Indeed, the last Iron-Man match to be televised in WWE was nearly 8 whopping years ago (Cena/Orton at 2009 Bragging Rights), and I mean an actual Iron-Man match, not an ''Iron-Woman'' match. It would almost seem like the stipulation is exclusive for the women now.
They should do this type of match nowadays with some of the guys. Some of the best matches in the history of the company have been Iron-Man matches, and there are so many great in-ring performers at the moment, you are bound to get some classics and potential MOTYs. Some duos that I believe could produce a great Iron-Man bout:
>Styles/Rollins
>Styles/Cesaro
>Styles/Owens (funnily enough, they've already had an Iron Man match together, but it was at a house show)
>Owens/Zayn
>Zayn/Rollins
The crowd's attention span is shit as it is, so even if we had the two best wrestlers battling it out in epic fashion for an hour, the crowd would be dead. And the match would suffer greatly for it. Personally, I would love to see Owens vs Zayn for an hour, but it would kill the crowd. Probably best to avoid the ironman stipulation for now. Seems like something that could work in NXT though.
Damn, that's hard to believe, '09 doesn't feel like 8 years ago lol, more like 3 or 4. No idea why we haven't gotten another one for the men all this time.
Brock wasn't willing to go a bit extra and take some more bumps in his match with Ambrose last WM, he'd never do an iron man match. Dude only wants to go to the ring, suplex people for 10 minutes and then pin them.
And I'm not sure if Zayn can go an hour without making a couple of botches.
It did kinda bother me that they were involved in those few multi-man matches together and then the two PPVs they did go one-on-one they were both standard matches. Three Stages of Hell, Hell in a Cell, Last Man Standing, No Holds Barred, you name it. But maybe they're so good they didn't need it? It was like the Owens/Cena feud. We got three standard consecutive PPV matches where they were pretty much carbon copies. Battleground should have brought on a big stipulation.
My hope is that they will revive the feud some time in the next twelve months and we will get to see another string of masterpiece matches between the two. I've always loved when feuds would continually progress to the next level. Back in the IC title scene between the Benoit/Jericho/Angle triangle, you would see a two year stretch of matches between these three, all contested in everything from Submission match to Ladder match to Cage match to 2 out of 3 falls, etc. Or like most Taker feuds that involved Last Man Standing and a Hell in a Cell. Owens/Zayn saga deserves that sort of story.
I'd like to see Styles and Ziggler in an Iron Man match. Of course, AJ has to be in one...but I think Ziggler does very well in matches that go 20+ minutes.
Rollins and Zayn would be another, as mentioned.
After those four, though, I'm not sure who else would be fit for one. Owens is awesome, but I can't see him going 60 minutes nowadays. Guys like Roman and Cena could make it, but just don't have the moveset for it...while Goldberg, Lesnar and Taker would all need CPR within 30 minutes.
A lot of the older Iron Man matches had excellent ring psychology. There were rest holds, tests of strength, corner punches, taunts at the crowd, focus on limbs, etc...things that today's crowd would just roll their eyes at, but wrestling has changed dramatically over the years. That's probably why we see very few of them. Instead, people want to see table spots, dives to the outside, Swanton off the top rope, and powerbombs onto the edge of the apron. Unfortunately, you can't be a spot monkey for 60 minutes, or you'll be carried out on a gurney.
Iron Man match stipulation isn't that popular because today's wrestlers can't work ring psychology for shit. How do you expect them to work a match that lasts entire hour and keep audience interested?
I dont think there's that many wrestlers in todays roster who could pull of convincing ironman match.
Iron Man match stipulation isn't that popular because today's wrestlers can't work ring psychology for shit. How do you expect them to work a match that lasts entire hour and keep audience interested?
I dont think there's that many wrestlers in todays roster who could pull of convincing ironman match.
I'd argue that there is maybe more wrestlers on the roster than there has EVER been at any one time who could work a classic Ironman Match whether it be for 30 or 60 mins.....
Rollins
AJ
Cesaro
Zayn
Owens
Joe
Harper
Balor
You can also call up guys like Roode and Nakamura and you have guys like Cena, Orton, Miz, Bray who could possibly at a push get by although i'd doubt them in a full hour match.
Cena vs. Styles is probably the best "realistic" pick for the match. Something to bounce out the sleepy months after WrestleMania. It'd be a good way for Cena to properly put Styles over. Maybe they could feature it on the June SmackDown PPV, whatever they call it -- Over the Limit? Styles wins the first fall and ultimately the match -- set dude.
I don't think of the womens matches as real Iron man matches because they only went 30 minutes. They should do one on RAW as a feud blow off. They've got 3 hours to kill so why the hell not.
They always have the stipulation for long rivalries and there wasn't that in recent years expect for women and Zayn/Owens but I don't know why they didn't do it for them maybe they will do it in the future.
most with the exception of rock vs hunter have bored me more than anything else
that said in this era the ironman match makes more sense than a lot of other stipulations so with the right story it could be good
I think it'd be hard to make an iron man match unpredictable, fresh and exciting to the point that the crowd are invested the whole 90 minutes without the need for false finishes 20 minutes in.
It is quite interesting that in an era where the crowd wants to see workers pushed, the crowd could potentially get bored during the ultimate worker's match. I think the #1 problem, with a match of this type today, is the neutered move-sets. Wrestlers gotta be able to expand on their move-set or this would just be a repetitious spot fest.
When done right, an Iron Man match can be more entertaining that any other gimmick match.
But too many will certainly only serve to point out the inherent flaws in the gimmick.
First, people generally give up falls in an Iron Man match way quicker than in a regular match. This can be argued away to some extent by "well, he know it's not over and can afford to be just one fall down after 10 minutes" ... but that makes no sense REALLY. As, no one would choose to take a fall. MAYBE if they're tapping to a submission, early on, MAYBE that makes more sense. But this just leads to the other main flaw in the gimmick.
You're NEVER going to see an Iron Man match where the ONLY fall is the early fall. No booker is going to say "Yeah, a tapout in minute 10 then, 50 minutes of no more falls". Nope. So, the falls end up meaning less, the wrestlers are noticably easier to "beat" in these matches and drama will be maximised by always having it end in the last few seconds - or go to overtime.
Having said that, I go back to my first statement - when done right, none of that matters. HHH/Rock at Judgement Day is still one of my favourite WWE memories. Although, of course, that had HBK as ref and the Undertaker's return to keep it interesting ... so maybe I'm arguing against myself here!
Bring back the 15 Championship (15 min iron man matches). The roster is filled with guys that can go in the ring, so why not highlight that. It would give guys like Dolph, Apollo Crews, Kalisto, Zayn, Balor, etc a title that highlights there best qualities. It also would help with the multiple finisher type matches. Instead of having multiple false finishes, you can have those be actual falls. It would guarantee a solid 15 min match at every PPV and sometimes on the weekly shows. They could even add additional stipulations for longer rivalries. Things like extended time (30/60 min), iron man hell in a cell, iron man No DQ, etc.
Personally, I would have the title switch between brands as well. If Balor is champion, he will defend it on Raw exclusive PPVs until a Big 4 PPV comes up. Then he would defend it against a SDL wrestler.
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