10 Strangest WWE Matches

While pay-per-view might historically be the place to see the marquee matches that WWE have to offer, the company have also been unafraid to present paying fans, both in the arena and watching at home, with matches that perplex, offend and, in some cases, have fans considering asking for refunds when the show is over.

From a Sumo Match to trying to put a fellow wrestler’s eye out, there have been some stranger offerings in the history of WWE. These are the 10 strangest WWE pay-per-view matches.

NOTE: We are excluding strictly so-called cinematic matches, so no Firefly Funhouse, Swamp Fight, or anything of that ilk. 

10. The Big Show vs. Akebono - WrestleMania 21

In WWE’s eyes, WrestleMania has always been as much about spectacle as it has been quality, in-ring action. The lure of the attraction, whether that be a novel stipulation or an appearance by a special celebrity, has been a major theme at the Showcase of the Immortals over the decades.

A Sumo Match featuring Akebono was neither a great stipulation, nor did it feature a special celebrity. Akebono may have been a genuine sumo great - being the first foreigner to achieve the rank of Yokozuna - and had made a name for himself in Japan, but to 99.9 per cent of the WWE audience, he was really not that much of a big deal at all. 

The brainchild of John Laurinaitis, the Sumo Match was the undoubted low point of a generally excellent show as fans had to watch The Big Show wearing the world's largest thong go one-on-one with Akebono in an obviously worked matchup that ended when the Yokozuna threw Paul Wight out of the hopeless thing. 

This did absolutely nothing for The Big Show, Akebono, or the fans who paid big money for ringside seats.

9. The Hart Family vs. Shawn Michaels & The Knights - Survivor Series 1993

The 1993 Survivor Series was supposed to see the continuation, if not culmination, of the feud between Bret Hart and Jerry Lawler, but the Memphis wrestling star was nowhere to be seen at the pay-per-view due to legal trouble. 

Replaced by the irrepressible Shawn Michaels, it was assumed the match would be better, and it ended up being technically fine, but it was far too long, and it was difficult to overcome the sheer oddness of it all. 

First, Shawn Michaels was simply switched out for Jerry Lawler to the point the royal theme of the match was maintained and HBK had to team with three masked knights in Greg Valentine, Jeff Gaylord, and Barry Horowitz. This also took away from one of the main cruxes of the angle in the Harts exacting revenge on the WWE commentator. 

Then, there was the weirdness of seeing Keith and Bruce Hart wrestling in a WWE ring for the only time ever. 

On top of that, to maintain consistency with his brothers, The Hitman wore a shorter singlet than usual, a look that did not suit anywhere near as much as having his legs covered inside the squared circle. 

8. John Cena vs. John Laurinaitis - Over The Limit 2012

With a dearth of credible, fresh, or otherwise healthy opponents for John Cena to take on in May of 2012, WWE decided to book their top babyface against one of their own executives.

WWE Vice President of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis had been a solid worker for All Japan Pro-Wrestling during the 1990s as Johnny Ace, but he hadn’t wrestled for over a decade when he faced Cena in the main event of Over The Limit 2012.   

The match - if you even want to call it that - revolved around Cena finding new ways to beat up and humiliate the WWE executive which quickly became 15 minutes of WWE's supposed hero being a bully and taking things too far as the announce team lapped it all up from ringside. 

To cap off a horrendous match, The Big Show made his way to the squared circle and had one of his many, many heel turns as Paul Wight took down John Cena in an utterly predictable finish to hand Johnny Ace the hollow victory. 

7. Tyson Tomko vs. Stevie Richards - Unforgiven 2004

As much as WWE tried to tell fans for almost two months that the mystery woman watching over Victoria was actually a mysterious woman, it was plainly obvious from the very beginning that it was Stevie Richards in unconvincing drag.

Having drifted from Victoria after she had turned babyface, the former Right to Censor member attempted to remain in her life via the most lamentable of storylines which culminated painfully at Unforgiven 2004 when the supposed mystery woman emerged to save Victoria from Tyson Tomko after she had lost to WWE Women’s Champion Trish Stratus. 

Tomko did not take too kindly to the interference and opted to beat down Richards, before beating him some more for six uncomfortably long minutes. This unadvertised match was no bonus for the paying audience and played before a silent crowd and indifferent announce team. 

Richards finally mounted a comeback with the testicle claw, but stopped to pick up his bra and ate a Torture Rack Neckbreaker for his trouble as Tomko won to put everyone out of their misery. 

6. Bray Wyatt vs. Randy Orton - Payback 2017

Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt had several utterly bonkers pay-per-view matches over the years, from the bugs-on-the-canvas bout at WrestleMania 33 to the barmy Firefly Inferno match at TLC 2020 and beyond.

Following their bug-filled bout at WrestleMania, their programme continued in non-title action, for some reason, as they faced off in a House of Horrors Match at Payback 2017 in a match that was not a fully cinematic spectacle. 

What fans witnessed was truly bizarre as a shirtless Randy Orton began the match by showing up at a Wyatt Family house in a limousine, having burned down one of their houses ahead of WrestleMania. 

The Viper walked through the spooky halls as Bray did some lame horror movie scares, before attacking Orton and dumping a fridge on him. The Eater of Worlds then turned on some red lighting and took the limo back to the arena, where fans were booing the hell out of the nonsense they had just witnessed. 

Later on, the match started proper, as Randy gained the advantage, only for interference by Jinder Mahal and the Bollywood Boys to leave him prone to Sister Abigail.

