Now, like everyone else, I didn't have high expectations for Wrestlemania 31 but when I watched the PPV, I was extremely happy with the results. I thought there were some great matches and awesome endings which I think does deserve some appreciation!
But as far as this topic is concerned, the only problem I had with it was the number of times finishers were kicked out on numerous occasions. I thought some were just unnecessary and stupid.
1. Orton/Rollins - Orton probably didn't need to land the first RKO since the last one was legendary! The match was great without both exchanging one finisher each.
2. Sting breaking out of the Pedigree and Sweet Chin Music? That's Undertaker spec right there. Sting should have lost after the super kick rather than by the sledgehammer.
3. Taker/Wyatt - Unnecessary Tombstone kick out by Wyatt. From 1990 till Taker facing Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 24, breaking out of the Tombstone was a BIG DEAL! Since WM24, everyone kicks out of it at least once and you can see it coming now. Its made the finisher lose its value which sucks really. Wyatt should have been pinned with the first one or let the match continue on till the right time came to end the match.
3. Lesnar/Reigns - I mean.... holy crap! Roman Reigns kicking out of how many F-5's... 2 or 3! I can't remember but 2 F-5 break outs in of itself is insane. Was it necessary? One I can be okay with that. But 2 (or 3), a bit exaggerated.
It's WWE man event style. See most HHH matches. They do finisher spam and have the opponent keep kicking out. It loses its desired effect rather quickly.
I don't see it that way. I see it as putting people over in a way since they kicked out of the finisher, showing they are strong. Like Ambrose and Cena on Raw. Ambrose kicked out of an AA. Cena wasn't going to lose, so that made Ambrose look a little strong.
Cena didn't kick out at 3 F-5s.
Undertaker didn't kick out at 3 F-5s.
Roman did, showing how strong they want him to be despite losing and taking the pin ultimately.
To be honest, I don't know why they even bother with them anymore, a few more years and it's going to take a sawed off shotgun to the face to even pin anyone, its idiotic for sure, kick out of a milon secondary moves fine, but endings need to be endings..
When done right, it adds to the drama and tension of a match quite nicely, especially if the guy who lands the finisher gets a 'That didn't WORK?!' look on his face.
The art of selling is dead. In ring psychology is dying slowly. There are no viable alternatives to WWE within North America although a few organizations are starting to show some promise. I liked Wrestlemania but if HHH thinks that spawning the entire show with what Shawn and Taker did at Mania 25 with all those false counts is what story telling is all about, then the cerebral assassin needs to get his head examined.
Its laziness. If you cant put on a great match without a bunch of kickouts please retire clap clap clap. They do it more and more every year. At one point one kickout was woow. Now they do 3-4 fpalm imagine when they do ten in a few years..They should implement a rule that says one kickout maximum.
Yeah, they kind of overdid those...Isn't there a name for those types of things related to a former wrestler? No, Not Dusty Finish...and not False Finish...I think it was named for Johnny Ace(Laurenitis)
I didn't think this WM was too bad for finisher spam, some ppvs it is practically a case of first wrestler to do five finishers wins.
As far as the Wyatt one, it would have been totally unfair for him not to kick out of one, he singlehandedly carried the build-up to that match and there was little point to Taker even winning the match let alone from one tombstone.
This is something I'm really not overly fond of in current WWE but at this point I've kind of just accepted its probably more an evolution of the style and bleeding over from indies where you need to do more to hold attention and stand out etc over time so whatever. I still think its way too prevelant on stuff like the weekly shows and more often than not I'm legit surprised when a match ends in the one finisher (i want to say Cena/Rusev did which i liked albeit lol if john boy was the only one on the actual show who got that treatment) and it's just kind of bleh. Ironically current day Kurt Angle would probably fit the style like a glove.
I guess it IS kinda lame that we've all been conditioned to believe that nobody stays down for one finisher at Wrestlemania. If they really wanted to shock people, guys would stay down after one Pedigree, one Tombstone, one F5, etc.
