10 Crippling Times WWE Worked Themselves Into A Shoot

1. Brawl For All

"The stupidest thing that the WWF has ever done" - Jim Cornette.

For decades, fans have debated among their friends the question of which professional wrestler really would be the toughest if it was all a shoot. Names like Haku, Harley Race, Kurt Angle (Daniel Puder?) and Brock Lesnar have been brought up within these dream scenarios. But that's all they were; just fantasy. It would be insane for a promotion to book legit matches between their competitors because they could be badly exposed - or injured!

And yet, the WWF did that exact thing in the summer of 1998.

Sixteen midcarders were chosen to beat the hell out of each other on TV in a hybrid of MMA and boxing. This route already defeated the entire purpose of it. Guys like The Undertaker and Steve Austin wouldn't be in it because of the potential of getting hurt. Then legit badasses in Ken Shamrock and Dan Severn were pulled as well, likely because they would have humiliated everyone else. So 16 men who had not much of note going on were chosen. Still, the ultimate goal was that Dr. Death Steve Williams would win and later feud with Steve Austin. But then...that whole shoot aspect came into play.

Bart Gunn knocked out Williams in the second round. Then he knocked out The Godfather and later Bradshaw in the finals. An un-charismatic tag team wrestler was the baddest man in the tournament.

Gunn didn't land himself that Austin feud. He was given another shoot fight with Butterbean at WrestleMania and was easily knocked out. Meanwhile, a bunch of other competitors from the Brawl for All tournament were badly injured. Literally not one single person came out of it looking good.

The idea has never been brought up again. One would probably be fired if they did.