10 Worst-Attended WWE PPVs Of All Time

What would a WWE live event be without a large crowd? Well, just ask anyone who was at these shows, as they were all attended by fewer than 6,500 fans.

Don’t expect to see any NXT shows or those old WWE Network specials on this list, as we’re only counting proper main roster WWE events and that one ECW pay-per-view.

We’re also not counting the two Beware of Dog shows, because those were affected by a power outage and we felt like it was unfair to include them. Also, there were two different shows and it got too convoluted, so we chickened out. Nothing from the COVID-19 pandemic will be included either.

These are the 10 Worst-Attended WWE Pay-Per-Views of All Time.

10. In Your House 2: The Lumberjacks - 6,482

The In Your House shows weren’t always the best when it came to drawing crowds.

Initially designed as cut-price stopgaps between the big four/five shows, the first In Your House premiered on May 14, 1995 with just 7,000 people in attendance. By the time the second show came around in July, about 500 of those people had gone “Nah, can’t be bothered.”

In Your House 2 - retroactively titled “The Lumberjacks” - drew just 6,482 people to Nashville, Tennessee's Municipal Auditorium. In comparison, WCW held Starrcade there later that same year in front of 8,200 fans.

It’s not like WWE were offering a Starrcade-level experience with their show. Bam Bam Bigelow vs Henry Godwinn. The Roadie vs The 1-2-3 Kid. Men on a Mission vs Razor Ramon and Savio Vega… you can see why they struggled.

1995 is known as a very bad year for WWE in terms of business and this show can act as a microcosm of that larger issue.

Fans just weren’t that interested in what the company had to offer, so they kept their hands firmly in their pockets.

9. Taboo Tuesday 2005 - 6,000

The concept of Taboo Tuesday was an interesting one. Fans had the power to vote on the outcomes of certain decisions, such as which wrestlers would be in a match, what stipulations they’d fight under and what titles would be on the line.

Unfortunately, considering you needed a small nuclear power station to even run the internet in 2005, the idea was a little too advanced for the time.

This edition of the show was broadcast from San Diego, California’s iPayOne Center. This was the arena that saw the unification of the WWE and WCW championships at Vengeance 2001, only that show drew a much more significant crowd.

Only 6,000 souls turned up to Taboo Tuesday, roughly half of the figure for Vengeance four years earlier. Instead of a title unification tournament, these fans got to see Mankind take on Carlito, Eugene team up with Jimmy Snuka, and Batista fight Jonathan Coachman in a Street Fight.

Perhaps due to the low ticket sales, Taboo Tuesday was replaced with Cyber Sunday the following year. That sold better, presumably because it was on a day of the week when people were actually free.

8. Stomping Grounds 2019 - 6,000

The most recent show on this list by quite some margin is the first - and thus far only - show to bear the Stomping Grounds name.

Replacing Backlash in the calendar, Stomping Grounds just sort of came out of nowhere. It had no stipulation attached to it, no real reason to be named what it was named - it was just kind of there.

Fans who showed up to the Tacoma Dome in Washington got to see Ricochet beat Samoa Joe for the US Title, Kofi Kingston defend his WWE Championship against Dolph Ziggler, and Seth Rollins fight a no holds barred war with Baron Corbin.

Only 6,000 folks showed up to see their favourite superstars kick ass and take names. Their last US pay-per-view, Money in the Bank, had drawn over 15,000 fans!

The only other show that came close to this figure in 2019 was Clash of Champions, with everything else doing 10k fans or more.

7. In Your House 12: It's Your Time - 5,708

Despite the fact that it bore his catchphrase in its title, In Your House 12: It’s Time did not feature Vader at all, as he was dealing with an injury.

WWE had to work around the big man’s absence for their final major show of 1996, instead offering fans a main event of Bret Hart challenging for the WWE Championship against Sid.

Honestly, things just get worse for this show when you look elsewhere on the card. It was opened by Flash Funk vs. Leif Cassidy. Owen Hart and The British Bulldog then defended their tag straps against Fake Diesel and Fake Razor Ramon and The Undertaker fought The Executioner, AKA Terry Gordy in a mask, in one of the worst pay-per-view bouts of the year.

It’s hardly surprising that a show this disappointing only drew 5,708 people to the West Palm Beach Auditorium.

6. In Your House 6: Rage in the Cage - 5,500

Another poorly attended In Your House show, another Bret Hart match in the main event.

This time, Hart was the defending champion, putting his belt on the line against Diesel in a Steel Cage Match just a handful of weeks before his epic Iron Man match at WrestleMania 12.

Hart won, setting up his WrestleMania bout with Shawn Michaels. HBK had won the right to face Bret earlier in the night by beating The Hitman’s brother Owen.

