Many fans don't realize the importance of a wrestling event's name. WrestleMania, for instance, is the biggest wrestling event, and even non-wrestling fans have heard of it. Does The Colossal Tussle sound as good as WrestleMania? Most fans would say no. But this is what McMahon wanted to name wrestling's biggest show until Howard Finkel came up with the WrestleMania name.
Although McMahon couldn't ruin WrestleMania's name, he did come up with some of the worst pay-per-view titles for WWE. Most of these events were named after a certain match type, and in some cases, they did make sense (Royal Rumble or Elimination Chamber, for instance), but they often led to lazy bookings.
10 The Bash
WWE acquired the rights to The Great American Bash trademark after WCW's sellout. They even made it their annual pay-per-view from 2004 to 2007.
But then two years later, they rebranded the event to The Bash, for some unknown reasons. The problem with The Bash was that it sounded incomplete without the "Great American" part. It also doesn't make sense why changed the event's name after doing The Great American Bash for years.
9 Fatal 4 Way
Building an entire pay-per-view around a match type sounds way too forced. There were three-four Fatal 4-Way matches on the first and only Fatal 4-Way PPV show on the main roster, and they weren't even that good. While Hell in a Cell and Elimination Chamber are also gimmick pay-per-views, they at least sound good. Fatal 4-Way is such a weak stipulation to dedicate an entire show.
8 Roadblock: End Of The Line
The inaugural Roadblock event happened in March, right before WrestleMania, and the name made sense. It also sounded good unlike its second installment titled Roadblock: End of the Line.
While the "End of the Line" part makes sense since it was the final PPV of the year, it didn't sound like a pay-per-view name. Roadblock was canceled by WWE after its second installment, but they brought it back in March 2022 as a special episode for NXT 2.0.
7 This Tuesday In Texas
This Tuesday In Texas was WWE's attempt at doing a pay-per-view on a weekday. But people didn't like this change, and the experiment failed when it didn't make enough money. Not only was the pay-per-view name terrible, but its undercard was also weak. Fortunately, This Tuesday In Texas only happened once in WWE history.
6 Bragging Rights
In 2009, WWE did the first-ever Bragging Rights PPV. The concept of this event was for wrestlers from Raw and SmackDown to face each other, and decide which is the superior brand.
But with unified titles and many crossovers, the concept of Bragging Rights became meaningless. Only two such events took place, and then the brand split ended. The winning brand would receive a Bragging Rights trophy so that they can, well, brag about it.
5 WrestleMania Backlash
Backlash was the perfect PPV to do after WrestleMania as many of the feuds were the fallout from wrestling's biggest event. But renaming the pay-per-view to WrestleMania Backlash seemed a bit odd. From a marketing standpoint, it was a neat way to rope in casual viewers as the WrestleMania name holds a ton of value.
4 TLC: Tables, Ladders, Chairs... And Stairs
WWE had already named TLC after a match stipulation and they still tried to ruin its name further. Tables, Ladders, and Chairs as a pay-per-view wasn't a good idea, to begin with, and then in 2014, WWE went off the track when they added a Steel Stairs match to the card, leading to the first-ever TLC: Tables, Ladders, Chairs... And Stairs pay-per-view. Bray Wyatt and Dean Ambrose headlined the show, and it was the worst main event match in TLC history.
3 In Your House 8: Beware Of Dog
In Your House pay-per-views were meant to offer fans a two-hour wrestling event at a cheaper price and compete with WCW's monthly PPVs system. The eighth installment of this series was called In Your House: Beware Of Dog because The British Bulldog challenged Shawn Michaels for the WWE Championship that night. The show was a disaster due to power cuts, and the PPV's subtitle sounded a bit strange.
2 Taboo Tuesday
Taboo Tuesday was an interesting concept for a pay-per-view where the audience could choose the kind of matches they wanted to see. The event took place on a Tuesday, hence its name.
While this was a unique concept, Taboo Tuesday doesn't sound like a great pay-per-view name. Two years later, the event was renamed Cyber Sunday when WWE moved it to Sunday nights. The final Cyber Sunday event happened in 2008 and then Bragging Rights took its place.
1 Great Balls Of Fire
Great Balls Of Fire was the worst WWE PPV name of all time. The title sounds like something Vince McMahon would find hilarious, and that was exactly the case. McMahon probably loved the idea of having "balls" in a PPV's name, and he even licensed Jerry Lee Lewis' "Great Balls of Fire" as the event's theme song.