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One of the most important aspects of pro wrestling is that the matches and storylines can be easily botched. Writing a coherent and logical storyline is difficult, especially when there are so many creative forces that don’t agree.
It’s even worse in wrestling matches themselves, as the wrestlers have to try and come together to create an interesting contest built not only on their own strengths and weaknesses, but also based on those of their opponents.
So when wrestlers are stuck with bad creative direction, they try to make the best of things with their matches. But when there are bad match arrangements (like awful stipulations, bad wrestler match-ups, or obvious limitations in skill), things only get worse for the fan. In these five dreadful matches, there are combinations of all of these problems.
These five worst matches of 2006 demonstrate what happens when bad creativity and poor planning has a trickledown effect on the poor wrestlers stuck executing awful ideas.
#5 Mickie James vs. Ashley Massaro – Royal Rumble 06
The Diva Search concept has been lambasted many times over the years for introducing wrestling fans to some of the worst women’s wrestlers of all time. Ashley Massaro was one such a wrestler, who won the 2005 Diva Search but received little training on how to actually wrestle. In her biggest match to date, she faced very-good-women’s-wrestler Mickie James, and her limitations were exposed beyond salvation.
Ashley had very little to work with, so she relied on wrist-locks for the first half of the match. Not even Joey Styles’ commentary could convince fans Ashley was a credible wrestler. Things only got worse from there as Ashley hit a few weak moves, did some heel antics like hair-pulling (despite being the babyface), and hit a Spear that was so bad it made late-2000s Edge look like Goldberg in his prime.
The only good thing about this match was that the right person (Mickie) won. Ashley was vastly unprepared to actually wrestle and should’ve spent more time training with Dave Finlay before going into this match. It isn’t awful by Diva standards but is certainly a far cry from what we’ve come to expect from women’s wrestling these days.
#4 Boogeyman vs. Booker T & Sharmell – WrestleMania 22
The Boogeyman was a gimmick that should not have worked but somehow did. He was a unique gimmick that grabbed fans’ attention by being disturbing and gross, and that was before he ever had a match.
He made people uncomfortable in his non-wrestling segments, but he was even worse in the ring. Boogeyman was a 42-year-old rookie and was incredibly limited in terms of what he could do. So when he wrestled against Booker T, you knew it wasn’t going to be anything exceptional.
Boogeyman's offense was limited to poorly-executed strikes and Irish whips, and his finisher was a type of powerslam that didn’t look too impressive. In fact, the only part of the match that anyone really cared about was the worms that Boogeyman brought out.
That got a mild reaction, but not the big pop WWE were likely hoping for. This was a complete waste of time and was a major disservice to Booker T’s abilities as a wrestler.
#3 Undertaker vs. Big Show – Punjabi Prison Match – The Great American Bash 2006
The Great American Bash 2006 is infamous for two reasons. The first is that three wrestlers on the card were taken off, all due the same ailment: elevated liver enzymes. Second, it’s remembered for the first Punjabi Prison Match, which was one of the worst concepts in WWE history.
It was hard to take this match seriously, despite the commentators trying to sell it as a true nightmare. Show throwing Undertaker into the bamboo looked more comedic than it did serious. The big moves looked sloppy at times, though one could be forgiven for not seeing them because the bamboo poles made it hard to see much of anything. The rules were also convoluted, which also led to what appeared to be a botched finish.
Khali and Daivari came out afterwards, but they added nothing to this match or the post-match segment. All in all, this match went way too long and reeked of cartoonish nonsense. Few people, if anyone, actually liked this stipulation, which is why there have been so few in WWE history.
#2 Shelton Benjamin vs. Viscera – New Years’ Revolution 2006
Unfortunately, 2006 would start off badly for two men saddled with bad gimmicks on RAW.
Shelton Benjamin was an excellent wrestler who had allegedly insulted a WWE legend backstage, and was thus saddled with a ‘Momma’s Boy’ gimmick which featured a heavy-set woman acting as his loud, over-bearing mother. Viscera was turning into ‘the world’s largest love machine’ and wrestled in silk pajamas, despite being a notoriously below-average wrestler.
So while Benjamin tried his best to make this contest work, he was fighting an uphill battle. This ended up being your typical WWE ‘swerve’ match, with one wrestler doing 90% of the offense, only to be screwed in the end by some kind of shenanigans. In this case, Viscera powered out of Benjamin’s holds and other offense and threw him around like a rag doll. At one point, he even got on top of Benjamin and started making not-so-subtle pelvic thrusts on him.
Worse, none of Benjamin’s earlier offense seemed to even dent Viscera, but getting hit with ‘Momma’s’ purse was enough to distract Viscera so that Benjamin could hit one move and win the match.
So to summarize, the person that had the biggest impact on this match was a non-wrestler shouting loudly and hitting someone with her purse. WWE’s midcard booking at its finest.
#1 TNA Reverse Battle Royal
I’m going to try and explain the rules of this match as best I can. If you get confused, please don’t blame me; blame TNA for taking a time-tested concept like the battle royal and transforming it into something asinine.
The match starts with twenty or so wrestlers brawling around the ring chaotically, with the first eight wrestlers to get into the ring by climbing over the top rope moving onto the next phase. These eight men then had to fight in a regular over-the-top-rope battle royal, having spent the first half fighting desperately to get into the ring. Then, apparently, the final two men would compete in a singles match to determine a winner.
As you can imagine, this was a complete mess. Wrestlers were brawling incoherently around the ring, and because only a select few were supposed to enter the ring, there were a few men that were literally standing around doing nothing because they knew they weren’t supposed to enter the ring.
It was completely asinine, convoluted and unnecessary. TNA was so desperate to be ‘innovative’ and ‘novel’ in wrestling that they took a simple and time-tested concept and made unnecessarily stupid and hard to follow.
