10 WWE PPVs That Were Doomed From The Start

3. WrestleMania XI

WWE Crown Jewel
WWE.com

1995 was the year Vince McMahon pretended not to panic.

He'd found himself free of all charges brought against him by the Government in 1994, but with that emancipation came the end of excuses for his product going a little bit mad.

The business end of his business went into steady decline in 1992 as public pressure began to mount, but had completely nosedived by the time he left the courts a free man in July. The very next pay-per-view was headlined by The Undertaker Vs The Undertaker - a contest in which one of the only stars in the company was theoretically promoted to feature two icons for a match that couldn't even deliver the aura of one.

This ethos clearly troubled him around the impending 'Show Of Shows'. Harvesting his time and money out to celebrities, the involvement of Lawrence Taylor in the main event resulted in the entire event being dedicated to 'famous' faces instead of McMahon's faces and heels.

Crawling out of every corner like expensive infestations, the names added little to a card that was already struggling to support itself. Bret Hart ended up having his worst ever pay-per-view clash, a Shawn Michaels/Diesel show-stealer didn't get top billing, and an increasingly disinterest Pamela Anderson undermined the entire roster with her uncomfortable undersell of the show.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but 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 in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. 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 sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett