Worst Gimmick Match in TNA History?

[It's Damn Real!]

Essentially the opposite of NightShift's post, I'm curious what you all think was the worst gimmick match TNA has ever used in their history. This would obviously include the years at the Asylum with the four-sided ring prior to their television deal as well as post-television in the six-sided ring.

Though I'm not supplying a multiple choice list for you to choose from since I am sure you wrestling minds can remember the really bad ones just fine, I do think listing a few for example might help hone the thread from derailing into a secondary discussion about what match was the worst in TNA history, and not necessarily which gimmick match was the worst.

Prime candidates:

• Fish Market Street Fight – Destination X 2008 – Shark Boy & Curry Man v. Team 3D

Remember this gem? Guys actually beating each other up with mackerel.

• Black Tie Brawl and Chain – Hard Justice 2008 – Jay Lethal v. Sonjay Dutt

Both men had to wear a tuxedo, and were chained together as well. The idea of the match was to "strip" the other man of his tuxedo. Talk about Chip 'n' Dale gone wrong.

• TNA Turkey Bowl – Thanksgiving episodes of iMPACT in 2007 & 2008

A three-round tournament of three-way matches, where each match featured a member of the Heavyweight division, the X-Division and the Tag-Team division and the wrestler who lost in the finals had to put on a turkey suit. Both A.J. Styles and Alex Shelley had to embarrassingly take part in this crap.

• Blindfold Match – Lockdown 2007 – Chris Harris v. James Storm

Yeah, both guys were blindfolded in the six-sides of steel. Storm had "blinded" Harris a few weeks prior by breaking a beer bottle in his face (if I recall correctly), so both men had to be "blind" in the match.

• Reindeer Ladder Match – TNA iMPACT! 2007 – Kaz v. A.J. Styles

The loser had to wear a reindeer suit. Seriously.

--

My personal favorite (smell my sarcasm?) was the Black Tie Brawl and Chain match. I was at the Hard Justice PPV live, and that match was a total crowd killer. I felt so bad for Dutt and Lethal who had to wrestle through a match with the crowd chanting "FIRE RUSSO!" in unison.

What are some of yours? Which match takes the cake, in your opinion?

 

[NSL]

I'm going to go with my gut instinct and say the Reindeer Suit Match. Not only because of the level of match we were denied, but because of how horrendously stupid it was. AJ Styles could have very easily left at that point, and we'd see AJ the US Champion right now on Friday nights.

I'm surprised you listed the Fish Market Match. It may have been a stupid idea, but nothing with the Dudleys is ever bad. Add in silly gimmicks like Shark Boy and Curry Man, and you have comedy gold.

Good thread

 

[It's Damn Real!]

Ha, though the Fish Market match was funny, actually watching guys take bumps from being hit with frozen mackerel was kind of pathetic, too. I can still remember Tenay and West complaining that the joint smelled like an ocean, too.

I think part of the reason I hated that so much was because of that ******ed Stone Cold gimmick they gave Shark Boy at the time.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

I submit "Silent Night, Bloody Night" from the Christmas Eve 2007 episode of Impact.

It was a four way featuring Rellik ("THAT'S KILLER SPELLED BACKWARDS, DON!"), Black Reign, Abyss, and for some reason, Shark Boy. It was a match that had a barbed wire Christmas Tree hanging from the rafters (when a tree stand probably would have sufficed), and presents under the tree that were weapons. They immediately act like children at the start of the match and unwrap the presents rather than appreciating the tree... and in this case that truly is the deadliest weapon to use.

I don't remember too much of it besides all that, except the end where Judas Mesias wound up in the ring with his mouth bloody for some reason and Abyss getting dropped on his head, which ended the match.

That was Russo booking at its worst.

 

[NSL]

Agh! Another one just came to mind...I don't remember what the premise of the match was, but there was a stipulation for whoever won. It was a Knockout Match, following basic Battle Royal rules with pinfalls/submissions counting, and it was a few weeks after the Beautiful People joined up.

All of them were dressed as Santa's Little Helpers, and the match itself was so awful. It reminded me a lot of the Divas, and made me a little sad, especially because they had yet to really solidify themselves. I believe Miss Jackie won, but there's a chance it could have been one of the Beautiful People, when they were still babyfaces.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

Agh! Another one just came to mind...I don't remember what the premise of the match was, but there was a stipulation for whoever won. It was a Knockout Match, following basic Battle Royal rules with pinfalls/submissions counting, and it was a few weeks after the Beautiful People joined up.

