This thread might have been inspired by AEW Revolution's main event.

In what was so far a very good bout, with nice touches and homages to FMW's ridiculously fun deathmatches, both Omega and Mox saw their competition overshadowed by the last minute. Instead of the intended outcome of a ring exploding, we saw farty pyros that would make Gillberg laugh.

Of course, in the future we will all remember that moment and not the solid match that came beforehand.

 

Do you guys have any memories of matches that suffered a similar fate? I remember loving Brock vs Reigns I but the finish kinda left a sour taste in my mouth and it proved to be a dumb decision later.

In the moment, the finish/post-match of Austin vs Rock at Mania 17 pretty much made me forget that not only a great match just happened but also a great card 

The finish of Austin-Rock was such a demonstrable failure that I cannot in good conscience call it a great match. We talk about matches "accomplishing what they set out to do" and that match utterly failed to turn Austin heel, at least for that night, so how can it truly be great? It's ****1/2 work with * booking, timing, and psychology.

Mankind-Shawn gets a lot of love still, but I think it would be more remembered with a better ending...I just don't know what that ending is. Maybe a double countout after the table bump. They were in a corner because the first guy to beat Mankind has to be the Undertaker and Mankind wasn't winning the title. I think there was a better way out of it than just Vader arbitrarily running in, though.

Michaels-Mankind from IYH I think was underrated for a long time because of the messy finish, although now I think it's rightly recognized as a classic.

Austin/Owen is the first that comes to mind. They were having a great match but good luck remembering anything other than Austin having to win via the worst pinfall of all-time.

I know most people hated the Kevin Owens/Roman Reigns Last Man Standing match we just saw but I kinda liked it for what it was or would have at least given it a passing grade. I was sports-entertained enough for me to consider it fine. 

And then Reigns couldn't get un-handcuffed and any potential suspension of disbelief that one might still have evaporated. It was just so, so cringe.These guys going through tables, getting hit by a golf cart, taking bumps on the floor, clearly working hard to have a violent match in a PG environment only for it end in an "LOL, wrestling is so fake" botch make me feel embarrassed for them. 

35 minutes ago, PeteF3 said:

Mankind-Shawn gets a lot of love still, but I think it would be more remembered with a better ending...I just don't know what that ending is. Maybe a double countout after the table bump. They were in a corner because the first guy to beat Mankind has to be the Undertaker and Mankind wasn't winning the title. I think there was a better way out of it than just Vader arbitrarily running in, though.

It looked to me like Vader was supposed to run in to break up the pin after the chair-assisted Sweet Chin Music but missed his cue. Watching the ending, you can see Shawn taking forever to make the pin and Hebner counting slower than normal in order to give Vader enough time to make it to the ring, but to no avail. Now that I think about it, that probably played a part in Sid winning the title at Survivor Series instead.

I wonder at that point if Vader was still scheduled to beat Shawn for the title at Survivor Series because in retrospect that run in made even less sense and built to nothing

6 minutes ago, NintendoLogic said:

It looked to me like Vader was supposed to run in to break up the pin after the chair-assisted Sweet Chin Music but missed his cue. Watching the ending, you can see Shawn taking forever to make the pin and Hebner counting slower than normal in order to give Vader enough time to make it to the ring, but to no avail. Now that I think about it, that probably played a part in Sid winning the title at Survivor Series instead.

Yeah, they're clearly stalling and Michaels gives up the pinfall attempt early. It was a perfectly acceptable finish as booked, just botched. 

Mankind Vs Michaels is a top 2 WWE match of all time until the ending

John Cena vs Brock Lesnar at Extreme Rules 2012. Having Brock dominate the entire match only to have Cena get the win in his return was a huge letdown. I know they tried redeeming themselves with their Summerslam match in 2014 but first impressions are everything.

I loved the finish to Cena/Lesnar to be honest. The idea that Lesnar was like a bull that could run right through anyone but that there was always the possibility he could be caught like a matador might catch a bull. Great finish to what was a truly unique match at the time.

