10 Worst WWE Pay-Per-Views Ever

4. D-Generation-X: In Your House

Shawn Michaels Ken Shamrock
WWE.com

WCW kicked off their 1997 pay-per-view calendar with the experimental-yet-disastrous nWo Souled Out, but WWE proved they were just as adept at stealing their rivals' bad ideas as good when they dedicated their last show of the year to red hot new heel group D-Generation-X. There was little to separate the two creative cul-de-sacs.

Perhaps destined to disappoint after the seismic events in Montreal a month earlier, the company looked to be flatlining following the departure of Bret Hart despite all graphs still trending upwards. A grim aesthetic and utterly lifeless card robbed an audience of its enthusiasm despite coming unglued for the all-too-brief appearance of a still-injured Stone Cold Steve Austin. Shawn Michaels and Ken Shamrock had a hugely disappointing WWE Title match, whilst Triple H and Sgt Slaughter couldn't elevate each other out of the gutter in their laboured Boot Camp Match.

Diamond In The Rough: Taka Michinoku and Brian Christopher provide the best ever advert for WWE's embryonic Light Heavyweight Division in a spirited opener reduced retrospectively by how little the company gave a sh*t afterwards. Outside of this and the Taka/Great Sasuke clash from In Your House: Canadian Stamped six months earlier, the crew never again dedicated as much forethought and aftercare to the division again.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for 10 years. Alongside the production of daily written, audio and video content covering WWE and AEW, he also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 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 on the UK's wrestling podcast charts with over 10,000 episodes and 70,000,000 total downloads. He also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House!, Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast, and has guested on long-running Sunderland AFC podcast Wise Men Say. With WhatCulture, he has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. He has also been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana, 411Mania and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling. 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 music and culture magazines The Crack, Pilot as well as Sunderland AFC's premiere fanzine A Love Supreme. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it every other Saturday at the Stadium Of Light, and at Cribs gigs nationwide.