WWE is the ultimate never-ending athletic soap opera where thousands of matches take place each year, so when stipulations are added to make these contests more interesting, they often provide some much-needed finality to a feud, creating bona fide Superstars out of the combatants along the way.
The WWE calendar would not be the same without the Royal Rumble or Survivor Series matches, but for every great gimmick match, there’s a stinker that has fans scratching their heads. In honor of Halloween, we look at some of the most innovative, and also some of the most cringe-worthy, stipulation matches of all time.
Since WWE owns the back catalogue of former rival WCW, we can re-live the whole glorious archive on WWE Network. Let’s scratch beyond the surface of the TLC match or the Elimination Chamber and, in no particular order, bring you some of the more outlandish gimmick matches of all-time.
The 9 Craziest (and Cringiest) Gimmick Matches in WWE History
Close gallery popup button
1 OF 9
1 of 9
Courtesy WWE
Barbed Wire (and Asylum) Match
There have been many contests where barbed wire made an appearance in WWE. One of the most exciting instances was at No Way Out in 2000, when Mick Foley brandished a flaming 2×4 complete with barbed wire during a Hell in a Cell match against Triple H. Fast forward more than 15 years to the infamous Asylum Match between Chris Jericho and Dean Ambrose at Extreme Rules 2016, where both men used a variety of weapons, including barbed wire, and even a floor mop, to take it to each other.Even more gruesome, in ECW, there were entire “barbed wire matches,” where the ring ropes would be replaced with the flesh-tearing strands of wire. The most notably brutal was a contest between Sabu and Terry Funk at Born to be Wired in August 1997.
2 of 9
Courtesy WWE
Ambulance Match
The Ambulance Match is probably the most self-explanatory on this whole list: the contest is over once a Superstar is beaten down and locked in the back of an ambulance. Simple. Brutal. Effective.Over the years, WWE has treated us to some great Ambulance Matches involving the likes of John Cena, Kane, Roman Reigns, and of course “The Monster Among Men” Braun Strowman. The lengths that these Superstars go to in order to incapacitate their foes is astounding, and better still, the ambulance is often used as a weapon along the way.
3 of 9
Courtesy WWE
Inferno Match
If there is one contest that makes WWE’s Health and Safety department break out into a cold sweat, it’s surely the Inferno Match. The aim is literally to just set your opponent on fire, courtesy of the billowing flames rigged up along the ring apron. Not surprisingly, there have only been a handful of these matches since this shocking gimmick made its ominous debut at Unforgiven in 1998.Kane is the only man to have participated in all four Inferno matches, but he lost three of them, finally scoring a win in this heated type of battle in 2006 at Armageddon against MVP.
4 of 9
Courtesy WWE
Kiss My Foot Match
When a wrestler loses a “Kiss My Foot” match, they’re forced to get down on their knees, pucker up, and literally kiss the foot of the victor. Bret Hart and Jerry “The King” Lawler went all-out in a memorable bout at the 1995 King of the Ring, where Bret beat his arch nemesis by submission when he applied the Sharpshooter. Hart then took off his sweaty wrestling boots and plunged his toes into the mouth of the fallen King. To add insult to injury, he then took Lawler’s bare foot and stretched it all the way into “The King’s” own royal mouth. Pass the breath freshener!
5 of 9
Courtesy WWE
Hair vs. Hair Match
There’s plenty for a WWE Superstar to fear in the wrestling ring, but near the top of that list? Losing their hair. Perhaps due to ego, or perhaps it’s simply a fear of a smooth dome, losing one’s hair can actually be the ultimate sign of defeat, and never was this more evident than when Vince McMahon put his hair on the line against none other than Donald J. Trump.Trump led Bobby Lashley to victory against McMahon’s protégé, the late Umaga, in what was billed as a “Battle of the Billionaires.” As a result, Vinnie Mac was forced to sit in a barber’s chair and feel the cold breeze on his scalp. Despite the wackiness of the match, it made some serious moolah—helping WrestleMania 23 break WWE pay-per-view records at the time.
