How to improve match quality

[Slyfox696]

While there are some guys out there who are putting on good matches all the time, the simple fact is that many guys in wrestling these days, just don't understand the concepts of a good match. They replace quality work with high spots and a face pace, and try to use that to convince fans they are good workers. But, it doesn't fool the majority of wrestling fans.

So, I'm compiling a list of things that can help wrestlers improve their matches.

1. Slow down. One of the thing that bugs me to no end is the ridiculous pace that some workers try to use in matches, usually to cover the fact they are not good wrestlers. They try to get "oohs" and "ahhs" from the crowd, to hide the fact they can't make fans care about their match with the simple storytelling aspect. The problem with that philosophy is it makes matches seem so unrealistic. One of the best ways to make a good match is to make people believe what they are watching is real. While it's no secret anymore that wrestling is scripted, the effort to make it look real is still important.

So, there's one. I'm counting on everyone else to chip in more ideas.

 

[Minor League Brian]

I honestly can't think of anything better then that, Sly.

To be honest, I did like watching TNA. Mostly because watching these "little" guys run around at 100MPH's doing the craziest flips and tricks I had seen in awhile intrigued me, but I really didn't -care- about those matches. Its just a short entertaining piece, and then next week I wonder what the hell it is they're talking about when something was supposed to have, or apparently, happened with me seeing.

On the flip side, I can watch say...a Jeff Hardy match, and get involved. Now, I'm not the kind of person who sits on the "edge of their sit, cheering on from behind the television", but I do get intrigued and I start to feel the tingle of anticipation. I'll use the Hardy/HHH matches recently. I personally wouldn't call them classics, but they got you believing that Hardy would win. Hardy can probably lose quite a few more times, if every-time he comes out looking strong and all the while looking as if he can win. Thats the entire point of storytelling.

The only thing I could even try and possibly change, which is a facet of the business sadly, are the whole "Manager Distracts opponent" crap, or anything where the in-ring competitors take their eyes off who their facing. There are very few times that I could think of that I'd stop looking at the person I was fighting/wrestling too stare at someone who shouldn't be my concern at the moment.

I really and truly can't think of anything better, because you hit the nail on the head right away Sly.

 

[AnthonyMango/NoFate007]

It really depends on the wrestler.

Some wrestlers should definitely slow down, but others definitely need to speed up. I'm not one of those people that needs to watch spot after spot in order to be entertained, but every now and then - especially on Smackdown it seems - I nearly fall asleep watching 20 minutes of arm bars, nerve holds, headlocks, and other rests like that, and not even in a faster paced "oh look he just countered that with an arm bar, that's something different", its more like "Wrestler A puts Wrestler B in an arm bar for 3 minutes. Wrestler B gets to a vertical base, tries to punch his way out, but Wrestler A just kicks him in the gut and puts the arm bar back on for another 3 minutes until one of them is thrown outside the ring. Commercial break. Now we're back and the arm bar is back on for another 4 minutes. Oh, look, end of match."

Wrestlers like HHH, Mysterio, and Kane need to try something new. Their matches are too repetitive. As much as I hate to say it, even Batista tries some new things now and then. He might be horrible at the majority of them, lol, but at least he tries, rather than relying on the same few moves.

Some wrestlers just simply need to be better wrestlers. Ortiz, for example, is a bore and he just flat out sucks. R-Truth lumbers around the ring slower than Flair did but then tries to make up for it by spinning after he does 2 of his moves, which makes no sense whatsoever. Most of the women's division is plagued by bad performers who can do nothing but over-exaggerated forearms to the face, weak kicks to the gut, and the most ridiculous looking clotheslines and bulldogs in the world.

Some matches are lowered in quality because of the gimmick itself not having changed (or the booking not willing to change how they use the gimmick). How often do we see the same exact outline for a mixed tag match? Or even, regular tag matches that abuse the "hot tag" moment by having it 3 times in painfully obvious areas?

Etc etc etc

 

[Checkmate]

I honestly can't recall the last time someone submitted to an arm bar or a head lock that wasn't a 'finisher'.

