5 Worst Wrestling Matches Of 2017
Professional wrestling matches and storylines are very similar to films. There’s a lot of pre-planning involved, the right actors needed to be chosen to fill certain roles, and a film’s quality can be strengthened or hindered by a huge variety of factors. For wrestling matches, bad writing or poor execution can mean the difference between something good, great, or awful.
As proof of this, consider the wrestling matches put on display in 2017. While WWE did put on a small handful of great matches throughout that year, the overwhelming majority was average at best. A major reason for this is the overwhelming uniformity in how matches are structured. Virtually every single wrestler is forced to work in the same style, with the same predictable sequences found in almost every match.
An analogy that works for pro wrestling goes like this. WWE is like the Transformers franchise: big budget box office hits that make tons of money while having little actual substance, poor writing, and generally bad critical reception.
Their biggest competitor, New Japan Pro-Wrestling, meanwhile, are like The Shawshank Redemption: a well-executed masterpiece with subtle plot and extreme attention to detail that, while not being that much of a runaway financial success, was and is critically-acclaimed and will stand the test of time.
As perfect examples of WWE’s ‘Transformers-like’ approach to wrestling matches, consider the following five awful matches, all of which happened under their direction…
#5 Goldberg vs. Kevin Owens – Fastlane 2017
Fastlane 2017 was an awful show for a multitude of reasons, most of them booking-related. Although several wrestlers suffered from asinine creative decisions – Nia Jax, Braun Strowman, Bayley and Charlotte being some of them – none of them suffered more than Kevin Owens.
Owens, who had been booked up to that point as the top male heel on RAW, lost to Bill Goldberg, a man that had only wrestled one match by the time this one took place. Worse, Owens was booked to look like a complete and utter moron by falling for one of WWE’s favorite and worst tropes: the ‘wrestler-gets-distracted-by-entrance-music’ trope.
Owens looked away as soon as Jericho’s music started playing, and then ate one Spear, losing his match and his title in 22 seconds. For a main-event match, this was an utter disappointment that made Owens look like a pathetic wrestler, given that he lost to a 50-year-old man after one move.
If WWE wonders why so many of its wrestlers are struggling to become more popular, they need to look at booking decisions like this one.