Matches That SHOULD Have Delivered

[Mr. Pierre]

On paper, the match looked great. You were really looking forward to it, but when the match was over you said "What the hell?", or "Damn, that was shitty.."

For whatever reason, the match didn't live up to expectations whether it was the booking, the length of the match, or just poor match quality.

I had a "What the hell?" response when Kurt Angle vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Randy Orton for the World Title at Mania 22 ended in about 9 minutes with Rey winning the belt. If the match would have gone another 10 minutes, it could have been a classic. It was a fun match for what it was worth, but seriously...9 minutes?!?

What's yours?

[Mr. JL]

A match that comes to my mind goes back to early 2002.

The Rock and The Undertaker were feuding (highlights of the feud before the match contains Taker tombstoning The Rock on a limo) and then went on to have a match at No Way Out PPV and it just wasn't there. Match was fairly boring with nothing intriguing and seemed like they both just phoned it in.

[Heros Welcome]

Though the match was built SOOO much and extremely hyped the match did NOT deliever at all...

I'm talking about Hogan Sting at Starcade. When I saw this match back when it happened, I loved it. I was a huge Sting mark and thought this was one of the greatest things I had ever seen.

When I finally watched it again a few months ago with a friend of mine, we noticed that the match was god awful. I guess its hard to expect a classic between someone who hadn't wrestled for a year and Hogan but for all the hype, the match did not deliever

[NeanderCarl]

Goldberg-Lesnar should have been a classic big man match, considering both mens' capabilities, and a real "WrestleMania Moment"... it was a "WrestleMania Moment" as it turned out, but for all the wrong reasons.

Also, Shawn Michaels vs Mr Perfect at SummerSlam '93 should have been a match muttered in the same breath as IC title classics like Hart/Perfect, Hart/Piper and Razor/Shawn... alas, it turned out to be a boring match with a non-finish. Big letdown.

[Dave Youell]

Matt Vs Jeff Hardy:

I think it was more to do with the fact that Matt and Jeff seemed to be approaching this with a view that the match would be a starter and then in future ones it would get better with more high spots, but it didn’t they just got back together, that was it.

Hogan/Warrior Halloween Havoc:

Those 2 put one of the greatest Wrestlemania main events of all time, and then they did ‘that’

HHH/Steiner:

Both of them, botchfests

[JT]

Meh, I never officially watched a wrestling PPV till WM 21, and by that point I was use to disappointment.

[GD]

JBL vs Benoit for the united-states title at wrestlemania 22. HBK vs Cena at wrestlemania 23. As the World title match commenced earlier then expected. I was truly expecting a 5 star Shawn Michaels match. Didn't turn out that way.

[BigDaddyCool]

On paper, the match looked great. You were really looking forward to it, but when the match was over you said "What the hell?", or "Damn, that was shitty.."

For whatever reason, the match didn't live up to expectations whether it was the booking, the length of the match, or just poor match quality.

I had a "What the hell?" response the when Kurt Angle vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Randy Orton for the World Title at Mania 22 ended in about 9 minutes with Rey winning the belt. If the match would have gone another 10 minutes, it could have been a classic. It was a fun match for what it was worth, but seriously...9 minutes?!?

What's yours?

I watched Mania 22, that match never happened. I do remeber Angle coming out and vacating the title for no reason. Then a few month's later Booker T was awarded the vacant title.

[NeanderCarl]

I watched Mania 22, that match never happened.

It was Mania 23.

[Nark Order]

IMO, Lesnar vs Goldberg was a good match. It did what it should have done . The fans just destroyed it.

[BigDaddyCool]

It was Mania 23.

Yeah, saw that one too. Still, that match never happened.

[NeanderCarl]

You must have blinked and missed it.

[NeanderCarl]

No, it was Mania 22. I stand corrected.

[NeanderCarl]

I know you're making a "Rey's title reign never happened" joke, but you're also screwing with my increasingly fragile memory.

[D Mac]

Yeah Lesnar/Goldberg

[Rammsteinmad]

Brock Lesnar VS Goldberg has to be the biggest one of them all. Lesnar was WWE's Goldberg, and Goldberg had made a huge name for himself in WCW. I honestly think the moment Goldberg appeared in WWE (The RAW after Wrestlemania 19), this is the match everyone wanted to see.

(Other than Goldberg/Austin, but I'd imagine that didn't seem as important as it did back in '99)

[Rammsteinmad]

IMO, Lesnar vs Goldberg was a good match. It did what it should have done . The fans just destroyed it.

