10 Money Matches WWE Rushed To Give Away For Free

6. Big Show Vs. Steve Austin (22 March 1999, Raw)

Steve Austin Big Show Mankind
WWE Network

36 days after making his debut during a Steel Cage donnybrook between Steve Austin and Vince McMahon at St. Valentine's Day Massacre, Big Show was working Austin for free on Raw. It happened six nights before WrestleMania XV, and it even had Mick Foley as a special guest referee.

Nobody can blame the creative team for trying to offer up a massive main event. Over on Nitro, WCW were promoting first-time-ever matches like Ric Flair vs. Rey Mysterio and Goldberg vs. Hak (The Sandman). Playing fair, it's logical that the WWF would try to make their program the must-see one during a ratings war.

Even so, they'd destroyed WCW by the spring of 1999 and should probably have shown a bit more restraint rather than serving up Show's first one-on-one collision with Austin for nothing. It ended up being a nine-minute TV match when it could easily have headlined most pay-per-views that year.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.