Most forgettable big time matches

[Jindrak Mark]

They don't necessarily have to be bad. In fact if they were terrible they'd probably be remembered and talked about more. Ones which are just rarely if ever mentioned.

Rock/Hogan at No Way Out 2003. Rematch of one of the most iconic matches of all time. Hollywood Rock's first match. Babyface Hogan so people have permission to cheer him this time. The match is largely forgotten though and the whole thing was basically just used to further Hogan/Vince for Wrestlemania.

Rock/Goldberg a couple months later at Backlash should have been so much bigger than it was too. Goldberg's WWE debut after years of hype and Rock arguably at his most entertaining. The Rock's selling and facial expressions are so comedic and over the top in this match I'm actually shocked it doesn't get mentioned more. It's not far off HBK's famous performance in the Hogan match.

Goldberg v Kevin Nash at Spring Stampede 1999. This was Goldberg's revenge for Starrcade 98 and was actually pretty entertaining for what it was but I'm pretty sure most people don't remember it happened.

Goldberg/Sting the next month at Slamboree. This should have been a mega face v face match between the two franchise guys of the promotion but it was nothing. I'm not sure they even booked a storyline reason for the match. And it ended without a finish after 8 minutes when Bret and the Steiners got involved.

The Rock v CM Punk at Elimination Chamber 2013. I actually didn't plan on these all being Rock or Goldberg matches. A month before the Rock/Cena rematch they had a Rock/Punk rematch. It seems weird that Rock even appeared at a non-big 4 PPV post his 2011 return, much less wrestled on one.

[chronocross]

Shawn Michaels vs. Rob Van Dam-Raw from November 2002. I remember being so hyped when the match was announced on TV, but it was so-so until Triple-H got involved and basically led to the HBK/HHH rematch at Armageddon that year.

[Gerard Gerard]

Jul 18, 2022 13:42:53 GMT -5 Jindrak Mark said:

The Rock v CM Punk at Elimination Chamber 2013. I actually didn't plan on these all being Rock or Goldberg matches. A month before the Rock/Cena rematch they had a Rock/Punk rematch. It seems weird that Rock even appeared at a non-big 4 PPV post his 2011 return, much less wrestled on one.

I recall this solely on the basis they had Punk get a phantom 3-count on Rock for no fathomable reason given the story they were telling.

Baffling few months of programming altogether.

[Mozenrath]

Jul 18, 2022 15:26:48 GMT -5 Gerard Gerard said:

Jul 18, 2022 13:42:53 GMT -5 Jindrak Mark said:

The Rock v CM Punk at Elimination Chamber 2013. I actually didn't plan on these all being Rock or Goldberg matches. A month before the Rock/Cena rematch they had a Rock/Punk rematch. It seems weird that Rock even appeared at a non-big 4 PPV post his 2011 return, much less wrestled on one.

I recall this solely on the basis they had Punk get a phantom 3-count on Rock for no fathomable reason given the story they were telling.

Baffling few months of programming altogether.

I wonder if they were trying to keep Punk credible or please or what, but if that's the aim, then do a 2 out of 3 falls match and let him get an actual fall. It'd have the same effect.

[James Fabiano]

Hogan had no luck with his Skydome rematches, did he?

[fw91]

HBK/Goldberg just lead to an evolution Schmozz in an aimless chapter of the reign of terror.

[chazraps]

The, I believe, 1990 one-time match between The British Bulldogs vs The Rock-n-Roll Express.

I may be misremembering, but even among the late-90s tape trading circuits this was a nothing burger. Even a sub-Bret Hart vs Misawa 1990 match that the two parties full fledged admitted they just didn't have the chemistry with each other that dreams are made of. (some people still really like that match so I didn't include it per se, but I can see it being a candidate)

[smokinvokoun86]

You could make this thread about TNA PPV Main Events. How many PPVs did they have that had major stars in it that didn’t mean anything because they couldn’t promote or book worth a damn?

