10 Worst WWE Pay-Per-Views Of The Ruthless Aggression Era
From No Mercy 2004 to Unforgiven 2007, there were some total turkeys in the mid-2000s.
WWE's Ruthless Aggression Era was a time period that stemmed loosely from 2002-2008. The idea behind the change in direction from WWE was that following the end of the Attitude Era and the acquirement of WCW, WWE needed to adjust for the future of their programming.
This reset wasn't just because of the introduction of numerous WCW talents throughout 2001 and 2002. It was also because of the fact that in 2003, WWE's two top stars - Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock - were virtually retired. This meant that WWE had to drastically make stars that could generate revenue and be in a position to carry the company into the immediate future.
RAW and SmackDown would then become two separate entities and WWE prioritised the aim of making stars. One of the things this brand split introduced was the idea of brand-exclusive PPV events. This means that each month, one brand would host that month's PPV event.
The Ruthless Aggression Era was well known for top quality in-ring work. This in-ring resulted in some of the best PPV events of all time. On the flip side, there were indeed some unfortunate stinkers in the mix. Despite the number of good PPVs during this era outnumbering the number of lacklustre PPVs, it sadly doesn't take away from the fact that some of the PPVs in the forthcoming list being some of the worst WWE events of all time.
Here are the top 10 worst WWE PPVs of the Ruthless Aggression Era.
10. No Mercy 2006
The first PPV on the list highlights some of the issues with brand-exclusive PPV events. No Mercy 2006 was a PPV that took place in the middle of the World Title reign of King Booker. The World Title reign of Booker was most well known for the comedic segments and Booker's fake English accent. Sadly, the majority of the matches during his reign were underwhelming at best.
The main event of the PPV featured Booker defending his World Title against Batista, Finlay and Bobby Lashley. The problem with the fatal-four-way was that Batista was the only one who had a chance of taking the title from Booker. Finlay was nothing more than a mid-carder and Lashley was yet to put it all together to be a top star in WWE. This meant that the match felt kind of flat and didn't really feel like it belonged in a PPV main event slot.
Elsewhere on the show, Chris Benoit and William Regal had the match of the night which shouldn't come as a surprise. Sadly, it wasn't even announced prior and was added as a "PPV surprise". Rey Mysterio would defeat Chavo Guerrero in a Falls Count Anywhere match in another good contest.
The PPV was unfortunately full of filler matches that either served no purpose or served to further a storyline for a later date. Matt Hardy would face Gregory Helms in the opening match. MVP would defeat Marty Garner in his PPV debut. Mr Kennedy would defeat the legendary Undertaker by DQ in a finish that received audible groans from the 9,000 WWE fans in attendance.