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Question/Discussion for the Blog

Hey Scott,

Fan of the reviews and love the BoD, I was mulling over the issues of the current product in WWE and although the innovation of NXT and some recent A+ booking decisions, the product overall is largely stale. Even the most recent network specials of Elimination Chamber and Money in the Bank were a bit underwhelming in their marquee matches, in which the gimmick matches paled in comparison to other matches on the card (Cena/Owens at EC) (Rollins/Ambrose at MitB). This got me thinking, how long has it been since theyve hyped a new gimmick match? They seem to be in a bit of a creative drought in this regard seeing as how many of the matches that exist as ppv namesakes were all introduced within a span of several years. Other than gimmicks intended as once offs like the punjabi prison nightmare or bringing back things like strap matches, i think they could benefit from a introducing a new  format a la( survivor series of king of the ring) or match type through a network special. Thoughts?

​Yeah, "creative drought" is definitely one phrase that's apropos.  

And we have a wide variety of match types to choose from!  There's No Holds Barred, Street Fight OR Hardcore!  ​

​What they need is a true innovator like Dario Cueto, the man who invented ​BOTH the "All Night Long" and "Aztec Warfare" matches.  

Seriously though, yeah, it's time someone came up with something new and simple as a gimmick match and got it over, because I'm really tired of Last Man Standing or four corners strap matches as things I'm supposed to be excited to see.  

Comments

  1. I can't wait for the lame gimmick match for Owens/Cena 3 and the stupid finish that comes with it.

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  2. I wonder if we're just reaching the limits of what can happen in a wrestling match. Honestly, I wouldn't mind WWE cooling off the gimmick matches and retraining the audience to become used to just straight up wrestling matches the same way they retrained the audience to not expect a billion high spots per match.

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  3. Do we really need to give creative yet another booking crutch?


    "You may have beaten me three straight times, jack. But you haven't beaten me in a (insert new gimmick match here), so you haven't proven anything!" -- John Cena

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  4. I'm pretty tired of the Let's Have People Wrestle For Three/Four/Five Straight PPV's booking. There must be a better way of mixing feuds up.

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  5. Perhaps a match that takes place in a prison, but not one of those soft developed world prisons. Maybe one that is based on a prison in a certain region of India.

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  6. Ladder match inside of Hell in a Cell would be fun
    Elimination chamber featuring two 3 man teams


    That's one thing TNA has been good for. They haven't created a new match gimmick in years, but King of the Mountain and Ultimate X have been interesting concepts and usually put on good matches. Granted with those good gimmick matches also came the Doomsday Chamber of Blood, Reverse Battle Royal, Last Rites match, and other Russo creations.

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  7. One of the old Smackdown vs Raw games had a 3 on 3 Elimination Chamber option. That actually would have been a cool option for Evolution vs Shield a couple years back without getting too gimmicky...just a twist on an existing concept.

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  8. Kevin Owens' kid (Owen Owens?) on a pole, obviously.

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  9. Or even Shield vs. Wyatts, which happened at the EC PPV last year in a traditional six man tag. They had the cage literally RIGHT THERE.

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  10. Oh man that's right. The logic was probably that it would "upstage" the other Chamber match by being too awesome, or something stupid like that.
    The crowd was so hot for that feud, too, but WWE just had no clue what to do with the Wyatts.

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  11. Steel Cage Ladder Match:
    Both guys or teams are starting in a cage and they have to escape and then go to the entrance area where a ladder is standing with a title hanging over it.

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  12. Why not put the ladder ON the Cell?! THAT would be great. Dangerous but great. ;-)

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  13. Or, you know, they could pull something old out of the mothballs that hasn't been used since, say, September 14 1997 or whenever. Just spitballing here...

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  14. I know it's been brought up before, but Shield vs. Wyatts elimination tag in the Chamber would have been amazing early last year.

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  15. Belee_Matt!_INDEED!!!June 17, 2015 at 7:42 AM

    I don't think we need different gimmick matches, we need something different to look at. Everything looks the same every week. This was mentioned several times before, but change up the venues, get rid of all the LED shit, and try some different camera work. I think it would freshen up everything.

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  16. Ladder on a Cell with Hell

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  17. Triple H basically said as much in his Grantland interview a while back. You reach a point where the only place left to go is guys wrapping themselves in explosives and throwing themselves out of helicopters, so you have to dial it back and bring it back to basics before you can start pushing the envelope again, which in turn causes the people who saw you doing bloodbath Cell matches to go "oh, what the fuck is this weak bullshit?"

