The annals of professional wrestling are brimming with extraordinary pay-per-view presentations. World Wrestling Entertainment's WrestleMania X-Seven and Jim Crockett Promotions' Great American Bash 1989 are widely considered the best but other shows, such as WCW Spring Stampede 1999 and WWE Canadian Stampede: In Your House, have helped bolster the companies' reputations as the top two promotions in the sport's history. Exemplary in-ring action, sensible storytelling and logical booking helped fuel those events to greatness. For as great as those events are, there are shows that are every bit as bad. The worst pay-per-views tend to live forever in infamy. Like a turd in the punch bowl, the shows can put a halt to a hot streak and kill any momentum the promotion had built to that point. Oftentimes, those shows result from poor match-making, unmotivated or untalented wrestlers or mind-numbingly bad booking choices. A crowd that chooses to rain down on those elements with jeers can help rescue said shows and make them, at the very least, watchable. Others are so awful the crowd loses interest and simply could not care less about the action or drama unfolding before them. King of the Ring 1995 and Great American Bash 1991 stand out among the worst events either company has ever produced and the advent of the Uncensored show by WCW led to many shows deserving of making any "worst PPV" list. With WWE enjoying a streak of strong pay-per-view offerings lately, take a look back at occasions in which they and their main competition, World Championship Wrestling, were less successful with their major event productions.
Erik Beaston is a freelance pro wrestling writer who likes long walks in the park, dandelions and has not quite figured out that this introduction is not for Match.com. He resides in Parts Unknown, where he hosts weekly cookouts with Kane, The Ultimate Warrior, Papa Shango and The Boogeyman. Be jealous.
