10 Wrestling PPV Matches Allocated Far Too Little Time

7. Brock Lesnar Vs. The Big Show - WWE Royal Rumble 2014

Sheamus Daniel Bryan
WWE.com

Match Length: 02:01

Why it was too short: It was, simply, a gigantic waste of the 'Beast', even if the presentation of what more resembled an angle exceeded the official bell time.

It half made sense in the context of the storyline. Lesnar had been humiliated at Show's hands on the preceding episode of RAW. Simply outwrestling him wasn't enough to sate his vengeance - so he instead bludgeoned him with a chair before Mike Chioda even sounded the bell. Show did get a Knock-Out punch in before Lesnar impressively F-5'd him for the win, after which he battered the giant with a barrage of chair shots.

It was an unsettling sight - but one that didn't even make Lesnar look all that strong. Anybody could feasibly grab a steel chair and fell a giant by continually maiming him with it. Lesnar's strategy here could easily have been replicated by somebody like Jack Swagger.

Lesnar has been positively awesome at times since his 2012 return - but his tactics, though logical, draw back the stage curtain a little too far on occasion. Why wouldn't everybody else use this effective method as the go-to approach when paired with a larger opponent?

The whole thing was miscalculated. Show was hardly a beloved sympathy-eliciting babyface at the time. He'd been turned so often that he'd long been reduced to a plot device.

Lesnar and Show is a pairing which only works in a small dose - but this was as stingy as it was misjudged.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!