What Is A Screwjob Finish And Does Last Night's Count As One?
Dont Trust Anybody
vs. Triple H match count as one? That is a subject being brought up in many
of the e-mails I've received about last night's main event.
The "Dusty Finish," called that because of longtime NWA/WCW booker Dusty
Rhodes's repetitive use of a finish that predates his years in wrestling,
includes these basic tenets: The ref get knocked out, the babyface finally
does something to pin the heel, a second ref runs to the ring and counts the
pin or sees a tapout and declares the babyface the winner of the match (and
often a title), and then the original ref comes to and informs the first ref
that right before he was bumped the babyface acted in a way that called for
a DQ, therefore the title belt is ripped out of the celebrating babyface's
hands and given back to the heel and the crowd is jerked out of celebration
mode into heartbreak mode.
This finish works really well, but only occasionally under the right
circumstances. The idea is to give fans a taste of the joy of seeing their
wrestler win a title, but snatch it away, with the idea being that they're
motivated to buy a ticket next month to see the babyface get a fair shake
and win the title once and for all. Dusty utilized the finish so often that
fans of the promotions he booked stopped celebrating babyface title wins
when ref bumps were involved. They knew what was coming after a while.
The argument against ever doing a Dusty finish or a variation on it is that
it leaves the fans upset, not motivated. Fans get wrapped up in the moment,
but they don't ever forget that someone is pulling the marionette strings
backstage. Today, unlike 20 years ago, the blame does go on the referee for
a messed up call, it goes on the promotion itself for jerking them around
emotionally.
Shawn Michaels (photo by A.H., PWTorch)
So that brings us to last night's finish. Did the booking of that match do
more harm than good? Did it qualify as jerking fans around? I say no.
First of all, Shawn Michaels was never announced as the winner of anything.
He celebrated prematurely, before Eric Bischoff made his call. When Bischoff
made his call, fans were surprised (unlike the Dusty finish, where fans grew
to see it coming and just groaned). Once an explanation was given, it was
fair and just. Michaels's shoulders were down along with Hunter's, and the
tie does go to the champion. Michaels didn't protest the decision, he
accepted it. He was disappointed, but not angry. The Dusty finish usually
concludes with the babyface acting outraged and protesting an injustice. In
this case, Michaels was accepting of the finish, then went on to beat up the
heels, giving the fans something to cheer for again.
It didn't hurt, either, that the match featured 30 minutes of
emotionally-draining four star action. The fans knew they had been given a
great show, not a half-assed effort with a copout finish. The finish of the
match didn't feel like a "copout" because "nobody wanted to do the job." The
finish was designed to do what the Dusty finish originally accomplished
before it was overutlized - give the fans a sense of hope that the babyface
can beat the heel while delaying the gratification of it happening.
The show didn't end on the down note of Michaels protesting being screwed.
The show ended with Michaels knocking Bischoff out of the ring and top
babyface Steve Austin returning to the scene to deliver some justice of his
own, including immediately granting Michaels a title rematch at a future
date. So the fans weren't given much time to be disappointed or let down.
They were immediately given two reasons to cheer and a sense of justice that
Michaels would get another chance. That's strong booking, not screwjob
copout booking.
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Torrey M. Spears
dropped this piece of knowledge on 12/30/03 7:06 PM:
>
> Shawn Michaels (photo by A.H., PWTorch)
> So that brings us to last night's finish. Did the booking of that match do
> more harm than good? Did it qualify as jerking fans around? I say no.
>
> First of all, Shawn Michaels was never announced as the winner of anything.
> He celebrated prematurely, before Eric Bischoff made his call. When Bischoff
> made his call, fans were surprised (unlike the Dusty finish, where fans grew
> to see it coming and just groaned). Once an explanation was given, it was
> fair and just. Michaels's shoulders were down along with Hunter's, and the
> tie does go to the champion. Michaels didn't protest the decision, he
> accepted it. He was disappointed, but not angry. The Dusty finish usually
> concludes with the babyface acting outraged and protesting an injustice. In
> this case, Michaels was accepting of the finish, then went on to beat up the
> heels, giving the fans something to cheer for again.
the problem is.... when they start playing Shawn Michael's theme music...
and you think "oh yeah, it's over!"....
Yours Truly,
Your Paragon of Virtual Reality,
Torrey M. Spears
Tuesday Morning Booker Dude
"I assume everything I don't understand is gay."
Harlan from Will & Grace
Landry
shoulders down... at it was declared a draw... However, usually at least
one, sometimes both of them are conscious... This time HBK had HHH pinned
simply by his own body weight... but I can hardly say that HHH had HBK
pinned at all... But, hey this IS rastlin' idn't it?
later;
mike
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