Wrestling promoters didn't always care that much about ratings. That changed when the Monday Night War indicated whoever had the edge in ratings also was "winning." That pushed companies to make some daring and often controversial moves to gain attention. Often, it involved some celebrity involvement that could get some media attention. WWE were experts at this, while WCW had some decent stuff too.
But too often, these stunts end up backfiring majorly. A few had a decent idea but faltered in execution. Others were awful ideas from the start and pushing them on ended up even worse. A few led to fans changing the channel in droves rather than increase ratings and cost the companies some big money. Without further ado, here's a look at 10 ratings stunts that backfired big-time to show taking a chance for attention doesn't always work out.
10 Billy & Chuck
In 2002, Billy Gunn and Chuck formed a surprisingly good tag team. It was obvious the pair were meant to be more than partners with outrageous hairdresser Rico added on. It began to build up toward a commitment ceremony with actual advocate groups praising WWE for what looked like a good idea. They should have known better.
Just as the minister was about to finish up, the pair revealed they were faking the entire thing for publicity. And the "minister" was Bischoff in a Scooby-Doo mask to stage a fight. Needless to say, the backlash on WWE wasn't lovely.
9 Hulk Hogan In TNA
There's a fine line between hubris and stupidity, and TNA crossed it when they signed Hulk Hogan in 2010. Buoyed by Hogan's presence, TNA decided to go ahead and put Impact right against RAW for a "new Monday Night War." The "War" wasn't even a skirmish as TNA was slaughtered in the ratings.
Worse, Hogan's presence soon led to horrible angles and his spotlight-hogging hurting TNA. By the time he was out of the company, Hogan had put TNA in a massive hole that it still hasn't fully crawled out of.
8 Jay Leno Main Eventer
WCW had managed to make Dennis Rodman and Karl Malone into successful appearances, but at least they were athletes. The same could not be said of Jay Leno. Bischoff had a feud with The Tonight Show host, culminating at Road Wild 1998 where Leno teamed with DDP against Bischoff and Hogan.
The sight of the Hulkster acting like a Leno armdrag had him in pain was embarrassing and maybe it made sense to have this before a non-paying audience of bikers. It got some attention, but it was more the joking kind than making WCW look good.
7 Jenna In TNA
TNA has always had a weird idea what types of "celebrities" fans enjoy. In 2009, they hired Jenna Morasca, best known as a past winner of Survivor. While part of the Main Event Mafia, Jenna was in a conflict with Sharmell.
It "paid off" at Victory Road in what remains one of the worst women's matches in wrestling history. TNA paid Jenna a whopping $100,000 for an appearance that only drove away fans.
6 Interviewing A Widow
In October of 1997, the wrestling world was rocked by Brian Pillman's sudden death before a PPV event. The media coverage was massive, so Vince made what turned out to be one of the worst mistakes of his life.
On the next evening's RAW, Vince did a live interview with Pillman's widow, Melanie. Just 24 hours after her husband's death, she was being asked about his behavior and drug use. Vince was rightly torn apart by critics over a callous attempt to build on Pillman's passing.
5 Brawl For All
WWE themselves don't hold back calling this one of the biggest debacles in company history. The idea was a special "toughman contest" with boxing mixed with wrestling. It was supposed to build up Steve Williams as the winner and then an eventual challenger for Steve Austin.
Then Bart Gunn knocked out Williams to ruin the entire thing. It was incredibly boring with bad bouts and various real injuries. Bart was the "winner," and the prize was a terrible Mania match with Butterbean, a fitting end to an ugly "Brawl."
4 KISS Concert
WCW had a weird habit of thinking some "stars" were much bigger deals than they were. In 1999, Eric Bischoff was under the impression that KISS was still the hottest and wildest rock act in the world. So he arranged a deal for the band to play on Nitro, which became one of the lowest-rated segments in the show's history.
There was also the deal to get the KISS Demon, a worker dressed like the band who was a terrible wrestler. WCW blew several hundred thousand dollars for no reason, which was par for the course.
3 Pacman Jones
Of all the bad "celebrity" hires TNA did, Pacman Jones is the worst. TNA thought it'd be great to get the Tennessee Titans player on board, ignoring why he was available because he was suspended due to a criminal investigation. They also brushed off the tiny detail he was contractually prohibited from any physical in-ring activity.
That didn't stop TNA from letting Jones win the tag titles with Ron Killings and stand on the apron in matches. Jones was soon gone from TNA to make this a low point for the company.
2 Million Dollar Mania
Vince McMahon has done dumb stuff for ratings but few times has it backfired like this. In 2008, Vince decided the only way to increase RAW ratings was to literally bribe people into watching. Vince would call up a lucky viewer at random and give them money on the spot.
The problem was the calls were truly random, which led to the hilarious sight of Vince unable to work a phone and even dialing the wrong number. Realizing it wasn't working, Vince ended it the only way he could, by having the stage blow up around him.
1 David Arquette World Champion
Having David Arquette in WCW to promote the Ready to Rumble movie was fine in theory. Even having him wrestle in a few matches wasn't a bad idea. But giving the World Title to a C-list actor for a publicity grab was one of the worst ideas in wrestling history.
As soon as Arquette was given the belt, any credibility WCW had vanished overnight. It made the entire company look like a joke and hurt the business immeasurably. It hastened WCW's eventual demise, and even Arquette openly apologizes for taking part in this disaster.