The WWE is known for running the longest running weekly episodic television show in history, as well as a plethora of different iconic pay-per-view events such as the original “Big Four” – Wrestlemania, Royal Rumble, Summerslam and Survivor Series – which have become a staple of the company’s calendar.
The company has also experimented with numerous concepts and ideas to incorporate into PPVs, or others were just one-off special events that WWE wanted to try. Some stuck, and some didn’t. Here we take a look at five fantastic PPVs that we only got to see once.
1. Breaking Point 2009
Breaking Point, which emanated from Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on September 13, 2009 was a event with a submission match gimmick. Three matches on the card had the stipulation, and honestly I don’t think it’s that bad. Submission matches are underrated in my opinion and this event showed that the concept could be entertaining.
The excellent I Quit match between John Cena and Randy Orton for the WWE Championship is worth re-visiting alone. The main event with World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk against The Undertaker of course saw a Montreal Screwjob style finish when Undertaker first won with the Hell’s Gate on Punk but the match was restarted when Teddy Long gave the news that the move was banned by Vickie Guerrero. When the match restarted, Punk immediately applied the Anaconda Vice and the bell rang to signal the match was over although The Undertaker did not submit.
2. St. Valentine’s Day Massacre 1999
Oh yes, the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. Look how extreme and edgy the WWF is guys, they have a PPV named after the infamous St. Valentine’s Day Massacre from 1929, where seven people were killed in mob violence!
Putting aside the awful choice of the name, the card was pretty good. A stand out from the card is the Hardcore match for the vacant WWF Hardcore Championship between Bob Holly and Al Snow. But the show is most famous for its main event steel cage match between Steve Austin and Vince McMahon with the finish seeing the debut of Big – I mean Paul Wight. Wight emerged from under the ring and attacked Austin to make him lose the match. Unfortunately for McMahon, Wight threw Austin directly on the steel cage door which flung it open and made Austin the winner as he landed on the floor.
3. Capitol Punishment 2011
This entry might surprise some, but I think this event didn’t turn out as badly as people made it out to be. The show had a bad start, with its awful title and poster, which featured then-US President Barack Obama.
The main event was for the WWE Championship between John Cena and R-Truth. Yes, R Truth. I would skip the main event though, as the real shiners are the matches between CM Punk and Rey Mysterio, Randy Orton and Christian, and the underrated Dolph Ziggler vs Kofi Kingston. I agree the rest of the show was meh, but these matches make it a fantastic one-time WWE PPV.
4. Great Balls Of Fire 2017
I am gonna get looks and scoffs from people for mentioning this absurdly-titled event, but hear me out.
Great Balls Of Fire was the best PPV in a while at the time. It was a solid show with a great 30-minute Iron Man match for the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship between the teams of Cesaro & Sheamus and The Hardy Boyz. Braun Strowman’s booking was great with the Ambulance match against Roman Reigns, and the overall match and performance from Reigns was great too. Alexa Bliss had one of the best matches of her career with an equally impressive Sasha Banks. The main event was for the Universal Championship, with Brock Lesnar defending against Samoa Joe.
Sure, it had wonky finishes and the usual boring stuff but there is a lot of good in there too. I was happy with Great Balls Of Fire.
5. The Wrestling Classic 1985
Before King of the Ring, there was The Wrestling Classic. Well, only for that one time in ’85. The Wrestling Classic had a tournament show concept, which also was the second-ever PPV. The show featured a jam-packed card with names such as Randy Savage, Junkyard Dog, Dynamite Kid, Terry Funk, Adrian Adonis, Paul Orndorff, and Bob Orton.
This event was different in that this was the first time we were seeing an entire tournament in one night with 16 competitors where faces would fight faces and heels would go against heels. Everything on the show was great apart from the Junkyard Dog/Moondog Spot’s no referee fiasco. The finals of the tournament was won by Junkyard Dog when he defeated Randy Savage by count-out.
Apart from the tournament, the undercard featured a WWF World Heavyweight Championship match where Hulk Hogan defeated “Rowdy” Roddy Piper. Also the show, for some reason, included a fan competition for a Rolls-Royce car. I mean, who can complain?
So, there we have it. A look at five fantastic PPVs that were part of WWE’s histories for only a single time and will probably never be repeated again. There were multiple reasons they were never bought back – poor sales, bad reception, or WWE just feeling the idea didn’t work.
The interesting thing is, these are the best one-time PPVs and even they are not perfect. There’s a whole lot of other one-time events that suck and there’s a reason why they were never bought back.
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