20 Most Controversial Wrestling PPVs Of All Time

10. nWo Souled Out 1997

Controversy: WCW buries its own product The nWo was red-hot in 1997. Fans were tuning in to watch them on television, and they were buying nWo merchandise in ridiculous amounts. WCW was reported to be debating taking the group from a single stable to its very own separate "brand", just like Vince McMahon would eventually do with a brand split for Smackdown and Raw. 1997's Souled Out pay-per-view was set to be a test run, of sorts, for making the nWo another "brand". Instead, fans got a three-hour burial of WCW. Commentary was spent talking about seemingly anything other than the matches taking place, especially when non-nWo people were on offense. The nWo "voice" from their commercials would constantly chime in with sarcastic comments during matches, as well as randomly saying "loser" when WCW guys were doing things. Every single match featured nWo referee Nick Patrick in control, meaning that there was cheating, more cheating, and even more cheating, time after time. It was boring, it was pointless, and even the live crowd began to give up on the show before it was all over. The show made everything in WCW look second-rate, which is terribly counter-productive in the grand scheme of things.