I assume most of the Hunter bigfoot and Super-Cena finishes don't count for the purposes of this thread?

If they do, Hunter vs. Booker T at WrestleMania and Super-Cena and Super-Friends vs. Nexus at SummerSlam spring immediately to mind.

I wouldn't say it was a "bad" ending, but the finish to Valentine-Piper at Starrcade '83 always felt just a tad anti-climactic. Rather than a big punch or move like a piledriver, Piper tosses Valentine off the top rope and sorta wraps the chain around him. Same with the Dump-Nagayo '86 hair vs. hair match. Fluky pin with a 2.9 kick-out.

Felt like half of the 80s New Japan set were matches that'd have me really invested until somebody was dq’d for throwing their opponent over the guard rail.

Hard to think of a good match "ruined" by the finish. Maybe there are some. There are a lot of them hurt by the finish, of course.

Robinson vs Inoki comes to mind. One of the Destroyer vs Mascaras matches does as well. 

I thought the Rock-Mankind I quit match was pretty much ruined by the finish, everyone remembers it for Rock getting too amped and almost legit smashing Foley's head flat with chairshots. The worst part is if he hadn't have done it, it still would have left a bad taste in people's mouths for doing the "record Mankind saying I Quit on Heat and obviously play that over the PA" bit. 

Brock-Roman was a banger until Seth inserted himself in and won, which nobody really wanted to see and pissed off Sika legit.

6 hours ago, Loss said:

There are a lot of them hurt by the finish, of course.

George Steele's interference in the hallowed Steamboat vs Savage match gets a free pass, but it detracted slightly from the match for me and keeps it away from any notions of "perfection" or "greatest ever". It was a run-in finish to a straight-wrestling classic.  

Sangre Chicana/Villano III back in 1983 was shaping up in the first two falls to be something close to Chicana's match with MS1, but then the third fall is incredibly short and a bit screwy and it all falls short of its potential. I think 2/3 falls matches have more scope to disappoint, as there is a built-in expectation that there is going to be a great third act.

5 hours ago, Dav'oh said:

George Steele's interference in the hallowed Steamboat vs Savage match gets a free pass, but it detracted slightly from the match for me and keeps it away from any notions of "perfection" or "greatest ever". It was a run-in finish to a straight-wrestling classic.  

I've always thought this one worked because it fit the story.  It all made sense and called back to their feud.   

21 hours ago, Strummer said:

I wonder at that point if Vader was still scheduled to beat Shawn for the title at Survivor Series because in retrospect that run in made even less sense and built to nothing

I went back and checked the Observers from that period, and they said that the original plan was for Vader to beat Sid in the number one contender's match at Buried Alive and then beat Shawn for the title at Survivor Series. They said that plans changed but didn't give a reason why. It's well-known that Vader had a ton of backstage heat by that point, so it wouldn't surprise me if blowing the finish at Mind Games was the final straw.

18 hours ago, RingoPlaysDrums said:

I loved the finish to Cena/Lesnar to be honest. The idea that Lesnar was like a bull that could run right through anyone but that there was always the possibility he could be caught like a matador might catch a bull. Great finish to what was a truly unique match at the time.

I agree that Cena overcoming the odds the way he did made for a better self-contained match. But from a booking standpoint, having the invading monster shooter lose clean in his very first match was an insane decision any way you slice it.

How about Bret/Shawn in Montreal? 

2 minutes ago, jiraffejustin said:

How about Bret/Shawn in Montreal? 

What happened there?  Never heard the story on that one.

 

3 minutes ago, NintendoLogic said:

I agree that Cena overcoming the odds the way he did made for a better self-contained match. But from a booking standpoint, having the invading monster shooter lose clean in his very first match was an insane decision any way you slice it.

I agree that Brock should've won, but wasn't it unclear if he'd be sticking around when that match happened?  I swear I've heard that they were afraid he'd go over their top guy and then go back to MMA or whatever.

Jerry Lawler vs. Kerry Von Erich at Superclash III. That was actually shaping up to be a great match but both the finish and the way it was executed completely demolished any goodwill they may have generated.