5 Great Uses Of Strategy In Modern WWE Matches
Matt Striker would be proud.
Modern WWE matches are often criticised for lacking in nuance, and many cite the ever-present back-and-forth archetype as an example of why wrestling was better back in the fabled day.
Bret Hart was such a gifted storyteller that he could, through gradual escalation, allow fans to believe that maybe - just maybe - a demented dentist could defeat a multi-time WWF champion.
Nowadays, wrestlers can fairly be accused of working a little too closely with one another for the sole end of entertainment. Why does everybody still try to clothesline John Cena after he smashes them with a shoulder block?
The closely-contested, heavily-choreographed, content-crammed match structure also enables the pervasiveness of 50/50 booking. If no one man or woman is conclusively better than their opponent, then it's little wonder that the kayfabe quality of the talent roster is homogeneous.
But these criticisms do the modern era a slight disservice.
While talents largely work within tight constraints, and aren't permitted freedom of expression, there are occasions on which matches are worked to resemble cerebral, legitimate sporting contests with a strong emphasis on strategy - utilised to both defeat their opponents and achieve maximum emotional resonance from the viewing audience...
5. Daniel Bryan's Intentional Disqualification - Extreme Rules 2012
Daniel Bryan was famously one of the best technical wrestlers of all time - so much so that he is credited, alongside CM Punk, with ushering in a sea change in WWE policy towards the recruitment of talent and the treatment of wrestlers who made their name on the once-dreaded independent circuit.
But he was also a hugely intelligent in-ring storyteller very much capable of expanding beyond his latter role of the heroic underdog.
In this seminal example of the Two Out of Three Falls match - arguably the best ever in terms of creating synergy between bouts - he smashed Sheamus' shoulder in to such an unyielding extent that he lost the first fall by disqualification. He didn't need to harness his Ring Of Honor persona and remind the referee that he had "'til five!" to break off his attack. It was part of the plan.
Sheamus was easy prey for Bryan's recently renamed Yes! Lock ("Who did Gene LeBell ever beat?"); he passed out in the hold almost instantly, tying the the match one fall apiece.
The strategy was also a sublime platform on which to reinforce his heel character to the audience, somewhat lost in the aftermath of his post-WrestleMania surge in popularity; instead of instantly reapplying the Yes! Lock, Bryan instead gloated in a prolonged and ultimately ill-advised display of self-aggrandisement.
It gave Sheamus sufficient time to logically cycle through his comeback and retain the title he had won in such inglorious fashion a few weeks earlier.