Metal Face
Superstar
Yea but occasionally only.
Are theatrical “matches” going to be a thing now?
- Thread starter NOSaintsFan02
- Start date
Rell Lauren
Banned
This only happened because of the virus. WWE needs to acknowledge that and not make this a habit. This will not go over in a live setting where hundreds were spent to see them perform.
Actually. Nevermind this. This should only be a "because the situation calls for it" kind of thing. Like back in the day we only saw a certain gimmick match because the situation called for it
The Rainmaker
Mr. Money in the Bank
Special attraction for a match at Mania
Playaz Eyez
Veteran
Only in moderation. It isn’t sustainable at all for weeks and months at a time.
keep it to one or two a year and it’s something you can build anticipation around
Theyve gotta restrain themselves a bit here and not try to make a WWE Funhouse PPV like they do with all their “gimmick” matches
perfect way to use older cats who can’t go weekly anymore but can still contribute on the big stage
The Fiend def needs to be allowed to pull it out from time to time going forward though. It felt like we were dancing around in his head
Rollins is lucky all Bray did to him was Hell in a Cell. He was shrieking at the sight of the Fiend. He wouldn’t have made it out of whatever Shadow realm Cena is currently stuck in
Theyve gotta restrain themselves a bit here and not try to make a WWE Funhouse PPV like they do with all their “gimmick” matches
perfect way to use older cats who can’t go weekly anymore but can still contribute on the big stage
The Fiend def needs to be allowed to pull it out from time to time going forward though. It felt like we were dancing around in his head
Rollins is lucky all Bray did to him was Hell in a Cell. He was shrieking at the sight of the Fiend. He wouldn’t have made it out of whatever Shadow realm Cena is currently stuck in
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Special attraction for a match at Mania
This.
Taker may have found a bit more gas in the tank with this wave of wrestling. Prob the only way we realistically get Taker vs Sting given both their age and state of their bodies
Reality Check
Keepin' it 100
This. Unless they either have a LU-style show or have it as a stand-alone on the network, it's asking a lot of the people who are there live to sit through 20 minutes of looking at a screen as opposed to watching something in the ring. The best way it could work on a PPV, Raw or Smackdown is if they did something like the Hardys/Decay match where some was filmed and then it wound up with them in the ring.
TrueEpic08
Dum Shiny
Man, I hope not. Most of these "cinematic" wrestling experiments are goddamned awful because they're either:
1. Expecting wrestlers to be credible actors in non-wrestling genres, which almost never happens (with whatever the fukk Rosemary and Allie were doing in Impact being a paramount bad example of this).
2. Doing something in the short film that's better achieved by a live wrestling match (one of the major issues with the Boneyard match. Strip the trappings away and what do you have? Nothing more than a terribly boring buried alive match where a past it 55 year old can relive his glory days and still end up wheezing on the ground. No reason for this to be a short film).
This kind of wrestling is best when the circumstances and feud come together and necessitate something beyond the wrestling ring. With the Final Deletion, that was supposed to be the last Hardy Boyz match, thus it made sense that it ended where their career began: in the backyard, with the daredevil Jeff costing himself a victory against the less flashy but more savvy Matt. It made sense as to why this needed to be a short film as opposed to a regular wrestling match.
The Firefly Fun House "match" was different, in that the circumstances of the feud (and really, Cena and Wyatt's careers) allowed them to abandon the trappings of a wrestling match entirely in favor of a meta-commentary on Cena's career and its effects on others. It's the type of thing that you could try to do with a normal wrestling match, but is actually far better suited to this short film format (I think that's what pissed people like Meltzer, Alvarez, etc. off so much about this: they advertised a wrestling match on a wrestling show and gave you Cena's Lynchian fever dream as a WrestleMania interlude, which doesn't fit into a wrestling show at all).
But if WWE is going to more of these (and they really shouldn't; the Firefly Fun House thing worked because it was Bray and Cena, period), then they can't be a part of the regular wrestling programs. They have to be special events that stand apart and merits standing apart. They should have like an hour show dedicated to build whatever one cinematic match they're doing, with the match itself being the main event.
But it's WWE, I guarantee they're going to see the response to the (terrible) Boneyard Match and the (excellent) Firefly Fun House film, and run the concept into the ground with terrible clones of both.
1. Expecting wrestlers to be credible actors in non-wrestling genres, which almost never happens (with whatever the fukk Rosemary and Allie were doing in Impact being a paramount bad example of this).
