10 Worst WWE PPV Gimmick Matches
They spectacles, in a different sense of the word.
With Payback around the corner, WWE has commissioned a Randy Orton-Bray Wyatt rematch for the WWE Championship, and it won't be any ordinary match - it's going to be a "House of Horrors" match!
While the stipulations aren't clear (as of press time), one has to expect that it will be a strange and bizarre encounter. After all, their "normal" match at WrestleMania featured the super-imposing of insects on the canvas. Yes, their "normal" match.
Gimmick matches certainly have a purpose in wrestling: to raise the stakes, to promise a world of pain for a villain, to end a long-standing rivalry properly. The sheer number of enjoyable, even historic, gimmick matches in WWE's history numbers into the hundreds, be they ladder matches, cage matches, Hell in a Cell, and so forth.
On the downside, there have been many failures in gimmick matches. Sometimes, the performers are handcuffed by stifling match rules. Other times, at least one performer in the match is washed up, thus the stipulation is meant to disguise their weaknesses. There's also the chance that a bad storyline overrides the work of the performers, and mars the match itself. This is known as, "The story of The Undertaker's career."
This list doesn't "honor" the lamest stipulations; instead, it's a look at WWE pay-per-view gimmick matches that just plain stunk.
10. Dean Ambrose Vs. Chris Jericho: Asylum Match (5/22/16)
The two took part in a pretty good upper-midcard match at Payback weeks earlier, and it did the trick of giving Ambrose a credible win over a proven star. Because there's 46 pay-per-views a year, though, they had to have another match, this time taking place inside a steel cage. Ah, but it wasn't your normal cage - this was an Asylum, with various inane weapons hanging from the ceiling.
Because nothing says, "I'll kill you," like a mop.
While Ambrose and Jericho are capable of delivering in a brawl, a comedy match, or a mixture of both, their Asylum match went on for 26 dull minutes as they had to haul out every single weapon and use it. With that amount of time to fill, two gifted workers worked much slower than usual, and it was clearly wearing on the crowd. The ending sequence with the thumbtacks redeems the plodding affair somewhat, but the match was just a waste of both men's talents.