgain said:

1999 is very iffy in PPV matches. Outside of some good stuff with Rock/Austin/Foley, gimmick stuff with Vince or the Tag Team ladder match at No Mercy, its nothing to write home about.

Came to post this. 1999 was gangbusters for angles and ratings but it mostly had terrible wrestling.

[Some Guy]

Dec 11, 2013 17:51:47 GMT -5 BorneAgain said:

1999 is very iffy in PPV matches. Outside of some good stuff with Rock/Austin/Foley, gimmick stuff with Vince or the Tag Team ladder match at No Mercy, its nothing to write home about.

Was going to say the same as well. Brutal year for PPVs, and like you said, only the ladder match at No Mercy would be close to a MOTY candidate this year. A bad Rumble, a horrible Wrestlemania, a bad King of the Ring, a mediocre Survivor Series and several really bad lesser PPVs (Armageddon namely).

[rocket]

Dec 11, 2013 17:10:09 GMT -5 Hawk Hart said:

Bad Blood: It took me a minute but I'm fairly certain Kane vs Benoit happened on this show. I think Triple H was probably booked somewhere. He likely went over.

Triple H main evented against HBK in a Hell in a Cell. And it was 45 minutes long.

How's that for a match where neither was champion?

[Magic knows Black Lives Matter]

Pretty much any year that the brand split PPVs happened. My god, some of those shows were rotten.

[Deleted]

Dec 11, 2013 18:40:02 GMT -5 rocket said:

Dec 11, 2013 17:10:09 GMT -5 Hawk Hart said:

Bad Blood: It took me a minute but I'm fairly certain Kane vs Benoit happened on this show. I think Triple H was probably booked somewhere. He likely went over.

Triple H main evented against HBK in a Hell in a Cell. And it was 45 minutes long.

How's that for a match where neither was champion?

That match is a pretty perfect example of what was typical out of Triple H / Michaels match - really good... then it goes twenty minutes past when it should've ended.

[Jedi-El of Tomorrow]

Dec 11, 2013 18:40:59 GMT -5 Magic knows Black Lives Matter said:

Pretty much any year that the brand split PPVs happened. My god, some of those shows were rotten.

Those 2003 Raw shows were horrible. The Smackdown shows were good, but my Zod those Raw shows were horrible.

[Jiren]

I'd say 95 since you had both companies putting on Shit PPVS

But if we're talking current then I'd say 2009

[Bo Rida]

2009 is a tough one to judge as there were quite a lot of great matches on otherwise mediocre/bad PPVs.

[agent817]

Dec 11, 2013 17:56:35 GMT -5 "Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay said:

Dec 11, 2013 17:51:47 GMT -5 BorneAgain said:

1999 is very iffy in PPV matches. Outside of some good stuff with Rock/Austin/Foley, gimmick stuff with Vince or the Tag Team ladder match at No Mercy, its nothing to write home about.

Came to post this. 1999 was gangbusters for angles and ratings but it mostly had terrible wrestling.

King of the Ring was the worst PPV that year. Royal Rumble that year also sucked save for Rock vs. Mankind.

[Deleted]

Dec 11, 2013 18:54:07 GMT -5 agent817 said:

Dec 11, 2013 17:56:35 GMT -5 "Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay said:

Came to post this. 1999 was gangbusters for angles and ratings but it mostly had terrible wrestling.

King of the Ring was the worst PPV that year. Royal Rumble that year also sucked save for Rock vs. Mankind.

If nothing else, I still like the Austin / McMahons match a lot. Though the Rock / Taker match is so bad it pretty much completely undoes any good from that.