10 Worst Finishes In Wrestling Gimmick Matches
Spooky little kids and stupid little cruiserweights.
There's a reason why gimmick matches are so valuable to pro wrestling. While, yes, they are welcome changes of pace from regular action and some of them (ladder matches, for instance) lend themselves to an elevated level of in-ring action, they're more special for what they mean. When two wrestlers have a particularly personal or violent issue, they collide in a steel cage. When tables come into play in a feud, the resulting blowoff bout is often a tables match.
Unfortunately, gimmicks like those carry less weight than they did in years past. First of all, they're more frequent, which always dilutes their impact. Secondly, when the stipulations of the match are bent and broken, fans take them less seriously, and the result is that they simply don't draw the interest that they used to.
What really makes or breaks a match - gimmick or otherwise - is the finish. It's what fans remember most, it's where one wrestler is (hopefully) put over, and it's where the rules of the match are enforced for future bouts.
Unfortunately, the wrong finish doesn't just hurt the wrestlers involved - it also makes fans less interested in seeing the stipulation repeated.
10. Braun Strowman Vs. Kalisto - Dumpster Match
Just this past Monday on Raw, the WWE Universe was treated to Kalisto versus Braun Strowman in a dumpster match - where the winner would be the man to knock his opponent into a dumpster at ringside. Kalisto challenged Strowman to the match after the massive monster threw the former U.S. Champion in a backstage dumpster on Raw last week.
Most expected that Strowman - who was coming off some truly impressive feats of strength over the past couple of weeks - would make short work of Kalisto. He did, but the Lucha Dragon got a surprise win when he dropkicked Strowman into the dumpster. That made Kalisto the winner, even though Strowman seemed to just be mildly inconvenienced by the whole thing.
To make matters worse, Strowman got his heat back after the match with an assault that saw him put Kalisto in the dumpster and then push it off of the Raw stage.
So what was the point of having Kalisto technically get the victory, besides making the match look like it didn't matter at all?