ECW Battle Royale

[Rawkus Keyes]

Lets say the WWE Script Writers have another good idea. (two in a row?!) *faints* and decide to have an over the top rope battle royale for the number one contender spot for the ECW championship.

Tommy Dreamer
Vs.
Mark Henry
Vs.
Finlay
Vs.
John Morrison
Vs.
The Miz
Vs.
Chavo Guerrero

Who wins and what is the order of elimination?

Here's how I think it would go:

1st Elim: The Miz
2nd Elim: Chavo Guerrero
3rd Elim: Tommy Dreamer
4th Elim: John Morrison
5th Elim: Finlay
Winner: Mark Henry

 

[Airfixx]

Chavo (Finlay)
Dreamer (Henry)
Miz (Morrison as Finlay ducks an attack whilst held by Miz)
Morrison (Finlay as Morrison argues with Miz following his elmination)
Henry (Finaly)

After an extremely strong showing from Finlay we get Matt v Finlay the following week for the title.

Matt retains with a roll-up or similar in a highly competetive, 'leave it all in the ring', face v face match where Finaly looks great and serves to elevate Matt further as champ.

Meanwhile, Morrison goes on to fued with Miz until it's time to clash one-on-one for the title with Hardy.

 

[THE Brian Kendrick's Biceps]

How are battle royale's a good idea? They are a boring way to name a challneger without a real feud.

 

[Airfixx]

^^^Once in a while they're not a bad thing. As I've treid to do in answering the SD BR thread, they can be used as a catalyst for multiple fueds without having to develope more convoluted reasons for a fued which may serve as a detriment to the writers getting to the 'crossroads' they need to be at in the alloted time.

Gotta be for contendership though. I hate BR's for BR's sake, nor do I think a BR isn't a fitting way to actually win a world title (Yes, Khali, I'm loking at YOOUUUU!).

 

[THE Brian Kendrick's Biceps]

Well when King Booker won the title, I thought it was a shit way to start a feud. He never even had a real feud with the World Champion (Rey Rey), yet he won the title.

 

[Christian]

what airfixx said, except right when finlay wins the battle royale, teddy long comes out and introduces the newest entrant into the battle royale....... MARCUS COR VON!!!!

 

[Airfixx]

@ BKBiceps:

Yeah, but the BR wasn't the direct cause of the fued per say (Unlike say HBK & Y2J & RR03 for lack of a better example).

Booker became #1 contender... They then ended up feuding over belt. As a wrestler, what more of a reason do you need?


Point I was trying to make is that you can have guys get screwed for their title shot (for instance), which would lead to a revenge fued or sumthin' or they can be used to find a way to get guys into a title match which otherwise may prove difficult if they're not typical bad-ass, athletic types (Devious, cheating heel types like MVP, Santino, TBKendrick or whoever....)

 

[THE Brian Kendrick's Biceps]

A basic storyline would be nice. Not just, "I don't have a problem with you, I hust want your belt!" If you want to gain buyrates, then you need a feud that people can immerse themselves into. They were never going to do such a thing into a feud like Booker vs Rey, because it was never a real feud.

 

[Airfixx]

^^^I think you gotta blame that on the continuation of the writing of their angel rather than blame the fact that it was a contendership related shot won in a BR.

Personally, I'm used to the idea of #1 contendersips and as long as they can justify the conterndership should they ever refer top a specific guy as "#1 contender" then I have no problem with it.

Don't lose sight of the fact that is supposed to be a scripted sport, not just all out ego-warfair (albeit scripted of course).


(For what it's worth, unless you're a Guerrero or an ex-WCWcruiserweight what 'angle' can you really have with someone like Rey (without sidelining him through injury first which, for a title fued isn't an option as you'd have to vacate the title due to the 'time-off' it would take to sell the injury.)

 

[THE Brian Kendrick's Biceps]

While they do justify him being number one contender in a way, it in no way helps the company make money, as no one wants to buy a PPV with a main event they don't care about. It may also be a scripted sport, but the fans buy PPV's when they get emotionally involved. If the sport part was so important, millions of fans would be paying to see Bryan Danielson, not Batista.

What angle could you run? Off the top of my head, you could simply make Booker bully the smaller Mysterio. Back him into a corner, try to tell him that he can't do it. Yes, it's the underdog storyline, but at least it's something that the fans can think about, and possibly emotionally connect with. They can think, "Yeah, the bigger guys are always trying to bully the smaller guys around. I wanna see Rey kick his ass!" That's a lot better than a fan thinking, "Hey, Rey vs Booker is main eventing GAB, I might want to see that."

 

[Airfixx]

It may also be a scripted sport, but the fans buy PPV's when they get emotionally involved. If the sport part was so important, millions of fans would be paying to see Bryan Danielson, not Batista.

You missed my point; All I meant was that as they are 'simulating' a sport, the notion of #1 contendership/competition should be enough at times... See SCSA v Bret for example:

Bret chosing "the best guy in the wwf today" for his return match @ SSeries '96, being "hungry for competition", "greedy for respect" and look where that fued went.

Same as Piper v Hitman @WM8... That was a face V face IC match born of contendership with no direct history between the two and they took it to the brink of total violence in the match (this was pre-ECW remember!) and still it wasn't necessary to turn one of them heel just to give them something more to fight over.


Look at it another way, what were Hogan & Warrior fighting over @ WM6? (The Ultimate Challenge was quite simply about who is THE man).

What angle could you run? Off the top of my head, you could simply make Booker bully the smaller Mysterio. Back him into a corner, try to tell him that he can't do it. Yes, it's the underdog storyline, but at least it's something that the fans can think about, and possibly emotionally connect with. They can think, "Yeah, the bigger guys are always trying to bully the smaller guys around. I wanna see Rey kick his ass!" That's a lot better than a fan thinking, "Hey, Rey vs Booker is main eventing GAB, I might want to see that."

Well it depends who the two guys are (see above examples), but that's still a fair point. I just don't think it serves to 'rubbish' the concept of a contender being found by means of a BR.

 

[THE Brian Kendrick's Biceps]

As long as the champion and the challenger actually make the feud slightly personal, a battle royal is fine, in moderation. It is still looked upon by me, as a lazy way to make a contender, especially when done excessively. The way WWE does it , it is just a lazy way to make someone contender.