The match is not remembered fondly.

5. Batista vs. Jonathan Coachman - Taboo Tuesday 2005

Taboo Tuesday 2005 was set to be “Stone Cold” Steve Austin’s first match in almost three years, with The Texas Rattlesnake scheduled to come out of retirement for what Austin assumed was set to be a one-sided beatdown of The Coach. 

Incredibly, WWE actually wanted Austin to put over Jonathan Coachman, which Stone Cold baulked at and pulled out of the match, citing a back injury. In a bind, WWE drafted in World Heavyweight Champion Batista to take his place.

The replacement match was far from a classic. Fans, as expected, voted for the Street Fight stipulation ahead of an Arm Wrestling Contest or Verbal Debate, which allowed Goldust and a totally past-it Vader to get involved in what was, essentially, a Three-on-One Handicap Match.

The heels beat up The Animal for a short time before he made the predictable babyface comeback and finished Coach off with a Batista Bomb. 

With Austin out of the equation and the ‘If He Wins, Jim Ross Gets His Job Back’ caveat dropped, WWE were happy for their World Heavyweight Champion to go over on the announcer.

4. Seth Rollins vs. Rey Mysterio - The Horror Show At Extreme Rules

An Eye for an Eye Match at The Horror Show at Extreme Rules. The COVID-19 pandemic really did something to Vince McMahon’s booking as he gave the impression, at points, that he had completely lost his mind. 

Both Rey Mysterio and Seth Rollins had attempted to remove the other one’s eye during their bitter dispute, with Mysterio picking the stipulation for their match that the only way to win was to perform a spot of in-ring ocular surgery.

With two great workers, you would expect they would at least have a great match, and they did, but the stupidity of the stipulation undid most of the goodwill they built up before the intelligence-insulting finish, complete with Z-movie special effects, finished the job off. 

Rollins fake vomiting all over the ringside mat after extracting Mysterio’s eye provided a nice visual metaphor to sum the nonsense up. 

Rey returned soon after like nothing had happened, with WWE carrying out the angle just in case Mysterio decided to jump ship to All Elite Wrestling, with Rey’s contract having already expired by the time Extreme Rules rolled around. 

3. Pat Patterson vs. Gerry Brisco - King of the Ring 2000

The antics surrounding the Hardcore Championship was one the surprising highlights of WWE in 2000. The Hardcore Evening Gown Match between stooges Patterson and Brisco at the King of the Ring pay-per-view, however, was one of the unsurprising lowlights. 

The whole thing came about due to a storyline where Brisco won the Hardcore Title, only for Patterson to betray him by taking advantage of the 24/7 rule. In order to hide from those gunning for the ramshackle strap, Pat decided to wear drag and hide in the women’s locker room. 

When Brisco got wise to the ruse, he too started dressing up in women’s clothes, and fans had to sit through this horror show. 

Clearly booked for the amusement of a very small circle of people backstage, the ‘match’ saw the two WWE Hall of Famers doing supposed comedy spots involving a banana, a sanitary pad and moves like the Bronco Buster. A teased Stinkface thankfully never materialised. 

With the crowd completely turning on the contest, Crash Holly ran down to put it out of its misery.

2. Al Snow vs. Big Boss Man - Unforgiven 1999

The Big Boss Man was a truly despicable heel in 1999, definitively taking things too far when he murdered Al Snow’s Chihuahua Pepper, before serving the pooch to the Hardcore Champion.

Such a dastardly act called for a grudge match in a special setting, which gave the world the first, and so far only, Kennel from Hell Match. 

The Kennel from Hell saw the regular Hell in a Cell cage lowered, with the blue-bar steel cage erected inside of it. In the ringside area between the two cages, vicious rottweilers would roam, ready and willing to attack anyone who mistakenly found themselves in their territory. 

That was the idea anyway, but it turned out the hounds weren’t quite so well trained and they spent most of their time peeing, defecating and trying to hump each other, rather than snarl and bite.

Making the match even more awkward were the escape rules, which removed even more of any heat as the two competitors just tried to run away from their hated opponent.

A rotten idea poorly executed, Jim Ross felt the need to apologise to fans on commentary once it had come to a merciful end.

1. The Undertaker vs. The Dudley Boyz - Great American Bash 2004

With no major credible heels for him to feud with at the time, The Undertaker started a programme with Paul Heyman, who stole the fabled urn and recruited the Dudley Boyz to kidnap Paul Bearer after The Deadman refused an offer to join his stable. 

This led to the infamous Concrete Crypt Match at the 2004 Great American Bash, with Undertaker battling Bubba Ray and D-Von in a Handicap Match with a twist that Heyman had imprisoned Bearer in a box that he would fill with cement should Undertaker not do the ‘right thing’ and lose to The Dudley Boyz. 

After initially feigning compliance, The Phenom fought The Dudleys as Heyman incrementally released more of the wet concrete.

In the end, D-Von was finished off with a Tombstone, but before Heyman could carry out his murderous plot, Undertaker used his spooky powers to make a lighting bolt hit the cement truck, scaring Heyman off. 

To then make the stipulation completely redundant, The Undertaker pulled the lever himself anyway and murdered Paul Bearer live on pay-per-view, encasing him in cement.

A complete waste of 14 minutes of everyone’s lives ended a completely rotten pay-per-view, only made all the worse for the show featuring JBL defeating Eddie Guerrero for the WWE Championship in the semi-main event.