Hardtime: Popularity Of The False Finish Formula
“THIS IS AWESOME! THIS IS AWESOME!”
Had this chant been around in the eighties, we certainly would have heard it at WrestleMania 3 during the Ricky Steamboat/Randy Savage match. Like the two ring technicians they were, Macho and the Dragon put on an absolute classic at the Silver Dome. A handful of times we weren’t sure if the match was over, and the 90,000 in attendance (so WWE says) were on the edge of their seats for fifteen minutes. While the body slam heard round the world was replayed countless times, the rapid succession of near falls arguably left just as lasting an impression on anyone who saw it.
That was 1987, and a match like that wasn’t the norm. Today, it has become the blueprint for many WWE matches. John Cena and Kevin Owens recently had a trilogy that many consider three MOTY contenders. They consisted of countless near falls, just as the Steamboat/Savage match did. Most of John Cena’s US Title Open Challenge has followed this formula, as did many of Undertaker’s recent streak matches. The Punk/Lesnar at Summer Slam, Shawn Michaels/John Cena at WrestleMania, Undertaker/Kurt Angle at No Way Out, the list goes on and on.
But why is it this match formula didn’t become popularized until the 2000’s? Why didn’t everyone feel the need to copy Steamboat/Savage back in their day, but instead everyone waited until over a decade later? One reason could be that over the years, the fans smartened up to how the show is run.
Almost like an artistic science, professional wrestling generally follows formulas. In tag matches, the heels cut off the ring while a face in peril struggles to make the inevitable hot tag. Whoever looks stronger on the go home show before a pay per view usually loses at said pay per view (although WWE seems to have strayed from this). And obviously, the long standing formula for singles matches sees the face get the upper hand early on, the heel control the bulk of the match, and the face finally makes his comeback.
But with so much about the wrestling business being revealed over time, and with seeing the same artistic algorithms playing out time and time again, fans realized certain things. When we watch pro wrestling, we like good psychology, good storytelling and cool moves. But truth be told, we realize that it’s all filler. It doesn’t matter how many drop kicks or second rope DDTs Randy Orton gave during the first fifteen minutes. They ultimately don’t tie into the finish. WWE has, for the most part, tried to portray finishing moves as the sole determining factor of a match.
An unofficial annual WrestleMania tradition has become Undertaker’s opponent kicking out of the Tombstone. When Punk did it at WrestleMania 29, in a way the commentators tried to make it seem that he was kicking out after taking only that Tombstone (not literally, of course), and didn’t sustain any previous punishment. After the second Tombstone and pin fall, those may as well have been the only two offensive maneuvers Undertaker executed all night. Punk could have taken a hundred Snake Eyes and Old Schools, he’s not getting pinned right after any of them. This is far from an isolated situation in WWE.
And unlike the Federation fans of 1989, most members of the WWE Universe in 2015 see the big picture. They realize most matches end from a roll up move, outside interference, a weapon, or a finisher. After the face starts his comeback, there’s some back and forth action, and in the last ten years or so WWE superstars have extended this part of the match so they can execute several near falls. The excitement during a pin attempt after one of the aforementioned finishing sequences far exceeds the excitement during a cover after a springboard clothesline. That’s just the way WWE has developed their product and fans became conditioned to it. I’d say 90 percent of “THIS IS AWESOME” chants come during successions of false finishes.
However, I feel there may be another reason the Savage/Steamboat formula has become so popular in today’s era. Generally speaking, finishers, the most used finishes in wrestling, are designed to be entertaining in their own right, and wrestlers try to capitalize on this.
While there are no set rules to follow for creating finishers, wrestlers usually are told they should be able to hit it on anyone. It should be able to be hit suddenly, or out of nowhere, look devastating, and just be cool to watch. Sometimes finishers, like Jake Robert’s DDT, become popular in and of themselves.
There’s mock youtube videos gone viral of Randy Orton hitting his RKO “out of nowhere” on random, everyday people. So many times we’ve seen him hit the RKO in different in ring situations. Like a viper (bad pun intended), he can strike at any time. Carlito spring boarding off the top rope, Rollins famously going for the Curb Stomp, countering a Pedigree… we see it in all types of scenerios. And even when he hits it right after he pounds on the mat, it’s still cool to see him hit the cutter while jumping backwards into his opponent.
