Ban three (relatively) trivial things in wrestling

[Tim Healys Chutney Spoon]

7 minutes ago, Lion_of_the_Midlands said:

Point proven! I reckon it'll be a womens tag division or a number 1 contenders tournament for the mens title prior to the ContiClassic starting. 

[sivy]

My 3 

1) Unnecessary long matches where you know who's winning. 

2) during a save run in, the music hits first. 

3) Same people wrestling each other every week.

 

[Wideload90]

1) spears through the barricade. 

2) Street fights in usual gear

3) ensembles gathering around for someone to dive onto them 

[Devon Malcolm]

1) Turning your back completely on your opponent when you go to hit the ropes.

2) Taking for fucking ever on the top rope to hit something. If you need that long to steady yourself or measure the move then you shouldn't be up there.

3) Trying to escape out of the door spots in regular cage matches. They're always so contrived and never look good, and they're even worse when a babyface tries it. Keep the fucking door locked and make them climb over the top.

[westlondonmist]

1) Unsanctioned matches. What the fuck is unsanctioned about them? Entrances are provided, space on the card (often advertised weeks in advance), a referee is provided and no consequences for taking part in said "unsanctioned" match. 

2) Multi man ladder matches. Ladder matches used to be great when they were a rarity. Watch the ones from the 90s and some will say they age badly as the spots aren't as over the top but they usually have a compelling storyline and age really well. Now it's numerous people in an incoherant mess while you wait for an over the top spot, which often makes no sense because everything has been done. Become a meaningless match type that should be part of a big or long running feud. 

3) Fans cheering a heel when they cash in on the money in the bank. They're the bad guy, you should be booing that they are using underhand tactics to beat the good guy.

[tiger_rick]

12 minutes ago, westlondonmist said:

1) Unsanctioned matches. What the fuck is unsanctioned about them? Entrances are provided, space on the card (often advertised weeks in advance), a referee is provided and no consequences for taking part in said "unsanctioned" match. 

They're at your own risk. You can have an unsanctioned football match. You can find a pitch, a referee and an opposition but if you don't sanction it, any consequences in terms of injuries, insurances, etc are invalid. That's clearly the implication of these. The company doesn't hold any responsibility for what happens. I like it as a gimmick, always have.

14 minutes ago, westlondonmist said:

3) Fans cheering a heel when they cash in on the money in the bank. They're the bad guy, you should be booing that they are using underhand tactics to beat the good guy.

That's just shit booking. They know they've created a gimmick that generates instant excitement for these moments. It's up to them to create babyfaces who elicit sympathy or create a scenario where the cash-in is a dastardly move fans don't want. If they can't do that, they can expect fans to cheer the heel. 

It's not trivial but the lack of any real heels is a crime anyway.

[BomberPat]

An unsanctioned match makes a lot more sense when you have a kayfabe or actual governing body; if an NWA territory did an unsanctioned match, the story is that the NWA haven't approved of it, but this individual promoter is still going to run it regardless. It's harder to make it make sense somewhere like WWE or AEW that doesn't have that distinction between promotion and regulator, though I like tiger_rick's explanation a lot. AEW also go some way to try and put the gimmick over - they remove AEW branding from the ring as much as they're able, and their referees don't wear AEW branded shirts, so you can argue that they've also agreed to the match independently of the promotion.

[tiger_rick]

Would definitely make more sense if they did a better job of separating the referees and commentators from the rest of the product. I'm a big fan of presenting the show as if it's been covered by a TV crew and not by some company shills. With the caveat that no-one wants to hear Jim Ross slagging off referees for an hour a show!

[Carbomb]

For me, the idea of an unsanctioned match in a company like WWE is probably unworkable now. If it's truly unsanctioned, they won't give you the slot.

Pat's territory explanation makes the most sense, but I would also suggest that it's very workable for AEW on the basis that they acknowledge and work with so many other promotions. You could even do a whole storyline where the feuding wrestlers can't find any major promotions to host their AEW-unsanctioned match, and eventually find some grotty indy that will allow it. Maybe some promoter that they worked with in the early years of their career that owes one of them a favour. (To be honest, the way my brain works, if I had Tony Khan's money, I'd run a whole one-off event with AEW production for a completely made-up company with a stupid name in the style of Southpaw, but that's by the bye.)

[air_raid]

13 hours ago, Devon Malcolm said:

escape  .. cage matches

That will do me. Don’t end your blood feud by running away, pin them or make them submit.

[gmoney]

2 hours ago, tiger_rick said:

They're at your own risk. You can have an unsanctioned football match. You can find a pitch, a referee and an opposition but if you don't sanction it, any consequences in terms of injuries, insurances, etc are invalid. That's clearly the implication of these. The company doesn't hold any responsibility for what happens. I like it as a gimmick, always have.

This would be better if there were consequences for the matches that were supposedly sanctioned, but there never is.

Edited September 25, 2025 by gmoney

[westlondonmist]

1 hour ago, Carbomb said:

For me, the idea of an unsanctioned match in a company like WWE is probably unworkable now. If it's truly unsanctioned, they won't give you the slot.

Pat's territory explanation makes the most sense, but I would also suggest that it's very workable for AEW on the basis that they acknowledge and work with so many other promotions. You could even do a whole storyline where the feuding wrestlers can't find any major promotions to host their AEW-unsanctioned match, and eventually find some grotty indy that will allow it. Maybe some promoter that they worked with in the early years of their career that owes one of them a favour. (To be honest, the way my brain works, if I had Tony Khan's money, I'd run a whole one-off event with AEW production for a completely made-up company with a stupid name in the style of Southpaw, but that's by the bye.)

I quite like this version, and I'm sure it could be done in it's own way, I just don't think it is done well. I've often felt it could be done with some effort, but just feel this isn't.  

[air_raid]

The ref being provided is always the bit I struggled with in terms of the company not “sanctioning” the match because then it’s not just the wrestlers risking themselves but you’ve put your own ref in danger in a match you haven’t sanctioned. The closest I saw to what I think an unsanctioned match should look like, was the Hollywood Backlot Brawl. The WWF let the two have the fight on their premises but there was no ref, no bell, no winner, nothing official - the fight simply ended.

[kieranjennings]

2 hours ago, air_raid said:

That will do me. Don’t end your blood feud by running away, pin them or make them submit.

See that's bad execution for me. If the winner has beaten their opponent so badly that they can just coolly walk out of the cage with job done then it really emphasizes winning a feud. However, just clambering to escape is just odd. 

[lanky316]

On 9/24/2025 at 2:37 PM, sivy said:

1) Unnecessary long matches where you know who's winning. 

This is kind of one of the positives about the "young lion" system and more conservative booking in Japan. Sure it means in the undercard the matches are largely predictable, you see three names and a rookie/someone early in their career and you know going in who's going to take the fall 99% of the time but at least it's about10 minutes entrances included rather than knowing the result and sitting there for half hour to get there.