Picture the scene. You're in the audience for Raw, or watching on tv. The next match is announced as Fandango vs Damien Sandow, with no storyline going in whatsoever. "Urgh" you think, mentally checking out. They make their way to the ring (you hummed Fandango's music with everyone else, don't pretend you didn't) and as the bell rings, you take your phone out of your pocket to check Facebook, or glance around to see if you've got enough time to have a cigarette before the main event, then DING DING DING!! Match over!! Sandow debuted a new finishing hold and Fandango tapped like...... well, like a tap dancer (I make no apologies for that terrible joke) WHAT THE HELL?!?!? We live in a time where it seems that finishing moves have lost their edge somewhat. In times gone by, someone like, say, Jake "The Snake" Roberts had the DDT as his finisher. And announcers had people EXCITED for the DDT, wrestlers FEARED the DDT, because if Jake hit the DDT (and he could at ANY TIME! GAH!!) it was OVER. And fans loved that kind of thing. But over time, people kicked out of Pedigree's and Rock Bottoms and Tombstones over and over, and these days the finishing move is diminished, because everyone seems like a superhero. It doesn't sell realism. Wrestling is meant to imitate fighting, and sometimes in boxing or MMA or muay thai, a move can come out of nowhere that just ends the fight right there. It's a small touch of legitimacy that could lend a lot to wrestling. So why lower card? Because WWE tried this a couple of years ago at Wrestlemania with Sheamus and Daniel Bryan. And it was a horrible idea. A World Heavyweight Title Match between two guys of that calibre, the fans expected a good match. But with lower card guys, expectations are different. Vince wants to push a new guy? Its as simple as giving him a finisher that people don't kick out of. Ever.
Stephen Maher has been a rock star, a bouncer, a banker and a busker on various streets in various countries. He's hung out with Robert Plant, he was at Nelson Mandela's birthday and he's swapped stories with prostitutes and crack addicts. He once performed at a Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras by accident. These days, he passes the time by writing about music, wrestling, games and other forms of nerdery. And he rarely drinks the blood of the innocent.
