Bad for Business: Top 5 Worst WWE PPV main-events of 2013

WrestleMania 29

2013 hasn’t been any good in terms of pay-per-view business for the World Wrestling Entertainment. The company was struggling to make the huge events a success when it came to in ring action and creative aspects.

A major portion of the WWE universe were left cursing the PG era while the remaining kicked off a wide protest on the internet against the unimpressive creative team.

But the common emotion of disappointment still runs around among the fans when asked about the pay-per-views of 2013. The company saw one of the biggest slumps over the decade this time as even their big four pay-per-views failed to produce much of a fizz.

The creative are already sowing some seeds to rectify those errors next year, so here is a look back at the lessons that they should avoid if they have to fill the seats for such events in the future.

5- John Cena vs. Ryback – Extreme Rules

Extreme Rules

Now, this wasn’t a contest but it showed how much importance the ending has when it comes to pay-per-view main events.

The whole point of the event being named Extreme Rules was to acknowledge the pain and punishment that the wrestlers would go through to get a win. But the no result ending destroyed the excitement and gave the fans nothing to cheer about.

Back in ECW, from which the pay-per-view was actually inspired, one wouldn’t see a match ending in a no contest even if a superstar takes a 30 foot fall to concrete. Contrasting with this one, it was actually a disgrace to the “extreme” tag which was flourished by many legends like Terry Funk and Mick Foley.

4- John Cena vs. The Rock- WrestleMania 29

WrestleMania 29

The match between the two in last year’s WrestleMania was billed as “Once in a lifetime match” but that turned out to be a lie when this happened.

Though the match was picked as the best match of the year in the Slammys, the fans would know that Cena had better matches even in Raw. It was just an array of finishers with Rock looking more than rusty at times.

And no one would’ve bet against Cena winning the championship as Rock was certain to go back to Hollywood. The predictability coupled with repetition and bad creativity in the rings led to an average match which wasn’t worthy of headlining the grand stage of them all.

3- Randy Orton vs. Daniel Bryan – Battleground

Battleground

Randy Orton, you’re going to see a lot of him on the list. It’s not because he is a bad wrestler, it’s because of the angles that he’s been put into by the creative.

Bryan and Orton had many intriguing matches on Raw but their PPV matches never reached the mark set by those on free television. And adding in some stupid interference from Big Show meant that the fans would witness catastrophic ending.

Big Show knocking out Bryan would end the match in a no contest much to the fans asking for a refund of their hard earned money. There isn’t much to say about this one as it was just a complete mess involving two of the most decorated talents in the roster at the moment.

2- Randy Orton vs. The Big Show – Survivor Series

Survivor Series

The Survivor Series is rich when it comes to a prestigious history but the company clearly booked the pay-per-view like they were showing it on a 3 am slot on Wednesday. It was so bad that WCW in their worst times used to pull off better PPVs.

The Authority angle involving Big Show was again taking the center stage despite it getting minimum heat from the fans. No one had the idea of Big Show winning the title which doomed the match with predictability to start with.

The match went on to be one of the most embarrassing main events in the long run of Survivor Series as it seemed like it was not even worthy of main eventing Raw.

1- Randy Orton vs. Daniel Bryan – Night Of Champions

Night Of Champions

After a long reign of CM Punk, the WWE championship was seen tossed around without much of a credible reign from any of the holders.

The title simply lost its value in the process and was put into another pathetic situation when Daniel Bryan went against Randy Orton. But the thing was, neither Orton nor Bryan was the protagonist of the storyline. It was Big Show, and to make things worse he was seen nowhere in the arena for the main event.

The whole idea of making Big Show a rebel figure wasn’t very great to begin with. Then using that angle to make a championship match gave the fans the worst pay-per-view main event of the year.

It’s really sad to see Bryan in such a list because he simply was the focal point of the little success that the company has had this year. Then again it proves that the creative lets down the fans more than any of the individual wrestlers.