"The Wrong Guy Went Over"

[JaymeFuture]

For this weeks podcast, we're going to be looking at matches that, for whatever reason, stand out as having the wrong outcome, and would like to get some feedback and hypothetical discussion going on examples that always stood out to you.

 

So, what is the one match you always think about and say "_______ should have won", and why? It can be a case where the guy who lost should have won because it was a critical time for the character or they could have gone in an interesting future direction, or it can be where the guy that won had no business getting the victory for one reason or another. The more explanation for your choice, the better.

As always, the best examples will be read on the show and you'll be namedropped accordingly, but interested to see which different matches stand out for different people on this one.

 

EDIT - The podcast discussing matches where The Wrong Guy Went Over, including many of the examples below, is now online at the following link: http://squaredcirclegazette.podbean.com/mf/play/nqmshk/SCGRadio36-TheWrongGuyWentOver.mp3

[BigBadMick]

Goldberg at SummerSlam '03. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, had been set up perfectly during the match for him to dethrone HHH. It was also really nice to see him truly embraced by WWE fans for the first time. The crowd was molten.

 

HHH's win was a massive kick in the balls, live.

[Fantastic]

Also from '03, Triple H going over Booker T and retaining the WHC at WM XIX was completely the wrong move.

[Mad Dog]

Fully Loaded 2000. HHH beat Jericho and Taker beat Angle. I think Taker beating Angle was completely illogical. It wouldn't have hurt Taker one bit to lose that match and it would have been a huge win for Angle at the time.

 

Jeff Jarrett beating Raven in 2003. They really managed to build a lot of interest in the match and then sent a lot of first time viewers away disappointed.

 

There wasn't a match and that was the problem with Test and HHH. HHH stole his girlfriend and he never got a shot at revenge in the ring. I think there was some throwaway match a year later which HHH obviously won.

 

Keiji Mutoh beating Seiya Sanada in Wrestle-1. Take your up and coming future of the company and don't put him over the aging legend.

 

Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard beating the Road Warriors at Starcade.

[RocketCrypt]

Technically this may not count, but Hulk Hogan initially going over Sting clean in the main event of Starrcade 97 has to be one of the worst cases of the wrong guy going over, irrespective of the fact that the match was restarted. Especially when you factor in the notion of a "fast count" being null and void. For what was an excellent build, and Sting eventually getting the win on the night, the initial finish typified WCW both in isolation and on a wider scale. When you factor in Sting looking like crap, Hulk Hogan's typical backstage shenanigans, and the biggest babyface in wrestling on the back of Montreal, Bret Hart, acting like a whiny cry baby, this ended up being one of the worst pay offs in wrestling history.

[Grimmas]

A big one was Goldberg losing to Nash at Starrcade 98. Goldberg's reign had just begun and he was the most over act they maybe ever had. The Streak should had continued until the crowd lost steam, not right away just because Nash was booker. A bullshit decision that threw a lot of money away in the future. Why would you not ride behind Goldberg for as long as possible?

[Mad Dog]

To add to Nash/Goldberg. Nash also went over Wrath in the build up to that match.

[Matt D]

This is probably blatantly wrong but I think HHH beating Angle at Unforgiven 2000 was the single match decision that did the most to kill the boom.

[WingedEagle]

This is probably blatantly wrong but I think HHH beating Angle at Unforgiven 2000 was the single match decision that did the most to kill the boom.

 

Not debating that the decision was 100% incorrect, but how is this on the same level as Austin going heel?

[El Boricua]

Team WWE defeating Team Nexus at SummerSlam 2010. That just killed off the Nexus as any kind of threat.

[KrisZ]

Flair over Luger at Great American Bash 1988

[Matt D]

 

This is probably blatantly wrong but I think HHH beating Angle at Unforgiven 2000 was the single match decision that did the most to kill the boom.

 

Not debating that the decision was 100% incorrect, but how is this on the same level as Austin going heel?

 

 

Some of you guys can pull out numbers and actually back your stuff up quantitatively. I'm going off of vague memory or feel here, but I guess my argument is that there was a weird buzz around that angle, in that there was a lot of new attention from people who weren't usually engaged with the WWF and that it could have served as a real shot in the arm to help keep the boom going for a while longer, and likewise, that things were already further gone by the time Austin turned. That's my main argument. It drove away a lot of people who were just getting invested in the product and that by the time Austin turned things were already cooling off.

