WWE And WCW Matches Both Wrestlers Regretted Being In

On March 13, 2011, TNA, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, hosted their annual Victory Road pay-per-view event in front of a raucous crowd in Orlando, Florida. The event featured matches between Tommy Dreamer and Bully Ray, A.J. Styles and Matt Hardy, Mr. Anderson and Rob Van Dam, and the headliner was the TNA Champion Sting taking on his challenger Jeff Hardy in a No Disqualification match for the title belt. The main event lasted 1:28 seconds with Sting retaining his belt but that was not how it was supposed to go down. In fact, the main event was building for weeks now and when it began, fans were greeted with a totally out of it Jeff Hardy, almost incapable of standing and putting on a wrestling match. Sting was openly upset and very frustrated with the condition his opponent showed up in.

That was the most infamous time a wrestler appeared to be upset about his opponent and later regretted the entire ordeal. If Sting could have opted out the match before entering the ring, he would have done so unless TNA would have been able to replace Jeff Hardy beforehand. Their match marked one of the few times only one of the wrestlers in the terrible match regretted being in it. Most of the time, both wrestlers look back and wish they simply had nothing to do with a match because of a variety of reasons including its effect on their careers or the quality of the match in general.

Let's take a look at the 10 times the WWE and WCW featured matches between wrestlers that would later be regretted by all involved.

20 WCW Monday Night Nitro 2000: Jeff Jarrett VS Booker T

Here we go again, another Vince Russo nightmare brought to life by two iconic WCW wrestlers. The match between Jeff Jarrett and Booker T on a Monday Nitro in 2000 was not a normal one. It was a San Francisco 49ers match, the first and only ever. The match featured four wooden boxes hanging high above the ring posts, each one with something different while one of them featured the WCW World Heavyweight title belt. Nothing about this sounds good so far, so it can only get weirder, and it does.

At one point, one of the boxes falls down and out comes a blow-up doll. Another box has a portrait of Scott Hall, and just when things hit an all-time level of weird, the infamous Beetlejuice, from the Howard Stern show, pops out dressed as Superman and attacks Jeff Jarrett. You can almost see the men's faces as they are forced to battle through this match because it is in their contracts. There is a reason Vince Russo isn't around anymore.

19 WWE Extreme Rules 2017: Bayley VS Alexa Bliss

Not all wrestlers regret their matches because of their opponent. For example, during the 2017 WWE pay-per-view Extreme Rules, Bayley and Alexa Bliss were given about five minutes to fight and were forced to rush a match that should have been given more respect. Both wrestlers walked away looking like they were much worse than they really are because of the rushed kendo stick match.

The other reason Bayley regrets this match was because the WWE destroyed her chances to become a superstar, once again, by trying to be too cute and creating a surprising ending instead of one that would help push Bayley over for good. In fact, the ending of the match happened so quickly, no one even cheered. No one expected the first three count of the match to be the only one as Alexa Bliss overcame Bayley's dominance and size to steal the kendo stick from her and hit her a few times before pinning her for the count.

18 WCW Uncensored 1996: Mega Powers VS TATEH

The moment professional wrestling began using cages, there was a team of creative thinkers trying to come up with a way to make it better. The evolution of the pro wrestling cages climaxed in 1996 during WCW's Uncensored when they unveiled the Doomsday Cage, a three story, three level cage, that was created for one purpose, to destroy Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage.

Hulk Hogan challenged the entire promotion and this match was the result. The TATEH, known as The Alliance to End HulkaMania, featured almost all of the heels from WCW at the time. However, the match took too long. It was confusing and felt as if we were watching a badly rehearsed children's dance recital. The fans clapped and cheered at the end because it was over but it was honestly a grand mess that neither Hogan nor Savage would ever do again.

17 WWE Raw 2002: Trish Stratus & Bradshaw VS Jackie Gayda & Chris Nowinski

The match was awkward from the opening bell when Chris Nowinski got down in a three point stance as if he was going to run and do a football tackle on Bradshaw only to run away in fear the moment Bradshaw took one step towards him. Trish Stratus is a legend and was the only thing that made this match better than awful but even she looked bored being forced to carry the match once the guys brawled their way out of the arena.

The ending of this short match featured Trish jumped off the top rope to slam Jackie to the mat and finish her. However, Jackie missed the cue and when she got hit, stood there before falling to the ground in a delayed response that got massive boos from the crowd. It was the only time we can recall Trish Stratus being openly angry at her opponent, and even yelling at her in disgust at her terrible acting.

