5 match concepts and the creators behind them
One that the American landscape of wrestling thrives on is creating match concepts. This relates to World Wrestling Entertainment and World Championship Wrestling in particular, with both companies leading the way when it came to coming up with trailblazing ideas. Some ideas succeeded and some didn’t, but at least they had the guts to try things out.
You’ll be familiar with the majority of match types on this list, but what you may not know is who came up with the original idea for them – and some of the ideas may surprise you. From legendary superstars to current performers, everyone that’s ever walked into the business of pro wrestling has had an interesting idea at some point.
That’s not to say there haven’t been a few misfires, but given that four of the five entries in this article have pay-per-views named after them, which means that they’re doing pretty well. We, as fans, are fine-tuned to the idea of complaining when things don’t always go our way – but in this instance, all we can do is sit back and appreciate the iconic minds of both past and present.
So with that being said, here are five-match concepts are the creators behind them.
#1 Royal Rumble – Pat Patterson
The Royal Rumble is a constant fixture on the WWE calendar, and for many fans, it’s the most exciting night of the year. Whilst WrestleMania is the showcase attraction, the Rumble has that aura of unpredictability that provides us with that extra anticipation, and it’s no surprise that the man behind the magic is a legend of our business.
Pat Patterson, also known as one of Vince’s right-hand men for the last few decades, came up with the idea of having a battle royal type match with a big reward for the winner.
Starting with its initial run, fans were initially sceptical as to whether or not it would succeed, and yet here we are in 2017 with the Rumble still going strong.