In the last 40 years, WWE has introduced many stipulation-based matches that are still very popular. From Steel Cage to Hell In A Cell, fans have seen their favorites stepping into dangerous structures many times. The Punjabi Prison was one such gimmick match that WWE introduced in 2006. The first two superstars to feature in that lethal match were The Undertaker and The Big Show. However, ex-WWE writer Court Bauer claims he initially proposed a deathmatch stipulation for the match.
At the 2006 Great American Bash PPV, The Phenom was supposed to go one-on-one with The Great Khali. Therefore, the management was trying to formulate something unique for the match. One person involved in the process back then was Court Bauer who recently spoke with AdFreeShows.com.
Court Bauer says he asked Vince McMahon to do a WWE exploding deathmatch
Bauer stated he initially wanted their match to be a WWE Exploding Deathmatch. The former WWE writer noted it was the time when WWE was trying to do different things. Court Bauer said he pitched the idea to former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon. In fact, to demonstrate his proposal, the former writer showed Vince an Onita Exploding Deathmatch.
According to Court Bauer, Vince McMahon even agreed with the idea of doing a WWE exploding deathmatch. He said Vince asked him to contact Kevin Dunn and his team to work on the structure. However, since Bauer wasn’t the lead writer, it was someone else’s job to contact Dunn.
Cut to two weeks later, when the first photos of the structure arrived, the former WWE writer stated it was something else. Teasing the Punjabi Prison stipulation, Court Bauer said instead of a WWE Exploding Deathmatch, he saw Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. He stated:
“I had wanted to do a Deathmatch, Exploding Deathmatch in WWE… I [Court Bauer] showed Vince [McMahon] an Onita Exploding Deathmatch and he said, ‘yeah, let’s do it.’… About 12, 14 days out we finally see the first photos of this thing being built… what you’d see out of “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” or something.”
Not just the stipulation, WWE even had to change a contestant from that match. The Great Khali was replaced by The Big Show in the very last few days.
Last year, AEW delivered a match with the same concept at the Revolution PPV
While WWE did not go with the plans, its rival AEW held one such match last year in March. At the AEW Revolution PPV, Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley faced each other in an “Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch”. Although the match was filled with extreme moments, it was seen as a failure. Spots like the “explosions” appeared very weak and ill-timed. In fact, WWE mocked AEW on live tv for that botched spot.
Nevertheless, The Punjabi Prison Match hasn’t been appreciated much by fans and critics. So far, WWE has held three matches in the bamboo-based structure and all of them received a mixed reaction. The last time WWE held a Punjabi Prison Match was at the 2014 Battleground event that featured Jinder Mahal and Randy Orton.
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