 

As I said, I could be wrong.

[Fantastic]

Team WWE defeating Team Nexus at SummerSlam 2010. That just killed off the Nexus as any kind of threat.

 

Yup, that was a momentum killer. When that angle first begun, you had the impression that each guy in the Nexus was going to be a huge star. And then...

 

Wade Barrett: Drifted aimlessly in the mid card, a few throwaway IC title runs. A feud with Orton that never really got off the ground. Perpetual stop/star pushes and character tweaks. Probably won't ever hold the WWE title.

 

David Otunga: Green as hell in the ring, but afforded some favorable booking above his peers. Held the tag titles briefly with John Cena, had a prominent on screen role alongside John Laurinaitis. Acts as something of a WWE ambassador now and rarely wrestles.

 

Heath Slater: Perennial jobber with a throwaway gimmick, some personal troubles. 3MB didn't take off either.

 

Justin Gabriel: Throwaway tag teams, NXT mainstray. Never received much in the way of booking. Looked like he was pretty much going to have to settle for the Evan Bourne role. Parted ways with WWE when he realised this.

 

Darren Young: Teamed with Titus O'Neil, got slightly over as the PTP's, never afforded a tag run though. Tepid booking, lots of B-show appearances and even though it shouldn't have, his coming out has probably affected his prospects.

 

Michael Tarver: Thrown out of Nexus, maybe for being the weakest member of the group. Did nothing of note, released following an injury.

 

Skip Sheffield: Repackaged as Ryback, received a big main event push in late 2012, but push was quickly curbtailed and he faded into mid card obscurity. Bit of life was breathed into him with the Rybaxel team, his face turn last year and upper mid card push worked for a couple of weeks, but it seems he's back in booking purgatory.

 

Daniel Bryan: The only real success story of the group, but he wasn't a part of Team Nexus during the Summerslam 2010 match, so it doesn't really count

[C.S.]

HHH beating CM Punk was a real head-scratcher to me. Obviously, Punk is gone now (and this is probably one of the reasons why), but he was white hot at the time and should have in no way lost to a then-lukewarm H.

[Tenese Sarwieh]

I'd go with the Shawn Michaels vs Vader Summerslam 96, Michaels winning that match killed Vader's whole run in the WWF.

[Dooley]

Flair over Luger at Great American Bash 1988

 

And they still could have saved it if they had Luger go over at Starrcade. But didn't.

[benjaminkicks]

I'd go with the Shawn Michaels vs Vader Summerslam 96, Michaels winning that match killed Vader's whole run in the WWF.

 

^This is definitely the first one I thought of.

 

Another is Triple H going over at WM2000. I know it was the middle of the Attitude Era and they were going to for the shocking "heel goes over at the main event of Mania for the first time", but that should've been Rock's win.

 

And, not to add on to the Triple H train here, but I really don't think he should've gone over Orton at Unforgiven '04. Orton's whole face turn was handled poorly, but losing the title a month after he got it certainly didn't do him any favors.

[Fantastic]

 

I'd go with the Shawn Michaels vs Vader Summerslam 96, Michaels winning that match killed Vader's whole run in the WWF.

 

^This is definitely the first one I thought of.

 

Another is Triple H going over at WM2000. I know it was the middle of the Attitude Era and they were going to for the shocking "heel goes over at the main event of Mania for the first time", but that should've been Rock's win.

 

And, not to add on to the Triple H train here, but I really don't think he should've gone over Orton at Unforgiven '04. Orton's whole face turn was handled poorly, but losing the title a month after he got it certainly didn't do him any favors.

 

 

Call me crazy, but I think Flair should have gone over Orton (at Unforgiven) via Batista interference to win the title as a final footnote in his career. This would basically enhance the growing dissention in Evolution. Trips would be pissed at Flair for winning the title and especially pissed at Batista for enabling that victory. Then you could have Michaels or somebody go over Flair for the title in his first defence on Raw, at Taboo Tuesday, Trips beats Michaels for the title with reluctant help from Batista, Orton gets his win back against Flair, in which Flair turns full on face. Then everything else goes ahead as it did with Batista turning.