16 WCW Uncensored 1998: Hulk Hogan VS Randy Savage

In 1988, Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage were involved in one of the WWE's greatest storylines when they formed the Mega Powers. It resulted in Macho Man winning a world championship thanks to the help of Hulk Hogan before the two men feuded and became legendary enemies. The WCW, one of the most unoriginal promotions in pro wrestling, tried to do the same thing almost ten years later. But the match didn't fail because of the wrestling. It was not that bad until they left the cage.

One of the biggest problems in gimmick wrestling matches is that the rules are not clearly understood. So when the wrestlers left the cage, the match should have been over since that is how cage matches work, right? They did not even explain that it was pinfall or submission only. Besides being a terrible match, both wrestlers are professionals and regret ever being a part of such a confusing mess thanks to Eric Bischoff and the WCW creative team.

15 WWE WrestleMania XXVI 2010: Bret Hart VS Vince McMahon

When the WWE does not have enough interesting storylines heading into WrestleMania, they always go after the legends long after they are finished with wrestling. This happened when Vince McMahon brought back Bret Hart to give him the chance to redeem himself from the infamous Montreal Screw Job. But, pro wrestling is fake. The job of wrestlers is to sell the idea that it is all real. When the WWE does things like matching Bret Hart against Vince McMahon, an old man, it reminds us all how fake this is.

The match was predictable and the entire Hart family surrounding the cage had trouble selling the moves but did a great job of leaving no doubt what was going to happen. On paper, Vince McMahon probably loved it. But when the fans gave a lacklustre response to the match, it got awkwardly long really quick. Both men regret participating in a WrestleMania event that was so poorly created.

14 WCW Mayhem 1999: David Flair VS Kimberly Page

After joining the WCW as the lead writer in September of 1999, Vince Russo found himself writing stories that would work in the WWE, because that is where he previously worked, but had little life in World Championship Wrestling. He thought he could just recreate what worked in WWE but that was not the case. So when WCW Mayhem 1999 happened, just two months after Vince Russo arrived, it was obvious who was calling the shots when Kimberly Page faced off against David Flair.

But this match was as terrible as you can imagine. It involved a lot of Kimberly giving low blows, interference from other wrestlers, and a moment where Kimberly put her hands down David's pants only to cheap shot him. The match was so bad that Kimberly ended up leaving pro wrestling a week later, for good. She was embarrassed at the depths some writers will go to exploit someone and decided it was time to go.

13 WWE WrestleMania IX 1993: Undertaker VS Giant Gonzalez

At 8'0", Giant Gonzalez owns the record for the tallest pro wrestler in the history of the sport. We use the term pro wrestler very loosely when describing Giant Gonzalez because he was terrible. The only reason he was in the WWE was because he was 8-feet tall. That became evident when The Undertaker was forced to fight him at WrestleMania IX.

If both wrestlers could go back in time, they would both request a new gimmick or opponent, and with good reason. The entire match was garbage. There was not a single moment that fans actually felt excited, or even entertained. Giant Gonzalez could barely move and when he did, he couldn't sell water to a dying man. It was already bad enough that WrestleMania IX was one of the worst pay-per-views in its' history, this match helped cement that mindset. It remains one of the Undertakers worst matches of his career too.

12 WCW Slamboree 1997: Steve McMichael VS Reggie White

NFL Hall of Fame defensive end Reggie White was not a pro wrestler but Steve McMichael was and stuck around for a few years. However, this match was a straight up exploitation of two football players just to get the publicity for the event. Normally, gimmick matches featuring athletes from other sports, or celebrities, normally end up lasting less than five minutes, max. This one went 15 minutes and was filled with moments that reminded us all how fake the sport actually is.

Since Steve "Mongo" McMichael had no other pro wrestlers to help him, he had to carry this one and failed to do so simply because he was never that strong of a wrestler on his own. The wrestlers should have done us all a favour and ended it early once they heard crickets because the crowd checked out of this one early on. It might have been a fun experience for Reggie White but he regrets being involved in such a sloppy mess. Maybe if he trained longer than they could have brought him in and created a classic.

11 WWE SummerSlam 1993: Lex Luger VS Yokozuna

Somewhere between HulkaMania's domination of pro wrestling throughout the 80s and the Monday Night Wars of the late 90s, WWE had a transitional period in the early 90s that changed the sport forever. Right in the middle of it all was Lex Luger's run in the WWE. In fact, he was supposed to be the next big thing in the WWE while Hulk Hogan left the company.

