WWE SummerSlam 2015: 8 Worst Booking Decisions in PPV History

Despite being one of WWE's marquee events, SummerSlam has been home to some truly questionable booking decisions since its inception in 1988.

From ridiculous concepts, such as two Undertakers or Mabel as a legitimate and credible main event star, to failing to pay off major pushes with much anticipated championship victories, the event has always managed to keep fans guessing.

In one form or another.

Today's product is marred in controversy, critics repeatedly second guessing every booking decision and scrutinizing the company for the plans they put in motion.

With SummerSlam approaching on August 23, featuring what are sure to be several decisions that leave fans scratching their heads in bewilderment, relive these eight moments from the event's annals that WWE Creative simply did not get right.

8. Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar Main Event (2012)

In retrospect, the 2012 SummerSlam event was not exactly what one would call the strongest in company history. With a main event as dull and uninspired as Brock Lesnar's systematic destruction of Triple H, it is not difficult to see why.

The Beast Incarnate had returned to WWE months earlier, destroying John Cena in the main event of Extreme Rules, only to be beaten in fluke fashion by the biggest star in the industry.

A rivalry between Lesnar and COO Triple H ensued and a match between the two was set up for the second biggest show of the year.

Unfortunately, the layout of the bout did not play to either man's strengths and the result was a slow, plodding, overly long bout that paled in comparison to the Triple Threat WWE Championship match between CM Punk, Big Show and Cena that preceded it.

Fans watched unenthusiastically as Lesnar dismantled the arm of his opponent, cut off any attempt at a real comeback, then forced a submission out of the Cerebral Assassin with the Kimura arm-breaker.

It was exactly what the match should have been, but it was hardly a main event-worthy contest.

The result was an underwhelming showing from Lesnar at a time when WWE desperately needed to convince fans there was something special about the man dubbed the Beast Incarnate.

It would take a Match of the Year candidate against Punk a year later to finally get Lesnar back on track.

7. The Undertaker vs. Giant Gonzalez, Part II (1993)

After the abysmal match between the Undertaker and Giant Gonzalez at WrestleMania IX in 1993, Vince McMahon and the brains trust in WWE at the time actually thought it was a solid idea to go ahead and book a rematch between the two Superstars for that year's SummerSlam pay-per-view.

Dubbed a Rest in Peace match, the contest would inexplicably be one of that event's marquee bouts.

It was just as ugly as the original showdown.

Undertaker definitively defeated Gonzalez, pinning him following a flying clothesline.

Why a flying clothesline, you may ask? The answer is simple: Gonzalez was so big, so lanky and so uncoordinated that trying either of the Phenom's finishing maneuvers on him may have resulted in serious injury to either or both of the competitors.

By the time the Deadman placed the death wreath over Gonzalez's fallen body, fans were more than happy to see the end of the rivalry.

For Undertaker, it would be the conclusion of what was his first truly awful rivalry in a long series of them throughout the first half of the 1990s. For Gonzalez, it was his final opportunity on a national stage, as he was gone from the sports entertainment empire shortly thereafter.

6. Alberto Del Rio Cashes in (2011)

The 2011 edition of SummerSlam should have been CM Punk's crowning achievement.

After capturing the WWE title in his hometown of Chicago at Money in the Bank, he was the hottest star in the industry. He had re-signed with the company and managed to break out into mainstream media, becoming a sensation beyond the bright lights and ring ropes of professional wrestling.

A second consecutive main event against John Cena at the Biggest Party of the Summer should have definitively signaled the changing of the guard.

Instead, it proved without a shadow of a doubt that getting one's self over and earning pop-culture credibility on your own would not be tolerated by the WWE machine.

Punk went over Cena in controversial fashion, as the franchise star's foot was on the rope. To make matters worse, Punk then found himself on the receiving end of a Jackknife powerbomb from Kevin Nash. Finally, after moments of lying unconscious in the center of the ring as if he had been shot, the Straight Edge Superstar was unceremoniously beaten by Alberto Del Rio, who cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase and won the title.

It was a deflating way to end the broadcast and one that demonstrated to Punk and his fans that no matter how over he got or how popular he may have been away from the ring, he was still a pawn in Vince McMahon's game of chess.

5. King Mabel: Main Eventer (1995)

Even with a roster filled with the likes of Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart and the Undertaker, Vince McMahon sat around his office at one point early in 1995 and said to himself, "Do you know who should be main eventing come SummerSlam? Mabel."

Yes, Mabel, the super heavyweight half of Men on a Mission.

A heel turn earlier in the year led to him and tag team partner Mo receiving the biggest push of their careers, and by June, there was no slowing them down. Mabel defeated the Undertaker (clean!) and Savio Vega to claim the King of the Ring crown, then earned a shot at the WWE Championship at SummerSlam.

His opponent? Diesel, who was in the midst of the least successful reign of any heavyweight champion in WWE history.

And McMahon, in his infinite wisdom, thought the best way to turn his company around was to book the fledgling champion against someone no one in their right mind bought as a legitimate main event star.