 

ETA: I should clarify that a lot of that stems from a booking wishlist in which Trips and Orton wouldn't actually ever have a singles match against each other. Basically, the SS team match would be their only true encounter, and then Orton would be drafted to Smackdown, do the heel turn and face Taker. Then, about a year later, Orton eventually turns face again, Triple H is still in full-on heel mode and they collide at Wrestlemania 22 in their first singles match against each other. A long slow build.

[DMJ]

Fairly recently, and I know he has lots of fans here, but Mark Henry should've lost to Ryback at WrestleMania 29.

 

Ryback started a feud with Cena the next night (that had actually had some seeds planted at that the 2013 Rumble and even Elimination Chamber) and, from what I remember, Henry actually took some time off.

 

 

I also once wrote a blog post on another site about why Brian "Crush" Adams was the most unlucky Mania performer ever. At WM10, he lost a Falls Count Anywhere match to a part-timer that was about to leave the company (and, while I'm not saying Adams was anywhere close to the worker Savage was, one can't deny that beating Savage on his way out would've given him at least a little bit of a rub). At WrestleMania 9, he lost to a clown who outsmarted him consistently. But, maybe worst of all, at WrestleMania 7, as a member of Demolition, he lost to two guys that may have been big stars in Japan, but who most American fans (especially kids like myself) didn't know anything about. As far as I know, Tenryu and Kitao never appeared on PPV again. Could you imagine the WWE bringing in two foreign talents, for a single PPV match, and having them beat even the Ascension? Again, I'm not saying Adams deserved better…but, man, WrestleMania was just not his night.

[Matt D]

Crush's IX loss is a good one. He had a lot of momentum in the first few months of the year, way more than you'd think.

[The Man in Blak]

I'm surprised that Cena going over Lesnar at Extreme Rules hasn't been mentioned yet.

 

Piper getting a non-title win over Hogan at Halloween Havoc, right in the middle of the Hogan/Sting build for Starrcade, is still baffling.

[grapplin' apple]

+1 for Arn and Tully going over the Road Warriors at Starcade. As a kid, I was angry about that win. I also remember being peeved as a kid that Dusty Rhodes won all of the Bunkhouse Stampedes.

 

HHH beating Punk was also bad. I also thought HHH going over at Orton at WM 25 killed any momentum Orton was gaining. In the run-up to that match, I thought Orton was growing as a heel and was becoming watchable.

[Parties]

HHH being the problem in like half of these examples is pretty amazing.

 

One recent case that seems to have become prevailing wisdom is that Ryback could have ended Punk's long title run. Instead he lost three big title matches in a row, all due to blatant interference. I don't know if Ryback would have been much of an ace, but he had real fan momentum, and it seems better to try and fail than not try at all. Having him win it and go into Mania 29 as champ made a lot more sense than the Rock getting it just to add the belt to a Cena-Rock match that didn't need it.

[Bierschwale]

As far as I know, Tenryu and Kitao never appeared on PPV again.

 

Tenryu was in a few Rumbles afterwards. I think he was one of the seven-hundred guys who stuffed 'Taker into the casket in the main event, too, which is funny because they teamed together in '94 on one of those loaded house shows from the Japan tour against Bam Bam & Yoko.

 

 

I'm surprised that Cena going over Lesnar at Extreme Rules hasn't been mentioned yet.

 

I think that that's overblown, though. I think that, even though I don't personally like the Cena-Lesnar feud, it added to the significance of the SummerSlam match, and I think that Cena losing only makes sense if you want to do a true downward spiral storyline for him. Brock was screwed over more by losing in the series with The Great Satan.

[BlueGuy]

Hogan retaining the world title at the August 1994 Clash immediately stands out to me. It basically sent the message to fans of the pre-Hogan era WCW that they could tune out or else stay and continue to see the company disrespect the old guard in an effort to bring in cartoonish Hogan friends such as Duggan and Honky. It also made no sense from a storyline perspective given the retirement match that was looming. Furthermore, if Flair and Hogan both score pinfall victories, even if Flair is cheating, it keeps them both strong and keeps most WCW loyalists and Hogan bandwagon jumpers interested translating into a significant boost in business. Instead, all they accomplished was a slight boost in pay-per-view buyrates and TV ratings.