If submissions and wear down holds actually meant something, then I'd care. The arm never falls three times, and no one ever taps out. Even guys like Angle and Benoit couldn't make 'finisher' submissions as good as they should be. It used to be, "Oh, Its locked in! Its Over!". After a certain amount of time, even the 'finisher' submissions couldn't get the job done. Angle locked Cena in an Ankle lock like 3-4 times in the same match and still lost. Why bother if it doesn't get you anywhere?

Certain guys are well respected because they put people over. I'd respect the guy (non jobber) who puts over a guy by submitting to a non-finisher submission hold. Granted, the fans would be just as confused as when Taker was KO'd by Big Show, but it just takes time to grow on people. Fans would eventually care more about the slower points of the match, like they used to.

Another point mentioned above is the movesets of each superstar. Some guys have huge movesets that really make their matches interesting, as they can mix and match their offense based on the competition. I'm not saying setup moves are a bore, but when every match ends exactly the same way, it just isn't working anymore. Batista occasionally wins with the Spinebuster, Benoit beat MVP with the Diving Headbutt, and there are a few other random examples. However, this isn't enough to make the finish more credible.

Several guys have been using the Figure Four and the Sharpshooter, however this rarely wins the match. Is this because they aren't Ric Flair and Bret Hart? Or are they just not doing it right?

I'd like to see more 'stolen' moves that end the matchup. The Rock and Austin did this amazingly, as each one did their own move and each others move to the opponent in the same match. It is something unexpected, and fans can get into that.

 

[Afro-Ameri-Spawn]

I really have to agree with you Sly. Years ago, when TNA was on ppv and you would see the fast paced X-themed matches, I was highly excited and felt giddy like a school girl when the X-Cup would take place. But I always felt as if something was missing. I felt as if these matches were great, but incomplete. And then, when I saw the X-Cup this year, I finally figured out what it was that left me feeling like a junkie who had had been fiending all day for a fix only to have some young scam artist sell him a baggie of baby powder that was packaged to look like high grade heroine.

And then I realized what the problem was. No matter how fantastic, innovative, or sick each move looked, they only were blurred meaningless lines as NOBODY WAS SELLING. Now I realize that the average spot monkey is working his ass off to show what he has, just in case somebody major is watching, because the main goal is to make money right? But they are so busy trying to fit each and every one of their signature spots into 10 and 15 minute matches that they all look as if they are bouncing off of one another until someone scores a final pin. I mean where is the sell? What ever happened to pausing for a moment to make a great move look like it actually had an impact that was longer than the name? If you refuse to sell, then it all just looks like artistic garbage in the end.

Another thing that needs improvement is the matches that go longer than 10 minutes. Now anybody who knows me, knows that I have a deep loathing for the supposed "5 star" matches of ROH due to all of the groping and holding that the sweaty "allegedly heterosexual" men do during these long matches. Sure there's a chain move or two or three or four or five or six. But what happens between those chains is something that would only seem appealing to the men who live in the Oswald State Correctional facility (OZ). I swear, they hold each other more than the cast of a marathon of Steel Magnolias, Fried Green Tomatoes, Terms of Endearment, and the Secrets of The ya Ya Sisterhood combined into one long drawn out over emotional tear jerker where everyone hugged from beginning to end. It's shameful, and yet so homoerotic. And it devalues a wrestling match, whether you think it's 5 star or not. Because in the end, it's just nothing more than 5 star crap.

 

[My$terio_Fan]

I maybe in the minority, but I find "slow" storytelling matches to be boring. I was never a fan of guys like Benoit because I found their style to be really boring. I find wrestling the most entertaining when guys are doing highflying moves and high energy. I hate when they do rest holds and mat wrestling. I must be a huge mark or something, but I think it's more entertaining to watch the highflying guys over "technical" wrestlers. I guess some people like different things. So I can't really say that I would be entertained more if Wrestles slowed everything down and told a "story" but since cruiserwights/x-divison stars don't draw than it would make sence for WWE wrestlers to do what Sly is saying but to me personally it's not what I would want to see.