Worst Match Decision in History

[FromGlasgow]

What would everyones Opinion of the worst Match Decision in History be?

1, Vince Mcmahon winning the ECW world title
Felt like a kick in the face to what the original ECW stood for.

2, Vince Russo winning the WCW world title
Probably the 2nd most untalented wrestling champion in history.

3, David Arquette winning the WCW world title
Made WCW and wrestling a joke when a non phyisical actor comes in and wins the world title. Guys work for years with the hope of obtaining this goal and he comes in and wins it in his debut, Also people in the future will read back about the title which had a lineage which could be traced back to guys like Lou Thesz, George Hackenschmidt, Frank Gotch, Jack Brisco, Harley Race, Ric Flair and now David Arquette.

4, Kevin Federline pinning the WWE world champion John Cena
This guy wasn't even really a celebrity so can't understand the appeal of him coming in and pinning the current WWE champion at the time John Cena in a non title match with no pay off match or anything, Again just made the world title look weak.

5, Butterbean beating Bart Gunn at Wrestlemania 15
Bart Gunn winning the brawl for all tournament which I'm probably the only one but I actually enjoyed the tournament, Basically Bart Gunn winning the tournament possibly made him legitimately the toughest guy in the whole WWE at the time, Only for him to lose in a few seconds to Butterbean and buried any credibility WWE wrestlers have as actual skilled fighters. It wasn't so much the losing to Butterbean it was more the fact that he even fought Butterbean who was like one of the best in the world at the time, If Bart Gunn had of beaten Butterbean he would of looked incredible and gotten so over but I think a win was so unlikely and WWE must have known this.

6, Other
?

 

[FromGlasgow]

I would need to go with David Arquette, I think its good to have celebrity appearances in wrestling but not for them to win the world championship, May have gotten WCW a little publicity at the time but don't think any of that was good publicity.

 

[OYDK]

Bart Gunn vs ButterBean... not even the ending, just the decision to go ahead with this "match" in the first place. WWE puts together this LONG ASS Brawl for All Tournament, that lasts, what, a month? Gunn goes in and looks like a friggin beast, knocking out Dr Death, Kama Mustafa, and Bradshaw, three LEGIT tough guys. And what does WWE decide to do with the winner? Give him the distinct honor of being complete fodder for a professional boxer. Did anybody really expect Gunn to even have a chance? Not only was it unsafe and unfair to Gunn (who got KO'd in about 30 seconds), but it completely buried him, and everybody that he beat.

It just made everyone involved look either weak or stupid, except of course, ButterBean... cus it makes a lot of sense to have the one guy who's NOT on your roster come out looking strong while making the full time wrestlers look incredibly weak. All I could do was shake my head. (And I'm with you about enjoying the Brawl for All... until the last match of course).

 

[Aquaman6686]

Brock Lesnar ending The Streak. Not a doubt it in my mind. Undertaker either should have retired with The Streak intact, or used it to create a megastar. Not thrown it away on a part-time egomaniac with zero respect for the business. If The Streak was to end, it should have been to Edge in 2008, or CM Punk in 2013. Brock Lesnar was the worst possible choice.

 

[Rane]

Michael Cole vs Jerry Lawler at WM 27 for me has to be the worst match decision ever. Don't get me wrong, the match decisions you listed were unforgivable but this battle over the commentators had to be the worst. I guess the build up and story of it made sense. Although having a clown like Cole putting on the worst wrestling attire in history and being out there with Jerry for over 30 mins I believe, on the biggest show of the year.... WTF! That time could have been used so much better for another match on the card to go on longer or add another match.

It's not enough that Cole isn't pleasant listening to every single week on commentary, but it wasn't pleasant watching any of the matches he participated in. Hence why I fast forwarded through it all.

 

[Stingersplash89]

Well the Butterbean thing wasn't really a decision (as far as who went over). The only decision made was having a legit pro boxer going against an untrained opponent in a shoot match, and we all saw how that turned out.

 

[The Warlord]

The Rockers losing to the Orient Express at Wrestlemania 6.

Pisses me off to this day.

Motherfucking bookers

 

[Goldie]

I would have thought Vince winning the WWE title was worse than him winning the watered down ECW title (when owned by WWE).

Nonetheless they are all bad decisions.
Butterbean was a pro boxer.... of course he was going to win a shoot match!
Only problem it tarnished the reputation of the WWE wresters as tough guys! if Bart was the best they had.