2. Doing something in the short film that's better achieved by a live wrestling match (one of the major issues with the Boneyard match. Strip the trappings away and what do you have? Nothing more than a terribly boring buried alive match where a past it 55 year old can relive his glory days and still end up wheezing on the ground. No reason for this to be a short film).
This kind of wrestling is best when the circumstances and feud come together and necessitate something beyond the wrestling ring. With the Final Deletion, that was supposed to be the last Hardy Boyz match, thus it made sense that it ended where their career began: in the backyard, with the daredevil Jeff costing himself a victory against the less flashy but more savvy Matt. It made sense as to why this needed to be a short film as opposed to a regular wrestling match.
The Firefly Fun House "match" was different, in that the circumstances of the feud (and really, Cena and Wyatt's careers) allowed them to abandon the trappings of a wrestling match entirely in favor of a meta-commentary on Cena's career and its effects on others. It's the type of thing that you could try to do with a normal wrestling match, but is actually far better suited to this short film format (I think that's what pissed people like Meltzer, Alvarez, etc. off so much about this: they advertised a wrestling match on a wrestling show and gave you Cena's Lynchian fever dream as a WrestleMania interlude, which doesn't fit into a wrestling show at all).
But if WWE is going to more of these (and they really shouldn't; the Firefly Fun House thing worked because it was Bray and Cena, period), then they can't be a part of the regular wrestling programs. They have to be special events that stand apart and merits standing apart. They should have like an hour show dedicated to build whatever one cinematic match they're doing, with the match itself being the main event.
But it's WWE, I guarantee they're going to see the response to the (terrible) Boneyard Match and the (excellent) Firefly Fun House film, and run the concept into the ground with terrible clones of both.
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+ rep for actually going into detail on your feelings about the matches. Neckbeards outside of TSC talking about these matches
I liked both but I can see why people would prefer one over the other (Personally: much like @TheGreatShowtime, I personally don’t care for Bray Wyatt. I was still GREATLY sports entertained by FFH Match tho and having NO problem admitting that)
JerseyBoy23
Veteran
You might be right but the majority of backstage stuff is pre-taped anyway so they might be able to get away with it.
NOSaintsFan02
Superstar
Good points in here.
I agree, if they whip out the theatrics for a Seth Rollins vs KO match or dive in more fukkery with Lashley vs Rusev...then yes, it starts to lose its charm. But then again, it'd probably get a shyt ton of YouTube views and social media engagement, which is what WWE keys in on these days.
But I am all for them doing it once a year for feuds that deserve/need it.
So yes, Sting/Taker. Whoever Bray is having a long term feud with. And whatever legend they wanna utilize (Austin in a bar fight, Rock in a movie lot whenever he has a big movie to promote). I know I'm throwing big names out there but that's just my point of WWE only whipping this out for special times, and not "oh it's Summerslam, time to have an annual cinematic type match". Build the hype and make them mean something when they go down the well.
I agree, if they whip out the theatrics for a Seth Rollins vs KO match or dive in more fukkery with Lashley vs Rusev...then yes, it starts to lose its charm. But then again, it'd probably get a shyt ton of YouTube views and social media engagement, which is what WWE keys in on these days.
But I am all for them doing it once a year for feuds that deserve/need it.
So yes, Sting/Taker. Whoever Bray is having a long term feud with. And whatever legend they wanna utilize (Austin in a bar fight, Rock in a movie lot whenever he has a big movie to promote). I know I'm throwing big names out there but that's just my point of WWE only whipping this out for special times, and not "oh it's Summerslam, time to have an annual cinematic type match". Build the hype and make them mean something when they go down the well.
I strongly dislike these matches. I think they come off as incredibly cheesy and hoaky, and that's not the wrestling I grew up with that made me a fan. I want to see matches telling incredible stories in the ring like Bret/Austin, Savage/Steamboat, Shawn/Razor and Andrade/Gargano in modern times. I want my wrestling to look real and make me suspend belief for a short while. If I want to watch a B-level movie, then I'll go watch a B-level movie. I understand why some people like it, but I don't care for it at all. If wrestling is starting to turn more into this, them I'll probably be done watching it as a regular viewer.
To be honest, it's a struggle for me to watch these empty arena shows - especially the WWE's empty arena shows. I think AEW is pulling it off a bit better, but I'm still not enjoying everything. It's pretty eye opening how much the crowd masks the "fakeness" of it all. I guess I've turned into Jim Cornette
To be honest, it's a struggle for me to watch these empty arena shows - especially the WWE's empty arena shows. I think AEW is pulling it off a bit better, but I'm still not enjoying everything. It's pretty eye opening how much the crowd masks the "fakeness" of it all. I guess I've turned into Jim Cornette