All of them were dressed as Santa's Little Helpers, and the match itself was so awful. It reminded me a lot of the Divas, and made me a little sad, especially because they had yet to really solidify themselves. I believe Miss Jackie won, but there's a chance it could have been one of the Beautiful People, when they were still babyfaces.

That'd have been the "Santa's Workshop Knockout Street Fight"

Quite the memory you've got there, NS. I actually forgot about that.

Unitarily speaking, I think the problem I have with a lot of these types of gimmick matches that TNA tends to put on are just the fact that they require the wrestlers to wear ridiculous outfits. It's why the Fish Market match, though not a match I really enjoyed all that much was actually kind of funny, while the Turkey costume matches, and the Santa's Workshop match, etc. are just generally painful to sit through, unless you really find the image of a wrestler in a turkey suit funny.

I'm not sure if I'd consider the SW KO street fight the worst, but I'd certainly accept it as a candidate for one of.

In fact, just digging on the 'net a little bit just had me stumble across another one...

'Beer on a Pole' match!

 

[NSL]

Much better!

That'd have been the "Santa's Workshop Knockout Street Fight"

Quite the memory you've got there, NS. I actually forgot about that.

Unitarily speaking, I think the problem I have with a lot of these types of gimmick matches that TNA tends to put on are just the fact that they require the wrestlers to wear ridiculous outfits. It's why the Fish Market match, though not a match I really enjoyed all that much was actually kind of funny, while the Turkey costume matches, and the Santa's Workshop match, etc. are just generally painful to sit through, unless you really find the image of a wrestler in a turkey suit funny.

I'm not sure if I'd consider the SW KO street fight the worst, but I'd certainly accept it as a candidate for one of.

TNA definitely has an obsession with their wrestlers wearing ridiculous outfits for no reason, other than some loose connection to a holiday or gimmick. The Santa's Workshop match was the day after Xmas I believe, and it was so bad, I forgot Kong was even in it. I was probably busy staring at the bodies in elf costumes, and that's not good when you have Gail, Roxxi, Love, Kong, and Jackie (all decent workers, at least) in the ring.

You'll have to refresh my memory on the "Beer On A Pole" match. Sounds like a Russo special, and I'd assume the point was to grab a beer off a pole? Who was in it, and when did it take place?

 

[It's Damn Real!]

I submit "Silent Night, Bloody Night" from the Christmas Eve 2007 episode of Impact.

It was a four way featuring Rellik ("THAT'S KILLER SPELLED BACKWARDS, DON!"), Black Reign, Abyss, and for some reason, Shark Boy. It was a match that had a barbed wire Christmas Tree hanging from the rafters (when a tree stand probably would have sufficed), and presents under the tree that were weapons. They immediately act like children at the start of the match and unwrap the presents rather than appreciating the tree... and in this case that truly is the deadliest weapon to use.

I don't remember too much of it besides all that, except the end where Judas Mesias wound up in the ring with his mouth bloody for some reason and Abyss getting dropped on his head, which ended the match.

That was Russo booking at its worst.

Black Reign has a slew of poor gimmick matches in TNA. His gimmick itself was incredibly annoying to deal with week-after-week – especially that stupid rat he brought to the ring. Talk about a cheap Jake Roberts knock-off.

You bringing that match up reminded me of the gimmick match they had at the 2007 Genesis PPV, though. The Black Reign "Shop of Horrors" match, with Black Reign vs. Abyss. It was essentially a monsters ball/no DQ match, that they just re-named something silly to try and sell it harder. That's the event when Rellik debuted, if I recall correctly. He spit that blood mist into Abyss' eyes and then stuck him in a box.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

Much better!

TNA definitely has an obsession with their wrestlers wearing ridiculous outfits for no reason, other than some loose connection to a holiday or gimmick. The Santa's Workshop match was the day after Xmas I believe, and it was so bad, I forgot Kong was even in it. I was probably busy staring at the bodies in elf costumes, and that's not good when you have Gail, Roxxi, Love, Kong, and Jackie (all decent workers, at least) in the ring.