Vince Russo was a non-wrestler.... but I'd probably give the nod here to David Arquette.
Even Russo looked bigger then Arquette... who was scrawny and slightly built.
It completely soiled a legacy of great champions

 

[Wrestlingaholic]

Hulk Hogan's entire evening at Wrestlemania IX must be considered. I don't know how late the decision was made to have Hogan walk out as champion, but it obviously had an effect on the result of his earlier tag title match against Money Incorporated.

What we got (on a card that wasn't nearly as bad as some recall it to be) was a decent tag match ruined by a non-sensical ending (why exactly were the Mega Maniacs disqualified? Because Jimmy Hart counted the pin? Surely logic dictates that the match simply restart if that's the case?) and then a solid main event, the culmination of nearly 6 months of building up Yokozuna as a huge monster heel - a job they did very well, with his destruction of Jim Duggan and his single-handed elimination of Earthquake from the Royal Rumble particular highlights. Bret and Yoko have a good match, with a controversial yet inventive finish, and then... Mr Fuji challenges Hogan? Hogan wins in 30 seconds? A farcical decision - they would have been better off having Hogan challenge for the WWE title at the first Ling of the Ring ppv, which would probably have done huge numbers if that were the case.

Totally ruined a 6 month storyline around Yokozuna, who I believe never actually got another singles pinfall victory on ppv after he regained the title at King of the Ring!

 

[FreezeIzGAWD]

Daniel Bryant winning at WM 30!!!

I swear I wish it had NEVER happened. Vince is known to stick by his guns and the one time he didn't started a BS trend that he can NEVER stop now. The Smart fan who truly believes the show is ABOUT THEM and not the action in the ring. The WWE decided to give the fans exactly what they wanted for WM and now these morons have tried to RUIN every show since.

They complain, bitch and moan after EVERY SINGLE RAW, PPV, and SMACKDOWN. They continuous say how they are going to stop watching EVERY WEEK. Grown Ass Men go to the shows and ruin it for everyone especially the little kids who ACTUALLY STILL LIKE AND BELIEVE WRESTLING......

And it basically has become even worse since WM!

If Vince would have stuck to his guns we would have had Batista vs Orton....

It would have been a decent match and we wouldn't be having the EXACT SAME BS as last year happening where the fans feel the need to tell Vince his to run his Billion dollar company while they sit on there couch.

The WORST BOOKING DECISION EVER WAS ACTUALLY MAKING SMARKS BELIEVE THEY ACTUALLY ARE SMART!!!!

 

[Mustang Sally]

I'd pick Vince Russo as WCW champion as the worst for the simple reason that while all the other choices were driven by the Creative departments of the wrestling company involved, in this case Russo was the Creative force that deemed he should be the title holder. It was his decision....and he had full power to make it.

At least as far as what I read, I've never witnessed anyone with the sense of self-importance this guy possesses. He seems to see himself as a guru of pro wrestling whose opinion is so exalted he can't believe everyone doesn't just fall on their asses and obey when he speaks. That he's been able to convince a few wrestling organizations of his prowess and caused them to hire him as the creative force he sees himself goes to show that he must have an impressive line of bullshit to offer during interviews.

As I see it, he does have a good mind for sports entertainment and, especially with WWE, has come up with good ideas. The problem is that he should never be the top man; he needs someone above him riding herd, making sure his ideas don't all get implemented just because he thinks they'll work. Russo is a great example of "The Peter Principle" in action, as he rises to his level of incompetence.....and screws up once there.

To illustrate this, when he starts to include himself as an in-ring performer.....and then figures it's a fabulous idea to install himself as world champion.....we know he's getting too far off the track and could use a Vince McMahon to make sure Russo stays on the straight and narrow.

 

[Ric 'The Nature Boy' Flair]

Undertakers streak going to Brock.....

 

[Jonyboyuk2]

In terms of damage- The Vince Russo title win destroyed WCW; damaging wrestling forever. Not only did it insult long term fans; it destroyed the tiny bit of credibility WCW it had left. The long term impact was that it destroyed the audience; ruined the marketability of any wrestler in WCW that was on TV at the time and allowed WWE to become the only major Wrestling promotion in the USA. It also means that WWE can present themselves as "sports entertainment" and therefore the art of wrestling has been forever changed. The reason I rank this above David Arquette is because at least he was famous and it created a mild buzz. It was surely the wrong thing to do; but Russo was worse as nobody knew him. Not even wrestling fans; not even the casual viewers.

