Wait, What? There's another superstar in the ring?

[Mantaur Rodeo Clown]

That's right. Besides the two combatants, who have had a long and bloody feud, there is another superstar in the ring. After a long personal battle, these two wrestlers are bound to face him, at one time or another.

He is: The Gimmick Match

Every feud, from Michael and HHH/Jericho to Angle/Lesnar to Taker/Kane to Orton/Foley has had a culmination of all that rage, punishment and hate into one defining match. It almost seems that fans are disappointed when the blowoff match is a regular sanctioned match. Anyone reding this get disappointed? Regardless of whether its Coalminers glove or Bra and Panties, everyone loves to watch a match that they dont get every week on TV. Whether its Hell in a Cell or No Holds Barred, every spot looks that much more brutal because of the hatred. And this third Superstar doesn't have off days or injuries. Those thumbtacks and that ladder is always "on".

Ric Flair once famously said that at Wrestlemania X, Shawn Michaels had a match with a ladder, and Razor Ramon was in the ring as well. (HBK a holic will love that). It has to be said that the ladder in that match had his A game in the ring that night.

Coco the Monkey once said on this forum that Edge didnt have main event quality matches unless they were gimmick matches (or with better opponents) which got me thinking. Who else is like this?

His ring work rarely merits main event treatment unless he is with one or several superior workers or in a gimmick match,

See, he did say that.

There is no doubt that Edge has great gimmick matches, whether its TLC or Steel Cage. Who else relies on gimmick matches you might ask? Some people have said that in recent years, HHH's only decent matches are when gimmicks are involved. Elimination Chambers, Unsanctioned street fights and even a classic ladder match with The Rock. This could be true.

I'm asking how much does this third superstar, The Gimmick Match, come into play and who relies on it too much?

 

[Dave]

Firstly, I would like to say that I feel the WWE does over-utilize the gimmick matches but not as much as TNA. Look at Lockdown for example. Nearly every match on that card was a gimmick match. That was too much.

Secondly, I don't think that Edge only has good matches when it is in a gimmick match. The only thing about him is that he is a heel and "the ultimate opportunist" and just by being those things mean that he is rarely going to be seen winning cleanly. I think Edge has all the talents to go on and be a great wrestler and will surely be in the hall of fame. I don't think that people will remember him for being gimmicky.

Lastly, The person I think relies most heavily on gimmick matches is Jeff Hardy. If we look at his last 2 pay par views for example. One match was an i quit match, where he utilized ladders and the other was an extreme rules match, in which he utilized ladders etc. So yeah Jeff Hardy is more reliant on gimmicks I think.

 

[TwistofRKO]

Jeff Hardy had very good matches with Triple H and Randy Orton, in recent fueds, that weren't gimmick matches. Edge has had numerous, solid traditional matches.

As far as they go, who cares if they shine in gimmick matches? If you in a gimmick match you're on PPV, if you're on PPV as much as these two are you obviously are entertaining. That's what you're paid to do, entertain the masses.

 

[jamesland77]

When it comes to overusing gimmick matches...one name comes to mind...Mick Foley!

 

[huntmaster86]

abyss is the one that i'd put forward. shocking.

 

[ztwhite]

Every top level wrestler has used or does use the gimmick match - but that doesn't mean they only excel when placed in a gimmick match.

The gimmick match does exactly what it is supposed to do - draw attention to the match.

Has Big Show ever had a great wrestling match ?? How about Khali ?? Better yet, the aforementioned Abyss ??

Show is remembered for his sumo match with Akebono or his boxing match with Money Mayweather at 'Mania. Khali allegedly introduced the Punjabi Prison match and Abyss sucks even when tacks, fire or barbed wire is involved.

Unfortunately for us wrestling fans, ECW ruined the occasional gimmick match for everyone. Every one of their former wrestlers are defined by gimmick matches - Sabu, Sandman, Dreamer, the Dudleys, Balls Mahoney, etc...

The industry as a whole relies too much on gimmick matches, but the majority of wrestling fans would rather see a Hell in the Cell match, an I Quit match or a TLC match. A catch-as-catch-can match is simply outdated with all apologies to guys like Angle.

