As WWE debuts their brand new event, Great Balls Of Fire, this weekend, the world will be watching to see if it exceeds expectations. Admittedly, while the PPV has been mocked online due to its rather odd name, the card does look pretty stacked. And with matches like Brock Lesnar vs. Samoa Joe for the WWE Universal Championship, and Braun Strowman vs. Roman Reigns in an Ambulance Match, it looks like Great Balls Of Fire might just make a fiery entrance.
However, with this weekend marking the inaugural edition of the PPV, let’s take this opportunity to look back at some WWE PPVs that never made it past their first year.
Breaking Point
Back in 2009 when WWE had just begun their themed PPV era, they gave us Breaking Point — an event in which all the main event matches were to be contested under submission rules. While the concept sounds pretty fascinating, it never really took off. Maybe WWE wasn’t sure if fans would want to see an annual event full of submission matches, or maybe it had something to do with the controversial main event of the first, and only event — which saw CM Punk defeat the Undertaker in a Submission Match without actually making him submit.
In an attempt to recreate the controversy of the notorious “Montreal Screwjob” 12 years earlier, WWE had GM Teddy Long, referee Scott Armstrong and World Champion CM Punk screw the Undertaker out of the championship.
The “Montreal Screwjob 2.0” didn’t go down too well with fans and the situation was quickly tied up by having the Undertaker exact revenge on all of the men in question and defeating CM Punk to win the World Championship inside Hell In A Cell.
By supposedly outsmarting the submission finish in their inaugural submission-based event completely undermined Breaking Point and everything it stood for. Thus, it’s no surprise that they never brought it back.
Fatal 4-Way
In mid 2010, WWE was still very much in their experimental phase when it came to match themed PPVs. And this one was definitely the most bizarre.
Even today, many of us still have an issue with those kinds of events diminishing the magic of certain match types, but at least they are grand scale creations — worthy of having a PPV named after them (such as Hell In A Cell and Elimination Chamber matches). But that was not the case here.
While there have been countless entertaining Fatal 4-Way matches over the years, it never felt like it needed its own PPV named after. And it seems like WWE got the message because the buy rates were down from the previous year’s June PPV and the show’s shorter length was heavily criticized. Due to all this, they never brought the event back the following year.
Capitol Punishment
Replacing Fatal 4-Way in 2011 was WWE’s brand new PPV Capitol Punishment. The promotion for the event heavily centered around the fact that it was taking place in Washington D.C. and even Barack Obama appears on its animated poster.
The main event saw John Cena take on R-Truth — back when he got that huge push out of nowhere.
Despite the cool, innovative name, the event wasn’t received very well. Thus, due to this — and the fact that they couldn’t always guarantee they’d be in Washington every June — the event never returned.
But that wouldn’t mark the end of the uncertain June for WWE, as the following year they replaced Capitol Punishment with the returning No Way Out, but it too only lasted for the one year before being ultimately replaced by WWE Payback.
InVasion
If you really think about it, it’s completely understandable why the company never had another InVasion PPV — they didn’t have another invasion in the years that followed.
Held in 2001, the event took place in the midst of the ongoing rivalry between Team WWE and the invading Alliance — a mixture of stars from WCW and ECW. The whole event consisted of superstars from WWE facing off against superstars from the Alliance, before the main event saw Stone Cold Steve Austin lead The Undertaker, Kane, Chris Jericho and Kurt Angle into the “inaugural brawl” against the Alliance’s Booker T, Bubba Ray Dudley, D-Von Dudley, DDP and Rhyno. The shocking conclusion — which saw Austin betray Team WWE and join forces with the Alliance — has gone down in history as one of the most shocking betrayals of all time.
So while a lot of the short-lived WWE PPVs never returned because they weren’t successful, this was certainly not the case here — InVasion ended up becoming the highest-grossing non-WrestleMania PPV in WWE history. But despite this, it’s understandable why it never returned as it would have outlived its concept.
With all eyes on Great Balls Of Fire, we have to wonder if it will end up like some of its scrapped predecessors, or if we will see a sequel event next year. Time will most certainly tell.
Do you think WWE Great Balls Of Fire will one a one hit wonder? Let us know in the comments below!
