The WORST Moment From EVERY WWE SummerSlam

13. The ‘Ring Of Fire’ Debacle (2013)

There's a good reason why WWE don't run with the 'Inferno Match' gimmick too often: It isn't anywhere near as exciting in execution as it seems to be in theory. The fire idea fit Kane's battles with The Undertaker back during the 'Attitude' days, but creative brought it out of storage for his bout vs. Bray Wyatt in 2013 too.

They shouldn't have bothered.

It was certainly bold to open SummerSlam with the renamed 'Ring Of Fire' speciality between the pair. Revisiting such an iconic set piece bout probably sounded like the right idea, but it didn't translate well in 2013 - definitely not as a launching pad for the entire pay-per-view.

Fire matches are a tough sell, because they’re legit dangerous. So, workers have to just stumble around teasing a few bumps into the flames and the whole thing loses steam pretty swiftly. That's the charitable way of putting it. Bloody boring would perhaps be more accurate and less kind.

The main problem with 'Inferno' or 'Ring Of Fire' bouts is that they'll never live up to the violence expected of such things. The lure is that you're going to see somebody set ablaze, but that rarely (if ever) actually happens. Instead, everyone sits around on their hands waiting for little teases that never lead to much of any note. It's dull.

Wyatt and Kane couldn't deliver what they'd promised on TV leading up to SummerSlam. That isn't necessarily their fault, of course, but...just give this gimmick a miss from now on, WWE. It isn't even all that fun to play in WWE 2K26!