WWE: 13 Worst Match Stipulations In The Past 15 Years

11. "Stairway To Hell" Match (ECW)

The title of this match evokes any number of images such as the one above, and one may think of blood, fire, and/or brimstone involving ladders, cages, and demonic structures such as the WWE Hell in a Cell. However, the concept involves a standard ladder match with barbed wire awaiting the one who attains it after climbing the ladder, providing a potential incentive but not guaranteed victory. While the barbed wire can create violent consequences, the match simply does not live nearly up to any expectations set by its name. Instead of Nosferatu and Lucifer, audiences get matches such as Sabu vs. The Sandman, which start out as wrestling matches, yet the wire does not even play as big a role as the sledgehammer in the aforementioned match. The incentive ends up being held by someone and perhaps used a few times by the person able to grab the item, but only after a grueling 10-15 minute match has nearly ended, such as when Justin Credible used the object for less than a minute before pinfall. This concept sounds great and lively on paper, but falls flat in practice, just as in the Sabu-Sandman match, where The Sandman grabbed the barbed wire while Sabu outsmarted this so-called "hell" and shoved his opponent off of the ladder, causing him to tumble through a table outside of the ring. Ultimately, the only hell comes for the fans who expect to see the underworld and get underperformance, with a roll of barbed wire at the end of the stairway to mediocrity.