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Did you ever notice that finishing maneuvers aren’t very good at finishing during WrestleMania? For most of the WWE year, finishers mean that the match is over. Every now and then during a WWE pay-per-view event, an opponent will dramatically kick out or power out of a single finisher. At WrestleMania — especially for the last five years and arguably for the last decade — finishers go flat. There have been matches where the victor has to bust out his finishing move three times or more in order to win. In the immortal words of Hurricane Helms, “What’s up with that?!?”
Looking at it from a mark’s perspective, it could be explained as WWE Superstars having an extra amount of energy and drive during the biggest show of the year. The wrestlers are amped to be at WrestleMania and display powers that they don’t have during the other 364 days of the year.
Smarts and smarks will argue that WWE writers and bookers have been relying on the create-drama-by-kicking-out-of-a-finisher gimmick way too much over the years. The Undertaker’s matches against Shawn Michaels, Triple H, and CM Punk have arguably been the worst offenders. Don’t get me wrong — they were definitely fantastic matches and his scrap with Punk was easily the best of this year’s show. However, I’ve been conditioned not to buy into the first two or three finishers used in ‘Taker’s WrestleMania matches and WrestleMania matches in general. In a ploy to create drama, the bookers and writers have made finishing moves (at least the first three or so) seem less dramatic.
Yeah, I know this is “sports entertainment” and I’m probably thinking about the issue too seriously, but that’s one of the fun parts about being a smark. Ha! What’s your take on flaccid finishers at WrestleMania? Do you have a mark theory on why they’re less effective or why WWE Superstars are impervious to them at the show? What’s your stance on the matter as a smart or a mark? Leave your answer in the comments section (please!).
The “mark” explanation doesn’t hold water with me because you can also easily argue that the wrestlers that do the finishing pin are also amped to be at WrestleMania and display a strength that they don’t have during the other 364 days of the year.
After all, if you are thee seconds away from winning, shouldn’t you channel every ounce of strength in your body to pin the guy and make sure he doesn’t kick out… or do you just conserve your energy for the fifth pin since you know he’s just going to get out of the first four?
-M
If that were true then every WrestleMania pin would involve hooking the leg. As much as Goldberg generally sucked, one thing that I liked about him was that he consistently hooked the leg when he went for the pin after his finisher.
Is that the same as sweeping the leg??
I really hope this article comes up in fetish searches on google.
cena vs rock was also guilty of this. I missed the day when I knew the finisher was the finisher and the only people that kicked out were Taker, Hogan or the Warrior.