[quote name='BustaUppa']In my opinion, another thing that really hurt the Cell Match was the fact that the first two were SO over the top. Imagine if they had been doing cell matches for years, and THEN they had a match where the participants ESCAPE the cage for the first time. What a moment! I mean, it was a hell of a moment when 'Taker and HBK did it... but by doing it in the
first ever cell match they set the bar way too high. And after that jaw-dropping match, the Mankind/Taker match absolutely spoiled us.
So two matches into the history of this gimmick, and they've already backed themselves into a corner where it'll be considered a disappointment if everyone stays inside the cage. So then every match needs a contrived spot where they get out of the cage somehow, and it starts to get kind of silly (the worst offender would have to be that time Vince drove a truck to the ring to pull the door off).
Eventually they seemed to realize, for the sake of safety/believability, that they couldn't keep doing an "escape" spot in EVERY cell match. After the Jericho/HHH match, every match has stayed INSIDE the cell. This progression would inevitably take some of the luster off of the Cell Match. Now it's hard for even a good cell match to really stand out.
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Well said all around. For me, the moment when HIAC stopped being an awesome match was when (1) Foley took the flagrantly gimmicked drop through the cage when wrestling Triple H (No Way Out 2000? - it was the PPV match following their AWESOME AWESOME street fight at Royal Rumble 2000). That drop was groan inducingly obvious and it really killed the spontaneity of the match and the cell itself. The gimmick trap door was much safer for all involved (very good), but it was like watching a budget horror movie: you get the idea, but you can't help but either simply enjoy it for how tremendously corny it is, or just roll your eyes and say "this is
in' *stoopid*."
All this talk of TNA and gimmicks has made me wonder if the TNA booking committee is comprised of people who used to be car salesmen. Simply because they can't leave well enough alone, and appear to try to "upsell" goddamn EVERYTHING that comes their way.
Seriously, they're like those dudes who talk to you like "how about a moonroof? heated seats? faux mahogany shifter knob? The ladies go wild for italian leather floormats!" when all you're saying is "I want this car over there exactly as it is."
"Hey, can we just have a wrestling match between these guys?"
"What about the manager of the one wrestler being the uncle of the babyface? And the uncle has sole possession of the babyface's late parent's inheritance, which is rightfully the babyface? And then we can have a 37 person reverse battle royal for the inheritance, but in the battle royal, if you get pinned, you have to sit in the dunk tank while So Cal Val throws baseballs at the target, and you can't reenter the match until she hits the target. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Don West will sing the national anthem while drinking gatorade and eating cheetos. If he eats all the cheetos before the dunk tank is aligned with the moon during mercury phase on the 12th night of the seventh dawn, then that wrestler is disqualified."
"So, what's the finish?"
"Count-out."
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