I don't much care for the WWE Version of ECW. It was not the real thing and not enjoyable at all. I dislike the brand and didn't care who was champion. But kudos to Vince for sticking it to the ECW original fans in the sense that - at least he attempted to get heat from them.

Many of you are right - Bart Gunn should not have fought butterbean - but it was a legit fight so... there you go.

As a kid; I HATED Bret losing to Yoko at WM9. But I hated even more that Hogan came back. That said; Bret was right in his book - the Hitman Fans had taken over the WWF at the time; they were sick of Hogan. Hogans aura had been lost and Hogan had stopped being the draw he was. This is directly because he tried to take Bret's spot in 1993. The only thing Hogan could have done at the time that would have contributed is to offer to be in Bret Hart's corner then turn heel on him. It would have built the WWF up a lot. But he didn't and he flopped as champion with only one defense before resurfacing in WCW and not being a big drawer there (until the heel turn in 1996).
That all said - still do not see it as a bad result as it got the Hitman going in a different direction where he could showcase his techical abilities and show up Hogan. The Hitman ran Hogan out of town. Hogan went off to WCW; the end story was the NWO became massive; and Bret helped build Stone Cold. I can't be too mad about the end of that match at WM9 anymore.

But look at that Vince Russo. Wow - he was awful.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Vince McMahon winning those belts are not "bad decisions", arguably there would have been more mileage in Shane being the McMahon to lift the WWE title back then as he could have legit carried it for a PPV or two and had enough in the locker for it to not be a "vanity title win". Shane in his day, with a different surname could have legit been pushed. As for the ECW title, it was part of making it the major Wrestlemania feud so it made sense. If you're going to use a VKM match, it's the Rumble win... THAT was a vanity win, but even then served the story.

Russo's didn't but WCW was in far worse trouble than even THAT could do to it by then.

Hogan at Mania 9 is up there, along with Nash and Goldberg and the Fingerpoke of Doom... all had a Hogan fingerprint and were not "best for business".

I actually think the worst are these...

Lex Luger loses by DQ to Yokozuna at Mania 10 - We'll never know if Luger genuinely got drunk and talked about winning the title, but even so it STILL should have happened. Lex vs Bret in that final match, however iconic people remember the win for Bret as is, would have been better. The finish of Perfect just DQ'ing him was lame and killed Luger...

Triple H vs Chris Jericho - Wrestlemania 18 - Most will say this is crazy but it was just wrong... Triple H didn't NEED to win it that night and Jericho didn't need to be "behind Steph" in the story. This was arguably the first instance of the Levesque's actually making a real "power play". With Trips jobbing to Hogan the following month it would have made far more sense for Y2J to retain somehow, perhaps with NWO interference to allow it... that could have allowed Hunter more of a tune up vs Nash or Hall and Hogan to have taken the belt from Y2J...which would have set the thing off a lot better.


Further back...

Rude vs Warrior at Summerslam 90 - By then, if you're REALLY not gonna make your best heel the champion, then don't feed him to the guy he's already beat just so he can "win the rubber match". Rude could have been used so much better at that time and in a way that would not have pissed him off... Why couldn't they have continued the Summerslam tradition of a Tag Main Event? Hogan and Warrior vs Rude and Quake? Or don't put Rude in that main event, why not have him team with Randy Savage against Dusty Rhodes and Big Bossman? Instead of DiBiase "buying Sweet Sapphire" have her turn on Duthy to help her "crush" win... Rude of course would be horrified, bin her off but it would have led to a much better feud between Rude and Rhodes that the one that clearly pissed Rhodes off enough to also leave against DiBiase... It seems a lot came from that one decision to "feed" Rude to Warrior... they lost Rude, Rhodes, Bad News... a lot of guys at the same time cos they weren't getting decent feuds...

A lot of "bad calls" in that era... not putting Flair v Perfect at Mania for his career, changing Savage v Jake to Tuesday in Texas rather than having it at Survivor Series or the Rumble and Summerslam 1991 not making better use of the talent available...