For me, it's all about the length of the match that determines if someone will kick out. Don't ask me why, but I time each match at Wrestlemania. Always have, always will. And if something like Orton/Rollins is only 7-8 minutes in and we see an RKO, odds are that Seth's kicking out. The same applied to the matches between Sting/HHH and Taker/Wyatt. If a bigger match like those starts approaching the 15-minute mark or so, then the next finisher is likely going to end it.
Bray is the only guy I was really ok with kicking out of a finisher. You had to give the guy SOMETHING while feeding him to Taker and killing his momentum.
I haven't had the chance yet to watch the main event on the network, but live I turned to my friend after that 3rd F5 and said "Look, it took 3 F5's to beat Taker, I'll bet they're saying that now on commentary. That 3 F5's can even beat Taker, but not the almighty Roman Reigns." That thought bugged me.
The problem is a lot of the guys don't have a very diverse moveset that can carry the match. So we end up with 4 or 5 spots with Cena ducking under the clothesline to set up the sidewalk slam and 5 knuckle shuffle or get them up for the AA.
Someone kicking out of a curb stomp is just wrong IMO
Non legends shouldn't kick out of a tombstone. CM Punk didn't, why did Wyatt? He doesn't deserve that honor
The F5 isn't a finisher anymore
Don't get me started about that Sting match
I seriously don't know why they didn't sign Davey Richards
It gets worse every year. I remember watching Rock/Austin when I was kid and it blew my mind to see them kicking out of each others finishers. Now when I watch Wrestlemania with my friends we all just roll our eyes whenever someone hits their finisher for the first time in the match. Orton/Rollins should not have kicked out of each others finishers. It was a midcard match and they're going to eventually have a title match on PPV. The least WWE can do is limit the finisher kick-outs to the top 1-2 matches at Wrestlemania. They also need to limit them at B ppvs.
And I don't know why they think there needs to be a finisher kick out to create an exciting false finish. Just last week Balor and Owens had a 20+ minute match filled with edge of your seat nearfalls, and neither of them kicked out of a finishing move. Owens did kick out of the double foot stomp but it wasn't the top rope version that Balor uses as his main finish.
Holyshit I thought I was the only one annoyed by that.
Orton Vs Rollins- Them kicking out of each others finishers was not needed especially since the way the finish to that match went down, and this was the second match on the card, that's just dumb to me. They need to start protecting finishers again.
Wyatt Vs Taker-The tombstone has not been protected at Wrestlemania since WM24, I would have had Bray Wyatt decimate the Undertaker for the entire match and then get caught in Hell's Gate and pass out, that way Undertaker does not have to get his Tombstone kicked out of, and Bray Wyatt could attack him after the match with sister abigail. Sister Abigail doesn't get kicked out of, Undertaker gets his win, Bray Wyatt leaves looking strong by not being pinned or submitted and laying out the Undertaker
Lesnar Vs Reigns- Reigns kicking out after being hit with the 3rd F5 was dumb, a finisher should not be kicked out of more than twice
It's "the main-event style" and yes, it's fucking retarded. It works in 25 minute matches, but anything less and you look silly. The agents need to go back and watch some stuff before the late 90's if this is how they're telling people to put their matches together. Orton has been in the business for over a decade now at a high level. He should know better. Undertaker too, shouldn't have been letting Bray make his finisher look weak. The entire reason he had the Last Ride and Chokeslam was so that people didn't get to kick out of the Tombstone. It kind of felt like a lot of these matches were supposed to run 5 minutes longer, but they didn't, so they just cut out one of the middle portions and kept the original finishing stretch.
Every single person kicked out of a finisher (even Divas) except for Rusev. EXCEPT FOR RUSEV. What the fuck? Every single person at the PPV had at least one loss (minus Lesnar) throughout the year except Rusev, and who doesn't kick out of 1 finisher? Rusev. Literally, the dumbest booking decision I've ever seen in WWE. Basically the finger poke of doom imo. An entire year's undefeated streak and tons of promo time given to him, and 1 finisher in less than 10 minutes ends it.
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