10 Wrestling Pay-Per-Views That Tried Something Different (And Failed)

Wrestling PPVs have been a massive part of the product since the inception of WrestleMania turned that into WWE’s major business model. WWE, WCW, ECW, TNA and AEW have all booked their television products around setting up major PPV matches. Fans have expectations for a high-quality event every PPV and it leads to displeasure when things go wrong.

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Some experiments like the Royal Rumble, King of the Ring and Survivor Series showed that trying something different at the time could lead to massive success. However, disappointment can also come to create the exact opposite scenario. The following major wrestling PPVs tried something drastically different and failed.

10 Bragging Rights 2009/2010 (Brand Warfare)

WWE wanted to make use of the Raw vs Smackdown brand warfare by creating the Bragging Rights PPV in 2009 and 2010. Both shows were sold with the belief that fans would care about seeing teams representing each show competing against each other.

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However, that made no sense since the brand split stopped being respected around this time. Talents switched shows whenever WWE wanted, so the idea of representing brands felt pointless. WWE would have found more success in the 2002-2005 time when the brands were more defined.

9 Bash At The Beach 1995 (Taking Place On Beach)

The Bash at the Beach PPV became a popular annual event for WCW, but they had a unique idea that fell flat in 1995. WCW booked the event to take place at an actual beach in California with fans attending in that environment.

The visual was somewhat cool seeing a beach in the background, but the atmosphere took away from the event. Little crowd response and the lack of a crowd vibe made it feel strange. The card itself was rather weak as well with ridiculous stipulations like the lifeguard match between Randy Savage and Ric Flair causing a disconnect.

8 WrestleMania 4 (One Night Tournament To Crown New WWE Champion)

WWE had a great success when WrestleMania became the Super Bowl of wrestling shows rather early into its run. Vince McMahon felt he had to continue perfecting the idea by coming up with new ways to make the show stand out.

WrestleMania 4 featured a ridiculous storyline of the WWE Championship being vacated to set up a one-night tournament. Every match on the card was extremely short with a lot of cheap finishes to protect wrestlers. Future tournaments like the King of the Ring worked out much better than this.

7 Fatal 4-Way 2010 (Multiple Fatal 4-Way Matches)

The Fatal 4-Way PPV experiment only lasted one year with WWE wanting to have multiple matches of the fatal four-way variety. WWE booked matches like Sheamus vs Edge vs Randy Orton vs John Cena and Rey Mysterio vs Jack Swagger vs Big Show vs CM Punk as the world title matches.

Fans usually do like the multi-man title matches, but this felt forced due to the PPV name. Even the women’s title taking part in a fatal four-way match felt pointless. WWE realized fans didn’t care for this concept and never brought it back.

6 December To Dismember 2006 (Not Announcing Most Of Card)

The ECW brand was a huge failure for WWE that reached the point of no return with the December to Dismember card. WWE had a weak roster for ECW and didn’t invest in the originals being stars, so the card was full of pointless matches.

However, the concept of trying something new saw just one PPV match built on television with six stars all in the Elimination Chamber match. MNM vs the Hardy Boyz representing other brands was the only other announced match with the others getting added to surprise the fans in the worst way possible. Paul Heyman wanted out of WWE after this show killed his spirit and any hope left for ECW fans.

5 Road Wild 1996-1999 (Free Show For Bikers)

Eric Bischoff’s love of motorcycles and biking culture inspired the concept of the Road Wild PPV. WCW booked this event four years in a row, but it was considered a disaster by fans and pundits alike. Bischoff loved the visual of an outdoor show with bikers everywhere.

RELATED: 10 Things WCW Fans Should Know About Their Road Wild PPVs

Unfortunately, this was a free show with zero money made from ticket sales and those attending rarely cared about wrestling. Harlem Heat and other wrestlers even dealt with racism from the worst people in the crowd. WCW completely killed off this idea in 2000 when Bischoff wasn’t the one making that decision anymore.

4 Tuesday in Texas (Tuesday PPV Days After Survivor Series)

WWE stuck with the concept of having the big four PPVs for many years until King of the Ring and In Your House events joined the rotation. One of the few failed attempts in between then was the Tuesday in Texas PPV back in 1991.

Multiple issues caused it to fail like having a weeknight PPV and booking it just days after the Survivor Series 1991 event. The Undertaker winning the WWE Championship from Hulk Hogan was done to set up a rematch here. Fans still didn’t care enough to make this event nearly as successful as the other PPVs that year.

3 Taboo Tuesday 2004/2005 (Tuesday PPV With Live Voting)

WWE tried to go back to the Tuesday idea of weeknight PPVs when booking Taboo Tuesday in 2004 and 2005. Each show featured the fans voting online for stipulations, wrestlers and everything involved for all matches on the card.

The shows bombed with fans being iffy on paying for a weeknight PPV that didn’t have an official card since many things were decided minutes before. WWE found a little more success by turning this into Cyber Sunday, but it still never reached the potential hoped for.

2 Souled Out 1997 (NWO Test Product For TV Show)

WCW was on fire by the start of 1997 thanks to the New World Order being the hottest act in wrestling. Eric Bischoff initially wanted the nWo to have their own weekly show and added too many members to the group for this reason.

Souled Out 1997 was a test show that would implement changes to make it an nWo PPV in the name and in the execution. The show was a disaster from the opening segment of the group arriving on garbage trucks to the matches all being unfair to the faces. WCW dropped the idea of the nWo having their own show when this PPV failed miserably.

1 WrestleMania 2 (Three Different Venues)

WWE had great fan reception to most the first few WrestleMania events since it was unlike anything else in the business. However, WrestleMania 2 added a negative vibe when the show felt off to fans having to watch three different broadcasts.

The plan was to have shows in three different locations with the action jumping from one to another. It came off awkward and took away from the general flow of a wrestling show. WWE never even considered having another PPV take place in this manner after everyone hated the execution of this.