10 WWE PPVs They Only Ran Once (And We All Forgot About)
The WWE calendar is packed with big-name PPVs. Every year the WWE Universe looks forward to such spectacles as Wrestlemania, Summerslam and Survivor Series, which have become a fixed party of the yearly calendar.
But now every WWE PPV has such staying power. Over the last four decades, the WWE has debuted numerous PPV concepts and ideas, some of them were dedicated to specific superstars or storylines while others were a just a new concept the company wanted to try out.
With the brand split, the company has often found itself working hard to fill the calendar of PPVs for both shows – and that has led to a few concepts which, mercifully, were only seen once. Here are 10 PPVs you forgot happened.
10 Fatal 4-Way
WWE has a strong track record with PPVs themed around a type of match: Elimination Chamber, Royal Rumble and Money In the Bank are all popular pieces of WWE’s schedule. But in 2010, WWE was trying to fill an increasingly busy schedule of PPVs and was creating more and more events following the brand split.
Both Raw and Smackdown superstars appeared on Fatal 4-Way, which took place in New York’s Nasau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. There were Fatal 4-Ways for the WWE Championship, World Heavyweight Title and Divas Championship, with Sheamus, Rey Mysterio and Alicia Fox walking away with the belts. But the show received only 143,000 buys and has not been seen since.
9 Breaking Point
Hosted in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 2009, Breaking Point put the focus on Submission and I Quit matches. The main event featured John Cena and Randy Orton battling for the WWE Championship. The duo had faced off at Summerslam, where Orton had tried to get disqualified and counted out before winning with an illegal pin. Their I Quit match at Breaking Point was set to put an end to the controversy. Cena won.
The other main event featured World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk against The Undertaker, who had returned to chokeslam Punk after his title defense at Summerslam. Undertaker initially won with Hell’s Gate, but the match was restarted due to the move being banned. Punk then won a Montreal Screwjob style finish. Vintage McMahon move.
8 St Valentine’s Day Massacre
This was WWE’s 27th In Your House PPV and was broadcast from Memphis on 14 February in 1999. The name came from the St Valentine’s Day Massacre in 1929, where seven people were killed in mob violence. Ah Attitude Era, placing monikers from infamously violent incidents on your PPVs.
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The event is best remembered for the debut of Paul Wight, better known today as Big Show, who interfered in the main event cage match between Stone Cold Steve Austin and Vince McMahon. Wight threw Austin through the wall of the cage, giving the Texas Rattlesnake the victory and a WWF Championship match at Wrestlemania 15.
7 Capitol Punishment
This 2011 PPV came, unsurprisingly, from Washington DC and was headlined by John Cena defending the WWE Championship against R-Truth. It replaced the 2010 PPV Fatal 4-Way but did not return in 2012 when No Way Out made its return to the schedule.
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The show garnered controversy before it started, with WWE forced to issue a disclaimer over the promotional video and artwork which featured then-US President Barack Obama. Alongside Cena and R-Truth, the show also included Randy Orton defending the World Heavyweight Championship against Christian, Ezekiel Jackson beating Wade Barrett for the Intercontinental belt and Alex Riley overcoming The Miz.
6 This Tuesday In Texas
PPVs traditionally take place at the weekend, usually on a Sunday night. This 1991 show was the then-WWF’s attempt to make Tuesday into a secondary night for pay-per-views. Unfortunately, the show got a 1.0 (400 000 buys) buyrate and a lukewarm reaction and that meant it did not make a return; though WWE would make a second attempt at it with Taboo Tuesday in 2004 and 2005.
The main event of This Tuesday in Texas saw Hulk Hogan overcome The Undertaker to win the WWF Championship which he had lost six days earlier in controversial fashion. Randy Savage also overcame Jake Roberts in his first match since Wrestlemania 7.
5 The Wrestling Classic
Hulk Hogan vs ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper for the WWF Championship and Junkyard Dog against Randy Savage in the finals of a 16-man tournament were the headline matches of this event, which took place in Chicago in November 1985.
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Piper had cemented his place as the promotion’s top heel by speaking out against the Rock ‘n’ Wrestling and his battle with Hogan had spawned the creation of Wrestlemania. Hogan won their battle at the PPV by disqualification and was then attacked by Piper and Bob Orton, until Paul Orndorff made the save. The event took its title from The Wrestling Classic tournament which concluded at the PPV and was won by Junkyard Dog. Unlike most tournaments in the promotion, JYD got no discernible benefit from the win which did not help its longevity.
4 No Holds Barred
Most PPVs are focused on the wrestling matches – or at least the storylines around them. But this December 1989 show was simply a vehicle for Hulk Hogan’s film No Hold Barred, which featured the Hogan as a wrestler trying to overcome a mammoth opponent in Zeus.
The PPV featured the movie shown in full, before a steel cage tag team match between Hogan and Brutus Beefcake against Zeus and Randy Savage. The match had been taped before the show and was Zeus’ last for the promotion.
3 Capital Carnage
This UK-only event took place in London, England, in 1998. The undercard featured Gangrel defeating Al Snow, The Headbangers overcoming The Legion Of Doom and Tiger Ali Singh beating Edge.
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At the top of the card, The New Age Outlaws defended their tag team championships against D’Lo Brown and Mark Henry, The Rock retained his WWF Championship in a match with X-Pac and Stone Cold Steve Austin overcame Kane, Mankind and The Undertaker, despite the efforts of guest referee Gerald Briscoe. Soccer star Vinnie Jones made an appearance at the end helping Austin in a brawl with the Big Boss Man.
2 Invasion
This 2001 event, which was originally billed as Fully Loaded, featured the ongoing Invasion storyline, with WWE stars facing off against opponents from the WCW and ECW coalition. Despite only making one appearance on the WWE schedule, the show garnered an impressive buyrate of 770,000, making it one of WWE’s most successful non-Wrestlemania PPVs.
The show featured an unusual match, with WWF referee Earl Hebner facing Alliance official Nick Patrick, as well as inter-promotional contests including Rob Van Dam against Jeff Hardy for the Hardcore Title and Trish Stratus and Lita versus Torrie Wilson and Stacy Keibler. In the main event, Team Alliance beat Team WWE when Stone Cold Steve Austin turned on the WWE.
1 Great Balls of Fire
The name of this 2017 show was widely criticized on social media ahead of the event. The show, from the American Airlines Centre in Dallas, Texas, featured Braun Strowman defeating Roman Reigns in an Ambulance Match, Bray Wyatt beating Seth Rollins and The Bar retaining the Raw Tag Team Championships against The Hardy Boys in a 30-minute Iron Man Match.
In the main event, Samoa Joe faced Brock Lesnar for the Universal Title after winning a number one contender match at Extreme Rules. Joe had brutalized Lesnar’s advocate Paul Heyman in the run-up to the event and attacked the champion before the bell, putting him through a table. But Lesnar recovered to defeat the Samoan Submission Machine with an F-5.
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