10 Most Surprising PPV Headliners In WWE History
What do King Mabel, Ron 'The Truth' Killings, and Tatanka all have in common?
In WWE, only a limited number of superstars manage to break the glass ceiling and reach main event status. As such, the list of names at the top can, at times, lack variety; inevitably, it becomes commonplace to see the same faces in the same spot year after year.
Outside of Elimination Chambers, Survivor Series matches and Royal Rumble bouts where multiple personalities clog up the ring, very few men get the honour and privilege of closing out a WWE PPV. Instead, the likes of Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin and John Cena have dominated in their respective eras and become synonymous with the PPV top spot.
Luckily, modern day WWE has seen a slew of new headliners over the course of the last couple of years. 2017 alone featured the main event debuts of Samoa Joe, Braun Strowman, and Jinder Mahal, while 2016 also saw two women main event a WWE PPV for the first time.
While unusual, these examples are by no means alone when it comes to new talent being trialled at the top of a card. In fact, there have been several anomalies that stand out in PPV main events over the years. Some are deserving, others are questionable, yet all are, at the very least, something different.
10. The Dudley Boyz - Great American Bash 2004
In one of the most bizarre PPV matches in the last 15 years, the main event of The Great American Bash 2004 saw The Undertaker square off with both Dudley Boyz in a handicap Concrete Crypt match.
For those wondering, a Concrete Crypt match is like any other match, except for the fact that 'Taker's manager, Paul Bearer, was perilously sat in a glass "crypt" underneath a cement funnel. If 'The Deadman' lost, Bearer would be buried beneath the cement and 'Taker wouldn't be the only dead man in the building that night.
After a typically back and forth main event, The Undertaker was victorious, pinning D-Von after the Tombstone Piledriver. Despite winning, 'Taker wound up pulling the lever himself, releasing the cement and burying his own manager alive - all the while making the entire match that preceded it completely pointless. A head-scratcher if there ever was one.
Aside from the ten-man tag at Invasion 2001, this was the first and only WWE PPV that Bubba Ray and D-Von ever headlined. However, they would return to the main event scene for ECW One Night Stand in 2005.