As for the other matches, Razor Ramon beat The 1-2-3 Kid in the opening “Crybaby Match”. That’s a match where the loser has to wear a diaper, because there’s no humour quite like a five-year-old’s humour.

Hunter Hearst Helmsley took on Duke “The Dumpster” Droese in a battle of class and sophistication over literal garbage. And Yokozuna beat The British Bulldog by DQ.

Only 5,500 people were subjected to this total fart of a pay-per-view. We’re so sorry for all of them.

5. In Your House 3: Triple Header - 5,146

Our triple header of In Your House shows ends with… In Your House: Triple Header!

Back to 1995 and to the third outing for this brave new format. A format that was getting consistently worse results with every new attempt.

September’s In Your House 3 boasted a pretty spectacular main event in an attempt to turn the sinking ship around. Diesel, the WWE Champion, and Shawn Michaels, the Intercontinental Champion, teamed up to take on Tag Team Champions Yokozuna and Owen Hart.

Except The British Bulldog filled in for Hart…even though Hart still got involved in the finish of the match.

Sadly, this meant that the rest of the card was severely lacking in star power. When Savio Vega and Waylon Mercy are your choices to open a show, then you need to take a long hard look at yourself.

Just 5,146 people forked out to come and watch this show, which was held in the Saginaw Civic Center in Saginaw, Michigan.

4. Armageddon 2004 - 5,000

Jesus could have fed the audience at Armageddon 2004 with five loaves and two fish.

Armageddon closed out WWE’s pay-per-view year from Duluth, Georgia. Duluth was treated to a whopper of a main event as JBL defended the WWE Championship against Eddie Guerrero, Booker T, and The Undertaker in a Fatal 4-Way.

Unfortunately, this was the only real highlight on a show that also featured Tough Enough finalists Daniel Puder and Mike “The Miz” Mizanin in a “Dixie Dog Fight” and Kurt Angle winning a match over Santa Claus.

Even the prospect of seeing Jolly Old Saint Nick didn’t draw people to this show, which only packed in 5,000 people.

WWE wouldn’t return to the venue for a big show until 2019, when they put on a Starrcade house show.

3. Ground Zero: In Your House - 4,963

For our final trip to In Your House-land, we take you back to the year 1997, when business was significantly better than it was two years ago.

Ground Zero: In Your House, which was the 17th incarnation of the series, was home to a bumper main event that pitted two megastars against one another for the first time.

Shawn Michaels had been in The Undertaker’s crosshairs ever since he’d cost The Deadman the WWE Title at SummerSlam. Now, the duo would finally tangle in the ring, kicking off their rivalry with a no-contest finish.

Bret Hart was once again WWE Champion and was defending against none other than Del Wilkes, aka The Patriot. This was Patriot’s first and only pay-per-view title match and Hart beat him with a Sharpshooter after 20 minutes.

Not even the power of America could attract more than 4,963 people from the good city of Louisville, Kentucky.

2. December To Dismember 2006 - 4,800

After it relaunched in 2006, the resurrected ECW was given its first pay-per-view later in the year. How did it go? Well, they never ran another major show again.

December to Dismember was a disaster and is rightly remembered as one of the worst shows of all time. Balls Mahoney took on Matt Striker. Mike Knox and Kelly Kelly teamed up to take on the stinkin’ vampires. Daivari beat Tommy Dreamer.

ECW died a death all over again on this night in front of 4,800 witnesses in Augusta, Georgia’s James Brown Arena. Honestly, it was amazing that the crowd was that big, as there was absolutely zero reason for anybody to have wanted to see this show.

The only thing that kept it off the top spot was a real oddity of a show from two years earlier…

1. Taboo Tuesday 2004 - 3,500

Both of the Taboo Tuesdays rank among the worst-selling WWE pay-per-views of all time.

The first one had the same premise as the second - the audience would be able to interact with the show and cast their votes to shape what they saw.

There was a vote to determine who would face Chris Jericho for the Intercontinental Championship in which Jonathan Coachman legitimately came third.

There was one to choose what weapon would be legal in a match between Kane and Snitsky. Steel chain was the winner, so naturally Snitsky won by crushing Kane’s throat… with a steel chair.

And then there was Eugene vs Eric Bischoff, a match where the loser’s fate would be decided by the audience. In a cruel twist of fate, the fans voted to have Bischoff’s silky silver locks shaved off! You monsters!

The novelty of this event wasn’t enough to draw numbers, as a pitiful 3,500 people showed up to watch it all unfold. To this day, it is the worst-attended proper WWE pay-per-view of all time.

People are busy on Tuesday nights, don’t you know?