10 Wrestling Pay Per View Concepts That Didn't Catch On
9. NWA Bunkhouse Stampede
The Bunkhouse Stampede started life as an annual tournament held by Jim Crockett Promotions in 1985. Devised as a means of drawing attention back to JCP amidst increased competition from the WWF, it was a battle royal style match in which the wrestlers competed in blue jeans and cowboy boots, and weapon use was encouraged.
The stipulation was given its own pay-per-view event in 1988 - and it was a complete trainwreck. Featuring a torturous bore draw between Nikita Koloff and Bobby Eaton and a Barry Windham vs. Larry Zbyszko stalling festival, it was a real struggle to get through. The 30-minute Bunkhouse Stampede main event failed to turn it around.
Eight wrestlers were locked inside a steel cage for this particular Stampede, with the objective being to eliminate opponents by throwing them out the door or over the top of the structure. It was a chaotic, convoluted dud of a match with next to nothing in the way of actual wrestling, and the finish was a debacle: The Barbarian scaled the cage for absolutely no reason whatsoever, Dusty Rhodes knocked him off, and that was that.
The concept failed on every level, and the building wasn't even half full. Fortunately, this was the last time any company attempted a Bunkhouse Stampede PPV.