Terrible finishes

[tiger_rick]

I watched a video on YT last night on Triple H's issues and it was the first time I've seen the finish to the Royal Rumble this year. Jey Uso pushing Cena off the apron was such a terrible finish. As a Rumble lover, it made me quite sad. (In isolation, obviously, I've no attachment to either winning)

What other terrible finishes come to mind? In either idea or execution? 

It's hard to discuss Rumbles without mentioning 1993. Yoko throwing Savage over the top from on his back is pretty novel but Savage having to try a pinfall in a Rumble for it to work is ludicrous stuff that made him look like a moron.

One of my other least favourites that make no sense is the opener to the 1994 Survivor Series where an entire team are counted out. It was obviously designed to push Diesel strong and keep him and Shawn bubbling over but it made a mess of the concept and was such a cop out - even by Survivors standards.

[Bohan]

21 minutes ago, tiger_rick said:

I watched a video on YT last night on Triple H's issues and it was the first time I've seen the finish to the Royal Rumble this year. Jey Uso pushing Cena off the apron was such a terrible finish. As a Rumble lover, it made me quite sad. (In isolation, obviously, I've no attachment to either winning)

What other terrible finishes come to mind? In either idea or execution? 

It's hard to discuss Rumbles without mentioning 1993. Yoko throwing Savage over the top from on his back is pretty novel but Savage having to try a pinfall in a Rumble for it to work is ludicrous stuff that made him look like a moron.

One of my other least favourites that make no sense is the opener to the 1994 Survivor Series where an entire team are counted out. It was obviously designed to push Diesel strong and keep him and Shawn bubbling over but it made a mess of the concept and was such a cop out - even by Survivors standards.

The finish to Rumble 93 always made me sad as a child, still bugs me now!  But....I think Savage's pinfall attempt plays into the fact that he is just not very good in rumbles, making it always acceptable looking back....Rumble 91 doesn't even bother to show up and forfeits his entry (a smart man would have sold that ticket to Dibiase), 92 jumps over the top rope, eliminating himself to attack Jake Roberts and then topping it off with the pinfall attempt in 93.  So yeah, love him but Randy was awful at rumbling!

[hallicks]

Speaking of the man himself, and I know it’s been talked about ad infinitum, but the first Steiner vs HHH title match from Rumble 2003, which ends in a DQ due to ol’ sledgie, to setup the rematch absolutely nobody wanted to see.

Steiner had been built up massively, so if you were like me and had never seen a second of WCW, the ensuing match featuring this geezer in a chain mail hat that could barely move was hugely disappointing. (Yes I know he was injured, so why book the match). And the idea that HHH couldn’t beat him clean was absolutely laughable - or at least, I remember laughing out loud when he pulled out the weapon from under the ring. 

[Supremo]

This could easily become the, “many sins of Triple H “ thread.

Triple H vs. Kurt Angle - Unforgiven 2000.

Despite the entire Summer being built on the idea that Stephanie was going to turn on Hunter and side with Kurt, she just doesn’t. She picks Hunter in the wonkiest, most unsatisfying conclusion because Triple H is actually the hardest and the best and no woman would ever choose someone else over him. Boom dies. Takes them over twenty years to get it back.

Elimination Chamber - Summerslam 2003

For a brief few minutes, they capture what made Goldberg so successful in WCW. Lightning in a bottle. He violently smashes everyone, looks set to win the World Title in a huge crescendo, but then doesn’t. Hunter wins because he’s actually the hardest and the best. Goldberg’s eventual World Title win comes in the months later, in a rubbish, drawn out bore fest.

Triple H vs. Booker T - Wrestlemania 19

Horrible, grim feud filled with racist undertones not only sees the racist antagonist win in the end, but he does so whilst leaving a solid twenty five seconds between when he hits his finisher and when he bothers to go for the cover. Dreadful. Hunter is lucky no further evidence arose in the subsequent decades to suggest he’s a massive racist.

[sivy]

I think it has to be the Bret Hart vs Goldberg WCW title match on Nitro, where Piper is on top of Goldberg and the ref just makes the count. Awards the belt to Bret Hart. 

[Callum1993]

Seth Rollins vs The Fiend. Hell in a Cell 2019 

 

It should never have been booked in the first place. WWE booking is awful now but 2019 was definitely worse. The Fiend had only debuted a couple of months prior and was undefeated so booking the match against the new Babyface champion was already a risk. 
 

Firstly the Red lighting that they used for Fiend matches at this time was awful. Rollins hit the Fiend with 11 stomps. Eventually the match ended by referee stoppage when Rollins placed a pile of weapons on top of Fiend and hit the pile with a Sledgehammer. Referee stoppage in Hell in a Cell?
 

One of the worst finishes to a match ever, killed Rollins as a face for years and ultimately the Fiend won the title the following month anyway so it was pointless.  

[gmoney]

Fuck me, that sounds utterly appalling. 

[LaGoosh]

That Dean Ambrose match where he went to hit someone with a TV and for some reason it exploded in his face.

[Supremo]

Some say X-Pac is still furious about that Seth vs. Bray finish to this very day.

In retrospect, is it any wonder they managed to create a boom after Vince fucked off? That is what he was pumping out and nutcases (myself included) were still tuning in! Of course all it took was the most basic, competent product for everyone to celebrate! Like having basic Weetabix one morning after eating bowls of shit for the past few years. This stuff is fucking incredible!

Another quick recommendation. Any, “well, technically,” finish you’d come up with when you were twelve.

 

Edited September 26, 2025 by Supremo

[Callum1993]

9 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

That Dean Ambrose match where he went to hit someone with a TV and for some reason it exploded in his face.

I think that was against Wyatt as well. Seems to be a theme! 

[Roy]

WWF building up Lex Luger as the new Hulk Hogan for an entire summer, only to have him beat Yokozuna by count out in his supposedly only opportunity at winning the belt. He celebrates not being the champion by waving the American flag atop the shoulders of the Steiners whilst Tatanka and Randy Savage cheer lead whilst tickertape and balloons rain down from the rafters. 

[theringmaster]

The first women's mitb where a man got the briefcase...

[SuperBacon]

The finish of Wrestlemania 9. 

Still annoys me.

[mim731]

Finn Balor vs Roman Reigns for the WWE Title - Extreme Rules 2021 - Finn Balor not only doing the weird "Demon gets resuscitated by his music heartbeat" thing which is still one of the most cringeworthy things in wrestling history, then he loses because the top rope snapped. Utterly, utterly terrible. 

[Lorne Malvo]

That one summer when Brock Lesnar was beating everyone with one F5, in an attempt to protect the move so Roman Reigns looked superhard when he kicked out of 5 or whatever. Beating people with one finisher isn't a bad idea in theory, but the problem was, people had been kicking out of multiple F5s for years at that point anyway so sudeenly reverting to 'one F5 is enough' made all the opponents look like losers. Then Reigns kicking out of a shitload of them made them look like even bigger losers in restrospect.

I knew someone would say 'Big Show loses his IC title by stepping through a table'. I laughed my arse off at the time so it gets a pass from me.