I for some masochistic reason decided to rewatch SummerSlam 2017 recently, and while there’s some good stuff on that show (The 4-way main event was a great car crash and Bar vs. Shield holds up and got super hot with the crowd) what struck me was that the first hour was absolutely hot garbage.
The show started off with a boring Corbin vs. Cena match that neither guy seemed motivated for.
Then Natalya and Naomi had an average match that would be totally forgotten about by the end of the show.
Then we had Big Cass (!) vs. Big Show with Enzo in a shark cage, a serious candidate for worst match in Summerslam history.
Following that, they decided to bury Rusev and have him lose to Orton in 5 seconds despite beating Orton up a ton before the bell.
On top of ALL of that, we had a horrendously cringe segment with Daniel Bryan and Kurt Angle shoehorning in their catch phrases to debate which brand was better.
So that led to me thinking, was this the worst first hour in PPV history, at least, in the modern era?
What are some other contenders? I’m having a hard time coming up with a 5-match lineup worse than that but I’m sure there are some other strong contenders. Anything else come to mind for everyone?
Most of the bad shows I can think of, there’s usually a decent Tag or IC Title match in the first hour…
But how about WrestleMania V? First hour includes Haku/Hercules, Twin Towers/Rockers, Beefcake/DiBiase and Bushwhackers/Rougeaus. I’m not sure if Perfect/Blazer sneaks into the first hour, but even if it does, it’s a major disappointment considering the guys involved.
Interesting that the card includes two of the best Hogan and Warrior matches ever (no surprise considering they were working Savage and Rude, respectively). Could have been one of the best worked WWF cards of the decade if the undercard was even halfway decent.
Also interesting that this show went head-to-head (and routed, financially) Clash of the Champions VI featuring Flair/Steamboat 2-of-3 falls. I don’t know what the first hour of that show looked like, but I’ll bet it was better the Hercules vs. Haku.
Judging by Meltzer’s star ratings, I think WM 5 has KOTR 1995 beat as Roadie/Bob Holly surprisingly got 2.5 stars, and the third match on that show (Kama/Shawn Michaels) got a similar rating. Was the Bushwhackers/Rogeaus match that bad to get -4 stars?