The resulting match did the boss' decision no favors, either, as it was one of the worst main events in company history, eclipsed only by the Undertaker-Underfaker debacle from the previous year.

Mabel would thankfully never again reach that level of competition, and Diesel would be out as champion by the time the next major pay-per-view arrived in November.

Coincidence?

No.

4. The Hart Brothers DO NOT Main Event (1994)

The sibling rivalry between the Hart Brothers in 1994 made for some intriguing and thrilling television at a time when that simply did not exist in the land of McMahon.

Bret and Owen's issues had begun late in 1993, continued through WrestleMania X and intensified over the summer, with the younger brother insisting he deserved a shot at the WWE Championship, held by the sibling he defeated at the Showcase of the Immortals months earlier.

Winning the 1994 King of the Ring only strengthened the newly dubbed King of Harts' argument, and a match between the two was officially booked for SummerSlam. In an attempt to keep all family out and the two competitors in, the contest would be a Steel Cage match. 

Just as they had done at WrestleMania, the brothers delivered a classic, five-star bout in what is easily one of the greatest cage matches of all time.

Unfortunately, their epic championship encounter, complete with a Hart family brawl afterward, was not the night's main attraction.

No, that honor would go to a match between the Undertaker and the fake Undertaker.

Yes, the Phenom and his doppelganger stank up the main event with a match so bad it ranks as one of the worst matches in the history of SummerSlam.

It was a horrendous decision that ended what was a very good show on a very sour note and robbed the Hart brothers of the opportunity to headline a show they more than deserved to close.

3. Goldberg Loses (2003)

The 2003 SummerSlam event was headlined by an Elimination Chamber match for the World Heavyweight Championship. Triple H would defend his title against Randy Orton, Shawn Michaels, Kevin Nash, Chris Jericho and Goldberg in what was one of the biggest and most star-studded marquee bouts in event history.

More importantly, it would be the coronation of Goldberg as the top star on Raw following his historic arrival in Vince McMahon's company.

With Triple H injured, there was little debate about who was leaving Phoenix, Arizona, with the world title.

That is why it was so shocking when the Game used his trusty sledgehammer to defeat Goldberg, dealing him his first loss and effectively cooling off the one guy who could have made a big difference on the Raw side of things, all in the name of inflating Triple H's ego.

Much like the one that killed Lex Luger's heat a decade earlier, it was a booking decision that severely altered the effectiveness of Goldberg as the top star on Raw.

Sure, he captured the title the following month at Unforgiven, but that came in an anticlimactic bout that hardly received the reaction that winning at one of the most important shows of the year would have.

That Triple H was injured served as proof of the outcome being little more than the result of political maneuvering behind the scenes to ensure the Game looked stronger than anyone else on the roster.

2. John Cena Obliterates the Nexus (2010)

The summer of 2010 saw the arrival of the Nexus to WWE television—the beginning of a movement that should have meant so much more than it ultimately did.

Headed by Wade Barrett and featuring NXT Season 1 talent such as Heath Slater, Justin Gabriel, David Otunga and Skip Sheffield, among others, the faction invaded the company in June and left everyone from John Cena to ringside personnel lying in a heap. They destroyed the setup and made an impact like no other faction had since the days of the New World Order.

There was a definite buzz about the group, one that could have, and should have, generated interest in the product.

Instead, WWE merely set the group up to be tackled by resident superhero John Cena, who not only sent them scurrying on more than one occasion leading into SummerSlam but then weathered the storm in a 14-Man Tag Team main event at the show and won the match for his team.

This, despite an overwhelming numbers disadvantage.

The Nexus, for all intents and purposes, was dead in the water. No amount of increased television time or booking coming out of the event would help them.

By the time January 2011 rolled around, the group as fans had known it had ceased to exist.

1. The Lex Express Runs out of Gas (1993)

The biggest story in wrestling leading into SummerSlam in August of '93 was Lex Luger's sudden babyface turn and the cross-country trip he took, meeting and greeting fans in a luxury bus known as the Lex Express.

A PR move to help Luger earn the respect and admiration of fans who had previously booed him out of arenas as the Narcissist, it was a clear the Superstar with a body chiseled out of stone was Vince McMahon's latest attempt to create a replacement for his former No. 1 draw, Hulk Hogan.

So when Luger was booked to face Yokozuna in the main event of WWE's second-most important show of the year, it was expected that the Superstar Made in the USA would emerge from Detroit's Palace in Auburn Hills with the heavyweight title.

It was not to be, however.

After months of convincing fans to support Luger, management made the ridiculous decision to put Luger over champion Yokozuna via count-out. Then, the star clad in red, white and blue celebrated inside the squared circle with Randy Savage, Tatanka and the Steiner Brothers as if he had won the biggest and most important match of his life despite not capturing the title or ridding the company of his evil foreign opponent.

Luger looked like an idiot and, as popular as he may have been, was never really looked at by fans as the absolute top star again.

It was a booking decision so bad it altered the history of the company. By the time WrestleMania rolled around in March 1994, McMahon had decided against giving the title to Luger, instead going all in with Bret Hart, who had a connection with the audience that simply could not be manufactured.