Heavyweight boxers are known to throw power punches more often than middle weights. When people saw Joe Frazier throw his renowned left hook, even if he missed fans became accustomed to thinking that punch would’ve been devastating had it landed. The same can be said for Mike Tyson’s upper cuts and many other heavyweights’ power punches. Hit on the chin or missed wildly, we’re trained to think those punches had incredible power behind them, because those same punches floored so many in the past. Whether Frazier’s left hook knocked down Ali like in their first fight or just turned Ali’s head almost backwards, while still staying on his feet, that was the spectacular move he was known for, and fans wanted to see him land it.
This is similar to how fans want to see finishers hit because they know that’s the most overwhelming move in their arsenal. The Pop-Up Power Bomb clearly is Kevin Owens’s best move from a kayfabe perspective. He has more entertaining ones, in my opinion, but in WWE’s world that has the most impact on his opponents. That in and of itself adds entertainment value to the move and people want to see him hit it. Ambrose gets cheers for hitting Dirty Deeds, a pretty weak looking double arm DDT (Foley’s didn’t look too strong, either). But while their disbelief is suspended, fans have grown to realize the power of the move. For the brief time the ball was in the air after Kareem Abdul Jabar shot his sky hook or Reggie Miller shot a three pointer, people realize the success they have with these shots, and thus makes them think there’s more likely hood it will go in. Whether a move is done with finesse or it looks ugly, if there’s a proven success rate with it, if Ambrose can get wins after hitting ugly Dirty Deeds, fans will want to see it.
In my opinion, finisher fests are appropriate for today’s audience. I strongly believe in the first theory I presented in the column, that all moves done before the finishing sequences are just filler. Whether or not you agree it should be that way, that’s how it is for the most part. Even Brock Lesnar, who has matches contrary to what we’re used to, won’t win the match without his F5 or Kimura Lock. Wrestling fans’ tastes will evolve over time, and I don’t see a problem with wrestlers constantly using the Savage/Steamboat (not a finisher fest exactly) formula, if it’s done correctly. Fans obviously think it’s “awesome”, and they’re the ones buying the tickets.
To me, though, a succession of finishers and false finishes shouldn’t take the place of storytelling and psychology. So many times someone gets hit with a finisher, and soon after they manage to kick out, they are just as fresh as they were at the beginning of the match. At WrestleMania 27, Undertaker wrestled Triple H in a match with so many false finishes you have to go back and count them. After three Pedigrees and a Tombstone from Triple H, Undertaker sold the hell out of it. He struggled to his feet, and stumbled backwards into the corner, barely able to put up his fists for a fighting stance. THAT is how you sell finishers. Through that match they told the story of how Undertaker may have been past his prime and couldn’t keep up with “The Game”. Call it epic awareness, I call it storytelling.
At WrestleMania 29, The Rock and John Cena relied almost solely on STF’s, Rock Bottoms and Attitude Adjustments. While I personally enjoyed the suspense, I didn’t respect the match at all. But I knew several people in real life, non “smarks” who enjoyed it greatly. Realistically speaking, it’s hard to have a perfect match. As long as they entertain the masses, the same people who voted that same match “2013 Match of the Year”, they are doing their job well.
Many times John Cena, among others, will hit his finishing knock out maneuver after barely getting in any offense the entire match. That’s actually not too far off from reality. George Foreman won his second Heavyweight Championship after hitting a strong punch late in the fight after being far behind on the score card. Amateur wrestlers can score a pin late in the match, despite being down by several points. Wrestlers can win with their finishers, a cradle, a small package, etc. no matter how much offense they got in.
But while an isolated incident of this may not be unrealistic, in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t happen nearly as often in real sports as in professional wrestling. The person controlling most of the MMA fight usually wins. But I guess it’s just one of those things you don’t question. Why do good guys always try to climb over the cage and the bad guys try going through the door? Why did Vince McMahon never fire an employee who regularly beat him up on television? The loser having controlled so much of the match allows him keep some shreds of credibility, so the lack of realism can still benefit the product.
So many times we’ve seen matches where we honestly can’t tell at what point the match will be over. Wrestling fans have evolved, and because of this, superstars like John Cena and Kevin Owens will emulate Macho Man and Ricky Steamboat at WrestleMania 3. They will give countless near falls, because it just works for today’s fans, who realize the grand scheme of wrestling formulas. Finishers are entertaining in their own right, just like a heavyweight boxer’s power punches. But ultimately, there should be more to it than just close endings. Psychology and storytelling should play a role. Realism would be nice, but it’s understandable if things aren’t perfect. Overall, there’s no denying the popularity of the false finish formula in this era.