Dissecting great matches is the usual way in which we analyze the wrestling business. But while enjoying these, one thing we often forget is, there is another side of the coin as well. For all the great matches that have been put together, there are certain matches that all of us would love to forget or all of us would just tune in for some good old laughs.
Though these gems only come once in a while, they are fun to watch and are treasures to behold. And in this list, we are going to take a look at some of these most botched matches.
#10 Kaitlyn vs. Maxine (ECW)
Back when NXT was still running in its initial reality show format, it had some interesting matches. One among that was the battle between Kaitlyn and Maxine. Though Kaitlyn went on to make a huge impact in the Divas division, this match was something that she would like to forget. It involved a lot of botches and to top it off, they gave microphones to Alicia Fox and Vickie Guerrero who were shouting out instructions throughout the match.
Michael Cole even went on to attend a call on television. Maxine later found a lot of success in Lucha Underground as a manager, but her WWE stay will be black marked with this match.
#9 Layla vs. Kelly Kelly (ECW)
These is the first entry in this list for WWE’s version of ECW and trust me, we have a lot of entries from it. Kelly Kelly and Layla seemed like a good match on paper and the way ECW hyped the whole thing throughout the night made it look important. But at this point, both Kelly Kelly and Layla were pretty green. Despite the heavy push, the match was destined to doom and it did just that.
The women struggled to pull off the easiest of moves and the ones that they did pull off, ended up being sloppy. This is one match that people asking for the returns of Layla and Kelly Kelly wouldn’t want you to see.
#8 Triple H vs. Scott Steiner (Royal Rumble)
The Triple H vs. Scott Steiner feud was treated as a big deal by WWE back in 2003. With Steiner freshly coming in from WCW, everyone expected these two to blow the roof off when they finally met on pay-per-view. The buildup to the match involved a lot of interesting segments and it was fun to watch but the actual match was underwhelming.
For some reason, both Hunter and Steiner did not click at all. Many spots were botched during the match and in the end; Triple H went on to lose the match via disqualification after using his sledgehammer on Steiner.
#7 Carlito vs. Chris Masters (New Year’s revolution)
Carlito and Chris Masters are two mid carders that WWE fans still miss out on. At the 2007 edition of New Year’s Revolution, they faced off against each other. It was a good match, to be frank, but the ending was completely botched. In fact, the whole ending changed upside down due to the botch. Carlito was supposed to win this match, but Master ended up winning it after going for a roll-up.
Everyone just gazed at each other for some time before the realization struck and to make matters worse, it was Carlito’s music that hit after the match. It was soon changed to Masters’ and to make up for the botch, Carlito was given a win over the Masterpiece next night on Raw.
#6 The New Age Outlaws vs. The Headbangers vs. Mark Henry and D'Lo Brown (Survivor Series)
You are bound to have a lot of chaos when there are multiple superstars involved. In this match, we had three separate teams and to make it more chaotic, there were three legal men at all times during this match. It was filled with action that was hard to follow and the commentators were making the referee victim so that they could save the face of the wrestlers.
The worst sequence of the match came towards the end when the near falls seemed like they lasted forever. The referee waiting for someone to break up the pinfall was there to be seen clearly and this added to the already messed up situation.
#5 Elijah Burke vs. CM Punk (ECW)
CM Punk is perhaps, one of the most surprising names on this list. He is known to be a great wrestler and has some great matches to showcase in his resume. But as they say, it takes two palms to clap. And maybe that’s why CM Punk ends up in this list. Back when WWE tried to run their own version of ECW, Punk was seen as a prominent figure by Paul Heyman.
Heyman booked Punk strongly and we often saw him in a variety of matches. One such match came against Elijah Burke, who was also an upcoming talent back then. However, for some reason, this match turned out to be a complete botch fest. Punk later recalled that he almost would’ve been paralyzed in that match.
#4 The WWE debut of Kofi Kingston (ECW)
The Kofi Kingston that we know today is seasoned. He has been in the wrestling business for quite long and has learned to carry himself around. But this was not the case during his early days in the company. Kofi was someone that came up through WWE’s ECW and he debuted on the show against a lesser known star by the name of Michael Owen.
While we would expect Kofi to deliver all of his great charismatic moves and take the ECW fans on his palm, it was an entirely different scenario. Kofi and Owen had a botch fest but thanks to the commentators, the match seemed okay overall. Thankfully, all these did not impact Kofi’s rise in the company.
#3 Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar (WrestleMania)
Honestly, this match is not on this list because of botched spots. Instead, this match as a whole was a big botch. Brock Lesnar was built up as a big deal by WWE during his initial run. Meanwhile, Goldberg’s spell in WWE was something that everyone wanted to see after WCW went out of business. Pairing these two up for a match at the grandest stage of them all was exciting.
Steve Austin was added as the special guest referee for the match and this took the star power to the heights that no one expected it to go. Despite all these, as it was the last match of both Lesnar and Goldberg, they simply worked a sloppy bout that no one cared about.
#2 Booker T vs. Buff Bagwell (Monday Night Raw)
This was a historic match but at the same time, it was a botched match. After the long saga of Monday Night Wars, WCW finally filed for bankruptcy. WWE, in what proved to be a surprise move, acquired the sinking company leaving an array of interesting former WCW stars at their disposal.
In an attempt to keep WCW alive inside WWE, Vince McMahon booked Buff Bagwell against Booker T for the WCW championship at Monday Night Raw and the match, despite all the hype and history surrounding it, both Buff and Booker failed to make an impact and it ended up as one of the worst matches in the history of Monday Night Raw.
#1 Jeff Hardy vs. Sting (TNA Victory Road)
Jeff Hardy has had his problems with addictions. Over the course of his career, he has received numerous suspensions and firings due to the same. The spell that Jeff had in TNA was haunted by such problems as well. And these peaked at Victory Road 2011 when Jeff turned up high ahead of his pay-per-view main event against Sting. Sting was completely furious at Jeff and finished the match as soon as it started.
Sting did not want to wrestle with Jeff in that condition and despite Jeff’s attempts to kick out, Sting kept Jeff to the ground so that he could finish the match. And just like that, one of the most hyped matches for the show ended as a botch thanks to Jeff Hardy and his addictions.
Did we miss out any match? Let us know in the comments section.
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