Actually I think they got the psychology of the match all wrong. Instead of the whole "size each other up/evenly matched" thing, they shoulda gone in all guns a-blazing with punches and stuff IE. most of Austin/Rocks stuff.

That's what their little confrontation at the beginning of No Way Out was like, and that was awesome.

[Chavo Classic]

WCW invasion. All of it.

[Chavo Classic]

Cactus Jack against Triple H at No Way Out 2000 seemed lame also.

I suppose after their stellar match a month earlier, Foley's aging body, the expectation of the Hell in a Cell that it was never going to deliver.

[BigDaddyCool]

I know you're making a "Rey's title reign never happened" joke, but you're also screwing with my increasingly fragile memory.

I'm not joking as much as not reconizing his title riegn because in no way is he a heavywieght, therefore could not be a heavywieght champion.

[Savio]

Yeah lesnar was sussposed to be so pissed at Goldberg and crazy then it turns into a match of strength.

[BigDaddyCool]

Plus, Rey is barely this side of awful.

[NeanderCarl]

I'm not joking as much as not reconizing his title riegn because in no way is he a heavywieght, therefore could not be a heavywieght champion.

He was the World champion.

There's the WWE Heavyweight Champion, and the WWE World Champion. Technicallly, there shoudln't be any weight limit on the World title.

Although (mainly thanks to it having the old NWA title design, it does have the word "heavyweight" on the belt itself.)

[Destor]

Heavyweight titles don't have a weight limit.

[NeanderCarl]

Anyway if you're going by that reasoning, then I guess you don't recognise the title reigns of Shawn Michaels, Chris Jericho, Eddy Guerrero or Chris Benwho either then?

[Destor]

And ftr:

http://www.wwe.com/content/media/images/Superstars/29278/2084350 (http://www.wwe.com/superstars/smackdown/edge/)
Edge

http://www.wwe.com/content/media/touts/championship/1236300
Thanks to a little help from a pair of Rated-R doppelgangers, Edge pinned previous champion Batista to win a Triple Threat Match at Armageddon and become a two-time World Heavyweight Champion.

It is the World Heavyweight title.

[Destor]

The WWE title is simply the WWE champion.

[NeanderCarl]

It seems to change weekly anyway, because I remember that back when they first introduced the World title, it was simply the World title, compared to the WWE Heavyweight title.

[NeanderCarl]

When did the WWE championship itself cease to be a "world" title anyway? Because all through the 80s/early 90s it was always the WWF World Heavyweight champion, and at some point well before the brand split they just dropped the whole "World" aspect.

[Destor]

It seems to change weekly anyway, because I remember that back when they first introduced the World title, it was simply the World title, compared to the WWE Heavyweight title.The WCW title was changed to World. It was then merged with the WWE title.Later Biscoff introduced the World Heavyweight Title.

As far as the WWE title they dropped the World bit after it was the undisputed title...

[NeanderCarl]

I'm almost sure they dropped the "World" aspect of the WWE title sooner than that even. Like, maybe around the Attitude era.

[Destor]

Don't think so, dunno for sure though.

[NeanderCarl]

I can't pinpoint exactly when because at some point after they had done it I suddenly noticed, but hadn't realised at the time therefore had no idea when it occured, if it was gradually phased out or an overnight change.

[Fox]

There was the WCW World Heavyweight Championship that came from WCW, and then there was the WWF World Championship. They were unified into the Undisputed Championship at Unbreakable by Chris Jericho. After Triple H's win at WrestleMania The two belts became one and it was called the "WWE Undisputed Championship" and it was passed around, and then when The Rock passed it to Brock Lesnar, it was taken to Smackdown and was then portrayed solely as the WWF/E Championship, without the word "world" or "undisputed" included, as Triple H was awarded the "World Heavyweight Championship" by Eric Bicshoff, which was basically just the WCW Title belt with a new name.

It's pretty stupid when you think about the whole thing.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I'm not joking as much as not reconizing his title riegn because in no way is he a heavywieght, therefore could not be a heavywieght champion.

"Heavyweight" in professional wrestling does not refer to "heavyweights only," but rather it is open to heavyweights, whereas some titles are not.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Fox almost has it right:

Booker T brought the WCW Championship over from WCW to the WWF, and while I'm not sure, I don't think they ever referred to the WCW Title as the "WCW World Heavyweight Title." I started watching late 2000, and I never heard the WWF World Heavyweight Championship referred to by its full name. It was just called the "WWF Championship." I'm sure scientifically, the belt could still be referred to as the WWF World Heavyweight Championship, but they kind of phased it out, I believe.

