The Iron Man Tournament

[Max Headroom]

The title of this thread makes it rather obvious as to what the plan is, but here's the idea:

We all know RAW is three hours, and sometimes it's quite clear they need some material to help fill the three hours. So why not, maybe after SummerSlam, start up a new idea called the "Iron Man Tournament"? I say after SummerSlam because that would be a good time to start it while people are still paying attention, and it can lead into & finish at Survivor Series (maybe). Only one round of the tournament (sometimes 2) would be contested via a 30-minute iron man match on each episode of RAW. It would start with either 16 or 8 competitors, depending on if you wanted to have a match each RAW, or every second RAW. The final two competitors would then face off in a 45-minute iron man match, with the winner getting a chance to gun for any title he so chooses. The title match would then be a 60-minute iron man match at Survivor Series (may not be a tag-team match, but it does stay true to the theme of being a "survivor").

It seems to me that the average fan-base of WWE are appreciating actual wrestling matches more and more lately. A good example is the reaction to the Cena Open Challenge, and also the two Cena/Owens matches. Yes, simply because it's Cena, the reaction is going to be louder, but a trend between these two matches and most of Cena's open challenges is one thing: a straight wrestling match, no messing around. So, pair that with the fact that there are no longer "PPVs", just "events", and I say why not? If it doesn't gain interest, scrap it. If it does, keep it up the following year.

So what do fellow humans think? Good/bad idea? Is there a better time of year/different event to end it at? Any slight changes you'd make? Have at 'er!

 

[Dagger Dias]

Wait, so every single match in this tournament would be an Iron Man match? That's WAY too many. Iron Man matches should be reserved for the best of the best in a generation. We are getting toward the point where another should be had, maybe between Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose.... but an entire 16 man tournament full of them? That's overkill. Just stick to standard singles matches for the tournament. I'm fine with the idea of more tournaments, but gimmick matches should be saved for PPV's, especially one as rare as an Iron Man match.

 

[Max Headroom]

Dagger, this is a very fair point. 16 would for sure be overkill, but 8 could be handled well if spaced out decently enough. Especially if you have ones of lesser time which leads to ones with more time. That being said, this does hold a lot of bias in the fact that I love tournaments (when handled properly), and I love a good long wrestling match. To make some changes: have it be just your average tournament with regular matches, with the final two contestants having a 2 out of 3 falls match to determine a winner. The winner of that match would then go on to have the said championship iron man match discussed earlier. That way there is no overkill, but we do get treated to just one iron man match in a year.

In regards to Seth/Dean, as great as an iron man between those two would be, it just wouldn't seem fitting to me. They seem to be at each others throats too much to have a long, pure wrestling match. I know iron man matches have featured heated feuds in the past, but I feel the match would also be very fitting to two competitors whom just want to show who the best wrestler is, and win a championship in the process.

 

[Un-Bo-Lievable Jeff]

I get the idea you are thinking of, but as with the others above, i'm not sure iron man matches are the way to go.

The idea of having something that stretches over a period of timeculminating in a pay off championship match has merit though.

I think something along the lines of TNA's Bound for Glory tournament, but just done properly.

 

[chuckmdubya]

Sorry my post won't be exactly on topic, but i wanted to comment on something OP said. In the second paragraph of the original post the author mentioned that the average WWE fan is starting to appreciate quality matches recently.

I would hypothesize that this is in large part due to the IWC. People who are casual or new wrestling fans are likely to seek out more information on the internet. And when they find forums like this one, they begin to understand the sport better and appreciate it. A large number of posters here express their desire to see quality matches and it rubs off on those newbies. On wrestling sites they learn to have an appreciation for the quality matches and can learn what a quality match actually is. The more people that want these matches, the more WWE will have.

So we can start to give ourselves a little credit for helping to improve the product WWE offers.

And yeah, I'm with the other posters, this is just too many iron man matches. The tournament idea is solid though, but if I were Vince it would look more like having a tournament of regular matches, maybe even honest lumberjack matches, and then have the final match be a PPV iron man match with the winner being given a title shot at the next PPV.

