5 Worst Wrestling Matches Of 2012
What happens when you run a company with such a hatred for competition that you do whatever it takes to drive them out of business until you’re the only one in town? You eventually stop caring about your own quality and get lazy with your product. That is precisely what happened with WWE in 2012.
WWE in 2012 barely cared whatsoever about putting on something truly ground-breaking or memorable. A lot of the matches showcased throughout that year were either forgettable or downright bad. This isn’t because no one was trying; they were. It’s just that there was much less effort on the part of many people in the company because the risks were so low.
If a WWE superstar had a bad match or had a segment that caused ratings to drop, what risks did the company face? None. There was no concern that viewers would switch to a competing wrestling program.
And even if ratings did drop, WWE didn’t have much to worry about. PPV numbers were still decent and the company was working on the WWE Network, the latter eventually becoming so successful that a lot of people now argue that TV ratings no longer matter whatsoever.
All of that apathy and general lack of effort from both athletes and creative forces came together in these five dreadful wrestling matches. Read and watch at your own risk.
5. Layla vs. Nikki Bella – Extreme Rules 2012
This match took place during the dark ages known as the Divas era. The women that ‘wrestled’ during this period had short, nothing matches for a ghastly title shaped like a butterfly. Unlike today, matches like this one featured very little action, no story and minimal athleticism.
Of course, part of that was because Divas were clearly designated ‘bathroom break match performers’, so they couldn’t do anything special.
These two women tried to make as much as they could out of the two minutes they got, but that was virtually impossible. The crowd was completely dead for this match and didn’t care at all about anything that took place inside the ring. The Bellas did try to get the audience somewhat interested by trying their ‘twin magic’ gimmick, but not even that could get anyone to care.
This match wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good either. It was a forgettable nothing match that showed how little WWE cared about their own performers at this time.