5 Worst Wrestling Matches Of 1994
What makes a wrestling match bad? That is usually a subjective concept, but there are a few key points that can help you decide on whether a match is truly ‘bad’.
The first is a lack of athleticism. Wrestlers are supposed to do things inside a wrestling that normal people can’t, which is why people watch them. In all five of the matches included herein, there is a pronounced lack of athleticism expected of its participants. For some, it’s because they lack the experience needed to pull such things off, while for others it’s because the match they were booked in required little-to-no athleticism whatsoever.
Second, there is a match’s booking and structure. If a match is intended to be a comedy match, you’re not likely to get much out of it. However, comedy matches are hard to pull off well, because it’s hard to know what people will and won’t laugh at. On the other side of things, a good match can be completely ruined by a bad ending.
Finally, a lack of crowd enthusiasm is enough to kill an otherwise passable match. If the crowd doesn’t care, the atmosphere of the wrestling match is destroyed. All of the matches on this list involve that final element to varying degrees, but in every case it’s enough for these matches to completely stink out the building.
5. Johnny B. Badd vs. Honky Tonk Man – Clash Of The Champions XXIX
Compared to a lot of bad matches in this series, this particular contest wasn’t exceptionally bad. The problem here was that Honky Tonk Man’s wrestling style and offense were so dated and out of place that they barely got any reaction out of the audience.
Honky’s attacks were largely boring and phony-looking strikes, Memphis-style cheap-shots and ref bumps. There wasn’t anything particularly exciting about this match as it progressed, and this was worsened by a DQ finish involving a guitar shot to the head.
While this match isn’t terrible compared to a lot of matches we look at, in a vacuum it’s one of those contests that you wouldn’t otherwise remember for being anything special. Then again, the Honky Tonk Man was never meant to be taken too seriously as a wrestler, which is probably why he never really blew anyone away if they weren’t in his native Memphis.