Worst Offender at SS91 was the 6 man tag - you had 2 former NWA World Champs AND Davey Boy all in that match... why resign Steamboat if you're not gonna use him? Steamboat would have been better used as the special ref for Perfect v Bret as a former IC champ and maybe even got the first "title shot" out of it from Bret... Kerry could have faced IRS and absorbed a loss rather than using the aging Greg Valentine for that one last Payday... If they knew Flair was coming in, why not use him, pay what was needed and get him there to face Steamboat or Davey for his debut... again either could have absorbed a loss but a useless 6 man win did nothing for any of them.

 

[Vader]

Gents,

The Brawl for All was a legit boxing tournament. There was no push etc. It was a bad Russo idea that left a lot of guys injured.

According to Wikipedia , Steve Williams was already paid out the 100K winning prize Bart Gunn beat him. The fight with Butterbean at Wrestlemania was seen as a punishment.

 

[Kris Benwa]

Worst match decision was Triple H beating Booker T at Wrestlemania. Nobody cared about WCW or ECW when those things happened, John Cena went on to do alright for himself these past 8 years even though I do bring that match up to defend him sometimes. In 2003 the WHC was the main title on RAW and at WM they had a chance to create a new star at the grandest stage of them all. During the build up Triple H calls him everything short of an N bomb and saying he'll never win the title. Wrestling logic dictates the baby face should win and serve the heel his comeuppance and everyone is happy. Instead during the match Booker T hits him with everything in the playbook and Triple H hits 1 pedigree, takes a nap on the canvas for Damn near a minute, then pins him and wins...ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? I was a big Triple H fan at one point but now to a much lesser degree and that's part of the reason why. If you tell a guy he isn't good enough to beat you and then he doesn't you might as well have shot him in the face on tv because he's in a hole in the ground either way. One of the worst burials I've seen and magnitude of it makes it worse than any in the poll IMO

 

[OYDK]

Gents,

The Brawl for All was a legit boxing tournament. There was no push etc. It was a bad Russo idea that left a lot of guys injured.

According to Wikipedia , Steve Williams was already paid out the 100K winning prize Bart Gunn beat him. The fight with Butterbean at Wrestlemania was seen as a punishment.

People know Brawl for All was a shoot-fighting tournament (you'd have to be pretty dumb not to if you watched it). I think what people are trying to say, is that the Brawl for All Tournament shouldn't have happened in the first place given the fact the winner was going to be fighting Butterbean at Mania anyway. I don't buy Bob Holly's story (if I'm remembering the right person correctly), that Gunn was punished for beating Dr Death by having to face Bean, and if that is true it's fucking disgusting. I think Butterbean was always scheduled to appear at Mania however.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Not sure it would have been Butterbean all along..

I wouldn't have been shocked if they didn't sign somebody though, maybe Tyson or Sapp or hell even Shamrock was the original plan vs Dr. Death or something.

It seemed like Butterbean was more of a rib on Bart Gunn... they wouldn't have put Williams in that position had he or Severn etc won...the opponent would have been more serious.

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

A couple I believe deserve at least some consideration:

Bret Hart vs Vince McMahon... seriously? As bad as Russo/ Arquette/ McMahon/ Federline wins were at least they weren't prohibited by a court settlement! Worse still a court settlement that was public knowledge! And as if having this on the biggest event of the year wasn't bad enough, he also won the US Belt and was part of WWe's 'war' with the Nexus.

Sting turning heel against Hogan. Hulk Hogan's turn in WCW worked because their fans wanted to boo him, they also wanted Sting (the hometown hero per se) to vanquish him. So what genius honestly thought that Sting (aided by another WCW original in Lex Luger) beating Hogan with the aid of a baseball bat would garner anything else but cheers?

 

[Aquaman6686]

Worst match decision was Triple H beating Booker T at Wrestlemania. Nobody cared about WCW or ECW when those things happened, John Cena went on to do alright for himself these past 8 years even though I do bring that match up to defend him sometimes. In 2003 the WHC was the main title on RAW and at WM they had a chance to create a new star at the grandest stage of them all. During the build up Triple H calls him everything short of an N bomb and saying he'll never win the title. Wrestling logic dictates the baby face should win and serve the heel his comeuppance and everyone is happy. Instead during the match Booker T hits him with everything in the playbook and Triple H hits 1 pedigree, takes a nap on the canvas for Damn near a minute, then pins him and wins...ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? I was a big Triple H fan at one point but now to a much lesser degree and that's part of the reason why. If you tell a guy he isn't good enough to beat you and then he doesn't you might as well have shot him in the face on tv because he's in a hole in the ground either way. One of the worst burials I've seen and magnitude of it makes it worse than any in the poll IMO

