Post by sungod2020 on Jan 22, 2022 22:55:17 GMT -5
Or at the very least be shorter than they actually were.
Inspired by the thread of Ultimate Warrior's 1996 return match against Triple H, some have argued that it should've been a more competitive match since the then Greenwich Aristocrat was being prepped for better things while others thought it was only fitting to silence the future King of Kings in less than 2 minutes. As I've posted in that thread, I'm with the latter group since that match didn't in any way impact his momentum since he became IC champion later in the year when the belt still had relevance as well as remaining in the upper midcard by pairing with Shawn Michaels the following year to form DX(along with Chyna), later becoming it's leader and progressing from there.
While everybody's entitled to their own opinion on how it should've been booked, I stand by mine. That being said, what matches should've been booked the opposite way, as in they would be better as squash matches or not go as long as they did?
Ahmed Johnson vs. Goldust at the 1996 King of The Ring - The Pearl River Powerhouse was a mountain of a man who refused to be intimated. Making a splash on the WWF scene in late 95, the company was clearly behind him, and the fans responded accordingly. First he bodyslamed the 600 pound Yokozuna, and then survived on his team at that years Survivor Series along with Shawn Michaels and The British Bulldog.
It got a little rocky with his match with Jeff Jarrett resulting in a guitar shot at the Royal Rumble with the feud being inconclusive, and was in a holding pattern tag team with a returning Jake "The Snake" Roberts before gunning his eyes on the Intercontinental Championship held by Goldust.
On the May 27th, 1996 episode of RAW, the Big Johnson was rendered unconscious and the Bizarre One took the initiative to "revive" him and performing mouth to mouth. While it certainly did it's job, it wasn't in the manner the film-obsessed, sexually ambiguous weirdo would've wanted as it just angered Johnson. This set up a match at King of The Ring where Ahmed vowed revenge and taking his championship.
And that is what he did, it just took him 15 minutes and 34 seconds to do it. We all know he was no Ric Flair in the ring, and this match exposed his limitations as they were plodding around most of the time. The highlight(if you want to call it that) of the match was this missed plancha....
![]()
To me, it should've been an Ultimate Warrior/Honky Tonk Man-esque squash match, and the feud even called for it. It would've been just as effective, if not moreso for Ahmed to run to the ring and attack him like a man possessed before he even got to take his robe off(like he did). Goldust could've gotten minimal offense on him(like a European uppercut) before falling victim to the Pearl River Plunge, all in 90 seconds. I think it's safe to say the fans wouldn't have had a problem seeing the rising star make short work of him.
This would help preserve Ahmed's mystique and while IC champion, he could've worked a series of squash matches and tag team matches for polishing until he's ready to have a more competitive one, provided he keeps his backstage attitude and knack for injuring others and himself in check.
Asuka vs. Emma at TLC 2017: Not that this match was bad by any means, if anything quite the opposite, however the narrative going into the match suggested it shouldn't have been as back-and-forth as this was. Spending two years in NXT dominating the women's division, Asuka was ready to make her debut on the main stage, putting it's women's division on notice.
After weeks of hype with video packages, Asuka finally made her main roster debut assigned to face Emma. Was she ready for Asuka? Well, maybe a little bit as the two had a back and forth encounter with Emma submitting to the Asuka lock in 9 minutes and 25 seconds.
The problem with that was, the silent assassin was heavily hyped for weeks, and Emma was on her way out of the company. The match would've been much more effective if it didn't exceed the 3 minute mark, pretty much about a third than it's actual length.
Any matches you can come up with that went longer than they should've?
Inspired by the thread of Ultimate Warrior's 1996 return match against Triple H, some have argued that it should've been a more competitive match since the then Greenwich Aristocrat was being prepped for better things while others thought it was only fitting to silence the future King of Kings in less than 2 minutes. As I've posted in that thread, I'm with the latter group since that match didn't in any way impact his momentum since he became IC champion later in the year when the belt still had relevance as well as remaining in the upper midcard by pairing with Shawn Michaels the following year to form DX(along with Chyna), later becoming it's leader and progressing from there.
While everybody's entitled to their own opinion on how it should've been booked, I stand by mine. That being said, what matches should've been booked the opposite way, as in they would be better as squash matches or not go as long as they did?
Ahmed Johnson vs. Goldust at the 1996 King of The Ring - The Pearl River Powerhouse was a mountain of a man who refused to be intimated. Making a splash on the WWF scene in late 95, the company was clearly behind him, and the fans responded accordingly. First he bodyslamed the 600 pound Yokozuna, and then survived on his team at that years Survivor Series along with Shawn Michaels and The British Bulldog.
It got a little rocky with his match with Jeff Jarrett resulting in a guitar shot at the Royal Rumble with the feud being inconclusive, and was in a holding pattern tag team with a returning Jake "The Snake" Roberts before gunning his eyes on the Intercontinental Championship held by Goldust.
On the May 27th, 1996 episode of RAW, the Big Johnson was rendered unconscious and the Bizarre One took the initiative to "revive" him and performing mouth to mouth. While it certainly did it's job, it wasn't in the manner the film-obsessed, sexually ambiguous weirdo would've wanted as it just angered Johnson. This set up a match at King of The Ring where Ahmed vowed revenge and taking his championship.
And that is what he did, it just took him 15 minutes and 34 seconds to do it. We all know he was no Ric Flair in the ring, and this match exposed his limitations as they were plodding around most of the time. The highlight(if you want to call it that) of the match was this missed plancha....
This would help preserve Ahmed's mystique and while IC champion, he could've worked a series of squash matches and tag team matches for polishing until he's ready to have a more competitive one, provided he keeps his backstage attitude and knack for injuring others and himself in check.
Asuka vs. Emma at TLC 2017: Not that this match was bad by any means, if anything quite the opposite, however the narrative going into the match suggested it shouldn't have been as back-and-forth as this was. Spending two years in NXT dominating the women's division, Asuka was ready to make her debut on the main stage, putting it's women's division on notice.
After weeks of hype with video packages, Asuka finally made her main roster debut assigned to face Emma. Was she ready for Asuka? Well, maybe a little bit as the two had a back and forth encounter with Emma submitting to the Asuka lock in 9 minutes and 25 seconds.
The problem with that was, the silent assassin was heavily hyped for weeks, and Emma was on her way out of the company. The match would've been much more effective if it didn't exceed the 3 minute mark, pretty much about a third than it's actual length.
Any matches you can come up with that went longer than they should've?