[Starshine]

Cena/Rock 2 is pretty damn forgettable. It should be one of the career defining wins for Cena, but it doesn't feel like it at all. It doesn't help that they tried to force a narrative into the feud that Cena suffered his worst professional year because of the prior years loss, despite it never coming off that way.

[thecrusherwi]

Jul 18, 2022 19:17:00 GMT -5 fw91 said:

HBK/Goldberg just lead to an evolution Schmozz in an aimless chapter of the reign of terror.

I have no recollection of this happening despite watching pretty attentively during this era. So this definitely meets the criteria of the thread's title.

I think much of 1999 falls under the category of forgettable. In the moment, that year felt huge. The WWF still maintained mainstream popularity (unlike WCW - which sunk like a stone in early 1999, at least among my social groups) and so many of those PPVs were a big deal. They were smashing buyrrate and ratings records regularly and those matches felt so important at the time. Austin and McMahon in the Rumble. Austin vs McMahon in a Cage. Austin vs Rock. Austin vs Rock rematch. Austin vs Undertaker with the McMahons as referees, Austin vs the McMahons for Ownership of the Company. Austin vs Taker First Blood End of an Era Match. Austin vs Triple H vs Foley with Ventura as the ref (which got HUGE mainstream coverage). The first Austin vs. Triple H main event. The Austin vs. Triple H vs. Rock match that never happened. Living through it, it felt like these were huge matches that would define the WWF and pro wrestling for years to come. Now, many fans have thrown 1999 under a giant umbrella of Russoific trash. As time has gone on, 1999 seems to have faded from memory and has definitely been eclipsed in legacy by the groundbreaking years of 1997/1998 and by 2000, which might be the creative peak of the entire company under Vince. Even the Austin vs Rock Wrestlemania Main Event might be the third most remembered of their Wrestlemania matches (and at the very least a distant second). And I don't necessarily think the fading of 1999 is necessarily undeserved. When I did a thorough rewatch of the Attitude Era several years back, 1999 definitely didn't feel as special as late 1997 or 1998 and it was nowhere near as good as 2000. It's not a bad year, but it almost felt like they tried too much. Little from that year feels as timeless as the stuff happening in other years in that vicinity. But they did make an enormous amount of money that year, so I doubt Vince cares.

[fw91]

How about Angle/Hogan King Of The Ring 02?

[tafkaga]

Hogan vs. Sting on Nitro when they were both still babyfaces.
Sting/Warrior vs. Hogan/Bret on Nitro.

[The Thread Barbi]

Jul 18, 2022 15:17:53 GMT -5 chronocross said:

Shawn Michaels vs. Rob Van Dam-Raw from November 2002. I remember being so hyped when the match was announced on TV, but it was so-so until Triple-H got involved and basically led to the HBK/HHH rematch at Armageddon that year.

How many would be great things in WWE are bookended with, "until HHH got involved"?

[The Thread Barbi]

Jul 19, 2022 9:23:04 GMT -5 tafkaga said:

Sting/Warrior vs. Hogan/Bret on Nitro.

The star power in this match was HUGE. Done properly, the nostalgia factor + 1998 current relevancy could have sold out any PPV.

[Gerard Gerard]

I know Rock/Hogan 1 pretty much changed the business by teaching the WWE the value of the nostalgia dollar, but it is still crazy to me that Rock/Austin vs Hall/Nash/Hogan was given away with little fanfare on a Raw before Wrestlemania. Crazier still, it was done in service of building Hall/Austin and Hogan/Rock.

So, yeah, NWO vs Rock/Austin is my money for the most forgettable big-time match.

[Feyrhausen]

Jul 18, 2022 13:42:53 GMT -5 Jindrak Mark said:

They don't necessarily have to be bad. In fact if they were terrible they'd probably be remembered and talked about more. Ones which are just rarely if ever mentioned.