Anyway, after the WWF won the invasion, the WCW Championship was renamed the "World Championship," and it was in possession of The Rock. The belt was then won by Chris Jericho at Vengeance (has the WWE ever done a PPV titled "Unbreakable"?) and Jericho would then win the WWF Championship, and became the first "World Wrestling Federation Undisputed Champion." I absolutely hated this name. I'm sure the full technical name for the belt could be argued as the "World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment Unidsputed World Heavyweight Championship," though.

Eventually we got Brock Lesnar signing exclusively with SmackDown! (in kayfabe terms), and the WWE Undisputed Championship just became the WWE Championship, I believe. Eric Bischoff revived the World Title belt and called it the "World Heavyweight Championship." The belt has always been the "World Heavyweight Championship," except when Rey Mysterio won it. The WWE dropped the "Heavyweight" from his reign, and he was referred to as the "World Champion" pretty consistently. When King Booker defeated Rey Mysterio, it was not long before the belt was referred to as the World Heavyweight Championship again.

The WWE then decided to introduce a third major championship when they revived ECW as a brand. When Rob Van Dam successfully defeated John Cena to win his first WWE Championship (this is technically the unified versions of the WWF and WCW Titles), Rob Van Dam was announced as the new ECW World Heavyweight Champion. I believe that was technically the name with which they went with, although I cannot remember for sure.

I do know that when Big Show won the ECW World Heavyweight Championship, he was talking about how he was the first man to win the WWE Championship, the WCW Championship and the ECW World Championship. He was careful not to use the word "heavyweight," and instead applied that terminology to the general description of what is generally considered to be a "World Title." For example, Ric Flair would be considered a 16-time Heavyweight Champion by this standard. I actually think the WWE did go with that during this period.

I believe when John Morrison won the vacant ECW World Championship (it was stripped from Bobby Lashley when he was drafted to RAW), the belt simply became known as the ECW Championship, which is when, ironically, the WWE stopped considering it a "World/Heavyweight Championship."

So yeah, here's the current championships, and what names they have gone by:

WWE Championship
WWWF World Heavyweight Championship
WWWF Heavyweight Championship
WWF Heavyweight Championship
WWF World Heavyweight Championship
WWF Championship
WWF/E Undisputed Championship
WWE Championship (current name)

WCW Championship
WCW World Heavyweight Championship
WCW Championship
World Championship
WCW Championship (the current historical name for the belt)

World Heavyweight Championship
World Heavyweight Championship
World Championship
World Heavyweight Championship (current name)

ECW Championship
NWA ECW Heavyweight Championship
ECW World Heavyweight Championship
ECW World Championship
ECW Championship (current name)

[NeanderCarl]

Rob Van Dam successfully defeated John Cena to win his first WWE Championship (this is technically the unified versions of the WWF and WCW Titles),

The way I understand it, the title currently referred to as the World championship traces its lineage back to the WCW World title, therefore in awarding Triple H the title in 2002, WWE effectively de-unified the belts.

[NeanderCarl]

You know what, when even the die-hard fans are confused by the title scene, no wonder new fans can't get on board.

[BigDaddyCool]

Anyway if you're going by that reasoning, then I guess you don't recognise the title reigns of Shawn Michaels, Chris Jericho, Eddy Guerrero or Chris Benwho either then?

HBK & Y2J are billed at 225, Eddie 228, and he who must not be named 234. Most every real sport, heavyweights start at 205, so they are all well above that. Rey is 165...So Rey is giving up 60 pounds to the next lightest former WWE or World Heavyweight Champion. I think I still have a pretty decent argument.

[Mr. Pierre]

I'm pretty sure the WWE Championship is both the WCW Championship and WWE Championships unified (the Undisputed Championship that Jericho won).

The World Heavyweight Championship's title history starts with Triple H in 2002.

And the ECW Championship dates back to the original ECW.

[TerranRich]

In pro wrestling, the Cruiserweight mark is 225 lbs, if I'm not mistaken.

[BigDaddyCool]

In pro wrestling, the Cruiserweight mark is 225 lbs, if I'm not mistaken.

Yeah, cruiserweight mark goes from 220 to 235 depending on who you ask and what promotion.

[NeanderCarl]

HBK & Y2J are billed at 225, Eddie 228, and he who must not be named 234. Most every real sport, heavyweights start at 205, so they are all well above that. Rey is 165...So Rey is giving up 60 pounds to the next lightest former WWE or World Heavyweight Champion. I think I still have a pretty decent argument.

Just like most things in the wrestling business, those weights were a work. I can half believe Benwho's and Eddie's were close just because of the muscle mass... 'HBK', in 1996 during his first run with the gold, was under 200lbs by my estimation.