10 Wrestling Matches That Killed WWE PPVs

5. Big Show Vs. Erick Rowan (TLC 2014)

Big Show Erick Rowan
WWE.com

Tables, Ladders, Chairs and...Stairs?

Yes, in 2014, WWE decided that they'd "enhance" the TLC gimmick by promoting a match around the exclusive use of steel steps. It was as exciting as it sounds reading that; Big Show and Erick Rowan (one a past-his-prime giant and the other inexperienced) had no chance with this kind of booking.

WWE deserve special congratulations for managing to find a stip that was somehow worse than the torturous Chairs Match gimmick. They failed to recognise that the excitement of TLC lies either in wrestlers having something to wrestle for, like a title suspended above the ring, or in their ability to use every kind of weapon.

Those steps that surround the ring? Well, they're hardly the most ominous of focal points for an entire match, and so Show vs. Rowan ended up being an 11-minute argument against shoe-horning stipulations into things for the sake of it. The farcical stairs idea made a mockery of every match to come on the show.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.