10 Wrestling Match Finishes That Just Don't Work

7. A Flop To End A Feud

This match shouldn€™t, by rights, be anywhere near a list like this: a grudge match between two megastars, €˜Stone Cold€™ Steve Austin and Triple H, the latter at the height of his heelish prime. As the blow-off match at No Way Out in February 2001, the WWF gave us a massively gimmicked spectacle: a Three Stages Of Hell match, essentially a two-out-of-three falls match where each fall had a separate concept - a straight singles match, a street fight and a cage match. The whole two-out-of-three falls idea is a dead giveaway, obviously: everyone knows it€™ll go to three falls, or there€™s no point in running it, especially when each fall has its own exciting twist. As soon as Austin won the singles match, it was obvious to anyone with half a brain that Triple H had to win the street fight, or there wouldn€™t be any cage match. It€™s the cage match that€™s the problem, though: or, rather, the screwy finish. The powers that be had apparently decided that this climactic match to determine a definitive winner in a blood feud between two of the biggest stars of the era should have no definitive winner€ but that the history books would call it for Triple H, regardless. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x113irp_stone-cold-steve-austin-vs-triple-h-3-stages-of-hell-no-way-out-2001_sport The layout of each match is thrilling, and both men give it everything they€™ve got€ so the double knockout finish is ridiculous, and devalues everything they€™ve accomplished together in the ring. Austin goes down like he€™s been shot, but Triple H performs a version of the Flair flop, and collapses onto Austin€™s prone form, getting the pinfall by accident. Finishing in such a contrived fashion ripped the heart €“ and the heat €“ right out of the match, and the feud. The babyface out for bloody vengeance didn€™t get it€ and that babyface had a rep for being the most vicious, unforgiving SOB in the company. It made no sense for the Rattlesnake to consider his grudge with the Game concluded after this.