Although WWE is by the far the biggest and most successful professional wrestling company on the planet, the promotion still offers up a lot of things that fans would prefer to burn from their memories. Each year, even with a lot of good, some matches can be absolutely abysmal.
Dave Meltzer’s star ratings are a good indication of which match each year is the worst of the worst, with him giving a rating to most PPVs every year. While not every Raw or SmackDown match is rated, Meltzer covers the biggest shows, rating which major matches are at the bottom of the barrel to the top of the mountain. These are the very worst rated matches each year, as per profightdb.com.
10 2021 - Damian Priest Vs The Miz, Backlash (-3 Stars)
The stipulation of this bout was a “Zombie Lumberjack Match”, and that tells you all you need to know about why this was so bad. To help promote one of Batista’s new movies, WWE incorporated zombies into their WrestleMania Backlash PPV, dressing up performance center talent as zombies to be at ringside.
The Miz was scared of them, the zombies consumed John Morrison at ringside, and then at the end of the bout, they crowded The Miz with the implication that they ate him. To make matters worse, The Miz suffered his first ever major injury in this match, making it even more of a disaster.
9 2020 - Brock Lesnar Vs Ricochet, Super Showdown (-1 Star)
Brock Lesnar is renowned for working well against smaller competitors, so when Ricochet earned a shot at the WWE Championship against him, there was some hope that it could be a star-making performance for him.
However, Lesnar squashed him with ease, winning the match in 90 seconds. This buried Ricochet for a while, with it feeling like a wasted opportunity to try and build an upper midcard star.
8 2019 - Seth Rollins Vs Bray Wyatt, Hell In A Cell (-2 Stars)
Bray Wyatt’s “Fiend” persona was hugely popular throughout the summer of 2019, with that leading him to a Universal Championship match at Hell in a Cell. Wyatt no-sold most of Rollins’ offense, which was fine, but with the arena drenched in red lighting, it made the match awkward.
However, things got worse when Rollins began to bury Wyatt, later hitting him in the head with a sledgehammer to try and keep him down. For some reason, the referee called for the bell as Rollins went too far (even though Cell matches are no disqualification). Wyatt would then jump up as though nothing had happened, making the ending of the match pointless.
7 2018 - The Bar Vs Braun Strowman & Nicholas, WrestleMania 34 (1 Star)
WWE’s PPVs didn’t have any matches which went below one star in 2018, but there was still a fair share of poor showings. One of which was the Raw Tag Team Championship match at WrestleMania 34.
Going in, fans speculated over who Strowman’s mystery partner would be, but fans were let down when he picked a kid from the crowd. Strowman would essentially beat The Bar in a handicap match, winning the Tag Titles for him and a literal child. It was a mockery of the tag team division.
6 2017 - Alexa Bliss Vs Bayley, Extreme Rules (0 Stars)
Going into this match, the story was that Bayley was scared to use weapons to hurt her opponent, despite already being a former world champion in a combat sport. It was ridiculous, and it unfortunately bled its way into the match too, which was a Kendo Stick on a Pole match - a truly terrible stipulation.
Bayley was scared of utilizing the stick, leading to Bliss getting the win. This was a terrible character trait for Bayley, with it being the first step towards fans turning on her.
5 2016 - Curtis Axel Vs R-Truth, Fastlane (0 Stars)
For some reason, a match between Curtis Axel and R-Truth, two lower card jobbers, was added to this PPV. It may have been due to the show needing to fill time, but either way it was completely pointless.
Axel won with a roll-up in a little over two minutes, adding absolutely nothing to the card, especially with it coming so late into the show in the spot before the main event.
4 2015 - The Ascension Vs Curtis Axel & Macho Mandow, Payback Kick Off (0.5 Stars)
By the time Payback rolled around, the former NXT Tag Team Champions, The Ascension, were a complete joke. They would pick up a win here, but it came against a joke pairing of Curtis Axel and Macho Mandow - “The Meta Powers”, who were parodying the team between Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage.
It was essentially a squash match which benefited no one, fully deserving of the DUD rating it received.
3 2014 - AJ Lee Vs Cameron, Elimination Chamber (-1 Star)
As good as AJ Lee was as Divas Champion, not even she could get a good match out of Cameron. Somehow, Cameron had earned her way to a title match on a PPV, with this mostly being down to the fact that Lee had already defeated everyone else.
It was a shocking match with little chemistry, and even though it only lasted around four minutes, it felt hard to sit through.
2 2013 - Kane Vs Bray Wyatt, SummerSlam (0 Stars)
Bray Wyatt’s debut on WWE’s main roster went down terribly. In a “Ring of Fire” match against Kane, the idea was for him to go over a big star in a variation of a classic gimmick bout - the Inferno Match. However, it was over-the-top, poorly wrestled, and the finish was dreadful.
The Wyatt Family used a fire blanket to interfere, making Wyatt look weak and making a mockery out of the stipulation.
1 2012 - Santino Marella Vs Ricardo Rodriguez, No Way Out (-1 Star)
This was solely a comedy match, but it was the comedy which Vince McMahon found funny, so make of that what you will. Santino Marella and Ricardo Rodriguez fought in a Tuxedo Match, attempting to strip each other.
It was a complete farce and it was painfully difficult to sit through, with this match existing in an era which should have been over the childish toilet humor which McMahon so dearly loved.