You'll have to refresh my memory on the "Beer On A Pole" match. Sounds like a Russo special, and I'd assume the point was to grab a beer off a pole? Who was in it, and when did it take place?

December of 2008. James Storm vs. Abyss. You guessed it. Beer... on a pole... in the corner of the ring. Shocking, I know. Stipulation? Hit your opponent in the head with the bottle.

This was back when Beer Money were still with Jacqueline, and Matt Morgan and Abyss were still friends.

Storm got hit by the Black Hole Slam early, and Jacqueline came in to take the bottle from Abyss. She ran up the ramp with it (so Abyss couldn't win), and ran into Matt Morgan. Morgan picked her up, but Roode gave him a low-blow and hit Abyss with a chair shot. Storm covered him for the win, and Morgan ended up taking the bottle shot.

It helped build a feud with the two teams, but the match itself came out of nowhere, and the only reason it was even used was because James Storm always carried a bottle of beer with him (or more) to the ring.

 

[NSL]

December of 2008. James Storm vs. Abyss. You guessed it. Beer... on a pole... in the corner of the ring. Shocking, I know. Stipulation? Hit your opponent in the head with the bottle.

Well that all sounds completely idiotic. I must have either missed that week, or it was on PPV. Beer Money, when they were with Jackie, was a very different team. Morgan and Abyss could have been a great tag team, but I'm glad they let them go separate ways.

I'd say it's a nominee for worst gimmick match ever. Any "...on a pole" match automatically qualifies basically. There's absolutely no science to the match, and it's basically a regular match with people forgetting how to climb the ropes for a few minutes...

 

[Blade]

I think the "electrified" six sides of steel would have to be up there. I think it was lockdown 2008, Team 3D vs LAX. Every time someone would get thrown into the cage, they'd get "electrocuted". Meaning the lights would flash on and off for a bit and the wrestler would try his best to look like he was having some sort of electric seizure.
That was pretty much the worst TNA gimmick match I've ever seen. I don't hate the other bad gimmick matches as much because they occasionally had nice spots, like the Lethal vs Dutt match. But in the electric six sides of steel, wrestlers getting thrown into the cage was the spot. And every time it happened, it just looked worse and worse.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

I can't recall the match itself, or who he even faced (I want to say Bob Backlund?), but Chris Sabin's match when he ended up in baby powder and an adult-sized diaper has to at least fit in the top-10 here, no?

I really wish I could remember the feud or the match itself, but it was a "Crybaby" match for sure, because IIRC they even had Sabin sport a set of tears when he "woke up" in the diaper – a la the 1-2-3 Kid and Razor Ramon circa 1996.

 

[SK]

Prime candidates:

• Fish Market Street Fight – Destination X 2008 – Shark Boy & Curry Man v. Team 3D

Remember this gem? Guys actually beating each other up with mackerel.

• Black Tie Brawl and Chain – Hard Justice 2008 – Jay Lethal v. Sonjay Dutt

Both men had to wear a tuxedo, and were chained together as well. The idea of the match was to "strip" the other man of his tuxedo. Talk about Chip 'n' Dale gone wrong.

• TNA Turkey Bowl – Thanksgiving episodes of iMPACT in 2007 & 2008

A three-round tournament of three-way matches, where each match featured a member of the Heavyweight division, the X-Division and the Tag-Team division and the wrestler who lost in the finals had to put on a turkey suit. Both A.J. Styles and Alex Shelley had to embarrassingly take part in this crap.

• Blindfold Match – Lockdown 2007 – Chris Harris v. James Storm

Yeah, both guys were blindfolded in the six-sides of steel. Storm had "blinded" Harris a few weeks prior by breaking a beer bottle in his face (if I recall correctly), so both men had to be "blind" in the match.

• Reindeer Ladder Match – TNA iMPACT! 2007 – Kaz v. A.J. Styles

The loser had to wear a reindeer suit. Seriously.