6 of 9
Courtesy WWE
Punjabi Prison Match
The Punjabi Prison structure is made from bamboo and involves two cages—one cage surrounds the ring, and a second larger cage surrounds the first by covering the ringside area. This obscure idea was born as a concept for The Great Khali but makes little sense beyond that, especially considering Kahli had to pull out of the first Punjabi Prison match due to illness, being replaced by the Big Show against the Undertaker. The numerous bamboo bars that are needed to hold up two cages makes viewing the match extremely difficult, and wrestling inside those cages in no picnic either. However, Batista gave fans an unforgettable Punjabi Prison moment when he managed to jump from one cage to the other, overtaking Khali and beating him at his own game. There have only been three Punjabi Prison matches since the first in 2006, which might tell you something about how successful they are.
7 of 9
Courtesy WWE
Cry Baby Match
At WWE In Your House 6, which took place in February 1996, ladders and chairs were replaced by diapers and sippy cups to provide us with one of the most cringe-worthy encounters in pro wrestling history. The feud between Razor Ramon and 123-Kid had started out as a seriously hot rivalry when the young underdog beat the established Ramon, but excitement soon turned to embarrassment during this gimmick match.Ramon dished out not one but two patented Razor’s Edge finishers to score the win and teach the Kid a lesson that he’d never forget. Following the referee’s decision, Ramon, as per the rules, then placed a diaper on the Kid and doused him with water from a baby bottle. He even applied baby powder to his (thankfully still clothed) butt. When the Kid awoke from his beating, he proceeded to cry and throw a tantrum in the ring. The audience felt his pain.
8 of 9
Courtesy WWE
A “Judy Bagwell on a Pole” Match
On the face of it, placing a prize, such as a championship belt or a weapon, at the top of a pole can make for some great cat-and-mouse entertainment, with the combatants scaling the top turnbuckle to remove the item from the pole. But in the latter days of WCW, pole matches became the laughing stock of the entire pro wrestling industry, as everything from piñatas to a bottle of Viagra were suspended above the ring. Perhaps the most ridiculous, although best remembered, prize was Judy Bagwell, the mother of wrestler Buff Bagwell. Due to the laws of physics, the senior citizen had to be positioned on a platform held aloft by a forklift truck, rather than be tied to a pole, but much like the shaky premise of the match itself, it didn’t really matter. By that time, nothing in WCW really did.
9 of 9
Courtesy WWE
The Chamber of Horrors
In 1991, at the Halloween Havoc pay-per-view, WCW managed to put on a match that ranks among one of the most memorable of the decade—for all the wrong reasons. The concept of the Chamber of Horrors was basically an eight-man tag match fought inside a steel cage. Sounds pretty good, right? Well that’s only the beginning.You see, the only way to score victory in the Chamber was to strap one of your opponents onto an electric chair (yes, an electric chair!) and flip the switch. How the creative team ever got this idea past the booking committee, I guess we’ll never know, but the end came when Mick Foley flipped the switch, ‘frying’ Abdullah The Butcher in the process. It was a match that, unsurprisingly, was never repeated by WCW and yet it still lives on today… like a really bad horror movie.
There have been many contests where barbed wire made an appearance in WWE. One of the most exciting instances was at No Way Out in 2000, when Mick Foley brandished a flaming 2×4 complete with barbed wire during a Hell in a Cell match against Triple H. Fast forward more than 15 years to the infamous Asylum Match between Chris Jericho and Dean Ambrose at Extreme Rules 2016, where both men used a variety of weapons, including barbed wire, and even a floor mop, to take it to each other.
Even more gruesome, in ECW, there were entire “barbed wire matches,” where the ring ropes would be replaced with the flesh-tearing strands of wire. The most notably brutal was a contest between Sabu and Terry Funk at Born to be Wired in August 1997.
Ambulance Match
The Ambulance Match is probably the most self-explanatory on this whole list: the contest is over once a Superstar is beaten down and locked in the back of an ambulance. Simple. Brutal. Effective.
Over the years, WWE has treated us to some great Ambulance Matches involving the likes of John Cena, Kane, Roman Reigns, and of course “The Monster Among Men” Braun Strowman. The lengths that these Superstars go to in order to incapacitate their foes is astounding, and better still, the ambulance is often used as a weapon along the way.
Inferno Match
If there is one contest that makes WWE’s Health and Safety department break out into a cold sweat, it’s surely the Inferno Match. The aim is literally to just set your opponent on fire, courtesy of the billowing flames rigged up along the ring apron. Not surprisingly, there have only been a handful of these matches since this shocking gimmick made its ominous debut at Unforgiven in 1998.
