10 WWE PPVs That Were Doomed From The Start

9. Breakdown: In Your House

Breakdown Undertaker Kane Steve Austin
WWE.com

WWE was hot sh*t in August of 1998, but was rapidly reduced to just the latter after some clunky schedule changes for Monday Night Raw and a couple of injuries to key players rendered September a little less than Stone Cold.

A slew of card changes were required for the cobbled-together Breakdown: In Your House, and though a triple threat steel cage match between The Rock, Mankind and Ken Shamrock went down a storm, a main event pitting Steve Austin against an uneasily aligned Undertaker and Kane rather tragically drew a line under 'The Rattlesnake's white hot programme with a babyface 'Deadman'.

Outside of the aforementioned cage clash, fans hadn't been fed enough before the headliner stuttered and stumbled to a finish-free finale. Without injured leader Triple H, DX were a little rudderless in their battle against Jeff Jarrett and Southern Justice, whilst Vince Russo's scripting of the Val Venis/Goldust and Owen Hart/Edge programmes left fans completely confused as to who they should even be cheering.

The last thing the event needed was evil Mr McMahon darting off with the belt after both Undertaker and Kane registered the fall on the Champion. Had Austin not torn Monday Night Raw up in a Zamboni the next night, the company may have found themselves back on thin ice.

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.