 

[Lee]

The gimmick match is overused far too much. Lets look at the PPVs in WWE so far this year;

Armageddon; 7 matches; 3 gimmicks
Mania; 8 matches; 5 gimmicks
No Way Out; 5 matches; 3 gimmicks
Royal Rumble; 5 matches; 2 gimmicks
Total; 25 matches; 13 gimmicks

Total percentage of gimmicks this year at WWE PPV = FIFTY TWO PERCENT

That I think is ridiculous, gimmick matches are now the norm, and frankly it's becoming boring.

 

[Suneeboy]

I think its fair to say that gimmick matches are overused in professional wrestling today. I remember when the most brutal of gimmick matches was the steel cage match. Gimmick matches allow the performers to work more outside the ring and with weapons, and big spots, because their "technique" is not as polished as others. Steamboat, Flair, Hogan, Sting, Benoit, HBK, Bret Hart, etc. didn't have gimmick matches years ago to fall back on to put on a great show.

Its not that gimmick matches are a bad thing, and its not a bad thing that Edge has his best matches using gimmicks. Play to your strengths is what I say. I enjoy watching Edge, and his gimmick matches are great.

Sometimes I do want to see an old fashion wrestling match. The best matches of the past decade haven't been gimmick matches in my opinion. HBK/Angle 21, HBK/Taker 25, HBK/Jericho 19, Austin/Rock 19, HBK/Cena RAW, and the list goes on.

There is an old saying that's still used today..."Less is more". Its the law of diminishing returns.

 

[thesacredcow]

Unfortunately for us wrestling fans, ECW ruined the occasional gimmick match for everyone. Every one of their former wrestlers are defined by gimmick matches - Sabu, Sandman, Dreamer, the Dudleys, Balls Mahoney, etc...

The industry as a whole relies too much on gimmick matches, but the majority of wrestling fans would rather see a Hell in the Cell match, an I Quit match or a TLC match. A catch-as-catch-can match is simply outdated with all apologies to guys like Angle.

You seem to have left one notable name off that ECW list who wasn't defined by gimmick matches...RVD. Yeah he took part in his fair share of gimmick matches, but he was defined by his unique style. And now that I think of it weren't guys like Eddie Guerrero, Chris Jericho, Rey Mysterio in ECW? So I don't think you can really argue that everyone who was in ECW was defined by gimmick matches.

I don't think it's neccessarily true that fans aren't interested in pure wrestling, but really how many guys in the industry today can pull off a great technical match. Only a handful.

 

[RawIsRamsey]

The gimmick match is the most traditional way to blow off a feud, so naturally a PPV would be full of them as a PPV is used to either finish or prolong a feud.

Plus, sometimes a feud RELIES on a gimmick, due to what's going on in the storyline (do you honestly think the recent Hardy feud, which had Matt admitting to BURNING DOWN JEFF'S HOUSE AND DOG, could have been simply ended by a 1-on-1 match?). Foley had to rely on his "hardcore" gimmick in his feud with Orton, claiming he couldn't take it to that level. Hell, even Cena and Edge needed the TLC match as it was Cena claiming he could beat Edge in his own environment, which is a gimmick match.

Now, when gimmick matches get put on free TV, that's stupid unless it's meant to blow off a feud (Matt and Jeff in the stretcher match was meant to be the blown-off until the contract thing came up). For instance, there was a 3-minute ladder match on iMPACT...between 2 women...and a title wasn't involved...hell, I don't even think a title OPPORTUNITY was involved...and then brass knuckles (turned the WRONG WAY at that) had to be used in the finish...this is the PERFECT example of overusing a gimmick...hell, watch any episode of iMPACT in the past two years with Russo at the helm, and you can give me a full report on how many unnecessary gimmick matches were used (there were at least a dozen "something on a pole" matches, and WWE hasn't done a pole match in fuckin' forever).

 

[WunNightStan619]

Yo....how many times are they gonna use the Last Man Standing match? They do wun like 3,4,5 times a year...shit is boring now

 

[golden miz]

Well I ould say yo have to look at the hardcore guys who risked thre life withbared wire ring posts. All foley is known for is wretling off the wall gimic matches wether it was a hitc match, a casket match, or even a harcore match he seemed to only fight with wepons or at least those are the matches everyone remebers. How about guys like abyss that base their whole carer on either using weapons or jokeing that he cant use them either way wepons are mentioned. What about the biggest purpetrator of them all none other then terry funk he created his career based on a gimic but I can sware that in one form or another he used a wepon in every match. Theres others but not in the harcore category that im highlighting.