 

[TheICChampion]

To be fair, guys, he didn't say every match was a 60-minute iron man match, he said they would be 30 minutes. With the final being 45 minutes. I wouldn't mind seeing it at least once. Just make sure you pick guys that you know can last that long and have lasted that long in the past.

 

[yourdamnluck]

May be a tournament in which all matches have some sort of stipulation and final can be an ironman match. Making all of them ironman will be boring and not all guys can go in the ring for that long and keep people interested.

The final can easily be an IM match I'd pick rusev vs cena.

 

[FlairFan2003]

Not everyone can do a 30 plus minute match....There isn't an entire roster of HBKs, HHHs, Brett Harts, and Ric Flair's right now nor is there a long list of Ricky Steamboats, Randy Savages, Barry Whyndams, or Kurt Angles for them to wrestle.

It would be hard for WWE to come up with enough names (at least 8) to make this idea worthwhile. Remember also the allure is in seeing two TOP NAMES battle, fans will not want to watch a 30 minute match between mid carders with no storyline, yeah maybe they would be invested in 30 minutes of Cena vs Rollins but ask the casual fan to watch a marathon style match between two second or third stringers and the collective yawn would only be eclipsed by the sound of crickets in the host building.

 

[World Class Mark]

At Starcade (1989), WCW/NWA had an Iron Man Tournament, where all four wrestlers faced each other in the same night. Sting won the tournament, with the other three being Ric Flair, The Great Muta, and Lex Luger. The was also a tag-team version of the tournament (Road Warriors, Steiners, Doom, and Samoans).

It might be nice if WWE did something like this once a year, perhaps with mid-card talent, something to elevate them -- that is, if WWE actually wanted to do that.

The WCW/NWA version actually used its top four guys -- although Muta was leaving at that point so it was easy to have one of the guys job to the others. This was also used to finally set-up the Flair/Sting title match that happened the following summer. I don't think WWE would want to use its top 4 guys like this, but to have mid card talent do it would be a good push for those guys.

That's what I thought of when I saw the thread for an Iron Man Tournament







.

 

[The Naitchhh]

this coming WrestleMania will mark 20 years since an Ironman match at WrestleMania make it happen

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Wait, so every single match in this tournament would be an Iron Man match? That's WAY too many. Iron Man matches should be reserved for the best of the best in a generation. We are getting toward the point where another should be had, maybe between Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose.... but an entire 16 man tournament full of them? That's overkill. Just stick to standard singles matches for the tournament. I'm fine with the idea of more tournaments, but gimmick matches should be saved for PPV's, especially one as rare as an Iron Man match.

I agree. Iron Man Matches are a rarity and I think that's how it should be. There've only been a handful of these matches in WWE since 1996 and that last one was between Orton & Cena back in October 2009. As it becomes harder and harder to please fans, a good deal of whom have grown to have wildly unrealistic and impossibly high expectations, fans who pretty much dump on every gimmick match in WWE these days, the Iron Man Match is one of the few that's left that hasn't been done to the point of almost absurdity.

An entire tournament of Iron Man Matches would not only water down the concept as a whole, it'd eventually get tiresome as there are just some pairings that almost certainly simply wouldn't work despite the efforts of the wrestlers themselves. For instance, what if Vince thought it'd be a good idea to see Randy Orton go up against Kane in an Iron Man Match? I mean, it's a match that very few fans are all that hot about in the first place, so try taking a 15 minute match between those two and doubling, tripling or even quadrupling it and you know what you'd probably wind up with? A lot of viewers changing the channel. Off the top of my head, I think there are only a real handful of guys on the WWE roster that I think a lot of fans would be interested in seeing compete in an Iron Man Match setting:

John Cena
Daniel Bryan (If he wasn't injured)
Kevin Owens
Sami Zayn (If he wasn't injured)
Cesaro
Dean Ambrose
Seth Rollins

As for the winner getting a shot at any title he wants, it just seems like a waste of time really. Suspension of disbelief is hugely important, but there's a limit to how far you can stretch it and the problem is this: Vince would be raked over the coals even more than he usually is if he made the decision that the winner of said tournament wouldn't go after the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. I mean....c'mon, if you have an opportunity to, kayfabe, challenge for ANY championship, you're gonna go after the World Championship; the main event title is THE championship, that's why it's the title that makes up the main event championship picture.