It's definitely a toss up between The Fish Market Street Fight and The Black Tie Brawl and Chain. Some of the matches you listed weren't horrible matches but just had stupid stipulations for the loser. The Fish Market Street Fight was just ridiculous and on a PPV no less. Wrestlers hitting each other with fish just makes horrible entertainment

The Black Tie Brawl and Chain, wow whoever suggested this was an idiot, horribly worked horribly booked, you put any other wrestlers in this match and it still would have been terrible.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

It's definitely a toss up between The Fish Market Street Fight and The Black Tie Brawl and Chain. Some of the matches you listed weren't horrible matches but just had stupid stipulations for the loser. The Fish Market Street Fight was just ridiculous and on a PPV no less. Wrestlers hitting each other with fish just makes horrible entertainment

The Black Tie Brawl and Chain, wow whoever suggested this was an idiot, horribly worked horribly booked, you put any other wrestlers in this match and it still would have been terrible.

Read my first post, again. I never said anything about how bad these matches themselves were.

I actually considered starting a second thread for worst match in the history of TNA, but again my fear was that the two threads would be treated too similarly, when in all likelihood, there's no prerequisite for a bad match to be a gimmick match, or vice versa.

The Black Tie and Brawl match, though, IMO seems like a head-to-toe Dutch Mantel booking job. Mantel was responsible for the Beer on a Pole match as well, if my memory serves me correctly. People are often quick to jump on bad things happening as Russo's fault, but Mantel shared a lot of what was the blame with TNA, especially prior to Russo even being hired.

 

[AMH]

I don't know how some of you feel, but I always felt that the reverse battle royals in TNA were always sort of stupid. I say this simply because often you can see times where a wrestler could've easily entered the ring, yet for some reason didn't. Guess their legs had magically turned into concrete or something, I don't know. It just never seemed to get me too excited.

 

[SK]

Read my first post, again. I never said anything about how bad these matches themselves were.

I actually considered starting a second thread for worst match in the history of TNA, but again my fear was that the two threads would be treated too similarly, when in all likelihood, there's no prerequisite for a bad match to be a gimmick match, or vice versa.

The Black Tie and Brawl match, though, IMO seems like a head-to-toe Dutch Mantel booking job. Mantel was responsible for the Beer on a Pole match as well, if my memory serves me correctly. People are often quick to jump on bad things happening as Russo's fault, but Mantel shared a lot of what was the blame with TNA, especially prior to Russo even being hired.

I read your post dude, but how can a match be a bad gimmick match, when nothing in the match changes except what the loser has to wear, semantics maybe, but that's my reason why they aren't the worst gimmick matches.

Seems more like a mantel booking than a Russo one, Russo gets so much unfair criticism.

Overall though, I've decided that I think that the Black Tie Brawl and Chain match was by far and away the worst gimmick match. It really was a stupid idea and whilst the Fish match was as well, at least we got some laughs/ a few bits of decent action out of it.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

I read your post dude, but how can a match be a bad gimmick match, when nothing in the match changes except what the loser has to wear, semantics maybe, but that's my reason why they aren't the worst gimmick matches.

Seems more like a mantel booking than a Russo one, Russo gets so much unfair criticism.

Overall though, I've decided that I think that the Black Tie Brawl and Chain match was by far and away the worst gimmick match. It really was a stupid idea and whilst the Fish match was as well, at least we got some laughs/ a few bits of decent action out of it.

All I'm saying is that a bad gimmick match can still be a good match itself. That Lethal/Dutt match was actually a very good match, and both Lethal and Dutt deserve praise for having to put up with that kind of bullshit. Same with the match between A.J. and Kaz and the Reindeer suit. The match itself was great, but the fact the stipulation behind it was that the loser had to wear a fuckin' reindeer suit kind of ruined it.

Small side note: Can you believe A.J. – the supposed face of the company – had to wear a reindeer suit and a turkey suit in the same calendar year? Ouch!

 

[NSL]

SK, do you remember the Chamber Of Horrors match that WCW put on about 20 years ago? It is widely panned as the worst match ever, and the only difference between that match and a regular HiAC match, is that to win, you had to put your opponent in an "electric chair", and pull a lever.

The ending was the only thing that changed, but the entire match you just knew it was going to suck. It deflated any possible action that could have excited you, and left you wishing you didn't waste your money. I'd feel the same way about watching AJ don a Reindeer costume.

 

[SK]

SK, do you remember the Chamber Of Horrors match that WCW put on about 20 years ago? It is widely panned as the worst match ever, and the only difference between that match and a regular HiAC match, is that to win, you had to put your opponent in an "electric chair", and pull a lever.