So during the main event of 1993 SummerSlam, Lex Luger faced off against the unbeatable Yokozuna. The match itself wasn't that bad but it ended when Lex Luger knocked Yokozuna out of the ring, winning by count out. The next part is where it got uncomfortable and, looking back, is probably the one match Lex Luger regrets ever doing because when it ended, he celebrated as if he won the title belt. They even had all the faces in the locker room come running out and hoisted him up on their shoulders. Talk about overdoing it!

10 WCW Starrcade 1997: Hulk Hogan VS Sting

The buildup to the main event of the 1997 Starrcade began about a year and a half before when the NWO started to take over Monday Night Nitro. Sting was defending the WCW brand and fans were on board with him. Naturally, the NWO's leader, Hulk Hogan, started to find Sting annoying and the two of them started battling with each other. The WCW spent 18 months leading up to this match and when the bell rung, it was finally underway.

However, there was no finish. Hulk Hogan, Sting, and Eric Bischoff had not agreed on a finish for the match up until the day of the event. They just kind of threw the idea together that Sting would lose by pinfall following a quick three count, an obvious NWO secret plan, but the ref counted normally and it was clear that Hogan won. Then Bret Hart walked out, and without ever explaining why, he became the ref and restarted the match. This time, Sting won. Both wrestlers regret not capitalizing on the biggest main event in the company's history.

9 WWE Unforgiven 1999: Big Bossman VS Al Snow

Whoever decided that it would be a good idea to build a Hell in a Cell with another steel cage inside of it, surrounded by a bunch of "vicious" rottweilers did not imagine a scenario that would end up with those dogs doing their business while waiting for the match to end. In all honesty, that sounded like a great idea. The WWE was going to put Al Snow and Big Bossman in a Kennel From Hell match where the winner would become the newest WWE Hardcore champion. For some reason, it never worked and the match itself was also terrible.

Not only were the fans more interested in the hilarity that was happening outside of the cage with the dogs, they were highly uninterested in who was even winning the match which lasted a very long 12 minutes. Both wrestlers had no issues bouncing back from this but, if asked again, would definitely say no.

8 WCW Halloween Havoc 2000: Mike Awesome VS Vampiro

When the WCW started spending millions upon millions of dollars to sign all the biggest names in pro wrestling, they began something that would eventually lead to their demise. The moment they signed Mike Awesome, however, the fans went nuts. He came in as the reigning ECW World Heavyweight Champion but was now a WCW employee. But it did not take long for the WCW to ruin Mike Awesome's career by changing his gimmick from something that was way over to a lame 70s dude that showed up for his 2000 Halloween Havoc match against Vampiro.

Both wrestlers should be embarrassed from this match because it began with a lame chair duel between both men that was so fake, the commentators did not know what to say. Then they went into the stands and a fan attacked Mike Awesome which was the highlight of the whole thing. Mike Awesome won the match by landing a powerbomb from the top rope causing Vampiro to get a concussion, which basically ended his WCW career.

7 WWE Survivor Series 2002: Triple H VS Scott Steiner

During his pro wrestling career, Triple H hardly ever turned down a match. He fought just about anyone throughout his career and when he was called upon to fight the WCW icon, Scott Steiner, in a match that would put legends from their own promotions against one another in a sort of clash of the titans type of match, he answered the call. Sadly though, the match was brutal and featured suplex after suplex after suplex. It almost felt as if Scott Steiner could not wrestle anymore and was left to perform the one move that he could remember.

The interference from Ric Flair made very little sense but the ending was even worse. For 18 minutes we had to endure this tragedy before being left with a DQ? The match that was being built up as an instant classic ended in DQ and left us with very little to be happy about.

6 WCW Fall Brawl 1998: Ultimate Warrior, Roddy Piper, Diamond Dallas Page vs. Lex Luger, Sting, Kevin Nash vs. Stevie Ray, Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart

At the time of the 1998 Fall Brawl, the WCW had been broken into three sections, nWo Hollywood, nWo Wolfpac, and WCW veterans. So, naturally, when it was time to book Fall Brawl, it was perfect timing to pit the three factions against one another in a massive cage match. But, some things just seem to look better on paper.

The match was a grand mess that featured more confusion and more awkwardness than any Royal Rumble or previous Fall Brawl. The biggest issue with the whole match is that it is not a team event. Only one man can walk away the winner so the whole point of having these teams was lost the moment the bell rang. In fact, Roddy Piper immediately started to attack his "teammate", Diamond Dallas Page, the second he entered the ring. It would not work as DDP outlasted everyone to win the match after a diamond cutter was landed on Stevie Ray. Who? Exactly.