In my opinion, and that's all it is btw, WWE would be better suited to ultimately just do a Bound for Glory style tournament with a simplified point system with 7 points for a pinfall, 10 for submissions and no points for count outs or DQ as a means of cutting down on weak endings. Put about 12 guys or so in it, book them all to look strong and relevant rather than the tourney mostly being made up of guys who're just there to provide bodies for the event while using it to elevate only 1 or 2 guys. Stretch it out over a period of maybe 3 months or so, have the two finalists compete in a best of 5 or 7 series to determine who gets a title shot at the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. In order for this to happen, do away with MITB or apply the concept to the mid-card titles. However, the problem with big tournaments that last a while is not only keeping fans interested, but it takes a shitload of time, energy, focus and devotion of the powers that be to be willing to see it through. Based just on what we've seen in NXT, MAYBE, just MAYBE, Triple H could do it if he was the one making the final creative choices. However, Vince is the man and I have little to no faith in Vince having the focus, attention and investment into making this thing work; Vince is notorious for sometimes having a short attention span, frequently changing his mind on angles when they've been headed down a particular path for a while already that usually result in huge holes in the plot and consistency isn't something I apply a whole lot to Vince. When I watch, I get the feeling that there are times, sometimes very long stretches of time for that matter, in which Vince takes a step back and allows Triple H to make more of the final decisions; I'm not saying that's the case, it's just that it seems like it at times because the tone and style of booking just seems a lot different. During those times, we tend to see a lot less "sports entertainment" filler, more consistent booking, more competent storytelling and generally just a stronger all around product. At any rate, whether it's my idea or the OP's idea, I just don't have faith in Vince having the attention span or consistency to see such a tournament through before losing interest and ultimately half-assing it at some point.

 

[MMK]

I'm all in favor of new ideas! Wrestling has become so stale. In the last 10 years I think they've only created 2 new styles of matches, those being the MITB in 2005 and those Championship Scramble matches a few years later.

Never seen an Iron Man tournament before and would love to see one.

I disagree with the idea that there aren't enough guys on the roster who could pull it off. Quite the opposite. Cesaro, Zayn, Bryan, Ziggler, Rollins, and maybe Ambrose could easily pull it off. What some of them lack in charisma they more than makeup for in athleticism. This concept showcases there strengths and hides there weaknesses.

It would remind me of the best of 7 series Booker and Benoit had back in 1998. I loved that concept. Wrestling needs more stuff like that. I would even go for a best of 7 Iron Man series between the champion and the challenger.

The only flaw in this concept is that the Champion would be at a huge advantage. If the winner of the torunament has already gone through 3 grueling Iron Man Matches while the champion only has to wrestle one then that gives a decided advantage to the champion.

So I would save this concept for a time when the title is vacant. Having the 8 best pure athletes compete in a series of Iron Man matches for the title would really bring some prestige back to the title and legitimize the winner as the best of the best. Of course, after doing this, you could never do another Iron Man for quite some time as it would water it down a bit. Nevertheless I like the concept.

 

[coolboarder]

Just hold a 2 out of 3 falls qualifying matches for a spot in the tournament. 4 spots should be enough for the iron-man tournament with 30 minutes for the semi-final matches and the hour-long match in the final for the Iron-Man Championship once a year. Just replace them with the King of the Ring Tournament. I personally don't like KOTR tournament but I do like the concept of the Iron-Man tournament to show us that he can outlast in a tough and physical match.

Once the Iron-Man champion is earned, then the defending champ is automatically qualified and 3 remaining qualifying spots for the following year and stick to the tradition. That way you have the 6 wrestlers for a spot, knowing the limitation of the roster and more easier to name the wrestlers for the qualifying matches.