I've always disagreed with this one, I think having Triple H win was the right call to make and I still do. WrestleMania is generally an extremely face-heavy event, and sometimes having the heel win is the right way to go. Triple H vs. Booker T at WrestleMania 19 is one of my favorite matches of both men's careers and one of my favorite matches of all time. And yeah, Booker T got so completely buried here that he went on to win the Intercontinental Championship, World Tag Team Championship, 3 United States Championships, King of the Ring, World Heavyweight Championship, and became a Hall of Fame inductee. Yeah, his career sure went nowhere after that match.

 

[MC_Live]

Is there even an argument to be had? It's obviously David Arquette. Nothing against the guy, but what a disgrace. To take the title that everybody spends every day of their life working towards and give it to an actor who has never wrestled a day in his life is spitting on everybody on the roster. Even in WCW, where everything is messed up and most of the guys who held the belt didn't give their all like some of the undercard guys. It's still a slap in the face to have a non wrestler win the world title. I even like Vince Russo. But I'll never be able to respect him putting the belt on Arquette. And putting the belt on himself was bad too. But at least he worked in the industry. Just the dumbest move ever in wrestling.

 

[Judah's Lion]

so many options... so many opinions, most of which are absolutely valid.

Vince Russo and David Arquette are certainly worthy mentions for their WCW World Title wins.

for that matter, I'd say the same for Vince McMahon and his Royal Rumble, WWE World Title and ECW World Title wins. I mean, he kinda helped advance 3 separate storylines with those wins, but still...

there's one that I didn't see mentioned (yet) that seems like a good candidate to me: Hogan vs. Sid Justice in the main event at Mania 8. lots of issues here.

if you're gonna leave the Mania 8 match card as is, then Savage vs. Flair for the World Title should be the main event, not Hogan vs. Sid.

but, if Hogan absolutely HAS to be in the main event for issues of ego, then this match should NOT end in a disqualification. it was just a horrible and stupid way to end the main event of Mania.

and finally, how was this NOT Hogan vs. Flair for the World Title? they were building this up for several months and then just let it go. I loved the Flair vs. Savage match and feud, but it could have waited... this absolutely should have been Hogan vs. Flair as it was the dream match that fans have been waiting years to see. and the fact that it didn't happen here meant that WCW could book it years later. just a huge missed opportunity for the WWE and for the millions of fans that were aching for this match.

 

[Vader]

People know Brawl for All was a shoot-fighting tournament (you'd have to be pretty dumb not to if you watched it). I think what people are trying to say, is that the Brawl for All Tournament shouldn't have happened in the first place given the fact the winner was going to be fighting Butterbean at Mania anyway. I don't buy Bob Holly's story (if I'm remembering the right person correctly), that Gunn was punished for beating Dr Death by having to face Bean, and if that is true it's fucking disgusting. I think Butterbean was always scheduled to appear at Mania however.

I see what you're saying but it came off as if the brawl for all was scripted when he said that since we are talking about scripted finishes. It's along the lines of saying Ali beating Foreman was the worst match decision in history, since it was a legit contest there was no decision around it.

I'm not sure about what Holly said either. Again, this was from Wikipedia, and at the end of the day most the backstage knowledge that gets to kicked to fans of pro wrestling comes from one person's perspective in a book they wrote, hearsay, or a youtube shoot.

Many of those wrestlers got injured during the Brawl and I believe Dr. Death did as well. I don't know how many injuries were attributed to Bart Gunn being a fighter, but I don't see Vince wanting to waste a Wrestlemania match to teach Bart Gunn a lesson.

There was definitely an attempt at cross promotion at the time with Tyson, and Butterbean being the big star of USA's Friday Night Fights (I believe Raw was on USA back then as well).

On a side note, Butterbean sucked at boxing past round 3.

 

[relentless1]

Scott Hall should have beat Austin at WM 18, had that happened, Hall wouldve stayed sober, nWo would have gotten on a roll and probably made something of themselves during 2002 and we could have seen a real deal kilq reunion with Hall Nash X Pac HBK and HHH in the nWo

 

[Vader]

I don't think you're going to find many people that think Austin should have let someone like Hall over simply because it may have made Hall not become a bigger alcoholic.