Kane is the only man to have participated in all four Inferno matches, but he lost three of them, finally scoring a win in this heated type of battle in 2006 at Armageddon against MVP.
Kiss My Foot Match
When a wrestler loses a “Kiss My Foot” match, they’re forced to get down on their knees, pucker up, and literally kiss the foot of the victor. Bret Hart and Jerry “The King” Lawler went all-out in a memorable bout at the 1995 King of the Ring, where Bret beat his arch nemesis by submission when he applied the Sharpshooter. Hart then took off his sweaty wrestling boots and plunged his toes into the mouth of the fallen King. To add insult to injury, he then took Lawler’s bare foot and stretched it all the way into “The King’s” own royal mouth. Pass the breath freshener!
Hair vs. Hair Match
There’s plenty for a WWE Superstar to fear in the wrestling ring, but near the top of that list? Losing their hair. Perhaps due to ego, or perhaps it’s simply a fear of a smooth dome, losing one’s hair can actually be the ultimate sign of defeat, and never was this more evident than when Vince McMahon put his hair on the line against none other than Donald J. Trump.
Trump led Bobby Lashley to victory against McMahon’s protégé, the late Umaga, in what was billed as a “Battle of the Billionaires.” As a result, Vinnie Mac was forced to sit in a barber’s chair and feel the cold breeze on his scalp. Despite the wackiness of the match, it made some serious moolah—helping WrestleMania 23 break WWE pay-per-view records at the time.
Punjabi Prison Match
The Punjabi Prison structure is made from bamboo and involves two cages—one cage surrounds the ring, and a second larger cage surrounds the first by covering the ringside area. This obscure idea was born as a concept for The Great Khali but makes little sense beyond that, especially considering Kahli had to pull out of the first Punjabi Prison match due to illness, being replaced by the Big Show against the Undertaker.
The numerous bamboo bars that are needed to hold up two cages makes viewing the match extremely difficult, and wrestling inside those cages in no picnic either. However, Batista gave fans an unforgettable Punjabi Prison moment when he managed to jump from one cage to the other, overtaking Khali and beating him at his own game. There have only been three Punjabi Prison matches since the first in 2006, which might tell you something about how successful they are.
Cry Baby Match
At WWE In Your House 6, which took place in February 1996, ladders and chairs were replaced by diapers and sippy cups to provide us with one of the most cringe-worthy encounters in pro wrestling history. The feud between Razor Ramon and 123-Kid had started out as a seriously hot rivalry when the young underdog beat the established Ramon, but excitement soon turned to embarrassment during this gimmick match.
Ramon dished out not one but two patented Razor’s Edge finishers to score the win and teach the Kid a lesson that he’d never forget. Following the referee’s decision, Ramon, as per the rules, then placed a diaper on the Kid and doused him with water from a baby bottle. He even applied baby powder to his (thankfully still clothed) butt. When the Kid awoke from his beating, he proceeded to cry and throw a tantrum in the ring. The audience felt his pain.
A "Judy Bagwell on a Pole" Match
On the face of it, placing a prize, such as a championship belt or a weapon, at the top of a pole can make for some great cat-and-mouse entertainment, with the combatants scaling the top turnbuckle to remove the item from the pole. But in the latter days of WCW, pole matches became the laughing stock of the entire pro wrestling industry, as everything from piñatas to a bottle of Viagra were suspended above the ring.
Perhaps the most ridiculous, although best remembered, prize was Judy Bagwell, the mother of wrestler Buff Bagwell. Due to the laws of physics, the senior citizen had to be positioned on a platform held aloft by a forklift truck, rather than be tied to a pole, but much like the shaky premise of the match itself, it didn’t really matter. By that time, nothing in WCW really did.
The Chamber of Horrors
In 1991, at the Halloween Havoc pay-per-view, WCW managed to put on a match that ranks among one of the most memorable of the decade—for all the wrong reasons. The concept of the Chamber of Horrors was basically an eight-man tag match fought inside a steel cage. Sounds pretty good, right? Well that’s only the beginning.
You see, the only way to score victory in the Chamber was to strap one of your opponents onto an electric chair (yes, an electric chair!) and flip the switch. How the creative team ever got this idea past the booking committee, I guess we’ll never know, but the end came when Mick Foley flipped the switch, ‘frying’ Abdullah The Butcher in the process. It was a match that, unsurprisingly, was never repeated by WCW and yet it still lives on today… like a really bad horror movie.
