7 Most Surprising WWE PPV Main Eventers Ever
Triple H. Shawn Michaels. The Spirit Squad. One of those things is not like the others...
Although pay-per-view is pretty much a dead medium these days (at least as it pertains to WWE), it used to be a serious cash cow for the company. Today we're living in a post-WWE Network world, where the creative team can put out just about any card because, hey, people are paying 9.99 a month (I think that's the right amount) to subscribe so they'll watch it regardless.
That extends to the main event, aka the most important match on any given show. To some extent, it doesn't really matter what WWE put on last these days since they already have fans' money and subscriber numbers aren't going to wildly fluctuate off the back of one supershow main event alone.
Hence Roman Reigns versus Sheamus at TLC 2015.
Back when PPV was king, WWE relied on having an enticing top-liner to draw punters in and convince them to part with their hard-earner cash, which was significantly more than today's 9.99 asking price. The shows with the biggest or most interesting main events have, traditionally, been the biggest earners (outside of WrestleMania, which essentially sells itself, of course).
Despite this, WWE have presented some truly odd main events in their time, with some very unexpected performers. While you'd expect to see Steve Austin, The Rock, Triple H, John Cena and co. in the money spots, you don't usually anticipate seeing comedy acts and ageing, aimless veterans battling at the end of the night.
But it has happened.
7. JBL - Judgement Day 2004
John Bradshaw Layfield was a career midcarder before the absences of Kurt Angle (injury) and Brock Lesnar (quit to try out for the NFL) forced WWE to turn him heel and hastily shunt him up the Smackdown card. He ditched longtime tag partner Ron Simmons (who was also fired for real) and became 'JBL', a JR Ewing style millionaire.
His first main event programme was opposite WWE Champion Eddie Guerrero and, despite a poor, cheap heat-filled buildup, the two men headlined May's Judgement Day pay-per-view. The outing was pedestrian, meandering stuff in the early going (it was quite clear that the challenger had no stamina), but it seriously picked up at the midway point.
Clattered with a vicious chair shot to the head, Latino Heat bled a gusher. 'A gusher' is putting it mildly: Guerrero, the ring and the ringside area were soaked in the red stuff. It made for a far more dramatic match, as viewers genuinely felt like Eddie might not make it out of the match alive, let alone with his WWE Title.
A DQ finish necessitated a rematch at the next Smackdown PPV, the dire Great American Bash, but that match didn't headline (the Undertaker versus Dudley Boys 'Concrete Crypt' disaster did - more on that later). Of course, JBL would go on to headline many more pay-per-views over the following years (quite ably, too), but it was certainly a surprise to see him in the show-closer in May of 2004, after being so aimless for the months beforehand.