It’s often too easy to list the worst PPV main events in WCW history. The company had scores of awful shows, especially in their last few years. Yes, WCW could offer some great main events, a few salvaging a bad show but they also had Jay Leno and Dennis Rodman headlining PPVs which no one expected to be good.
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Yet, there are cases when WCW had a main event that wasn’t exactly terrible but not worth the hype. It was often a major build, sometimes for months, culminating in a match that didn’t come close to living up to expectations. Even WCW’s biggest stars weren’t immune as guys who had great matches could falter badly on occasion.
10 Sting Vs Black Scorpion, Starrcade 1990
When Sting won the NWA World Title in 1990, he faced a lack of good challengers. The Black Scorpion spent months playing bizarre games from magic tricks to attacking Sting via imposters. The feud was built to Starrcade.
The match had Sting face a masked Scorpion who broke out a very familiar set of moves. Sting got the pin and unmasked his opponent to reveal Ric Flair. It was a lame end fitting a lousy storyline and easily the worst Sting-Flair match ever.
9 Lex Luger Vs Ron Simmons, Halloween Havoc 1991
If this had been a TV match, it would have been okay. As a PPV main event after a major build, it was lackluster. Ron Simmons was catching on in late 1991 to challenge Lex Luger for the WCW World Title with Luger even suggesting “you people’ didn’t deserve the belt. Their rivalry came to a head at the 1991 Halloween Havoc in a two-out-of-three-falls match.
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Simmons won the first fall but the second ended with Harley Race making it look like Simmons tossed Luger over the top rope which was a DQ at the time. The third fall ended with a weak piledriver by Luger to retain the belt. For the build it got, this bout simply didn’t live up to the hype.
8 Sting Vs Sid Vicious, Halloween Havoc 1990
In 1990, Sid Vicious was rising well as a monster heel, and challenging Sting for the NWA World Title made sense. The match itself wasn’t too terrible, although a rookie Sid was still being exposed as a rough worker. What marred it was the nonsensical ending.
Sting chased Sid to the back and then returned...now a few inches taller, heavier, and looking like Barry Windham in face paint. Sid “pinned” him and was falsely declared champion before the real Sting raced out to attack his opponent, the match resumed, and The Stinger got the actual pin. This stupid finish made this an infamously bad Havoc match.
7 Sting Vs Jake Roberts, Halloween Havoc 1992
Sting and Jake Roberts had been having a great feud in 1992 with Jake attacking Sting to set up a nice battle. Their rivalry was to end at Halloween Havoc with the now-infamous “Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal” match. With scores of options such as Texas Death, steel cage, and more, the wheel landed on...a coal miner’s glove match.
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Watching a fight to scramble up a pole for a loaded glove would have been lame for the ’80s, let alone a 1992 PPV. Sting got the win while Jake had to fake being bit by his own cobra and left the promotion right after this awful finish to a good feud.
6 Hollywood Hogan Vs Roddy Piper, Starrcade 1996
At Starrcade ‘96, Roddy Piper made a surprise appearance to confront Hollywiis Hogan. It was promoted as the big blow-off match the two had never had in WWE. Even with his age, Piper was a presence, and he and Hogan seemed set to have a good match.
Related: 5 Best & 5 Worst Starrcade Main Events
Instead, it was a slow-paced affair as neither seemed able to get back into the old rhythm. Piper won with a sleeperhold of all things only for the crowd to learn the match was non-title. Amazingly, worse battles would follow, yet this was a letdown.
5 Bret Hart Vs Chris Benoit, Mayhem 1999
This should have been a stunning showdown of two Canadian masters. A few months earlier, Chris Benoit and Bret Hart put on a Nitro match Bret called his best WCW bout. Their ppv encounter was the finals of a tournament for the vacant World title to up the stakes, but sadly, the two men couldn’t live up to their earlier battle.
Worse was the interference of Dean Malenko, Goldberg, Hall, and Nash to mar the bout. Bret won the title, but it wasn't their best battle.
4 Hulk Hogan Vs Vader, Superbrawl V
As soon as Hulk Hogan came into WCW, most expected a confrontation with Vader. The monster had been a powerful champion and just the type of guy to take on Hogan. But in a baffling move, Hogan completely no-sold Vader’s dreaded powerbomb before the PPV battle.
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That completely stole any tension as fans knew Hogan had nothing to worry about. The match was a mess with Ric Flair interfering to get Vader disqualified and proof how Hogan’s ego was undermining some of WCW’s best guys.
3 Sting Vs Ric Flair, Great American Bash 1990
When 1990 began, the plan was for Sting to beat Ric Flair for the NWA World Title and have a great reign. But Sting suffered a legit leg injury, putting him on the shelf for months. He and Flair were to face off at the Bash but wild stipulations hamstrung it: The Horsemen were banned except for Ole Anderson, who was handcuffed to Scott Steiner, and Flair would lose the belt if disqualified.
The match was only 15 minutes long, not nearly enough to make it a great encounter. Sting won the belt, but it wasn’t the great moment it should have been.
2 Hulk Hogan Vs Sting, Starrcade 1997
It’s harder to find a fantastic long-range storyline ending in such a lame way. For over a year, WCW had built up Sting facing Hulk Hogan. Sting took on his “Crow” look and stalked Hogan for months. Logically, it should have been Sting dominating Hogan and an epic victory.
Instead, Hogan dominated the match and then got a clean pin on Sting that was supposed to be a “fast count”, which it wasn’t. The match was restarted, with Sting winning, but it marred all the build to ruin what should have been WCW’s crowning moment.
1 Bret Hart Vs Goldberg, Starrcade 1999
1999 was a rough year for WCW, yet they were hoping that the Starrcade main event would help. The main event of the pay-per-view was Bret Hart defending the World Title against Goldberg, in a rare encounter. Yet the match was rough with the two men not gelling correctly.
Worse was the ending with Bret having Goldberg in the Sharpshooter and the bell rung. Yep, it was the Montreal Screwjob with Bret in the Shawn role. The worst part of all was that Bret took an errant kick that gave him his career-ending concussion to make this match a disaster.
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