10 WWE Matches That Didn't Know When To End
Because sometimes less is more.
One key component of making a wrestling match hit home in the right way, is knowing when to call time and bring it to a close.
So many times over the years, we've seen great matches brought down by going on for too long, and likewise some bad matches have been turned into absolute stinkers due to an inability to go home in a reasonable time. Telling the story of a match is one thing, but there's also got to be an acknowledgement of maintaining your audience's attention and also of upholding a sense of believability to what is being seen in the ring.
In particular, when it comes to big matches at major events, there's a habit of wanting to do too much for the audience - hence why we've all had to sit through some utter snoozefests at several WrestleManias over the decades.
At times in wrestling, less is more. Unfortunately, that's something that the performers featured in this article have occasionally lost sight of. Here are ten prime examples of WWE matches that simply didn't know when to ring the damn bell.
10. Triple H Vs. Scott Steiner - Royal Rumble 2003
God love Scott Steiner.
From tag team icon to Big Poppa Pump, the legit tough younger of the Steiners was so entertaining for so long. Heck, even in his recent appearances for the NWA, this multiple-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion has still shown that he has value in the 2020 landscape of professional wrestling.
Despite his standout tag team career and his several runs as WCW's top dog, it quickly became clear that the Scott Steiner who returned to WWE in late-2002 wasn't the Scott Steiner seen throughout the '80s and '90s. In fact, this wasn't even the same Scott Steiner seen during WCW's dying days.
Instead, Freakzilla was a shell of his former self when it came to his in-ring work, with that largely down to getting one of his ankles fused in place.
Still, Steiner ended up facing World Heavyweight Champion Triple H at the 2003 edition of the Royal Rumble PPV. The build to that match was fun, as the two rivals used smoke and mirrors to get around Steiner's mobility issues. But by the time their Rumble match came along, for some reason the call was made to go nearly 20 minutes.
The end result was a match that stunk out Boston's Fleet Center venue, a match that won numerous awards for being the worst of 2003, and a match that sadly highlighted just how restricted Scott Steiner now was.
Thankfully, their No Way Out rematch was trimmed down to 13 minutes - although, even then, that still felt like a contest that should have ended far sooner than it eventually did.