5 WWE SummerSlam 2005: Shawn Michaels VS Hulk Hogan

There are not many pro wrestlers that have owned a crowd like Shawn Michaels did throughout his entire career. He was one of the most over characters in the industry and even when he turned into a heel, he became a fan favourite (D-X). However, one of his biggest downfalls is his unscripted tantrums he would throw during a match in the most subtle of ways. But in 2005, he had every right to act the way he did during his SummerSlam match against Hulk Hogan.

Hulk Hogan did not want to play ball and made Shawn Michaels become a heel. Shawn Michaels hated that Hogan got to call the shots and it was his way or the highway. So he played ball the whole way through until the bell rung, and it was his time to shine. He oversold every other shot from Hogan in a comical way that left his fans roaring with laughter. If given the chance to cancel the feud, it is safe to say both men would have just walked away.

4 WCW Thunder 2000: Jeff Jarrett & Eric Bischoff VS Diamond Dallas Page & David Arquette

A person would never look at David Arquette and think he was a pro wrestler. In fact, they might look at him and see a grocery store clerk, at best. The man just wasn't built for the sport but somehow creeped his way into the hit WCW film, "Ready to Rumble". In an effort of cross promotion, he began showing up on WCW TV as nothing more than an obvious effort of trying to promote the movie. He did eventually wrestle with Eric Bischoff on Nitro but that was horrible but it led to a tag team match between Diamond Dallas Page and David Arquette versus Jeff Jarrett and Eric Bischoff.

He was not directly responsible for the demise of the WCW but he was easily the biggest contributor to the cause and this match was the final straw. That's right! David Arquette won the belt and ruined decades of history that went along with it. It turned the WCW into a joke.

3 WWE Raw 2001: Buff Bagwell VS Booker T

If Vince McMahon's intention was to destroy the idea that the WCW was worthy of going toe-to-toe with the WWE, after he bought the company, then he must have created this match for that purpose. On one side, you have Booker T. who is a WCW icon and phenomenal pro wrestler with multiple title reigns to his name. He would be forced to wrestle Buff Bagwell for the WCW Championship belt? Really?

First off, both men were put into an ugly situation, having to fight in a WWE arena filled with WWE fans that hate the WCW. Booker T. was over in the WCW but when he walked out into the arena that night, he was treated like a heel. The problem of this match began with Buff Bagwell. He was in way over his head. It is one thing to fight in WCW arena's compared to a massive WWE arena all while being the main event of the night. It was a shot he did not deserve and had it not been for Booker T., this match would have become the worst ever, in all of pro wrestling.

2 WCW Halloween Havoc 1998: Hulk Hogan VS The Warrior

How can anyone book a rematch of one of the greatest matches in wrestling history almost ten years later? That is what happened when the WCW put The Ultimate Warrior against Hulk Hogan at the 1998 Halloween Havoc pay-per-view. Their original meeting, at WrestleMania VI is legendary and remains one of the best matches ever. So when it was booked in the WCW, eight years later, the writers must have figured they could get that same kind of result. Wrong!

As we already know, The Ultimate Warrior was not the nicest man and was one of the worst pro wrestling superstars ever. But watching this match makes any wrestling fan angry. Neither man put much effort into it and the crowd let them hear about it. Once the bell rang, there was nothing anyone backstage could do now, and it sank faster than Horace Hogans career. It was a mess and both wrestlers regretted it for the rest of their careers.

1 WWE WrestleMania XX 2004: Goldberg VS Brock Lesnar

The WrestleMania XX match between Goldberg and Brock Lesnar was long overdue by 2004 and came at a time when Goldberg was already on his way out of the business. It was announced that this would be his final match. The sad story of Goldberg starts with the WWE's takeover of the company followed by their incompetence to use him effectively. Vince McMahon basically ruined his career and it really took a toll on Goldberg.

It was evident during the match because Brock Lesnar was thinking about the UFC and Goldberg was worried about his retirement. Once the bell rung, however, neither of them wanted to lockup and it took nearly three minutes before any contact was made. Meanwhile, the crowd was going off on both wrestlers with intense booing. They both regretted it and made it up to the fans last year when they got the long awaited rematch at WrestleMania 33, erasing all of the negative feelings the fans had for them back in 2004. But it did not change how much both men hated the original match, wishing it did not happen.