The ending was the only thing that changed, but the entire match you just knew it was going to suck. It deflated any possible action that could have excited you, and left you wishing you didn't waste your money. I'd feel the same way about watching AJ don a Reindeer costume.

Yes I do NSL, whilst I didn't watch it live as I wasn't born, I have watched the match, but that's a bit different to what I was getting at. In the chamber of horrors match the match had to be ended by being electrocuted on the chair, which was fucking ******ed, which therefore made it a horrible gimmick match, because it had a gimmick finish.

With the Turkey Bowl and the Reindeer ladder match, both had normal finishes and no gimmick inside the actual match, making them, well not very ******ed, and not bad gimmick 'matches'. Although I do agree that AJ having to wear the Turkey & Reindeer suits was just a horrible idea, however, the match quality was good and un-gimmicky, compared to something like the chamber of horrors or the black tie and brawl match.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

We're arguing over semantics here, I think, SK. I think you're taking this just a step too far, because you define the "match" as what happens from the start of the bell to the stop of it, but I don't think that's actually the case. There are pre-match issues and post-match issues that do affect the match card itself.

If a match were established for Angle v. Wolfe and the stipulation was that the loser had to sing the national anthem of the winner's country, that would be a gimmick "match", still, because though the "match" is over, the fact that whoever had to sing the others anthem is still part of the same story and the same segment.

 

[SK]

We're arguing over semantics here, I think, SK. I think you're taking this just a step too far, because you define the "match" as what happens from the start of the bell to the stop of it, but I don't think that's actually the case. There are pre-match issues and post-match issues that do affect the match card itself.

If a match were established for Angle v. Wolfe and the stipulation was that the loser had to sing the national anthem of the winner's country, that would be a gimmick "match", still, because though the "match" is over, the fact that whoever had to sing the others anthem is still part of the same story and the same segment.

I did say it was semantics but nevertheless, this thread is about the worst gimmick match and I simply stated my reasons as to why I thought that the suit matches weren't as bad, so unless your trying to argue for the suit matches being worse, just leave it.

And to the guy that asked about the reverse battle royals, yes they are definitely up in contention, such a stupid idea. One of those ideas where TNA has taken it too far and tried to go over the top, such a stupid idea it really is, and the matches themselves just look stupid, does anybody actually like them?

 

[The Bearded One]

There was a match on Impact a few years ago between Black Reign and I think Abyss or Kaz. It was a Rat On A Pole Match. The point of the match was to get Black Reign's rat out of a cage that was on a pole. I don't understand why they had that match, but they did. There were 4 poles in the corners, and the rat was only in one of them. Of course, it had to be in the last one they checked. I say just get rid of all object-on-a-pole matches, because they pretty much all suck.

 

[gd]

I like the Turkey Bowl concept actually. I like any type of tournament thing and it worked pretty good last year. The matches were pretty good and Shelley had to wear the Turkey Suit, but it actually for a purpose. It went against Shelley's macho man sort of charachter and helped to further his mini feud with Mick Foley. I'm actually looking forward to the Turkey Bowl, great stuff.

I though the "Keys on a Pole" match between Foley and Angle awhile back was pretty ******ed. Most pole matches are, but this was for the keys to an office, just dumb. Not sure how it ended, I think MEM interference.

The Reverse Battle Royal is a pretty bad one as well. Still not completely sure about the rules of it, it sure was dumb though. You also had the Lethal Lockdown qualify match that involved pretty much the whole roster and took up almost all of Impact.

 

[ToughGuy]

I think the "electrified" six sides of steel would have to be up there. I think it was lockdown 2008, Team 3D vs LAX. Every time someone would get thrown into the cage, they'd get "electrocuted". Meaning the lights would flash on and off for a bit and the wrestler would try his best to look like he was having some sort of electric seizure.
That was pretty much the worst TNA gimmick match I've ever seen. I don't hate the other bad gimmick matches as much because they occasionally had nice spots, like the Lethal vs Dutt match. But in the electric six sides of steel, wrestlers getting thrown into the cage was the spot. And every time it happened, it just looked worse and worse.

This one is by far the worst because it not only made for a terrible match but ruined the whole Lockdown PPV that year since everybody had to use that flimsy "cage". It had no impact and made no sound when someone was thrown into it.