Could an Instant Replay/Challenge System Work in the WWE?

[Nate DaMac]

Ridiculous? Absolutely, but after a few instances with these rogue referees changing the rules on a whim, I feel it's something we could talk about. Twice now we have witnessed The Miz defeat John Cena for the WWE Championship and it would have stuck if we were to abide by the rules we have all come to know over the years. However, both times the call was overturned after the bell by the referee on nothing more than a gut feeling. When he defeated Cena on Raw, Riley dropped the belt or Miz dropped it(can't remember) and the referee just put 2 and 2 together and overturned the decision. Then at Over The Limit, a very similar occurrence took place, albeit in an I Quit match and a cell phone replaced the belt but the general idea still stands. The ref didn't check the Titan Tron or converse with the other officials, he just overturned it out of assumption. I'm thinking that if they're going to start allowing the refs to go all Outlaw on us, there should at least be some kind of regulations to it. So with that in mind, here's what I've come up with.

• Official Review or Superstar Challenge Kind of similar to the NFL, if the ref has a reason to think something is amidst, he reserves the right to review the finish. One the flip side, the losing Superstar could have, say, 30 seconds to challenge the finish.

• One Challenge Per Match Because it's still Professional Wrestling, the heels should still cheat to win. Say the review shows that the winner had his feet on the rope, the match is restarted. But then he's free to do whatever he wants(provided the referee doesn't see it) and whatever tactic he uses is non reviewable.

This is just a basic premise to the idea. There are other things I've kicked around as well. If the review shows that the winner used the ropes to win or pulled the tights, the match should just be restarted. But if he used a tactic that would result in a DQ, (i.e. weapons, outside interference) then the winner should be disqualified. Or storyline potentials, like a ref who refuses to review or a Superstar who refuses to challenge/works toward banning the movement, using the same bullshit terms that detractors in the NFL use( It takes away from the game hurp durp I'm an idiot.)

I'm not saying a system like this should be implemented, I just think it's something worth talking about. I fully expect a lot of people to just shit all over it, and feel free to do so. There are some glaring flaws in this just waiting to be honed in on. I'm also sure that there are those who think that something like this could work. If so, tell me what kind of rules you think should go into it or how you would improve on the ones I have before you.

The floor is yours.

 

[itsthejuggla18]

Um, hmm. No.

I think what would be better is if they had someone who was the authority on either Smackdown or Raw who by some means wielded their power through another source. Maybe a cell phone per say. And when they decided to do something they could call and and an audilble ring would be heard throughout the arena to let everyone know what was going on. Maybe Josh Matthews could have the phone and relay the message to the live crowd. I don't know, it may work.

 

[SPARTANBOY03]

The problem with that is it would make the ppvs seem longer then normal , I meen I guess on a raw , smackdown or even superstars and heck even on nxt it would be alright. I meen think about it people, Wrestlemania is a 4 hour ppv , if they did that , wrestle mania will be like 4 and a half or 5 hours . Thats just how I feel about it .

isnt that the same thing as the raw gm thing with cole .

 

[FSWWE]

I think that after the bell the only person who could reverse the finish is the General Manager...

Some days we see a guy getting a heelish victory and that's alright, and other the referee just look to titantroon and reverse the decision? WTF?
I was so happy when I saw The Miz getting the second WWE Championship, but the referee just saw how he won and reversed it?

Cody Rhodes should have lost at Mania, if the referee looked to the Titantron...
:S Sometimes WWE is very stupid.

 

[Big Sexy]

The Miz vs Cena occurrences were rare. More often then not when a heel cheats to win they get away with it. Having replay would negate heels winning by cheating. You talk about only having one challenge so heels could still cheat to win but that would be way too time consuming. It is just a lot of added fluff to matches that don't need it and would take more time away from the action. I honestly see absolutely no positive to something like this at all. It actually wouldn't surprise me to see TNA do something like this because they are all about overbooking and complicating things but this makes zero sense for the WWE.

 

[poppycock]

I think there was a match in 1997 that ended with a little incident that could have benefited with something along those lines.

I really do not like the idea at all and agree that it would just take up time yet serve no real purpose as the outcomes are predetermined anyway so if sombody wis by cheating that is how it is meant to be.

 

[Rckstrtmmy]

This is just stupid...no offense. All the things that would be reviewed are devices used to further storylines, garner heat, etc. It's supposed to happen that way and if reviews just reversed things, what would be the point of having the wrestlers do them in the first place?

 

[BLeonard]

You're about 20 years too late...

