10 Times Stipulations Ruined Wrestling Matches
3. Triple H Vs. Kevin Nash - WWE TLC 2011 (Sledgehammer Ladder)
2011 was the worst year in WWE history because it had potential to be an absorbing and cathartic game-changer.
CM Punk's breakout year was kneecapped when WWE remembered that it had done such a p*ss-poor job of building new stars that they could only afford to have him hold the WWE Championship hostage for all of...eight days. Then, Kevin Nash sent a txt message to himself from Triple H's mobile phone, instructing himself (!) to lay waste to the 'Voice Of The Voiceless' to set up a match, which was to act as a prelude to the endgame: CM Punk Vs. Triple H.
Only, Kevin Nash failed his medical tests and Triple H turned face. CM Punk's white-hot run - the likes of which has been replicated but once, by Daniel Bryan (whom WWE wanted no part of either) - was doused at the altar of a match between Triple H and Kevin Nash, who had stunk up arenas eight years earlier in one of the worst main event programmes in WWE history.
Because this match was booked in December, it had to incorporate a ladder into the stipulation - even though Nash's knees were so mummified that he could barely walk to the ring, let alone climb it. It was never going to be a classic, but at half the length (18:13, Jesus Christ) and fought under a less taxing stip, it might not have bored everybody in attendance to tears.
And people wonder why Punk walked out less than three years later.