Rock/Hogan at No Way Out 2003. Rematch of one of the most iconic matches of all time. Hollywood Rock's first match. Babyface Hogan so people have permission to cheer him this time. The match is largely forgotten though and the whole thing was basically just used to further Hogan/Vince for Wrestlemania.

Rock/Goldberg a couple months later at Backlash should have been so much bigger than it was too. Goldberg's WWE debut after years of hype and Rock arguably at his most entertaining. The Rock's selling and facial expressions are so comedic and over the top in this match I'm actually shocked it doesn't get mentioned more. It's not far off HBK's famous performance in the Hogan match.

Goldberg v Kevin Nash at Spring Stampede 1999. This was Goldberg's revenge for Starrcade 98 and was actually pretty entertaining for what it was but I'm pretty sure most people don't remember it happened.

Goldberg/Sting the next month at Slamboree. This should have been a mega face v face match between the two franchise guys of the promotion but it was nothing. I'm not sure they even booked a storyline reason for the match. And it ended without a finish after 8 minutes when Bret and the Steiners got involved.

The Rock v CM Punk at Elimination Chamber 2013. I actually didn't plan on these all being Rock or Goldberg matches. A month before the Rock/Cena rematch they had a Rock/Punk rematch. It seems weird that Rock even appeared at a non-big 4 PPV post his 2011 return, much less wrestled on one.

Hey Rock/Hogan 2 gave us the debut of Sylvain Grenier!

[wildojinx]

WWE 2002 gave away a LOT of high-profile matches on tv:
Rock/Austin vs the NWO
Austin vs Flair
Undertaker vs Jeff Hardy
Brock vs Flair
Rock vs Flair
RVD vs Benoit
Hogan vs Lesnar
Rey vs Angle
HBK vs RVD
Edge vs Eddie Guerrero

Aside from Taker/Jeff ,Edge/Eddie, and Hogan/Lesnar do you remember any of these? Heck, RVD/Benoit and Rey/Angle had rematches at Summerslam that were more well-remembered.

[Jaws the Shark]

Jul 19, 2022 0:06:18 GMT -5 chazraps said:

The, I believe, 1990 one-time match between The British Bulldogs vs The Rock-n-Roll Express.

I may be misremembering, but even among the late-90s tape trading circuits this was a nothing burger. Even a sub-Bret Hart vs Misawa 1990 match that the two parties full fledged admitted they just didn't have the chemistry with each other that dreams are made of. (some people still really like that match so I didn't include it per se, but I can see it being a candidate)

The Bulldogs/Rock 'N' Roll Express match was a weird one, it happened on what I think was a cross-promotion involving AJPW, the AWA, and what had previously been the Central States territory, and it being 1989 the latter two were absolutely on their arses, and it only drew a few hundred. Apparently the whole thing only really happened for the purposes of doing an AJPW tape filmed in the States for the Japanese market.

[XIII]

Jul 19, 2022 16:34:23 GMT -5 Jaws the Shark said:

Jul 19, 2022 0:06:18 GMT -5 chazraps said:

The, I believe, 1990 one-time match between The British Bulldogs vs The Rock-n-Roll Express.

I may be misremembering, but even among the late-90s tape trading circuits this was a nothing burger. Even a sub-Bret Hart vs Misawa 1990 match that the two parties full fledged admitted they just didn't have the chemistry with each other that dreams are made of. (some people still really like that match so I didn't include it per se, but I can see it being a candidate)

The Bulldogs/Rock 'N' Roll Express match was a weird one, it happened on what I think was a cross-promotion involving AJPW, the AWA, and what had previously been the Central States territory, and it being 1989 the latter two were absolutely on their arses, and it only drew a few hundred. Apparently the whole thing only really happened for the purposes of doing an AJPW tape filmed in the States for the Japanese market.

I want to say that there was also a blizzard but I may be mistaken on that one.

[XaviersSS2015hair]

Every single main event between major stars on Nitro ever with the exception of Goldberg vs Hogan.
Probably why it's basically the only Nitro match anyone really remembers. Funny how that works.