From WrestleMania VII: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92c_J7MA574

-Bill

 

[Constipated Badger Bottom]

You've but some decent amount of though in this idea and you've backed up your case preety well which carn't be said for most other people on this forum so I will give you that.

But with pro-wrestling you just need to go with the flow of things because if you start thinking back to previous storylines and start picking holes in the current storylines then you will ruin the product for yourself so the best thing to do is let the heels win in there "heelish" ways and let the faces win clean and then everybody is happy.

Also the other problem with the Challeneg system is that by the time the decision in question has been revised the match has lost all it's momentum, the best example of this would be at Wrestlemania when the Miz VS Cena ended in a count out, The Rock came in and restarted the match but by the time Miz and Cena made it back into the Ring the match had lost it's momentum and the rest is history and the match was a DUD.

 

[Lucha-Libre is wrestling]

psst hey buddy I have a secret WWE is Script. Why would you have challenges or a call for replay unless its part of the Script. This idea would get stale the first time they do it and the fans that know that WWE is Script will scream BS or Boring all night. And finally this idea will kill the purpose of the heal character in the Script. Oh yeah did anyone notice yet that WWE is Script.

 

[Dowdsy McDowds]

Hmm, interesting idea.

I remember Benoit v Rock at Fully Loaded 2000 (I think) had a stipulation that if Rock used a chair on Benoit then Benoit would win the match and title because Rock kept getting caught in the crossface and was getting fed up with Benoit and Shane O Mac. I'm struggling to remember the exact circumstances of the finish of the match, but the ref believed Rock had used the chair due to circumstantial evidence and so awarded Benoit the belt, only for Mick 'The Commish' Foley to come out and overturn the decision and restart the match.

As a storyline device, ref calling a match one way or the other because of what he sees and not necessarily what happened, it can help a feud as long as it's done sensibly.

 

[DeathClutch]

Sorry on first glance of what you've put down I think you're going too in-depth, doing a review of the shows are easily kept for RAW for the people who didn't order the show so doing straight after wouldn't really benefit WWE.

I'm not a fan of review type shows they're is no real reason for them other than hear a professionals opinion on this and that, in wrestling what could they say? A wrestler sucked in his match and B wrestler tried to carry the match in this way or that way and failed?

You'd be doing more damage than good, you'd be literally exposing wrestlers, CM Punks etc would get good reviews, but take someone green you'd be ripping them apart and nothing good can come from that. Keep the shows the way they are if you ask me.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

No, I do not think instant replays in WWE would work. The introduction of them would only look real if all wrestlers who had been unfairly beaten would complain and it for the replay feature to look legitimate, all victories gained by cheating would have to be overruled, which would prevent good storylines from developing, and prevent heel champions from being able to cheat their way to retaining the belt.

If an instant replay was used to overule a decision in 1 match, it would look stupid if the next time a wrestler got screwed it was not used. As wrestling is not a real competitive sport, and is storyline based and predetermined, I think an instant replay would be worthless.

Having unfair wins, and wrestlers getting screwed is part of what makes the business so great, and taking that away would remove a great aspect from the show and take away alot of heat from the heels.

 

[Joshua]

So that would mean that for a heel to ever win, he would have to do it cleanly. That wouldn't work and for all the young fans the WWE has, there is still an older demographic they want to capture as well. Doing this would destroy that group of fans.

 

[goodwinm]

Heels cheat. Heels win by cheating. That's what make them heels. The harder they cheat, the better, the bigger crowd reaction is what keeps them at the level they are at.

Who wins a match and how they win it is always predetermined, and the referee is always in on it. Look up "Montreal Screwjob" if you have any doubts about that.

 

[911 JP]

No, it would not!

Basically the reason it wouldnt is because it would destroy the role of the heel! With an instant replay symstem basically you have to 'clean' wrestlers in the ring, and the only way that the heel will get an reaction is by verbally bashing the audience/opponent and assaults. But contrary to WWEs belief they are and always will be a Pro Wrestling company, that is their foundation and that is the only way that they are still alive today, which means the in ring work of their performers in crucial, and with a no reaction heel in the ring it wont work!

TNA (Impact Wrestling) on the other hand may work, because they work on a completley different basis!

 

[KNPKH2ster]

No. I don't think a Instant Replay/Challenge System in the WWE as it's all staged and what not. It could probably work for the MLB but not this.

 

[Singin' in the Reyn]

I won't troll this thread like some other guys. I think having a review system would do wonders for making WWE look like a real sport.

I do, however, have to mention the issue of spots. I'm assuming that the replays will be in slow motion and that means suspending disbelief will be impossible.