Should Cena/Owens III End In A Time Limit Draw?

[The GOAT]

Like many, I don't believe that Battleground will be the blow off for the Cena/Owens rivalry. Rather, I think Summerslam will be (in a match that involves some sort of special stipulation), and that their match at Battleground will end in either a count-out, a disqualification, or a no contest.

With that in mind, my way of booking a non-finish to this match is to have Cena and Owens battle it out to a 30-minute time limit draw. I know they haven't used this type of finish in years (unless I've missed something, and I usually don't) and I know they don't really announce any real time limits prior to the matches anymore, but the idea is that Cena and Owens threw everything they had at one another the first two times they wrestled and the only thing that was on the line then was pride. Now there's pride/the drive to prove who the better man is plus the United States Championship being on the line on top of it, so the story of the match is that despite their best efforts to pull out everything in their repertoire to win the match, neither guy could put the other away before time expired. And so with both of them tied at one victory apiece and a now unresolved conclusion to their rubber match, that necessitates one final match at Summerslam with some kind of stipulation attached to it (a 'Last Man Standing' match would be a perfect ending to this feud for the obvious reasons.)

Of course, counting the video package, the entrances, the match, and the aftermath, that means the whole thing will eat up approximately 40 minutes of the PPV, but what's wrong with that? The Intercontinental Title match is no longer scheduled to take place, so that leaves some extra PPV time that needs to be filled anyway.

 

[Prince Bálor]

I'm actually cool with any non-finish to this match.
Whether it's a DQ, a count-out, a time limit draw (which would be pretty interesting because they ain't done that type of finish in a looong time) or whatever that'd set up the big blow-off match at SS, it sits well with me.

 

[I'll See Ya Kia]

That might really upset Kevin. If this is the case, your idea sounds best. An ending like this would make Kevin become more dastardly than before. If John respects Kevin for his efforts in the match, it wouldn't go over too well with Kevin at all. Who knows how angry Kevin could get? If John is putting him over, this would be a fantastic way to show how much passion Kevin has for winning.

 

[Green Jesus]

I think the casual viewer probably would not understand. They would be like "wait, is that a thing?". But other then that I'm fine with it

 

[The GOAT]

I think the casual viewer probably would not understand. They would be like "wait, is that a thing?". But other then that I'm fine with it

It'd be fairly easy for the commentators to explain it to the viewers at home, though. Say at around the twenty minute mark during the match, Cena and Owens are still fighting it out and Michael Cole says that if one of them doesn't put the other away within the next ten minutes, then the match will end in a draw. And that it does. The commentators could easily explain it in a way that makes perfect sense to the audience at home without it seeming completely arbitrary, and the announcer in the ring could simply say that because championship matches have a 30-minute time limit and that limit has expired, the match is officially being declared a draw. Even without any knowledge beforehand, 99.9% of the audience would instantly get it without scratching their heads over it imo.

 

[Leo C]

I think it is going to look very arbitrary considering they haven't done this in years and years, but I would be fine with some sort of draw on this match.

 

[The GOAT]

I think it is going to look very arbitrary considering they haven't done this in years and years, but I would be fine with some sort of draw on this match.

You could say the same thing about other types of finishes as well. Remember during Jack Swagger and Alberto Del Rio's "I Quit" match at Extreme Rules 2013 when Zeb threw in the towel while ADR was trapped in the Ankle Lock, and the referee mistakenly thought it was thrown in by Ricardo and awarded Swagger the victory? Then another referee ran out and showed the appointed official the replay and he decided to restart the match as a result. How often was that type of finish used before that night? Every match that's ever ended with a heel winning by nefarious means could be called into question by that finish since a referee from the back could theoretically always run out there and enlighten the official in the ring about what dirty tactics the heel used to win, yet they almost never do.

I know it's not quite the same type of example, but still. Point is, WWE picks and chooses which rules to follow and when anyway when writing some of their angles and it's not like there's a large abundance of Intercontinental/United States/Tag Team Championship/etc. matches that ever last thirty minutes anyhow, so it wouldn't be the hardest thing to believe/accept.

 

[Leo C]

You could say the same thing about other types of finishes as well. Remember during Jack Swagger and Alberto Del Rio's "I Quit" match at Extreme Rules 2013 when Zeb threw in the towel while ADR was trapped in the Ankle Lock, and the referee mistakenly thought it was thrown in by Ricardo and awarded Swagger the victory? Then another referee ran out and showed the appointed official the replay and he decided to restart the match as a result. How often was that type of finish used before that night? Every match that's ever ended with a heel winning by nefarious means could be called into question by that finish since a referee from the back could theoretically always run out there and enlighten the official in the ring about what dirty tactics the heel used to win, yet they almost never do.

I know it's not quite the same type of example, but still. Point is, WWE picks and chooses which rules to follow and when anyway when writing some of their angles and it's not like there's a large abundance of Intercontinental/United States/Tag Team Championship/etc. matches that ever last thirty minutes anyhow, so it wouldn't be the hardest thing to believe/accept.

Yeah, that is true. Still not really a fan of this sort of arbitrarity (which applies to other finishes as well as you said), but I think this one would be especially bad because it kinda affects the logic of all other matches. The towel finish legtimacy is only gonna come to play if someone throws a towel in, as a time limit draw would affect many matches. But indeed it wouldn't be the first time they do a finish that only applies on that occasion and never again.

 

[Zany Clowny]

I'm a huge fan of this idea. KO and Cena tear the house down with a thirty minute match with finisher spots, bit of crawling, intense back and forth action. Maybe they get counted out together at the end with both of them out cold on the floor. Could be a ten count by the ref in the ring after a counter or finishing move. Either way it'd get them both over for Summerslam.

 

[Messiah1]

There's no time limit anymore, they can wrestle for an hour in WWE allowed them to. They better have a good finish to this match because a lot of people are expected it to end via DQ or count out to set up one last match at SummerSlam. I think the time limit draw is out of the question, if that happened i would be shocked since they don't mention anything about time limit anymore.

 

[Wacokid27]

The next day, I think this would have been a decent non-finish to the match. The commentators actually teased a time-limit draw during the match when Lawler asked (to no answer) the question: "Is there a time limit on this match?" toward the end.

I wanted this feud blown off at Battleground, actually, and a fresh feud for each guy at Summerslam.

wk

 

[Dolph'sZiggler]

I know they do it all the time, but I still hate random rules being enforced/not enforced to manipulate match finishes. Time limit draws are a relic and have no place in today's product.

Cena needs to put Owens over at Summerslam, period. I am incredibly turned off that they made KO tap out to the fuckboy Supersubmission

 

[Leo C]

Actually thought Lock was going to call another old school screw finish as he did on that Seth/Ambrose match when Lawler talked about it. In retrospect, even if I also don't like rules being randomly brought back, maybe it would've been a better fiinish lol