Too many gimmicks?

[Lee]

Lets have a look at the card...I have taken the liberty of bolding any matches that are a gimmick match.

-World Heavyweight Champion Edge vs. John Cena vs. Big Show in a Triple Threat Match for the World Heavyweight Championship.
-WWE Champion Triple H vs. Randy Orton for the WWE Championship.
-The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels.
-CM Punk vs. Kane vs. Mark Henry vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. MVP vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Christian vs. Finlay in a Money in the Bank Ladder Match.
-Chris Jericho vs. "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat and Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka with Ric Flair in their corner.
-Jeff Hardy vs. Matt Hardy in an Extreme Rules Match.
-Intercontinental Champion John Bradshaw Layfield vs. Rey Mysterio for the Intercontinental Championship.
-WWE Tag Team Champions Carlito and Primo vs. World Tag Team Champions John Morrison and The Miz in a Title Unification Tag Team Championship Lumberjack Match.
-The 25-Diva Battle Royal with the winner becoming "Miss WrestleMania" featuring Alicia Fox, Beth Phoenix, Brie Bella, Eve, Jillian, Katie Lea Burchill, Kelly Kelly, Layla, Maria, Maryse, Melina, Michelle McCool, Mickie James, Natalya, Nikki Bella, Rosa Mendes and Tiffany.

So we have a ladder match, lumberjack match, battle royale, handicap match, extreme rules match & a triple threat match. That leaves three matches that are not gimmick based; Triple H/Orton, Taker/HBK and JBL/Rey.

There are two questions that spring to my mind when I look at this....

1) Have certain gimmicks been used so much that they are no longer classed as gimmicks?

I am talking about handicap & Triple threat mainly here, I remember when they were rare special matches that had a reason. Now they're used just about every other week and really do they still class as a gimmick?

2) Are gimmicks being used too much?

Lets look at Matt v Jeff, the first in their feud...yet it's a gimmick match, I always feel gimmick matches should be used as the last match of the feud. Look at the divas battle royale, that seems pointless after building up for so long for a title unification match. Then there's the Tag title match, is there any reason for it to be a lumberjack match? There is not, the fact it's a title unification match adds to it much more than throwing people like Funaki around the ring for no reason whatsoever.

 

[AnthonyMango/NoFate007]

Definitely overplaying the gimmick card.

What purpose does it serve for the tag team match to be a Lumberjack Match? It will only hinder the wrestlers as it prevents them from doing outside double-team moves. That should've been given to Mysterio/JBL. To me, it seems like the plan will be that JBL wins at WrestleMania, then drops the title to Mysterio on Raw so he can move to Smackdown with the IC title (countering MVP's US title move to Raw). So if that's the case, why not give JBL some heat and make it so he pays off one of the Lumberjacks to help him with the match? Mysterio goes for the 619, one of the lumberjacks moves JBL out of the way and hits Mysterio, JBL does the Clothesline from Hell, and retains. The next night, Mysterio demands a rematch and since its fair, he wins. Sound better? I think so lol.

Hardy/Hardy should not be a gimmick match. These two should've started out with a normal one-on-one. The gimmick could be used for Backlash, Judgment Day, or Extreme Rules.

On the other hand, Orton/HHH to me NEEDS that No-DQ atmosphere. These two have had soooo many matches together and they've all been cookie-cutter. I'm completely not interested in their match in the slightest bit. If it was No-DQ, it would open up more avenues. As it stands right now, it's going to be a fuckin bore.

Edge/Show/Cena, I'm ok with that being a triple threat.

The Handicapped match......ugh. We all know its going to be horrendous. Its not even necessary to have it. They should just put up a title card that says "Jericho over-sells a million punches from them, as that's all those 4 can do, and then when Rourke punches him, Jericho takes the pinfall loss and looks like an idiot."

Money in the Bank you can't really count as that was a given to be involved. But you could criticize it for having Kane, Finlay, and Mark Henry slowing the whole thing down lol.

The Divas match I'm 100% behind. What else would they have given us that could be better? There are only 4 or 5 of them that actually can put on a semi-decent match, and most of them have already had lots of matches between each other to the point where there's nothing special about it. Having all the divas in there with some former ones is the best possible option. The ones that have no talent can be thrown out within a 90 second span and the rest can put on 3-4 minutes worth of actual entertainment. I'll take this over any 6-woman tag or "Layla vs Eve" match any day.


But what's obvious about this is that they're adding these gimmicks because they're panicking. They've realized that their card is weak and that there will be a lot of streams out there as opposed to ppv orders, so they figure they could increase buyrates with lots of gimmicks in the matches. Pathetic that WRESTLEMANIA needs to do that, isn't it? This should be the one ppv in the year that doesn't need any type of gimmicks added to it (outside of MITB) because the feuds themselves should be so white hot that people are desperate to see it. And what's the one match that is actually selling WrestleMania this year? The two oldest guys in a non-gimmick singles match....Taker/HBK lol.

 

[Y2M]

It making Wrestlemania 25 Good I mean before these Gimmicks matches Raw was looking better then Wrestlemania

 

[Phoenix]

Definitely overplaying the gimmick card.

On the other hand, Orton/HHH to me NEEDS that No-DQ atmosphere. These two have had soooo many matches together and they've all been cookie-cutter. I'm completely not interested in their match in the slightest bit. If it was No-DQ, it would open up more avenues. As it stands right now, it's going to be a fuckin bore.

Triple H vs. Randy Orton is going to be a No-DQ match, problem is with this happening and the Hardys' match, that's TWO No-DQ matches in one night.

I really think making the Hardys' Extreme Rules was a bad move, they only did because they know they can pull off this type of match, yet they can't trust them enough for their first big match of the feud to be one-on-one?

I just think that were the gimmicks are going so much, it's to do with two things - as one stated earlier, ratings, buyrates, is Wrestlemania even sold out? The other is to fill the roster up on get everyone on the PPV, that's what I see the Lumberjack match as. It's a shame really because all I can see is noting that HBK & Undertaker will no doubt go on to be match of the night because they can pull off a great one-on-one match that will get everyone talking.

Maybe the writers forgot it wasn't the Extreme Rules PPV?

 

[kenvin100]

The gimmick matches tell you something, WM25 was dying..either lack of interest, not a full house at WM, or the lowering ratings..its pretty obvious Vince is incredibly desperate and is trying very very hard to make this a quality show..

The Tag unification match really should be on Night of Champions, and the Extreme match should be in ..well 1 night stand or w.e. its called, and the Divas match..ya whatever..unless Trish and Lita are in it, I could care less...

And of course the worst match of the card, Jericho vs the legends..prolly one match to remember Jericho vs Legends...thanks for wasting Jericho WWE..you give the superstar of the year the worse possible match on the grandest stage of them all..