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  18. With a run-in by Dominic Mysterio!

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  19. How about what's old is new again? A PROPER KotR tourney would be new & fresh....
    And how about an all traditional Survivor Series 5x5 teams? I kinda dug all the winners battling if out that one year too. Who was it...Hogan, Warrior & Chico? Good shit.

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  20. AverageJoeEverymanJune 17, 2015 at 7:53 AM

    "WHERE THE FUCK IS VICKI!!"

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  21. One thing I miss is the time-limit draw. It keeps both guys strong and it gives the perfect reason for a rematch.
    Similar to that is the "I bet I can beat you in X minutes" match.

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  22. They had a new match just 6 months ago: a stairs match

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  23. The email mentions the punjabi prison match dude lol

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  24. Dario Cueto = Pat Patterson

    Strap Match! All matches contested under strap match rules!

    ALL THE NETWORK SUBSCRIPTIONS!

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  25. Wargames

    Or just try the kennel from hell again

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  26. War games? I don't count 98 either

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  27. They upstaged them anyway, it was MOTY 2014.

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  28. I always enjoy beat the clock. And I agree about draws. The occasional 10 minute draw on Raw would be perfectly acceptable. On PPV you could go 15 and then do the 5more minutes gimmick.

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  29. I like the idea from that promotion Les Thatcher and Nigel McGuinness were involved with where every match was an Iron Man Match with a lower time limit. They could do a tournament with 10, 15, or 20 minute Iron Man Matches to try to create the drama from most sports where the clock is running down and you're trying to win or lose. OR they could just do a three hour Randy Orton vs Kane match.

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  30. I remember being psyched reading rumors in 1999 about Rock vs Undertaker in a Gates of Hell match with some sort of pit that would open at intervals. Yeah I was a moron who just discovered the internet.

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  31. Dusty was great with coming up with this kind of stuff. Maybe they should turn to him. Wait, too soon?

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  32. I always wanted WWE to try a 4-man Iron Man match ala the first ROH title match. Where if you were pinned, you lost points and such.

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  33. That's sort of what I had in mind when I brought this up, something that is more of a traditional scoring based athletic contest (even wins and losses in a traditional wrestling contest are decided based on an arbitrary scoring system) either that or like NJPW or Lucha Underground where they have a trios style tournament or just a 10 man elimination battle royale

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  34. Hey, you know, it's been 15 years or more since we had Judy Bagwell on a Pole! Let's try that!

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  35. I really enjoy how ROH really uses their gimmick matches. Like, feuds only go to ladder war when genuine hatred has been established and it's not just a climb to grab the title, it's both guys trying to kill each other. It's not the gimmick that's the draw so much as the bitter hatred leading to the gimmick.

    Ambrose v Rollins should be like Cole v Briscoe, two guys who you believe hate each other enough they want to kill each other by any means necessary. Instead, it's, "um, you have my belt, so, uh, ladder match sound good to you?"

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  36. Best 5/9 Falls match. At least 3 or 4 of the falls resulting from various entrance themes randomly playing.

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  37. CHAMBER OF HORRORS! The electric chair, ghouls, random guys jumping out of the coffins, reefer-eye cam, everything!

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  38. RAW has not changed its aesthetic presentation in any significant way since 1997... 1997.

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  39. Ouija board match!

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  40. I think th---


    ~*BLEH!*~

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  41. A ladder match with Owen strapped on a harness.

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  42. Notice how TNA has been going downhill since they retired the reverse battle royal stip.

    Makes you think...

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  43. Scaffold matches, baby. And carpet tacks.

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  44. Adam "Colorado" CurryJune 17, 2015 at 3:18 PM

    WWE doesn't need more gimmick matches, it just needs to use the ones they have properly, as in not doing them just because it's that time of year. And I'd be happy if HITC was just retired and I never want to see a strap\chain match ever again.

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  45. Personally, I never got bored of traditional Survivor Series cards (87-90 style) and I never got bored of King of the Ring (one night tournament style). They were different and had a storytelling theme, not a gimmicky theme. Teams having to work together to Survive, or individuals battling through multiple matches on one night. That along with the Royal Rumble was all I ever needed. Add occasional gimmick matches (that suit storylines/feuds) at Mania and Summerslam and we're all set.

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