6 Ups And 8 Downs From WWE Elimination Chamber 2015
2. The Return Of The Dusty Finish
If youre unfamiliar with the term Dusty Finish, the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match is the perfect example. Dean Ambrose pinned Seth Rollins clean in the middle of the ring, had his hand raised and was awarded the title, only for the first ref to disqualify Rollins, thus reversing the decision and returning the title to Seth (sparking a very loud bulls*** chant from the crowd). The Dusty Finish was used to death years ago, but when used very sparingly, it can be effective. In this case, the ending allowed Ambrose to stand tall and even get a pin, but let Rollins keep the title. Judging by fan reaction, the crowd would and was ready to completely accept Ambrose as champ. WWE put an interesting twist on the Dusty Finish by having Ambrose leave the ring with the title, noting that he beat Rollins, so he was keeping the belt. (See WWE? This is when its appropriate to have someone steal a title, not the silly thievery that took place with the Intercontinental Championship earlier this year.) It fit Ambroses character perfectly, and it left the door wide open to a rematch, perhaps in a ladder match. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzhUuAaQF4M While you have to give credit to WWE not wanting to beat Ambrose and letting him stand tall, it probably would have been better to hotshot the title to him for two weeks than to rile up the fans and have Rollins only hold onto the title by a technicality.
Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.
