The 7 Worst Contract Signings in WWE History

Looking back at the worst WWE contract-signing segments in company history, one notices a number of patterns: Vince McMahon shows up a lot, they hype matches hard to get hyped about and they often feature wrestlers who are inept on the mic.

When Seth Rollins attacked Brock Lesnar and John Cena during their contract signing, he emerged a bigger star. When Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan signed their contracts for WrestleMania 3, glaring at each other from across the table, tension emanated from the screen.

Those kind of positives were nowhere to be seen during less successful contract signings.

The most inferior versions of that WWE staple are ranked here based on lack of anticipation for the match, lack of star power and deficiency in big moments. A low entertainment value ups a segment's chances of being crowned the biggest disaster of its kind.

Honorable Mention

• Ultimate Warrior vs. Hulk Hogan (1990)
• Brock Lesnar vs. Triple H (2013)

Segments that occurred 23 years apart appear side-by-side on this list thanks to their being more odd than entertaining.

The buildup to Hogan and Warrior's champion-versus-champion bout at WrestleMania 6 stumbled when the two men signed their contracts. Blame the director for choosing some awkward closeups for some of the segment's failings. The tension they were supposed to convey came off more like mockery.

Warrior's mutterings were especially unfocused here. The great star power and the fans' desire to see this keep it from gaining a higher spot, though.

When Triple H and Lesnar met en route to WrestleMania 29, there was more violence than the relatively civil in the interaction between Hogan and Warrior.

The trouble is, all that violence was directed at Paul Heyman, not Lesnar himself. Triple H whipped the whining advocate in a scene that got uncomfortable quickly. The Game ripped off Heyman's clothes and slapped him across the chest.

It resulted in something far more laughable than WWE was hoping for.

Triple H and Heyman's saving grace is that they are both excellent talkers. Many of the folks featured higher on the list can only dream of being as captivating as they are.

7. Bret Hart vs. Vince McMahon (2010)

This match came too late. Bret Hart was retired and in his 50s at this point. The animosity that the Montreal Screwjob created had mostly dissipated.

It's no surprise then that the bout flopped as badly as it did, just as the contract signing preceding it did.

The segment centered on Steve Austin, a move that added star power but robbed it of focus. There is too much talk about Stu Hart getting into the Hall of Fame and not enough about why these men would be fighting in the first place: their controversial collision in 1997.

It was a slow segment saved only by the twist at the end: Hart reveals that he's not actually injured.

And while The Hitman's slugging McMahon with his cast wasn't an all-time great moment, it was far more exciting than McMahon's standing several feet away from Triple H in 1999. 

6. Vince McMahon vs. Triple H (1999)

The running joke is that every contract signing ends in chaos. This one kept its chaos at bay to its detriment.

A restraining order kept Vince McMahon and Triple H apart. So instead of squaring off at opposite sides of the table, tension brewing between them, McMahon stood in the ring while The Game waited on the entrance ramp.

One of the few memorable moments came when Triple H tossed Shane McMahon off the ramp. Like with Triple H and Brock Lesnar years later, the indirect nature of this attack made it less interesting. 

It end up being a less compelling contract signing that Bret Hart and McMahon's segment or even Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior's awkward stare-down. At least it had two of WWE's biggest names, though. Not to mention that Triple H can handle himself on the mic.

The segment ranked above this one had weaknesses in those areas.

5. Triple H vs. Vladimir Kozlov (2008)

The interest level in this bout was much lower than that of Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant at WrestleMania 3. Vladimir Kozlov was intriguing at this point but not a star. He wasn't able to hold up his end of the talking here, either.

WWE simply asked him to spout out a little Russian rather than trash-talk with Triple H. That "foreigners can't speak English" method only has so much potential.

Jeff Hardy's attack mid-segment was fun, but everything leading up to that was painful. Kozlov failed to be convincingly intimidating. Triple H played a grinning jokester, making fat jokes at Vickie Guerrero's expense.

The segment dragged. It featured only one star. It's tension was nonexistent.

At least it allowed a wrestler to be the star of the show, as a signing from 1993 failed to do, and it wasn't quite as goofy as the signing for the WeeLC match.

4. El Torito vs. Hornswoggle (2014)

Hornswoggle and El Torito's feud was surprisingly fun, but it poked fun at itself too often. Their contract signing before Extreme Rules was a perfect example of this.

Rather than try to create some actual tension between the two, WWE chose to go for short jokes in surplus. The two foes tried to sit on higher surfaces, and Vickie Guerrero threw in a few shots at their heights.

Guerrero was not the kind of mic worker to serve as the glue for this kind of segment, either. She was grating. 

Hornswoggle and El Torito's bickering felt empty. But although it was stupid, it was never boring. Lex Luger vs. Yokozuna's contract signing can't make that claim.

3. Lex Luger vs. Yokozuna (1993)

In the summer of 1993, an American hero looked to take down a foreign menace. Before their clash at SummerSlam, Lex Luger and Yokozuna met in an uninteresting contract signing.

At the time, these two grapplers were big stars, but their mic skills were minimal at best. Put Steve Austin and The Rock together in a verbal confrontation, and you expect greatness. Pit two wooden mic workers like Luger and Yokozuna against each other, and the result is sure to be something limp.

That's likely why WWE brought in Jim Cornette to do the bulk of the talking.

The result, though, was that there was no real tension created by this segment. It mostly consisted of Cornette pushing back against authority and being a convincing jerk. That did little to help Yokozuna and Luger.

There were too few memorable moments here, and its pace dragged it down. However, the presence of active wrestlers at the top of the card in a match with high stakes that fans looked forward to made it feel significant even with its flaws.

The two worst contract signings didn't have that luxury.

2. Donald Trump vs. Vince McMahon (2007)

This was a mighty long segment with just one shove to cap it off.

Vince McMahon and Donald Trump's Battle of the Billionaires at WrestleMania 23 saw the two executives go after each other via more athletic proxies. Umaga and Bobby Lashley didn't add anything much to this segment other than standing around and looking tough.

McMahon and Trump handled the dialogue.

McMahon is more than competent on the mic but was really campy here. Trump looked out of his element, dishing out cheesy lines as poorly as one might expect a non-actor and non-wrestler to do.

It dragged. Fans knew that there wouldn't be any violence against Trump. That took away a lot of the run. 

This match didn't feel as big as Lex Luger vs. Yokozuna or even as potentially exciting as the WeeLC bout. Compare it with the match that led to the worst contract signing in WWE history, though, and it feels like a classic.

1. Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler (2011)

The contract signing between Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior provided the blueprint for how to create great tension. The one for Seth Rollins vs. John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar was the blueprint for thrusting an emerging star up the card.

If WWE ever wants to create a complete failure with that type of segment, it need only look at Micheal Cole and Jerry Lawler's contract signing.

Take an announcer and a semiretired wrestler and put them in a feud few care about. Have them fight in their third pay-per-view match and act as if it's a big deal by having them sign contracts on the air. 

Next, have Cole be an annoying, infuriating presence. Have little happen in the segment other than Lawler grabbing Cole's tie. 

Poor performances, a lack of electricity between the rivals and a bout that was hard to get excited about all added up to a mess that was better off forgetting.