WWE Night of Champions 2015: Worst Matches in History of PPV

The Night of Champions pay-per-view has always been a mixed bag for fans of World Wrestling Entertainment, the need to fit every championship on the card oftentimes relegating matches to shorter run times and forcing Superstars to rush to get all of their signature stuff in.

That and questionable pairings have led to some notably bad matches unfolding over the eight years that the show has been part of the company's pay-per-view calendar.

Whether those bouts included industry giants like Triple H and The Undertaker, Hall of Famers such as Jimmy Snuka and Sgt. Slaughter or forgettable gimmicks like Deuce and Domino and Fandango, the matches have underwhelmed for a variety of reasons.

As WWE prepares for the 2015 edition of the event, relive the worst of the worst with this countdown.

Note: Matches are ranked based on ineffectiveness of the story being told and the lackluster layout of the match. The higher the profile of the match, the more likely the match is to rank higher thanks to the expectations placed on the company's main event talent.

Honorable Mention

Credit: WWE.com

Before we get to the official countdown, there are two matches that had enough redeeming qualities about them to earn honorable mentions rather than placement on the notorious list.

Booking decisions or overbooking hurt their overall effectiveness but not bad enough for them to appear among the rest of the putrid matches from the nine years of Night of Champions.

Finlay and Hornswoggle vs. John Morrison and The Miz (2008)

The opening match of the 2008 edition of the pay-per-view featured a very solid effort from all involved. John Morrison and The Miz had developed into the best tag team in WWE and were fantastic as the obnoxious villains the entire division was built around on SmackDown.

Finlay, one of the toughest workers of his generation, was on a hot streak, and Hornswoggle's involvement was limited to high spots.

So if the match was a solid one, with quality performances, why does it appear here?

The idea of Miz and Morrison having to sell for Hornswoggle is ridiculous. As tag champions, they deserved to be booked much better and much stronger than they were. They should have dominated Finlay and retained in impressive fashion.

Instead, the match got too cute at points and threatened the credibility of the titleholders and the believability of the action.

CM Punk vs. Paul Heyman and Curtis Axel (2013)

This one was more story than anything, with Axel never really appearing to be a threat of any kind to CM Punk.

The entire ordeal was built on Punk getting his hands on Paul Heyman, which was teased throughout. While that development would have been appealing to the audience, it disrupted the flow of the match.

When Ryback interfered and revealed himself to be the newest Heyman guy and assisted his new advocate to a victory over the Straight Edge Superstar, it added more heat to the story but at the same time capped off another disappointing contest on a card full of them.

6. The Miz vs. Fandango (2013)

Credit: WWE.com

The 2013 match between The Miz and Fandango was less bad than it was meaningless and useless.

Both Superstars were midcarders, at best, and their rivalry had begun weeks earlier at SummerSlam when the ballroom dancer interrupted the Hollywood A-lister as he attempted to host the pay-per-view. Neither was particularly likable, making it that much more difficult for fans to invest themselves in the bout.

Add to it an uninspired effort, and you have a match that was better suited for the third hour of Raw than a major pay-per-view event.

Fandango never really recovered, falling into his status as a jobber.

For The Miz, it was further proof that he has always and will always work best as a villain compared to being a babyface.

5. Mickie James vs. Maryse (2009)

Credit: WWE.com

Sometimes, quality performers just have zero chemistry with each other, leading to disappointing results when they finally meet up in a high-profile bout.

That was the case in 2009 when two of the better women's wrestlers on the Raw roster squared off for the WWE Divas Championship.

Mickie James was a dynamic performer who had spent three years as the most popular woman on the roster.  Maryse was a budding young star whose heel mannerisms were fantastic and in-ring abilities were evolving with every passing match.

They should have meshed to deliver the first of what could have been a legendary series of matches.

Instead, they worked a lethargic match that saw Mickie reverse her opponent's French Kiss DDT into a jumping DDT of her own for the win and the title.

The quality of the match was woefully underwhelming and signaled a downturn for Maryse she never really recovered from.

4. Santino Marella vs. Umaga (2007)

The early incarnation of the Santino Marella character was not quite the charismatic character fans would come to love. There was not much in the way of comedy to be had. Instead, he was a plucky underdog from Italy who lucked his way into the intercontinental title, then was paired up with Maria Kanellis in an effort to generate some sort of reaction.

At Vengeance: Night of Champions in 2007, he got a reaction—just not the one he or anyone else wanted.

The most unlikely IC champion to that point was thoroughly dismantled by Umaga for two minutes before the Samoan Bulldozer was disqualified for ignoring the referee's orders. It did not faze the savage competitor, who continued to brutalize his opponent, delivering a Samoan Spike as fans pleaded for one more.

With only 120 seconds of ring time, there was no opportunity for this to ever develop into anything remotely close to a traditional wrestling match, making it one of the worst in event history.

3. Sgt. Slaughter and Jimmy Snuka vs. Deuce and Domino (2007)

Deuce and Domino were not the strongest workers to begin with, so how anyone in WWE Creative thought the idea of booking them against the aging and elderly Sgt. Slaughter and Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka was a good one remains a mystery.

But there it was on the inaugural Night of Champions pay-per-view, right alongside major title bouts involving the likes of John Cena, Mick Foley, Edge and Batista.

The young champions were forced to sell the offense of their much older opponents, damaging their own credibility and legitimacy in the process.

The finish, which saw Deuce roll through a high cross body block from Snuka and score the pinfall victory.

It was a rare occasion in which son pinned father, a moment that had to be incredibly special for Deuce but was little more than relief for fans who had to sit through the plodding six-minute affair.

2. CM Punk vs. Triple H (2011)

CM Punk vs. Triple H from Night of Champions 2011 should have been awesome.

Punk was in the midst of a massive push that saw him garner mainstream attention thanks to his monumental "Pipebomb" promo. Triple H was wrestling his first match since a classic against Undertaker at WrestleMania. Both guys were students of the game and had made careers out of delivering critically acclaimed matches.

But on that September night, their stubbornness reared its ugly head, as neither appeared to be on the same page as the other. The match was disjointed, Triple H trying to work the same Attitude-era brawl he had countless times in the past while Punk tried to work a more progressive style.

The result was a largely underwhelming match hurt even more by the overbooking that ensued when The Miz and R-Truth interfered.

Triple H picked up the win, effectively killing the momentum Punk had built for himself over the summer, making the match an even bigger disaster.

1. Undertaker vs. Kane (2010)

Since their initial meeting at WrestleMania XIV, The Undertaker and Kane had wrestled each other hundreds of times in matches that ranged from OK to awful. That is why their 2010 rivalry, some 12 years after either was in their prime, failed to inspire much in the way of excitement.

At Night of Champions, the Brothers of Destruction clashed in another anti-classic that was equal parts slow and painful to watch.

The Deadman was attempting to avenge a beating that left him in a vegetative state. After months of speculation, it was revealed that the assailant was Kane in what was only a shocker if you had been living under a rock.

There was a decided lack of intensity, anger, rage or ferocity on the part of Undertaker, though, as the match failed to incorporate any elements that would have justified the story that preceded it.

Kane reversed his brother's own Tombstone piledriver, putting the Phenom (as well as the fans and the match) out of his misery.

The worst part?

Someone actually watched this match and suggested the rivalry continue.

For two more pay-per-views.