10 Terrible Matches WWE Champions Don't Want You To See

8. Stone Cold Steve Austin Vs The Undertaker (Backlash 2002)

The Undertaker Hulk Hogan Judgement Day 2002
WWE

The Royal Rumble-to-WrestleMania stretch foreshadowed brighter days for 'The Deadman' in 2002, with a pleasing Hardcore Title reign morphing into enjoyable mini-feuds with Maven, The Rock and Ric Flair as the worst of the 'American Bad Ass' was seemingly banished forever.

Ahead of another return to form ahead of a pre-thanksgiving injury exit though, he had a few turkeys left to share. His opponent was an all-too-familiar face in these peculiarly putrid efforts.

Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Undertaker hadn't ever really delivered something memorable in the ring despite their matches setting various pay-per-view and television ratings records at the incomparable height of the Attitude Era. They were often buoyed by crash TV's relentless pace, but that acceleration was just one of the aspects of the time completely abandoned during the doldrums of 2002.

Though neither man was fully fit and Ric Flair was installed to ensure a cheap finish to further his own tepid rivalry with 'The Rattlesnake', the boring brawl went 27:03 - longer than the WWE Title main event between Hulk Hogan and Triple H and between two and three times the length of everything else on the show too.

Seemingly paying tribute to Hiroyuki Umino, even Flair's vibrant red shoes couldn't save the day.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back almost 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 60,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett