Though they were once the rule and not the exception, squash matches are so uncommon today that even the term is a bit archaic. For newer fans, a squash match is a noncompetitive bout where a featured wrestler easily beats another (usually non-contracted) talent, showing off his arsenal and being portrayed as a dangerous competitor in the process. WWE's programming used to be filled with squash matches. Wrestlers like "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan and The Honky Tonk Man would beat no-name jobbers on free television, and the only way to see top guys wrestle each other was to spend money - either by ordering Pay-Per-View events or by attending live house shows. It was a business model that had served wrestling well for many years. WCW actually changed the paradigm with Monday Nitro, a show that was introduced opposite Raw in 1995. Nitro routinely gave away big matches for free, so WWE had to do the same on Raw to compete. Many longtime fans lamented the change, fearing that name wrestlers wouldn't draw as with fans routinely seeing them lose on TV. Either way, it was an evolution that couldn't be reversed.
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
