10 Awesome Wrestling Matches On Otherwise Terrible WWE Shows

The mid-2000s was a dire scene.

WWE was in a bleak in-between period. They'd made John Cena, Randy Orton and Batista, but nobody else really, and were years from admitting defeat in their smug campaign against the indie scene. The Armageddon '06 midcard wasn't disastrous, merely solid, but the last two matches were a grim sign of the times.

Mr. Kennedy bombed against the Undertaker in an interminable Last Ride match, one that crystallised the issue at WWE's generic core: he, much like many of his peers, was only ever functional enough to peak at a gentlemen's three. The soulless and homogenised developmental system had produced frozen food and plagued the main roster.

Batista & John Cena Vs. Finlay & King Booker was just bizarre; at 11 minutes and with Finlay in it, it scanned as a zero stakes house show with a last-minute replacement for an injured star.

MNM Vs. London & Kendrick Vs. The Hardy Boyz Vs. William Regal & Dave Taylor was more infamous than great - it was the night on which Joey Mercury's face exploded - but it was great too. Obviously, the stunts were unhinged - and the near-misses resulting from the unreliable ladders had the crowd shaking - but the tone was more varied than the iconic TLC matches. In contrast to such an insipid wider product, this creative, demented ladder made the crowd feel things. Excitement. Bloodlust. Fear.

Even, when Dave Taylor was too afraid to climb the ladder, wry amusement.