10 Things WWE Can Learn From NJPW Dominion

4. There's A Right Way To Book A Non-Finish

Omega Okada
NJPW

It's no secret to both casual and hardcore WWE fans that the company really, really, really likes to book rematches. With each brand getting on PPV at least ten times a year and the company loath to start new programs often, it's kind of a necessity. Still, it gets awfully repetitive to see everyone trade wins and rematch clauses get overused. When WWE books non-finishes, it's often even worse - just look at the double countout between The Hardy Boyz and Sheamus and Cesaro from Raw.

While New Japan does use rematches sometimes, they typically have to be earned. Kenny Omega had to work his way back up the card and defeat Tomohiro Ishii in order to get another title shot at Kazuchika Okada, but it was clear that even two bouts between them wouldn't be enough.

How could they get to a third contest between the men? By booking a one-hour time-limit draw that made it clear that they're the two best wrestlers on the planet. Even though there was a tacit promise that the better man would be revealed, likely nobody felt cheated when the bell rang. Both men had left everything they had in the ring, and suffice to say, it came off a lot better than Big Show just punching both guys out.

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Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried. *Best Crowd of the Year, 2013