5 worst wrestling matches of 2007
If you read about wrestling, by now you’ll have heard the name, Vince Russo. He’s one of the most polarizing figures in wrestling history, is tolerated by some, and despised by most. Some people credit his ‘crash TV’ style and ideas as being catalysts in WWE’s victory over WCW in the Monday Night Wars.
Others, however, point to both WCW and TNA as examples of what happens when Russo doesn’t have someone stopping him from executing his ideas to their fullest. You see, in WWE, Russo did have creative influence, but Vince McMahon would shut down some of his wilder ideas. WCW and TNA, however, gave him free rein over the creative direction because they thought his ideas would eventually lead both companies to compete with WWE.
We’ve already covered his utter nonsense in the articles that showcased the worst of WCW, so now it’s TNA’s turn. The biggest difference now, however, is that most people knew who he was when these matches were executed, which is why you could head extremely loud chants of ‘Fire Russo’ when they took place.
So what could be so bad that fans would actually chant for someone to get fired? Read on about the worst matches from 2007 to find out…
#5 The Great Khali vs. Batista – SummerSlam 2007
This was one of the lowest points in the history of the World Heavyweight Championship. The Great Khali was an abhorrent wrestler, whose biggest asset was his gargantuan size. But his actual wrestling ability was so threadbare that all he could do was some lazy chops, kicks and one two-arm Chokeslam.
So when WWE made him World Champion, a lot of people got angry and begged for someone – anyone – to take that belt off him and restore some dignity to it. At SummerSlam, those people put all of their hopes on Batista’s enormous shoulders, hoping and praying he’d win and end the nightmare that was Khali’s title run.
They went home disappointed.
Not only was this match scheduled in the death-slot (i.e. the bathroom-break spot before the show-closing main event), but the action didn’t make any sense. The whole story was about Batista not being strong or tough enough to overcome the massive Khali.
Khali dominated most of the match and had the size advantage over Batista. Yet instead of concluding that story in a logical way by having Khali win clean, Khali hit Batista with a chair and got himself intentionally disqualified.
That was a cheap cop-out to keep the title on Khali without Batista taking a loss. He was moments away from winning the match on his own but someone decided that they needed to ‘swerve’ the audience with an unnecessary DQ.
Finally, the World Championship – the Big Gold Belt – was defended in a nothing match that lasted less than seven minutes. That should tell you everything you need to know about how important this title was to WWE’s top brass at the time.